MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We've been busy preparing for Christmas. We had a great time at our field trip to the assisted living. We hope we blessed the residents as much as we were blessed. It was cute seeing some of the ladies wearing the ornaments that Anna Gracen and I made as bracelets.

The kids did a great job finishing up school and helping out around the house. They are excellent cookie bakers and tasters.

We had a family get together on Saturday and oh, yeah, the girls won!!!!! Finally the sweet smell of victory. The past 2 years the guys have beat us at 80's Trivia. This year we switched games - Outburst Revamped proved to be our game. I think it's because we never shut up. We were constantly yelling out answers even if they were the same ones we had already yelled out. It was a great afternoon filled with loads of fun and FOOD! Boy, did we have some yummy food - bacon wrapped tenderloin; Oreo truffles; meatballs; con queso dip & chips; spinach dip; cookies, candy; tenderloin and ham biscuits; cheese bread; brownie trifle; gingerbread house just to name some.

Yesterday I went shopping in Raleigh (at Crabtree) with my mama and aunt. What fun! There were SO many people. The trip was a success - found some gifts that I couldn't find around here.

Tonight we went over to my aunt and uncle's house for a pre-Christmas dinner. We feasted on pizza, salad, spaghetti and desserts; and then watched the Carolina Hurricanes play. They didn't win, but we still had a good time visiting and catching up with each other. Not to mention watching the kids play together.

I think I'm going to run out in the morning to a store or two to check out some things. No must- haves just some last minute pick up items. Then we'll be celebrating with my dad, stepmother and grandmother (brother and his family) tomorrow afternoon.

We'll be spending time together tomorrow night reflecting on Jesus' birth (and reading one of my favorite books "My Birthday, Jesus' Birthday" that Aunt Lillian gave the kids a few years ago). We're going to have a birthday party for Jesus.

I'll be taking a break from the computer for the next few days to enjoy Christmas with my family. I pray everyone has a blessed Merry Christmas and very prosperous and Happy New Year.

Lord, thank You for the wonderful gift of Jesus that You gave us. May we truly love Him as He loves us. May we celebrate Him every day by honoring Him with our thoughts, words and actions.

Santa's Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christian's new career path

As mentioned in another post - Christian's career path has taken a turn. Up until the other day he was going to be a hockey player/archaeologist. He would concentrate on archaeology in his off season. Well he has now decided he wants to be an elf. Not just any elf, but one of Santa's elves. He has been very inquisitive about Santa this year. He knows that I have Santa's phone number. He asked when he would get Santa's number. I explained that you have to be a parent to have it. He followed that question with, "So, when I get to be a daddy I can call Santa and ask him if I can be one of his elves?" Then I had to explain that he didn't have to be a daddy in order to be an elf. He can call Santa when he gets older and put in an application. I asked Christian if being an elf pays well. He said they make $100 an hour (If it weren't for the long commute I might apply myself.) Wooten asked Christian if he could come and visit him. Christian said he would have to check on that with Santa. Then came the question of how come all the elves are short? I quickly explained that Santa must have some kind of special pixie type dust that makes the elves short. Santa would not discriminate against people of height. He is an equal opportunity employer. You know you just can't make this kind of good stuff up.

Check it out

Go to the Graham family blog to check out Christmas parade pics. Go to my sister-in-law, Jennifer's, blog for a cookie recipe exchange. She made some fantastic Monster Cookies that would be a great gift for family or friends this Christmas season. I shared a recipe for Chewy Cocoa Brownies with Chocolate Lover's Frosting. I always bring home an empty platter when I take them to church.

What have we been up to?

Well, by the lack of posts I guess you can tell a lot. Let's see if I can remember it all. There has been school - we'll be getting out for Christmas on Friday.
Last Sunday night was dress rehearsal for the Christmas program at church.
*Monday night we went to visit MeMa and PaPa.
*Tuesday night we went to visit Nana and Mr. Bobby and see Nana's Christmas tree. Very pretty!
*Wednesday night we had church (I had dance practice).
*Thursday morning we went to see Charlotte's Web. Our niece, Rebecca, played the goose. She and the other kids did a great job! It was a very rainy morning. One of those mornings where you don't want to get out of bed much less out of the house. The play was well worth it though!! We're proud of Rebecca!!!
*Friday, Anna Gracen and I went Christmas shopping - and boy did we ever. Friday night we had family movie night - Get Smart was very funny! We all laughed out loud sometimes to the point of missing dialogue - which meant a lot of going back and shhing as we tried to catch every funny line. Then we started watching Fred Claus. Maybe it's a good movie - I just couldn't get into it. It's definitely no ELF!! I tried to get my Christmas purchases together and put them in boxes which ended up with me running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off. I thought I had lost/misplaced/thrown away my nephew, Jacob's, Christmas present. I checked my gift closet - I rechecked my gift closet - I checked all other closets - I checked the garbage can - I checked under the bed and every other wild and outlandish place a bag could have been placed when I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing. The next place I was going to look would be the cupboard or freezer. I decided to check the gift closet one more time - success! Not only did I find Jacob's present, but I also found another present that I had forgotten about. I then realized it was time to call it a day (only it wasn't Friday by now it was Saturday. I hate to call Saturday a day when it was just getting started.)
*Later Saturday consisted of cooking, catching up with friends, a family get together and birthday party, and a mad game of UNO. Then home with one extra child for the night (our nephew, Josh). Anna Gracen and I worked on crafts to take to the assisted living residents this week. Then I settled down with watching Jack Frost and signing Christmas cards to take to church today. Oh, wait, I forgot about making Oreo truffles for Wooten's Christmas party and oh, yeah, there was supper.
*Today started with dance practice at church followed with Christmas program practice. Which (thanks to the youth and their leftover pizza) was followed with lunch and set up for the Christmas party. Lunch was cooking in the crock pot while we were at church. Because the kids and I had filled up on pizza; there was definitely plenty of crock pot meatloaf for Tom. I made some brownies for the party and practiced the dance I learned this morning. Tonight was the long awaited Christmas program. The kids and puppets/puppeteers did an awesome job!! Lots of good music, laughs, sweetness and fun. After the program we partied!! Lots and lots of goodies and fellowship. We had a blast! The kids are worn out - the parents are worn out - great time celebrating Jesus!!

Lesson learned - better to update a little at a time instead of waiting to the end of the week. Coming soon: Christian's career path has taken a turn.....

Fun Christmas Music

My kids love "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas". It makes them laugh and sing along (except Wooten - he's too cool to sing along - teenagers!). I couldn't resist adding it to my playlist. It just might stick with you all day. It is that kind of song. Enjoy!!!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb

Baby makes the paper

Baby, the fox, I mentioned in my earlier post is famous. Okay, not famous, but he was mentioned in a newspaper article in Saturday's paper. Here is the article. Imagine my surprise to pick up the paper and read about Baby after I had just posted about him.

More fun!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Geneology

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

Check out my pirate!!!

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

http://www.myheritage.com/collage Anna Gracen and I have had some fun this Sunday afternoon playing on this website. Check it out. You can upload different pictures and see what celebs you supposedly look like. I did another picture that said I looked like Reece Witherspoon. Yeah, okay!!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Old pictures - Pedigree

Christmas parade prep/surprise guest

We are getting geared up for the Christmas parade tomorrow. Getting out the warm clothes because the forecast is calling for very cool weather. It will be feeling a lot like Christmas.

The first two songs on my playlist are the songs we (the church dance team will dance to) - "When I Speak Your Name" and "Made Me Glad". They are beautiful. Speaking of beautiful the float is fantastic!! I'll either post some pics or post a link to them.

Anna Gracen and I went to work on the float this afternoon and then went shopping. A little Christmas shopping; a little birthday shopping (my grandmother and sister-in-law); a little going away shopping (our friend from church, BJ, is joining the Navy); and a lot of browsing. When we returned home this evening we saw a surprise guest in our side yard. No, not Santa or even a reindeer or two. Instead we saw a fox. He was stunning. We are used to seeing foxes (I think foxes sounds funny. I think the plural should just be fox.) in my grandmother, Mimi's, backyard. She has at least two who come by every night for dinner. We have named one, Baby. We think the original Baby has passed on. He used to come up and sit at my Mimi's backdoor and wait for her to bring food out. She has one who still comes up in her yard and eats right there for us to see. The other one grabs his food and takes it out of our sight. I thought the kids would be thrilled to see a "Baby" at our house. All three said, "I hope that fox leaves. He needs to go to Mimi's house, not ours." Funny how we all love to see Baby at Mimi's, but weren't so sure about having "him" over here. Better him than an opossum (yuk!). We once also had a pig visit. We just never know who/what may grace our yard. I'm keeping my eyes open for Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and of course, Rudolph.

God Has Come to Earth

I have a song that I wish I could post on the blog, but I haven't mastered the technology yet. To hear it go to www.aaronshust.com and click on his myspace. It is the song you hear when you go to his page. For the free download of the song go to his blog and be blessed!

It's Christmas time

I don't want to hear any Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, but I'll watch a good Christmas movie anytime. Boy are there lots on TV these days. We have Fa, La, La, Lifetime; the Hallmark channel and ABC Family - movie after movie - how great!

I am one of those people who gets out before the sun rises on Black Friday and waits for store after store to open. I look forward to this day every year. This year was a little different. My partners in crime (Laura and Jill) were both out of town, so I hit the stores on my own. The day was a success. I always know when it's time to go home - when I start buying for myself.

The kids were anxious to get the house decorated. After we all had a turkey sandwich (one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving - LEFTOVERS!!!) we brought down the Christmas decorations. Anna Gracen and Christian were a big help with decorating (Tom and Wooten not so much). By Sunday it looked like Christmas at the Dougherty house. The tree is up and decorated; all the snowmen are out; the Christmas village is set up; the nutcrackers are out; and the outside is all lit up (not like the Griswald's though).

The Christmas festivities have started. Today was Jr. Boys' Club with our home school group. Anna Gracen & Christian were once again my little helpers (I'm so blessed). The little dudes made ornaments; had a surprise visit from Mrs. Claus; had Christmas goodies; played a game and went home with candy canes and suckers. Don't you know the Moms loved that? Sugar them up and send them home. I came home; made a batch of homemade brownies and made my self a little more presentable (in other words I took a shower). Then off to the Christmas party for the ladies at church. What fun! We do the gift exchange game which is a trip. You have some who won't take a gift away from anyone and others who LOVE taking gifts. We laughed, ate, and laughed and ate some more.

Our next Christmas activities:

• Help decorate the Christmas tree at church.
• Help decorate the float for the Christmas parade.
• The kids are riding on the church float in the Christmas parade on Saturday. I'll be one of the dancers dancing behind the float.
• December field trip to an assisted living home to visit, sing and pass out gifts.
• Church Christmas program
• Christmas baking...YUM!!!