Parade and Christmas Store

This year VSIBC did another Christmas store for the children. I love this ministry! All throughout November and December the kids can earn Victory bucks by saying Bible verses, bringing their Bible to Sunday School, and bringing visitors. We have the people of our church bring in gifts that the children can buy for their family. And then on a Saturday we set up the auditorium like a big store and they can buy gifts for their family and friends with money that they have earned.

It teaches them so many wonderful principles of giving and working!

It's a flurry of activity and so exciting! We have so many people come out to help us because it does take a lot of workers. I'm thankful for the faithfulness of the people of VSIBC and their dedication to the Lord!

Then that night was High Springs Christmas parade. This is one of my favorites! Just a small town parade where people gather and put blankets on the sidewalks and watch as tractors and local clubs and schools walk by all lit up. We just love it! And it's so much fun to have friends join us too!

It was just chilly enough for us Floridians to feel Christmasy in the cool weather!

So much fun!
 

VSIBC Christmas Party

VSIBC's Christmas party is so fun! 

This year we told everyone to dress all Christmasy. And then we would vote who was Mr and Mrs Christmas.  It was fun picking out what we would wear :-)

We set up a fun picture taking spot, too.

These boys are really growing up! I love how they're growing a friendship as well. They play together and are so excited to see one another!

We had a lot of fun games too! Liberty did great in the cup stacking.

Me on the other hand, I wasn't so good at the cup stacking! But I had fun with my friend Rose anyway :-)

 I love fun church family events. And having my grandkids with me makes it even more special!

Lollipops Tree

 I've enjoyed the past few years having my lollipop tree! It's a little white tree that we decorate with lollipops and candy type decorations. The girls usually help me put it up and we have a good time putting it up and then filling it with presents underneath just for them!

They were pretty proud of how it turned out!

Christmas is so fun with grandkids, isn't it? I love how they watch the light and get excited every time they see lights on the road. They watch our city come alive with sparkle!

But sometimes all that activity and sparkle can get the best of you! Like it did for Azariah🙂

So what do we do at times like this? Eat a good snack. Take a good nap And wake up refreshed and renewed and ready for Christmas again 🙂
 

Trimming our tree

 We love it when it's time to get together and decorate our Christmas tree!

I love how we all get involved and are pretty passionate about how things should look.

This year was Micah's turn to choose the theme of the tree. We always add all of our family ornaments, but we let one person choose the main color scheme for the balls that go on the tree. Through the years we've collected quite a collection and have a big bin full of many many colors.

This year Micah chose to go with red, green, and gold. Very traditional and very beautiful!

 

Christmas at Storybook Farms

We've had so much fun around here for Christmas!  We've had baby bunnies born!
 

We've tried to stay warm as temperatures have turned cooler for as Floridians!

We had baby goats born too!

We had fun posing them under the tree!

We enjoyed cuddles,

And snuggles ,

And even had time to make a few new goat's milk lotion scents.

It was a great Christmas around here!

Black Friday

I LOVE Black Friday shopping with my girls! We get up before dawn, get coffee, and shop, shop, shop!!

 This year Callie and Brenna even met up with us! I love this time of year and love time with my girls!!

All decorated

 Thanksgiving evening is one of my favorite nights of the year! After we clean up all of our turkey mess and put away all of our pilgrims, we get out the tree and all of our Christmas decorations and begin decking the Halls!

I feel like after 30 years of marriage we have quite a great collection!

I love how everyone gets involved!

This year it was Micah's turn to choose the theme of the tree and he chose gold, red, and green. Very traditional and very beautiful! I was super happy to still find an army guy stuck in the tree. This has been Silas's tradition ever since he was a toddler and loved watching Toy Story. I can't imagine a Christmas Tree without some army guys hidden in it. 

And then I got to top the tree with the star. This time it was a little star which made us giggle.

 So beautiful and so festive. I just love it! Lots of memories made here for sure.