Merry Christmas from the Gimenez Family!

The stockings are hung...

....tons of gifts are wrapped....

....the fireplace is going....

....and our Floridian dog, Peaches, is in for the this chilly night.  Christmas is almost here!

 Merry Christmas from the Gimenez Family!  I pray that you will enjoy this season of family, food, laughter, but most importantly as we celebrate Christ's birth.  He is the best gift, that's for sure!

World Equestrian Center Lights

Last year Brenna and AJ told us we needed to go to the World Equestrian Center in Ocala to see their lights display.  I'm so glad we made it there!! It was gorgeous!!

Wow this was a ritsy place!  We felt a little out of our element as we walked through the hotel and saw their restaurant.  It was beautiful!

It was a little chilly and their were so many beautiful lights! 

Micah said he wanted to take this picture for his Grandpa.

Beth had went to see the lights the week prior with Brenna and AJ.  At that time there was a huge horse show in this arena.  She said it was so cool!  I think I'll need to take my horse loving girl back again soon!

My kiddos are definitely growing up.  But, I still love to see the wonder of Christmas sparkle in their eyes.

I'm so glad Gramm and Marc could go with us!

Brenn and AJ had been talking about the amazing hot chocolate.  It's actually called Wondrous Hot Chocolate.  Patrick said that me and him needed to split one.  As I was waiting in line Micah showed up beside me.  He said, "Dad said I can get one too with my money!"  As we got to the front I asked how much for one.  It was $12!  Yikes!  For one??  I asked Micah if he still wanted one, and he did.  So, I ordered 2.  When we got outside Silas asked, "Did you get mine?"  Micah said, "Oops, I forgot to tell you Silas is buying one with his money, too."  I gladly handed over mine along with the 12 dollar price tag!  The boys said it was really good.  But not really $12 good!  It killed Silas, my somewhat cheepskate, to spend this much on hot cocoa!

They had an amazing toy store in the hotel that we had so much fun exploring.

And I found our future tree.  Eventually we need to do all things Lollipops!

 I'm enjoying this precious season with my sweetheart and the fun we are having together!

Happy 5th birthday sweet Liberty!

Our Liberty Anne, the little one that first made us Lollipops, turned 5!

This was one excited birthday girl!  She couldn't wait for her birthday and wanted to make sure that we were coming for some cake on her birthday.  And she sweetly reminded us to "bring presents."  I just love her so much!  5 is a great age!

She opened lots of great gifts from her family.  

My Callie did something that made me sniffle a little.  Callie has been collecting beanie boos for a while.  They are the cute TY stuffed animals that have sparkly eyes.  Liberty likes to play with them when she comes over.  For Liberty's birthday Callie decided to give her some.  I'm proud of her.  But, that makes me sad, too.  Callie didn't have any baby dolls or stuffed animals on her list this year for Christmas. sniff sniff.

Tabitha made a yummy and cute birthday cake.  It was so fun celebrating this girl!

 

VSIBC's Christmas Store

We do something at VSIBC that is really neat.  Starting in November all the kids ages 4-18 start earning Victory Bucks.  They can earn the bucks by coming to church, bringing their Bibles and visitors and saying memory verses.  It's so exciting to see kids come in with verses they have memorized!

We have people at church bring in lots and lots of goodies for the kids to buy with the "bucks" that they have earned.  We have things for babies through adults.

On the day of the store, the kids go shopping to buy gifts for their family.  I have ladies that have volunteered to wrap all ready to go.

It's a black friday kind of crazy.  But, I love it! And so do they!!

As one of the teenage boys came in to say his verses to me, I asked him if he had his eye on anything in particular to buy.  He told me that not too long ago it was his Momma's birthday.  He said that since he doesn't have a job he had no way of buying something for her.  He saw a necklace and earring set that he wanted to buy for her.  I saw him after church and he was able to buy it!  He was so excited!!

I'm thankful for a church that brings in lots and lots of toys and gifts to put in the store.

I'm thankful for all the wrapping paper and tape and tissue and bags.  They bring in a bunch!  I'm thankful for the ladies that stay after church to help wrap.

I'm thankful for all the kids that diligently work to earn their bucks.   And I love how they buy for their families.

I'm thankful for all the workers that make this happen! AJ and Brenna run our bus route and pick up children for church.  I love the bus ministry!!

And I'm thankful for Joshua and Tabitha that lead up all the children's ministries.  So much prep work goes into a big day like this, and Joshua has it all under control.

There really is nothing like a church family that serves the Lord together in various ways!

 

There's only a few days left until Christmas and I'm not nearly done posting all of our holiday fun!  Expect a few posts coming with many pictures so I can get all caught up. :o)

I love our VSIBC Christmas party!  Since our group has gotten quite large, we decided to rent the Civic Center for the evening.  I'm so glad we did!!

We had lots and lots of food.   Sweets, savory, snacky, sugary....we had it all!

The kiddos played and played.

The adults did our gift exchange.  We had 64 people participating in the exchange, so it took quite a while!  We stole and stole, and tried to get the gifts we wanted.

We were all pretty merciless!  It was fun. ;o) 

And then on Sunday morning, several people brought their gifts they stole for and gave it to someone who had originally had it.  Thoughtful,that's for sure!

The fellowship among us is amazing.  I sure do love VSIBC!

We all laughed so hard! What a great night!!