It’s the Eve of Christmas Eve and excitement is mounting at our house!! Gifts were being wrapped in secret corners of the house all day long and I could hear Emmi yell to Rebekah, “Do you have the scotch tape???”😁 What a December it has been! Besides the daily routine of work and chores, Christmas Cards have been created and mailed off with love, a Gingerbread House has been successfully decorated, Christmas Cookies delivered to the neighbors, and we are settling in for a quiet weekend and family Christmas! Psst… Emmi even hosted a Gingerbread Man Crafting party which was so fun.😍 All that to say, this month has been FULL and blessed!! My friends, may your heart overflow with joy and gladness as you recall the greatest gift… the gift of Salvation that we believers celebrate this Christmas season! May you be filled with HOPE and peace as you recall the truth that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. …And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Luke 1:1-4. Happy Eve of Christmas Eve to you all!🙋🏼♀️♥️
QUESTION FOR YOU!✨ What is a favorite Christmas Memory or Tradition for you?? I’d love to hear in the comment box below!
So, how about a few random photos from the last 30 days?? Including a few from Thanksgiving. 🙊Ready? Because they are RANDOM!!🙋🏼♀️🎁
A beautiful Surprise Box from sweet friends!! Bekah and Emmi were so excited!❄️😍🎁
“He came unto his own, and His own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
John 1:11-13
One of our traditions is having homemade eggnog and date balls for dessert on Christmas. 🥰 😄 I also love having hot chocolate with our Christmas breakfast.😊 And another favorite would be when my Dad dramatically reads the poem “twas the night before Christmas” before we go to bed.😂😂 I love all the games we play on Christmas and the extra time we have to spend with each other as a family.😁🥰🙂 We actually were able to have a quickly planned Christmas family reunion with my 2 married sisters and also our Grandparents this past week back in Ohio which was really nice.😃 Plus we got to see our first Niece!!🎊❤🤗 Early Merry Christmas everyone!!😃 JESUS IS the REASON for the season!!🎊😊
😍 Caroline!!! Those traditions sound like they’ve created such great memories over the years. MMmmmm, love the sound of home-made eggnog! And I bet the dramatized version of “twas the night before Christmas” brings lots of laughter!🙌🏻
YAY! So glad y’all made it home safely from the trip and had a GREAT time!! Praise the Lord!!!! 🤗
💝🙋🏼♀️ I am praying you have the BEST Christmas to date, Caroline!!!
Aww…Thanks Rachel!!🤗🥰 You too!🙂 Merry Christmas!🎊
Also, Lovely random pictures!!❤ Thanks for posting, Rachel!!🤗😄
🤗 THANK YOU for being such a blogging encouragement!!!!!!
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Awwwwww, loved seeing this post, Rachel!!!😍😍😍 So many sweet, fun photos from so many sweet memories made!! I loved seeing all the festive activities ya’ll have enjoyed…the decorating and the Gingerbread House and the Christmas concert and Emmi’s Gingerbread Man crafting party and sweet Leake lady outings and so many yummies enjoyed!! Thank you for those words of encouragement as well, Rachel!!🙋🏼♀️♥️
So many of my Christmases have been spent at my grandparents’ house with uncles, aunts and cousins as well…SUCH good memories and sweet times! I’d say one of my favorite Christmas traditions is Christmas caroling with my siblings and cousins!!🤗 We decided to go one year, and it’s now a tradition that’s been greatly enjoyed years since!! Gathering at our grandparents’ home, practicing (not NEAR enough sometimes😂), then striking out to walk their neighborhood and those surrounding, singing for hours, then coming back to sing our last song at Grandad and Grandmom’s house are such special memories made throughout the years.💝
Merry Christmas everyone, and for tonight merry Eve of Christmas Eve!!😊 (or Merry Christmas Adam😄)
🤗💗 THANK YOU, Martha Joy!!! I thought it was high time I had a new blog post up.😁 Bekah and Emmi graciously asked me to help with the gingerbread house and (believe it or not) it was a first time for me! We had tons of fun. 💝☺️
Love hearing you favorite tradition😍. Your cousin caroling sounds like it’s a big happy gathering!!! I can Imagine you all have tons of fun and so many laughs as you enjoy singing together through the neighborhoods!! ❄️🎉
Merry Christmas Adam to you toooo!!!😆😁🙋🏼♀️💗
Such fun pictures, Rachel! I’m glad you are getting to enjoy a lot of special moments this Christmas season. We used to make gingerbread houses every year, but that’s a tradition that was finally dropped. Our grand finale was a huge plantation home, complete with pillars out front. I think we may have burned ourselves out! XD
One of my favorite Christmas memories is from a year we were in Mexico as a family. We spent the night out at a ranch in the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t any cell signal out there, and it was so peaceful and secluded. On Christmas, we sat around a fire opening our presents and throwing the wrapping paper into the fire after we opened them. There was a spot near the river where we went and picked up flint, some of it partially made into arrow heads. Lest you think it was actually perfect, I might should mention that we slept in cabins without any chinking and no heat. I don’t know how cold it got that night, but the water hose froze. And some of us still had cold feet from wading a river on Christmas Eve! Definitely some good memories for me!
I hope that you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and make some new and very wonderful memories this year, Rachel!!!!!
Bethany! ♥️🙋🏼♀️ Loved loved loved seeing your comment fly in!😁
Oh, how I would love to see photos of that Plantation style Gingerbread house!! WOW, I can see how that might burn you out for a good long while.😅 Our prefabricated kit was a nice taste of real gingerbread house creating! 😉
OH! I love hearing about your favorite Memory of a Mexican Ranch Christmas!!! That sounds absolutely peaceful and so out of the ordinary. What a Christmas that had to be for you all!!!!😍 Oh my🙊, I am glad you all made it through the night. That sounds COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you had some sub-zero sleeping bags on hand! ⛄️
Merry Christmas EVE to you all! From what I’ve heard, you are in for a great weekend.🤗
Rachel, I have thought of you and your family so often! I am glad you still send emails my way. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays or holy days if you will! I have many favorite Christmas memories. The one I recounted to my kids this year wasthe year my MIL took my daughter to the store to get Christmas gifts at the dollar store. She bought me a silky like snowman scarf with Christmas colors that I love to wear around this time.
Recently we have read the Christmas story or acted it out and then opened stockings. They are my favorite thing as you get all these little items that you can use. Sweet time of year.
This year my Mom bought me a book about the songs of Christmas by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. I read it to my Mom every morning (we mutually share devotions over the phone in the a.m.) It has been wonderful to think about what Christ did and yo think about the different Christmas “songs” of the people in the Christmas story. That has been most precious to me and a precious gift to both of us, I believe.
May you continue to enjoy Christmas and family this year! Keep on sharing! You are a blessing!
Yvonne! I have been thinking of YOU so much lately. What a blessing to hear from you!!!!!🤗
You know, stockings are my ALL TIME FAVORITE too. For the same exact reason! Full off fun little odds and ends! My mom always includes thoughtful necessities!☺️
That book sounds wonderful! I will have to look it up. I love your daily phone devotions with your mother! What a blessing that has to be for the both of you.♥️
Thank you for the encouragement, Yvonne! I will continue to share, Lord willing. May He be praised through it all!🙌🏻
I have a Christmas memory that was sad at the time but has become so very special to me over the years! I was eighteen, and just out of bootcamp. It was my first Christmas away from home and at a brand-new location, the hospital corpsman school in Great Lakes, IL. I was starting training to be a medic for the Vietnam War.
It was Christmas Eve, the base was covered in snow, and I was completely alone in the women’s barracks because everyone else had gone home for the holidays. I had duty that night with an older Navy chief who had just lost his wife and had no one at home, and a seventeen-year-old kid who was also just out of bootcamp. As the evening went on, we watched an old black and white version of A Christmas Carol and tried to order a pizza. Nothing was open; it was Christmas Eve. So, we pooled our change and managed to get a bag of peanuts and a candy bar out of a vending machine. We broke the candy bar into thirds and shared the peanuts. That was our Christmas Eve dinner. We all three sat and cried together. I don’t remember their names, and I never saw them again, but the memory lives on, and it has greatly sweetened over the years.
When I was a kid, we would eat Christmas Eve dinner–special finger foods reserved only for Christmas Eve–while sitting on a blanket in front of the fireplace! The tree was lit up and traditional Christmas music would be playing on my dad’s record player. Then, just before going to bed, each of us would bring our gifts to each other out of their hiding places and put them under the tree. Such precious memories of days gone by!
Cherish your families! Cherish the memories–they are what makes us who we are. Above all, praise the Lord because He is worthy of praise!
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace! Isaiah 9:6
Sheri! You need to write a book about your life.☺️ The Lord has given you so many experiences! As I read about that Christmas Eve you described, I couldn’t help but smile. The It is amazing how those hard times grow to become sweet memories and are used by the Lord in some amazing ways! Your family Christmas eve tradition sounds like so much fun. Oh, what joy that evening had to have been for you all! ♥️
“Above all, praise the Lord because He is worthy of praise!” Amen! I have been thinking about this so much this season. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelations 4:11
I pray this Christmas is a blessed one for you, Sheri, as you recall the goodness of our Lord and Savior!! ♥️
Aww, what FUN pictures!!! Thanks for sharing!!😍 Looks like y’all have had a wonderful time!🙌
May the Lord bless you as you focus on Him this holiday.❤️