Wordless Wednesday- Merry Christmas!

May God bless you with a very Merry Christmas
as we celebrate the birth
of our Lord and Savior!

First Family Christmas in my own house!

For the first time ever I hosted a family Christmas party!

My mom's brother, sister, my siblings and cousins all came out on Sunday to enjoy our traditional povitica (pronounced "Poh-teets-uh" a sweet bread from Slovenia) and french cookies, as well as gifts and chit chat.

I have to admit, and I am not being vain at all, but this was one of the most fun times I have had with all these people in awhile. We all played games, ate food and opened gifts. Fun times!

Now for pictures - the best part of all!!

Bubs is scooting around - 100% mobile now! Here he scooted himself under the tree and was whining to get out. Before I grabbed him, I grabbed my camera!

He scoots around on the hardwood floors in a sitting position, leans all the way forward and pushes or pulls on the floor with his hands. He hates being on his tummy because then he can't grab whatever he wants!

Is this my son or my daughter?

Seriously, I wish her hair would just grow already :) Lizzie Lou loves Buzz Lightyear and Thomas the Train - both of which make her look like a boy when she wears them.

Oh well, at least she is also a fan of Disney Princesses!

This is my little brother's new fiance Brandy! They both attend Pittsburgh State University in Kansas and bought Bubs his first football. Their mascot is seriously a Gorilla - fierce!

Isn't this a sweet picture? He was so worn out....

Josh made sure to keep all the wrapping paper and burn it in our wood burning stove. He is such a pyromaniac (kidding!)

I think it is better for the environment this way....he thinks it is one less trip to the trash can with bags.

This is how Bubs first fell asleep on my little sister Bekah. The poor baby couldn't sleep with all the commotion so when he usually takes a 2 hour nap at 2pm he hadn't had any by 4:00. Soon after 4, he just layed on her lap and couldn't keep his eyes open.

Poor baby!

Josh's favorite gift so far!

Yes, we have a Yoda tree topper now! On our way to a Star Wars tree.

Not long after this photo was taken, he fell down.

The force was not with him.

Everyone! We had about 17 people in a 2 bedroom house. Josh did an amazing job setting up our table. He chopped up a piece of plywood to be 8ft long and gave us a beautiful dining room table. (our table is normally like 3 ft long or so)

Then we also had a card table in the living room.

I love the open floor plan. I am standing in the kitchen taking this pic looking at the living room.

Well, that does it for our first Christmas! Thank you for sharing it with me!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Aloha Friday! Saving Money at Christmas

The last friday before Christmas! Time to hop around the blogosphere with my favorite end of the week meme. Just a fun time to ask a simple question and give a simple answer. It is an easy way to make new friends too.

The hub is centered at Islandlife808.com

My Question:

Has Christmas this year changed for you because of the economy?

My answer:

Yes it has.

Usually we see buying gifts as our way of expressing our love and appreciation for our families. This year money got so very tight that we had to find more creative ways of showing our devotion. I won a large amount of gifts from online giveaways on other blogs.

The rest is homemade.

One good thing was I was able to avoid the crowds at the stores!

Putting up our Christmas Tree

I adore this time of year! And this is the first time Josh and I have decorated for Christmas. Oh the memories we made tonight.

Lizzie put her first ornament on the tree - she just laid the glass bulb on the branch and was so proud of herself for making it stay. Then, it rolled off and shattered at her feet. She was more shocked than anything, thankfully she didn't step on the glass.

She was even happier to put her Sesemee Street oraments on the tree. I am doing what Josh's mom did for him. I am buying my children one ornament each year for their personal Christmas box. Then they can put their ornaments on the tree. Lizzie has a log cabin (we lived in Josh's parent's log home during her first Christmas) and the Sesemee Street ones. I haven't bought Bubs one or her one this year yet. I can't wait though!

I don't have any ornaments like this. Unfortunately my childhood memories didn't survive a flood. The only childhood memories I have are a few videos and photographs. But I am going to do my best to preserve these for Lizzie and Bubs.

We need a nativity! I am going to move this pretty candle and put the nativity there. But I need to make it a child friendly one since I know Lizzie will be playing with it every chance she gets.

I love this piano! So festive and pretty :)

We must have an angel on top of the tree. That is my one requirement.

Angelic! umm....we need a skirt though.

Welcome to the Christmas season!