And His Name Shall Be Called, Wonderful

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

For with God nothing shall be impossible.


And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.





And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.



And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.



But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.



For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.



From our family
and my heart
to yours,
Merry Christmas.

Glory! Glory! Gloooorreeeee!

We are here! We are here!

It goes without saying, I'm a bit behind on the "record keeping" and I'm sure everyone's just chompin' at the bit to know what the heck has been going on here for the past couple months.

A lot. Actually.

As I'm sure is the case with everyone. Busy, busy.

Nevertheless. I was reminded this week, when I received two beautiful Christmas cards from friends I met only through blogging, that I love blogging. Thank you friends!! I love reading other people's thoughtful insights and sharing my own. So, who needs sleep, right? Let's write!




Don't buy store-bought egg nog!! I made some (from scratch, thank you very much) and it's WAY BETTER than the store stuff. Yes, I was worried that I'd be grossed out by the eggs and I actually cut back on the amount of eggs the recipe called for (and fat), but I cooked it at 160 degrees for a while and nobody got sick. PLUS, it was yummmmmy. (fresh nutmeg is key)

 I'm kind of in love with Amigurumi. I started making some of these gute critters for the kids for Christmas. They are easier than I thought they would be. My kids chose a monkey with overalls. I will take a picture when I'm done, but if you crochet at all, maybe you'd like to check out the free patterns over here.

There's a dragon lover in my household. I would love to make her this, but I'm not sure I can do it. This one is knitted and I'm not as confident in my knitting skills, beyond a scarf. But maybe I will try. Let's see...I have nine more days. I love the colors on this! It's pretty awesome, actually. hmmm.....nine more days.







OK, baby steps. You'll get the actual low down next time. Until then, know that we are all healthy, happy and crazy in love with life. Here's one of the sweetest angels you've ever met, singing:

"Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth - Peace, goodwill to all men!"

Check, check.

Hello?
Are we on? Check, check.

Yes. Ah hem. (It's been a while.)

A quiet morning. The first one I've had in a while. Anna has been drawing, singing, dancing and now we are indulging in a little screen time.

This is a post in three parts.

Un.
I have been enjoying all the inspiring posts this month on Chocolate on My Cranium's family festival. I was really thrilled when she asked if I would contribute a post. It's been a while since I've tried to write something meaningful and it felt good. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to do that Montserrat!

Deux.
Also, I'm starting to think about Christmas! For several reasons.

a) Thanks to the family festival I won this beautiful plaque from Huckleberry Hollow Designs!

Isn't it perfect! I was so excited to win it. Thank you Debra Larsen!
She has many more lovely plaques at her website. I'm picking up a few more for Christmas presents.

b) We have begun rehearsals for Savior of the World again! Yay! This year Claire is going to join us! We can't wait for the time when we can do it as a whole family. A couple more years, perhaps.


Trois.
People have asked if I take pictures of my kids anymore, now that I've been taking pictures of other people's kids.



Yes. Yes I do.

We always wanted a brunette.

My kids are TOEHEADS. Is that even how you spell it? Actually, my husband just informed me it's TOWhead.

It's been quite an experience to see Elise be transformed from a towhead to a brunette in the show. I thought I'd share the process with you.

Here we are at the beginning. Elise with her brunette friend.


Her hair piece is braided into her natural hair. It takes about 20 minutes. The lady that does it is a pro. Once the pieces are in place, they spray the top of her hair with colored hairspray.


Annnnnd....here's the finished brunette!



After the show, her hair is really crazy. She loves it!


Sam is so happy that he doesn't need to have his hair done. It's getting pretty long and shaggy. That's his contribution to the play. Here we are as angels. (We wear our Israelite costumes underneath the angel costumes.)


Next week is opening night! We are so excited!

The (main) reason I haven't commented on your blog.

We've been so busy with our Savior of the World rehearsals lately. We are getting very excited for opening night. Which is coming up SO soon. Friday, November 20th soon.

This has been a tremendous learning experience for us all.

If you are going to be in town, there are still a few nights open. We perform on Wednesday and Friday nights and Saturday matinees. Of course, if you can get a ticket to any other night GO. You will love it.

I thought I was getting Sam in this picture. I just barely cut him off. Not to worry. I will be armed with my camera another night. (Guess what, Pappa? He's wearing his contacts. He looks so different. But they are working fine. Thank you!)


Elise's other mother and father. They are SO nice.


This one's for you Michal. What a fabulous guy. Super nice and super talented. Must come from a good family. He must have a brother who is married to a really fabulous woman who cooks up the dreamiest dishes and raises very beautiful, smart kids.


The next time we rehearse, Elise will have long, brown hair. I can't wait to see how it will look! Not sure what's going on with my hair here. All I can say is... wimple.