Haul out the Holly!

Haul out the holly

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again

Fill up the stocking

I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now

For we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

Candles in the window

Carols at the spinet

Yes, we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute

It hasn't snowed a single flurry

But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry

So climb down the chimney

Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen

Slice up the fruitcake

It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough

For I've grown a little leaner, grown a little colder

Grown a little sadder, grown a little older

And I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder

I need a little Christmas now...

(We Need a Little Christmas from Mame)

The first few weeks of Advent brought a flurry of happenings and excitement!

I like to get our tree that first week. Steven brought it home on Monday after the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Decorations everywhere!

I think there were at least 8 strands of lights that didn't work.

Finishing touches!

Mary Clare helps Katie Grace put on the star!

Tuesday the 1st was our city Christmas Lighting. 

Bubbles!

Buddies!

Balloons (and Home Alone in the background)

A magician

Holding the magician's dove

Santa!

And since I'm a glutton for punishment I took the kids to the dollar store and Hobby Lobby after piano one afternoon.

Narnia reading at Christmastime.

Tree #2. It's a long story, but the first one was dying after only 2 days!

Dinner guests that Steven knows from work, a young couple from Bolivia and France.

And a garage sale the next morning!

Glad to have friends there to help encourage the kids!

The next morning was the Feast of St. Nicholas! They left their shoes out in hopes that he'd leave some surprises and he didn't disappoint!

The aftermath...

On the afternoon of St. Nick Day we went out to our friends farm.

There were 5 of us couples who've known each other since college.

25 KIDS BETWEEN US (ages 12 and under, and we realized we had at least one child of every age)!

Wednesday the 9th we had tickets for the student matinee of the Houston Ballet Nutcracker!

And Friday night the 11th I hosted the group baby shower for our homeschooling group, honoring 7 of our moms!

I'll stop there and save a little home tour for next!

It's proving to be a very fun Advent season!

Thanksgiving 2015

This Thanksgiving was an especially meaningful one because it was the first time for us to host a big family holiday at our house! We had about 30 people over, including Steven's parents and all but one of his siblings and only 3 missing nieces/nephews. It was a great way to get our house cleaned up and to finish some other little projects! We love having company over and are so glad to have a bigger home in which to do that!

It was also fun and challenging, and a tad stressful, to figure out how much food we needed to feed that many people! We handled the turkeys, stuffing, cranberries, rolls, some desserts, and drinks. His parents and siblings brought lots of other side dishes and goodies too.

A good friend gave me some great recipes for Cranberry Sauce (the Williams Sonoma one) and Stuffing (from her friend, using both herbed and cornbread stuffings and sausage). I also enjoyed making my Apple Pie (Better Homes cookbook, but with refrigerated rolled crusts) using the cheese grater for thin slices, and Ellie made Oreo balls. We did the Alton Brown turkey technique, including an overnight brine and using the double ovens in our vacant old house to roast them. They were good, but not good enough to feel like the extra effort of brining was worth it. Also, we got two turkeys that were each about 14 pounds and we didn't have much leftover!

Playroom cleaned by the girls! Woohoo!

The B family Thanksgivings always start with a flag football game at the park led by Uncle Thomas!

And with our new TV, the older cousins figured out how to stream the football games! That was a new thing for us!

All the cousins except three!

Like father, like son. 

This was when the family was still over. He fell asleep right under the TV!

Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with love, laughter, family, fun, and a good nap!

Halloween and All Saints' Day 2015

Halloween and All Saints' Day have proven to be a difficult time for our little group of homeschool families. Six years ago we lost our dear friend Kelly on Halloween, after a long battle with breast cancer. This year, Beverly was home on hospice care and I'd just seen her for the last time on the 30th. But her kids (and even her husband for a few minutes) still joined us for our annual Halloween party with chili and trick-or-treating.

Thomas was upset about not being able to find the plastic pumpkin bucket to hold his candy.

The girls all dressed in poodle skirts, after shopping together and sewing together in the days before. 

50s girls with Mike the Knight and Aragorn

We also prayed an All Saints Litany before eating. I thought it was interesting how our group was praying while some Halloween movie was playing in the yard of the neighbors across the street.

Some of the crew didn't make the first photo, so here they were after the candy-trading!

The All Saints Party had to be postponed several weeks due to rain. We ended up missing the big parade since we were running late, but I got a few photos of the kids.

Santa Lucia!


St. Philomena


St. Francis and St. Joseph

St. Martha's Cookie Decorating!


Dads hanging out


Saint Dymphna


The stone rosary station


Bowling

Thomas' favorite booth...CHESS!

Ellie with her friend C as St. Kateri


Hayride


This was some kind of game where they had to shake ping pong balls (7 deadly sins) out of a box on their back.


The big kids


Everyone ready to pray and eat!




Lovely moments out at the farm.