Merry Christmas!

So much to enjoy this Christmas! We have been letting Knox play with a little Nativity set for the last couple of weeks. He has been to a drive thru Nativity and a walk thru Bethlehem. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a Little People Nativity ornament. Last night he opened a present from Grandma and it was a little illustrated book "Away in the Manger". I read it to him, and he loved it. He got down from my lap and went to our tree and pointed to the little Nativity ornament.

Knox also discovered candy and chocolate!!! All chocolate is good--but Hershey's kisses, especially the Cherry Cordial flavor are the bestest in the world. He went shopping with Shawn one day and was given a candy cane. He stopped by my work, and my boss treated him to a chocolate reindeer. He also loves Aunt Mary Ann's chocolate-dipped marshmallows on a stick. Oh, and did I mention MnM's?

More Holiday pictures from the little house by the highway..........

Christmas at Uncle Andy's last weekend.....a new tree and new temptations!!!!

"CAR!!! CAR!!! CAR!!!

The best part of the fire truck? The little Dalmation fire dog!!!

I have no idea where the baby Jesus is.......I hope to find him when I reorganize.

My old wreath on the front door. I have had this wreath since 1996. I saw a similar one at a craft store for around 60 dollars. I had the owner make me a bow, and I put the rest of it together from Wal*Mart. Now I would do my own bow, but at the time I thought hers were much prettier.

My other front porch arrangement. I scored a basket of large pinecones and holly with lots of red berries when I was up at my sister's last weekend. I combined pine boughs and ivy clippings with my holly and pinecones for this arrangement and for the one above. I plan to save the pinecones for next year, and hope to get more holly from my sister. I love the holly--it keeps Rusty the big orange mouse eater from climbing all over the table. (I might leave it there until spring!! :-))

I got some lovely Christmas presents....a new Rachael Ray cookbook, two Square Foot Gardening Books, some Yankee candles, a new Christmas tablecloth. I gave Shawn the ESV Reformation Study Bible which he has been angling for all year. Of course there were the socks for Shawn and Knox both. (I cannot help myself! It seems to be a family tradition.)

Christmas Dinner tonight is Potatoes Anna, Pork Tenderloin with Mustard-Tarragon Sauce, Deviled Eggs, Green Salad, and a plate of Christmas Cookies!

The Christmas Hat

One of Knox's presents is a new hat from The Children's Place. Since it has been so cold here, it was given to him early. Here he is--waiting anxiously at the door to go with Daddy to go Christmas Shopping!

Our Christmas Tree

Of course, it is the same as last year, give or take a few ornaments. Knox thinks it is called a "Look-don't-touch!"

So much to get into!

So much temptation for a small boy!!

Finally....

Hooray! Shawn is finally finished with all the coursework for this semester...only the final exams to go. More computer time for me now, for about a month until the spring semester starts! Its been grueling for him--I have never had to write such long papers. The great thing is about it is that he only has one year left of school! A hard grueling year--but only a year left!

I am very busy with year end stuff at work, no time to blog there! And Knox of course sneaks to the computer every chance he gets, but boys that can't spell don't get to blog! LOL

So...instead of blogging, I've been living and attempting to get all the holiday stuff done. We had Thanksgiving here at our little house on the highway, and I really enjoyed each and every one of our 8 guests. I posted the menu over on my cooking blog. Now we are doing Christmasy things. Knox helped me make some candy this weekend...ok, he played at my feet and somehow got water all over the floor...and he loves candy and can say of his own accord, "Mmm, good!" He is carrying on the grand old tradition of licking the wooden spoon as well. (No raw cookie batter, folks!)