A Christmas Challenge

Our dear bishop quoted this a few weeks ago.  I found it today and remembered what a wonderful challenge this is.  I hope to succeed in allowing someone to feel Christ's love through me before Christmas.

December

The beginning of December I found that we were able to head outside with just sweatshirts on.  In fact, Drake and I raked leaves all morning on Monday, then Leah and Drake enjoyed playing on the school playground.  Leah ended up finding a ladybug shell among the leaves.  I was a beautiful day, and I was loving it because it is so unlike the weather that I have ever had at the beginning of December.

Then on Thursday Heavenly Father blessed us with a little bit of home by sending a cold front along with a storm.  Friday school was cancelled along with all extra curricular activities, that included Caleb's basketball tournament. It has been a welcome break.  

Friday morning we woke up with several inches of snow.  

By the afternoon I don't think there was a part of our yard that didn't have a footprint in the snow.  

 This was our entryway at the end of the day.  A few towels with shoes all over the place.






One of my favorite traditions is whenever there is a snow day and the kids are home from school I like to make homemade doughnuts.  I use my Grandma Bowers' recipe as did my mother.  It sure brings comfort to those tummies that have been playing out in the cold all day.

We used a reward system called "brownie points" to help the kids know how many doughnuts they could eat.  Each time a child did their chore or was kind to someone they received a point.  How ever many points they had told how many doughnuts they were awarded.  It was great!  I had kids willing to do all sorts of extra chores.  Unfortunately the doughnuts ran out before the chores did.

I also love to make homemade hot chocolate on cold snowy days.  Everyone wanted seconds on that too.

It now feels like it can be Christmas.  We have the cold outside with warm treats in our belly.  Drake and I worked hard during the days this week to set up all of our Christmas decorations, so just another element added to make sure that Christmas can be on it's way.

 Thanks to Heavenly Father for allowing us to have a little home here in Oklahoma.

Thanksgiving

We sure have been blessed in so many ways.  

I love the opportunity to think about all of those blessings during Thanksgiving.  

Doug and I decided this year to invite the missionaries for the Thanksgiving dinner.  It was because of some advice from Terry and Denise Littledike that we chose to have the missionaries.  Terry and Denise once had the exact same job that Doug took and had to learn how to live without their family near, so they often had the missionaries in their home.  It was a great feeling to know that we could serve others who also were missing family on this day.
   Now, inviting the missionaries here is no small feat.  We have four in our ward and three serve in the institute where Doug is currently working.  Two other missionaries were invited to come as well, so in all we had 9.  That makes 12 adults for dinner along with our 4 children.

 Thanksgiving is Doug's favorite holiday because he usually plays 4-5 games of football while I cook.  This year was a bit bitter for him because he was unable to play.  Not only because of his former health problems that he incurred from his meniscus surgery he had during Labor day weekend, but he played football about a month or so ago and he tore several ligaments on his opposite leg.  Thanksgiving football is one of his most favorite things (this has been a source of argument between he and I for several years) and this was his first time in 20 years he has not played.

Caleb, Brody, Drake, and Leah enjoyed playing just dance on the Wii during the cooking.

This is a silly video of Leah.  A few years ago at my parents home my siblings dressed Caleb up as a turkey and put on a Thanksgiving play.  Caleb decided to carry on the tradition.  This is Leah trying to figure out how to walk like a turkey, but she was unable to remember her lines so Drake ended up acting out the turkey when they performed for the missionaries.


It was a great day.  We ended up eating at the Institute because there was no way I would have been able to fit all the missionaries in our home.  The Sister had come the day before to help cook pies, deviled eggs, and rolls.  The Elders did the dishes. We all played a few games and enjoyed visiting with each other. It really did feel like we were family.




Friday we had a real treat.
My good friends the Barton's came to visit.  I taught at the high school in Melba with Dennis.  They had come to Oklahoma to visit his sister for Thanksgiving and found that she only lived about 10 minutes away from us.  What a great visit we had.  Jennifer is always so much fun to talk with.  They had moved this summer as well to a new town, so it was fun to ask about how their transition was going.  It's interesting the places you find dear good friends.  I never would have expected to have become so close.  I am so thankful for it.

Like I said, we are so blessed.