I hope you all have a very blessed Easter.

I pray you all have a very blessed day and new year!

Santa came to see us! And he brought lots of goodies! See the big one? It was from my sister. The label said it was for my stepdaughter. She opened the box to find another wrapped box and a small bag. The bag was for her, the box was for my other stepdaughter. So she opened that box and found ANOTHER box and a small bag. This kept going until we all had opened a box and had a small bag. Nine people all together with one last small box. (Which was for my aunt’s roommate’s granddaughter.) We all opened our bags together and found crocheted scarves in each person’s favorite color!! My sister had been working on this since the beginning of November. She’s brilliant.

Here are my other gifts!

Santa was very good to me this year! And so were all of my awesome family members. I think my favorite gifts would have to be the chocolate pearls from my husband, my waffle maker from my husband and stepdaughters, my scarf from my sister (obviously!!) and the cookbooks from my parents.

My stepdaughters had a good Christmas too. They were both so thrilled to have so many gifts to open! It was fun to watch them open their gifts!

It was a great day. The best part of my day was watching everyone else open their gifts. I love seeing their faces. I surprised my sweetheart with a US Marine Corps NCO Sword. He wanted one for retirement but I surprised him.

Also, my husband and I, my sister and my mom surprised my dad with a share of the Green Bay Packers. He has wanted that for a long time. He is so proud to be an Owner of the Green Bay Packers.

And here is my favorite picture of the day! My sister always does this. I love her!

Merry Christmas from my family to your’s! I pray you all have a wonderful day and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Last year was incredibly hard on me. It was my first married Christmas and my husband was halfway around the world. I was extremely emotional. It wasn’t a very happy Christmas for me.

This year my wonderful husband is home! I am so thrilled for that. I’m happy that he’s home safe and that we get to spend the holidays together.

This Christmas is still going to be very difficult for me though. It will be the first Christmas without my grandparents. It will be so different. I have spent almost every Christmas in my life with my grandparents. I honestly don’t know how to have Christmas without them.

I really want to be happy for Christmas. My husband is home. We’ll have two of my stepdaughters here with us. And my aunt is coming down here for Christmas. I have so much to be happy about! But I’m also missing a huge part of my life.

Friday Friday Friday! I hope everyone has had a wonderful week and will have a wonderful weekend! I’ve got a busy day so I’ll keep this short! Enjoy!

1. If I could be on any reality TV show, I’d want to be on either American Idol or Big Brother. I know, huge difference. Oh well!

2. This past Thanksgiving was the first without my grandparents. It was hard, but we did ok.

3. I’m looking forward to December because I get to spend my first Christmas married with my husband. I’m so happy.

4. One thing I’d like to accomplish this month is actually get our apartment clean and keep it that way!

5. To me, winter is a magical time. I love the cold weather because you can snuggle with your loved ones. I love all the decorations for Christmas. It really is my favorite time of year!

I love Christmas movies. Heck, I love all things Christmas. I could watch Christmas movies all year round. The best part is that this time of year several channels have Christmas movie marathons! It’s like 24/7 Christmas movies!! It’s fantastic!!

I absolutely love the Santa Clause movies. All three of them! They are probably my absolute faves. I also love Polar Express. I used to read the book when I was little so when the movie came out, I was so happy!

I love How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, Christmas with the Kranks, Miracle on 34th Street and of course It’s a Wonderful Life! You get the picture!

What are some of your favorite Christmas movies? Have you started watching them yet?

It’s that time of year. Time for family and friends. Time for food, food and more food. Time to be thankful.  I am so thankful.

I am thankful for:

• My husband
• My parents
• My sister
• My aunt
• My stepdaughters
• My best friends
• My new niece!
• My home
• My church
• My Heavenly Father who is always with me
• My grandparents who are now in Heaven and are missed terribly.

What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving is getting closer and all I can think about it that amazing meal! Every year we typically have the same dishes. Lots of love goes into this meal.

Thanksgiving Meal

Turkey

My mom’s sweet potato casserole

Grandma’s macaroni

Oyster dressing

Orange salad

Some type of green veggie, usually broccoli

Some type of bread (in the picture it is my sister’s Garlic Cheese Biscuits, like Red Lobster’s)

Dessert – pumpkin pie, Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake, Hello Dollies, and pecan pie (for my dad)

We love Thanksgiving! Hehe. We usually have the same things to eat for Christmas because we love everything so much! This year we may try some new recipes though.

This will be the first holiday season without my grandparents. It’s not going to be easy on any of us. Thankfully this Thanksgiving my parents are taking us to see the Rockettes! It’s part of our Christmas presents! It will be something to look forward to and hopefully keep us cheerful, despite the sadness.

Do you have any favorite family recipes or Thanksgiving traditions?

Have you seen this? This was a school computer project from the small Yupiq Eskimo village of Quinhagak, Alaska. It was intended for the villages in the area but has spread to over half a million people! Pretty impressive for a group of 5th graders!! Go check it out!!

Hallelujah Chorus