Christmas!

Hot Gingerbread cookies

We had a great Christmas! Nice and quiet! Dad came up from TN to share Christmas eve and Christmas day! We had a wonderful time! Merry Christmas everyone!

Journey to Bethlehem

We went to the Journey to Bethlehem at a local church. It was a blast. Abby just wanted to hold the baby Jesus! We all got new names and were put in a tribe. We than watched a play and than went outside (in the freezing cold) and started our Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem. You meet Roman soldiers, kids with animals, hear the scriptures by the priests... dance, go to the market, try to find a room to stay in and see the baby Jesus. Check it out!!! http://www.journeytobethlehem.com/287543.ihtml We had a great time! Auntie Shannon went with us too!

I forgot to post the one of me dancing with the people in the tent! Shannon snapped the picture. I will post it... maybe...

Can you see me?!! You should have been there getting your dance on too! ;) Too bad I didn't have one of the tamborines... maybe next year.

Christmas Portraits

What a great, but very cold day we had taking our Christmas pictures. It is just the kids because it is not about us parents anyway. ;) Abby kept saying she looked like an "American Doll". We were so cold! But we did get to ride in the horse carriages when we were done. As you can tell noses and hands were cold, but we got it done pretty quickly after people kept inturrupting us Not that the kids aren't the cutest things, but we were cold! They did SO well. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Late and meatlessThanksgiving

Happy late Thankgiving to all of you! We at the Castruccio house decorate for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend. James put up the lights and got the tree up for us to decorate. He decided our other tree was too small for the living room and so he bought a 12 footer. Since we only had decorations for a tree half the size, I ran out of ornaments 2 times!! Goodness! So off Abby and I went to get more. It still looks kinda sparse upclose, but still is pretty. James and the neighbors went together to get a lift to put up Christmas lights on the houses. I think there are already plans for next years lights... oh boy! ;)
We had a great and quiet Thanksgiving. Although meatless, it was still good. We shared it with Shannon and had a good time! So here's the story. The 10 pound-thawed turkey took over 5 hours to cook! So we ate everything, including pie, and finally the turkey was done. What in the world!! It has been good leftovers... but are the technically leftovers if you never had it in the beginning??!!!

Snow!

Our first snow of the season yesterday! Yea!!

#2 of Abby's Christmas lines

Abby's Christmas lines 2.

Visit

After almost 10 years I got to really have a good visit with my friend Karen.

Abby's Christmas Lines

She cracks me up!!

God's Paint

I did nothing to this picture. The red is the true color with the sun shining through.

Not a clue what this is... a plant. Enjoy!

Ahhh little grass-hopper. Ok, so it is a big one.

Hinge on old Bunker

I went to Busch Wildlife preserve again this fall. The outings are always so fun. I hope you enjoy the photos!!! God has an amazing paint palette.

Trunk or Treat and Pumpkins

So I am way behind. That is ok. We went to Trunk or Treat at our church. Abby was a cat and Jonah went as himself. You will have to ask him about that one!! We had a great time! After that we stayed at the church for an outdoor movie! The pirates who don't do anything. 1 coat, 3 blankets, popcorn and hot chocolate later we finally kept warm that night!