Merry Christmas!

The preparations are just about done and we are looking forward to Christmas! The boys are winding up a bit more everyday. I thought I would share a few photos with you of how we have already been celebrating the season.

The boys were both in the church musical, The Next Noel, this past Wednesday. Joshua had a speaking part as Freddie, who also played a donkey. Kaleb was one of the wise men but much to his liking, he had no lines to say. The photo is of one of the last scenes, Joshua is the donkey in the bottom left corner and Kaleb is barely visible with his gold crown to the right of the angel, tucked behind another boy. Click on the photo for a bigger view if you'd like. The children did a wonderful job! Josh has come far from the days when he wouldn't even open his mouth on stage when they were singing in preschool.

We returned yesterday from visiting my brother and his family. They have a new addition, Logan, who is now just over 3 weeks old. Oh, is he a sweet baby!! Melissa looks great, hard to believe she went through labor just a short bit ago! Ethan, is the ever excited older brother now, talking up a storm. We managed to leave without getting a single picture of the baby, phooey!! But here a couple we did take.





Chris wanted to start a new tradition of hiding a pickle ornament on the tree for the boys to find. Whoever found it got a small gift. This is apparently a German tradition, it says so right on the box! I just don't think any real German knows about it, LOL! We called my mom in Germany while we were there and she had never heard of such a thing. Joshua was the finder of the pickle this year and his gift was a pickle ornament of his own. Now we can carry on the German, yet not really German, tradition.



Of course, there had to be outdoor play on the farm! The weather had warmed a bit so sledding down the big hill was out. Chris got out his tractor and plowed some Mogul hills for the boys to sled over while being pulled by the 4 wheeler. They had a blast!

Mom and dad are coming out tomorrow to join us for Christmas. That will help with some of the sadness I feel being in a new place for the holidays. Then next week the Harp fam is getting together with everyone in Rochester. We are looking forward to that.

We wish you a blessed Christmas where ever you are!!