{Oh The JOYS of Christmas}

 I hope that your Christmas was Merry and Bright. Our holiday time as family has been so wonderful. It's kind of like Marty said though last night before going to bed. "You plan and plan, decorate, wrap, bake, cook, prepare and everything in between and it's OVER, just like that". YES, what he said is so true but this year I've tried in the midst of all the business of CHRISTmas to SIMPLY enjoy and ENJOY I did. WARNING: Picture overload! 

What's not to enjoy when you God has given you six beautiful, healthy, wonderful grandchildren? They sure make EVERY occasion and holiday special for us. One of our grandchildren's gifts each year is matching PJ's. It's become a tradition that I truly love. I looked back just this morning over the years of pictures that we have been wearing matching pj's and I hope that it will be "one" of their fond memories of our Christmases together.  

My beautiful daughters! I am not sure what I ever done to deserve to be blessed with these three girls. But, I am so glad to be their mom.

We tried to do a selfie but it was blurry. However, there's a whole lot of love in this one picture. We are a very close family and y'all, I am so very thankful for that. 

Our six little hearts....

Before my tribe gets to my house I like to snap a picture of gifts under my tree as when they all arrive with their gifts for each other you can hardly walk in my living room. I can remember when my daughters were growing up I would wrap with whatever paper I could find or toss in gift bags. Over the years I have truly enjoyed wrapping my gifts in matching paper, bows, ribbons and bags to coordinate. I always buy ornaments for my grands and attach it to their gifts for their tree for the next Christmas. YES, the pretty paper is ripped and ribbons tossed (unless I can grab them up before the garbage bag gets them) but I do love doing that.

Isn't that the cutest? I saw this idea on Pinterest and YES I had to do it. The girls loved it. 

Red Hawaiian punch, pineapple juice and Sprite sure makes a good punch. 

Our oldest and youngest grand. This is one of my favorite snaps. 

Some years ago I started a new tradition with my family. Not only do we remember the Reason for the Season, Jesus, but we talk about the Fruit of the Spirit and what each fruit means. Each grand and daughter takes a fruit from the tree in which they have no clue what "word" is attached to the fruit. Whatever they randomly pick is their "WORD" their "FRUIT" that they must think about and/or work on pertaining to their life in the New Year. Even though the youngest grands don't grasp it yet it has truly proven to be a wonderful tradition. 

I did have a granddaughter baking day and even Papa got in on the fun. 

Such fun with these girls! 

We spend Christmas Eve with my FIL and have such a good time with extended family. We have Santa come each year and he brings all the kids a gift. We play games and eat, sing and oh my! We are a loud bunch but we AREN'T boring for sure! LOL!

I saw this cute idea using red peppercorns or red peppers and parsley to doll up deviled eggs and gave it a try. Not too shabby huh? However, let me tell you...it was a pain to do this with red peppers! I will use peppercorns next time. LOL!

I made a batch of pinwheels for appetizers and they sure hit the spot. I mean meat and cheese...how can you say no to that? 

Chocolate cake with buttercream icing will surely always be a winner with my crew. On Christmas eve this year we choose to go with fingerfoods and desserts. Since we do all the traditional foods for Thanksgiving my tribe decided for our Christmas evening meal that we would have fried porkchops and venison with all the fixing's this year. 

Nothing like frying outside in a big pot Y'all!

And since I always post so many girly pictures I do try to get my picture made with my favorite grandson.  I just can't believe almost all of my grands are taller than Nana! 

JOY, Yes, pure JOY the Lord has given us yet another CHRISTmas to be together. "The Joy of the Lord is our strength". Neh. 8:10

I hope that your Christmas was wonderful and that each one of you reflected on the Reason for the Season, Christ, our wonderful Savior and JOY of Christmas as we did. Thank you for letting me share my JOY with you all. I will leave you with this....

Oh the things that the grands teach Nana!

Hugs and blessings, Cindy