Finding Joy

There are many little joys to find during Christmas time. Memories of traditions from childhood, looking back at service given and received, successful and even hilarious Secret Santa outings, the smell of the tree, the feeling of warmth in our hearts and homes.

The overwhelming joy of this Season is the Birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ, in humble surroundings. His life makes our lives worth living, and makes it possible for us to live forever in His presence. There is a world ahead of us, free from the pain and sorrow of this one. There is hope and joy available to us in this life, if we will but reach out and take His hand.

The colors, sights, sounds and smells of Christmas warm and comfort me, bring joy to my life and inspiration to my soul.

Katie's Creativity

Katie creates beautiful snowflakes that amaze me! She cuts with only a pattern in her head before she begins, and rarely ever has to start over again. Currently, they grace my front glass door:

Creative Christmas

For two months my camera has been collecting dust, and my creativity rust. It is easy to get caught up in the daily duties, and lovely and wonderful as those are, forget to take time to create, imagine and make something lovely.

This Christmas my sleeping creativity has stirred, and I am doing and making things I find beautiful to make my home and family's life more interesting.

There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. ~G.K. Chesterton



When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
~Lewis Carroll



Lighting my home with a little of this and that:




And this, which I am most excited about. When that project is finished, I'll show you:

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! This year brought us many adventures and blessings. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ we continue to be grateful for the peace and joy the knowledge that he is our Redeemer brings us.

We hope your year has brought you great joy and that you are able to start the New Year with the ones you love.

We've included some pictures from our favorite moments this year, enjoy!

Merry Christmas, Love: Mark, Tami, Spencer, Katie, Thomas, Joe and Peter Carson

Make a Smilebox greeting

Snowy Sunday

Today was a beautiful snowy Sunday. We all slept in, some of us later than others, and hung out. Mark set up his Christmas village, which always makes it feel even more like Christmas!:





The rest of the day was spent visiting with family that are here from out of town. The snow kept falling. It's funny this year that everytime the forcast says snow I tell my kids, "It's not going to snow, we live in Washington!" I love good snow, white, lovely, soft, cold and dry. (As dry as snow can be!) Washington snow is usually none of those things, except white and cold. Typical snow is wet, slushy, and messy.

This year we have REAL snow! It keeps falling and everything is lovely white and amazing. Tomorrow I will try to get some good pictures, inbetween shopping. As for tonight here is a sneak peek:

Gingerbread Houses

This year for our gingerbread house time I actually bought a kit from the store! My aunt and grandma came up and joined us, and we had a relaxing day full of candy, gingerbread, graham crackers, sticky frosting and some laughs.

We each decorated a side, or part of the house:




Then we put it together for the finished product:




Peter made his very own out of graham crackers, it was a snowman artist house and he is standing at the front with his wife:


Joe made the nativity with an angel on top and a star crafted by Katie:



I would love to start making my own gingerbread each year. Anyone know where I can get some special gingerbread pans?