New Year's Eve

This year our church had a New Year's Eve service with a time for fellowship afterwards. We've never gone to one, but thought it sounded like a great way to start off our evening. We really enjoyed it. It was a nice time of prayer and sharing what the Lord has done for us throughout this year. After church, we headed home to continue celebrating the New Year.

Our neighbors had just returned home from the states the night before so we weren't sure they were up for a party, but we're very happy they came over. We had a very fun and relaxed evening. They came over a few minutes after we got home from church, so we changed clothes and popped some pizzas in the oven. Then we played a couple of games before it was time to head up to the balcony to see the fireworks. It's great here because we don't have to buy any, but get a great show. We stand on our balcony and see fireworks in every direction all over our little town. Sam got a fire going in the firepit (Thanks, Heather!!) and the kids enjoyed roasting marshmallows. It was a little rainy, but we had a great time.









So...that (finally) sums up the end of our year. We're looking forward to great things in this coming year. We're so blessed. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity to be home with my sweet little girl. Some days are difficult, but I try to remind myself that there is really no place I would rather be. Time flies by so fast and I want to do my best to appreciate each day as a precious gift. I'm so thankful for my husband too. He's such a great provider and loving daddy and husband. Because of him, I'm able to be home with our girl. Until next time...

Elly's visit with Santa

It has become a bit of tradition for us to get annual pictures of Elly with Santa Claus. It was never something I thought about before having her, but having Santa at the PX every year has just made it really easy. It's becoming increasingly more difficult though because of her dislike of him. This year I didn't think it was going to happen at all. As we started to see the stage for Santa being set up at the PX and she realized that he was going to be there she kept telling us that she didn't want to see him.

He's at the PX for the last couple of weeks before Christmas so every time we went in (a couple of times a week) she saw him and saw other kids sitting with him. EVERY time, she made sure we knew she didn't want to go see him. I didn't want to scar her for life so I resigned myself to not having a picture of her with Santa this year.

So, actually getting her picture (sort of) with Santa was completely unplanned and just came about without me trying at all.

Something I didn't really take notice of until this year (because who really notices Santa - he's just a man in a white beard and red outfit) is that Elly has had the same Santa for each year. It's one man who volunteers his time each Christmas season. I only know this because I met him in the Commissary one day and we had a nice conversation. Since then I've seen him around town and had other conversations. He came to Germany years ago in the military and according to him met the most beautiful girl in the world. They married and stayed in her country and had their family. Just a few years ago she lost her battle with cancer. He talked about her with such love. It was really sweet. Anyhow, he said that he has been Santa for many years. He does it as a service to the community and just wants to provide parents with pictures of their kids with Santa Claus. Someone takes pictures and you get them on a disk free of charge. I love it!

ANYHOW...back to how I got pictures...Elly and I went to the PX one day just before Christmas (maybe the 23rd) and as were were going in she told me (yet again) that she did not want to see Santa Claus. I told her that was fine and we went on into the PX. On our way out we had to pass by that area again and the lady (who I found out later is "Santa's" granddaughter) started talking to Elly and asked her if she wanted to see Santa. Of course, Elly said she didn't.

This girl kept talking to Elly and asked if she liked chocolate. Well...she LOVES chocolate, but apparently not enough to sit with Santa to get it. They didn't have any other kids waiting in line so they really worked with her and finally got her to agree to just sit in Santa's chair with me and THAT is how I got pictures of my girl with Santa this year...















It was the cutest thing. When we got done and went over to the computer where they were putting the pictures on a disk, Elly saw the picture with Santa RIGHT behind her. Her little head whipped around so fast to see where he was. She was shocked to see him in the picture with us :) I was so pleased with the care they took to help me get a picture of her with Santa. They were just so great and took a lot of time working with her. I didn't plan (and really didn't want) to be in the pictures, but I'm glad we got them.

Christmas 2011

This year on Christmas Eve we went to church for a candlelight service. It was really nice even if it was a little long for our little girl who had missed her nap that day. I really thought she might fall asleep in church, but no such luck.

Sam and I have very different traditions when it comes to Christmas. His family does everything on Christmas Eve. My family doesn't do anything Christmas Eve, but Christmas morning. I think we've kind of made a nice compromise for our little family. We open one gift Christmas Eve (this year we did the stockings too, but we'll see if we continue that). Then Christmas morning we open the rest of the gifts and later have Christmas dinner.

When we got home from the candlelight service it was around 9:30. It was late, but we still decided to open our stockings and one gift. We had a really nice evening. Elly had lots of fun getting into her stocking.










It was a little different this year with Christmas falling on a Sunday. We waited until that morning to decide for sure, but in the end opted to stay home from church. We had gotten to bed so late and Elly had not been getting her sleep. I hated to miss Christmas Sunday morning service, but since we were staying home we relaxed and had a nice morning.

It was fun watching Elly open her gifts this year. She was really interested in everything she got and wanted to play with each thing instead of moving right on to another gift. So, we let her play and go about it at her own pace.



Elly had already been playing with her new little vacuum when it was time for Daddy to read the Christmas story from the Bible. She had seen it in the box down in the guest room for the last couple of months. She played with it in the box and always asked to get it out. I was pretty sure she would like it and she didn't disappoint. She now has to "help" me vacuum anytime I sweep the house.

Dora puzzle mat from Mom and Papa Hosier.

Gabby was playing with Elly by trying to catch the strings Elly had. It was pretty cute because usually Gabby tries to ignore Elly. This time she was actually wanting to play with her.



I just knew Elly would like this doll. She LOVES to play with hair. She plays with her own hair and loves it with I sit on the floor and she can brush my hair and do all kinds of things with it. I think this was definitely the "it" toy of the day. She kept going back to play with it.

Where's Gabby??

Another fun doll from Oma and Opa.

Books from Mom and Papa.

Elly and her Christmas loot.



Later in the evening we had our Christmas dinner. After cleaning up we went for a nice long walk. I love taking walks around our town. Elly's really been enjoying running lately. Sam or I run ahead and Elly chases us. I love seeing her run. I don't know how she has so much energy. Anyhow, when we got home she had some pretty rosy cheeks.



Well, that's a look at our Christmas. It would be wonderful to be near our families, but other than that we had a nice day.

December happenings

December was a blur of "busyness" here. I'm trying to think back on what happened during that month and am coming up with a blank. It was just busy. Getting ready for Christmas, buying and wrapping gifts, mailing out cards, mailing boxes, boxes and more boxes, baking lots of goodies, Bible study, MOPS, church functions, etc. Thinking back on it I feel as if we never took the time out to just enjoy the season. The house was pretty with all the Christmas decorations, but I don't remember sitting down even one time to just enjoy it and that's a shame. Next year I would like to try to slow down a little bit and savor the season.

Good thing I took some pictures or I wouldn't remember anything we did :) Here is a look back at the first part of the month.

The 1st of December we started Elly's advent calendar. She LOVED this time of day. We did it in the evening when Sam got home from work so he could be part of it too. He usually didn't even get the front door closed before Elly came running to him yelling "Calendar time!!!" I love the unbridled excitement of a 2 year old :)

Now that Christmas is over and the calendar is put away she still asks me what I did with it. Trying to explain "next year" to a 2 1/2 year old doesn't work so well. I expect to be asked about it until next Christmas :)





Our church always lights the Advent candles throughout the Christmas season. The pastor picks a different family to read the devotional and light the candles on the Sundays leading up to Christmas. Sam and I were asked to do one of the weeks. Anyone who knows me knows that I would rather be anywhere than in front of a crowd, but I figured since it was all written out and all we needed to do was read it I could handle that. Still not an easy task for me, but we made it through. Sam snapped a picture of Elly and I before we headed out for church that morning.




December 6th is St. Nicholas day. Here in Germany, the children put a boot outside the door the night of the 5th and the next morning it is filled with candy. Sam remembers doing this as a child and wants to have that tradition with Elly. I dropped the ball this year though because I thought we set the boot out on the 6th (instead of the night before) and didn't realize my mistake until that evening when Sam got home. Since, at this age, Elly doesn't really know the difference, we still did it. I kept Elly occupied for a few minutes while Sam filled her boot and put it outside the front door. Then we told Elly to go check outside the door. She was so tickled to find HER boot outside filled with goodies. Next year I'll have to do better at remembering the correct day :/






I had several days of my annual Christmas baking. I LOVE to bake and have lots of fun with it at Christmas time. I took advantage of early mornings or Elly's nap time to get things done. When she's up it's just too hard to get much done. One of these years she'll be part of it, but for now it's easier and much more relaxing to do some of this on my own. She is a great taste tester though and thoroughly enjoyed "helping" me with that :)




Another Sunday on our way out the door. I just love this little girl and have so much fun dressing her up. She really likes it too. Alot of times after I get her dressed she runs in to look at the mirror. She gets the cutest little shy smile on her face as she admires herself. She doesn't like me to watch her because she gets embarrassed, but it's just too cute.




We've barely had any snow to speak of this year...just a dusting a day or two. One of the days when a little snow did actually stick we got dressed warm and headed out to the back yard. Elly had lots of fun playing in the snow until she got too cold and we headed inside.












Elly loves to paint. I wish I had the space to have an easel and paint out for her all the time. She has so much fun with it and loves it when I display them for Daddy to see when he gets home in the evening.