Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! What a wonderful Christmas we have been having at our house. I was reflecting on how this has been a hard year economically for our family, as it has been for most families, but how this has been a wonderful Christmas. We have enjoyed family time together with extended family. We spent last weekend in Gatlinburg with extended family. We were hoping for snow so badly, as we get very little in our area! Well, on the way there, the snow started coming down! And I mean it really started coming down!! It was beautiful. As we got closer to our cabin though, the roads were not so wonderful. We had some trouble getting up the hill to our secluded spot in the woods, but we finally made it. My older brother, who was supposed to meet us later that night had to end up staying in Pigeon Forge for the night. He was able to get to the cabin on Saturday. It was so much fun! The cousins played in the snow on Saturday and had a blast. The cabin had a theater room, which was awesome, so we watched movies and played Disney Scene-It. There was also a game room with a pool table and an arcade game that was loads of fun. It was a great way to start our Christmas vacation!

The cousins.

The Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg.

This is Ober Gatlinburg. We wanted to check out the snow tubing and the ski slopes. It was opening weekend for skiing and it was packed with people!

My crew!

The boys decided to try ice skating. I think they really enjoyed it. It was hard work at first! There were plenty of skaters on hand and the atmosphere was great!!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year! I will be taking a break from blogging for the next week to spend time with my family and enjoy the holidays. I will be making some changes to my blog in the next week, so be sure to check back!

Kim

Outdoor Wednesday

Thanks to Susan at www.asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com for hosting Outdoor Wednesday. I love reading all the participants posts! Last Saturday, my middle son participated in Wreaths Across America. This is conducted nationwide by the Civil Air Patrol. In the fall, the cadets sell wreaths to be placed on the graves of those who served our country in military service. The cadets started early, 7:00 a.m. on a chilly 25 degrees southern Saturday morning. They worked on placing the wreaths until the official ceremony began at 12:00. The ceremony lasted until around 1:30 p.m. Yes, those cadets were out in the cold from 7:00- 1:30 to honor those who served our country.

Below is my cadet. He absolutely loves CAP.

The ceremony was moving. All branches of the United States Armed Forces were represented. The ceremony reminded each of us not to take our freedoms lightly. Freedom is not freely given, it is hard fought for and must be valued as such.

REMEMBER THE FALLEN HONOR THOSE WHO SERVE

TEACH OUR CHILDREN THE VALUE OF FREEDOM

Kim

Service Project & First Snow of The Season

We participated in a service project this morning with members of our Honor Society. This project was connected with Prison Ministries. The group got the name of a child of an inmate. They went this morning and bought Christmas presents, then wrapped the presents and finished up with a Christmas party. It was great seeing them pick out presents for this child. The Christmas party was so much fun! They wrapped the presents, ate some pizza and other goodies, then enjoyed a really fun Christmas game.

They even let us moms get in on the game. We divided up into three teams, boys, girls, and moms. It was a Christmas trivia type of game and I have to say, some of the questions were quite hard. The boys ended up winning, with the girls coming in at a close second. Sadly, the moms ended up in last place. We will be ready for them next year though:)

A very exciting thing happened this morning here in the South. We had our first snow of the season!!! Well, most of you who regularly get snow would probably laugh at this snow, but down here we will take what we can get. We were so excited this morning to look out and see a white lawn. I'm glad we got out in it early, because by afternoon, there was no trace of snow left. Now, we are anxiously awaiting the next snow event!!

I'm off to watch some great college games today!! Enjoy a super Saturday!!

Kim