Christmas tradition

One of my most favorite Christmas traditions is holiday baking with my sister, Dana.  We spend most of the day and early evening working on the most important treat, peffernuse.  It has been a family tradition for many years.  We always double the batch which includes a whopping 28 cups of flour.  Somehow I always end up having to mix it all together...while Dana is busy making the sugar cookies she swears she will never make again.  But lo and behold, always does!  This year was even more special because our little girls could join in.  I can't wait until next year - it is a day I wouldn't trade for anything!  

Love you bunches, Dana!

gingerbread house fun

So, I've always thought about how much fun it would be to decorate a gingerbread house.  Honestly, it's quite a lot of work!  But with the wonderful help of Hope and Evie it all turned out better than expected.  Take a look at the before, during and after shots.  (note:Evie was more interested in counting and playing with the candy than doing anything with the house itself...who can blame her?).

yum, yum!

Evie has been cutting her last two teeth and hasn't been that interested in eating lately.  It's so funny to me that she won't eat a yummy pancake from McDonald's, but when you stick a blue crayon in her hand to color with, she can't wait to take a few bites.  Hopefully she'll grow out of the stage of wanting to eat crayons, play dough and lotion soon.  I don't think it's quite the balanced diet the doctor was going for.

fun pic

So, over Thanksgiving we decided to get a picture of all of the Morris cousins.  Easier said than done (at least for me).  Evie is not at the cooperative stage!  And she was the only one who just couldn't hold still.  We had many pictures of her half out of the photo and some even with her absent.  This is "the one" that made it to the finals.  We plan to get a big print of it for my dad for Christmas.  As Renee says, "it's an all-around great picture".  From left to right: Coleman, Hampton, Austin, Evie and sweet baby Sallie.  

Santa says, "Ho, Ho, Ho"

Evie's newest words are "Santa" and "Ho, Ho, Ho".  When I asked her last night if she wanted to go and see Santa she replied by saying, "nope".  Well, we had to go because one of our dear Santa friends was all ready to see her.  It took a while for Evie to warm up to the idea of sitting on his lap - but she finally did!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

The only rule Trevor has in our marriage is that every year, we get a real Christmas tree instead of an artificial.  At first I was not happy with the idea.  Being young, newly married and short on extra funds made buying the real tree a little difficult.  I would always think, "I could spend that money on a fake tree and have it year after year"... But now after 9 Christmases together, I have to admit, I don't think I could do the artificial tree.  There is something about going to pick it out and having the smell of pine in your family room.  There is nothing better! So the tradition will continue for another 9 years, at least.

Giving Thanks

Whew!  Well, I am finally back to blogging after taking a little break!  I wanted to share a few pics from our family Thanksgiving - it sure was a fun day full of lots of yummy food (especially Renee's sweet potato casserole), being with family, and giving thanks for all the many blessings.  We spent much of the day mapping out our plan for black Friday.  Dana and I began shopping at 3:45 am.  Renee joined us at 7 and we shopped until 1:30.  What a fun and exhausting day it was...oh the many lines we stood in to get all the great deals.  I can't wait until the next black Friday - so many memories made!