Just hear those sleigh bells jingling...

In case you read my last post about our failed Christmas party, I wanted to share with you some of the wonderfully joyful things that we've gotten to do this Christmas season with our church family. First on my list is our matching Christmas turtlenecks. Cool? No. Festive? Yes! These awesome outfits will now become a permanent fixture in our holiday collection. And Eva made a cute elf!

I love this picture of some of our beautiful youth girls! A few weeks ago our church had a women's Christmas party. We did lots of games, ate way too much food, and did an ornament exchange! Nothing says love like stealing your favorite ornament from a friend. This year my mom got to come to the party also. She is super competitive at party games - now I know why I'm so into bridal/baby shower games!

Last week a group from the church went Christmas caroling at a local nursing home. I was heading up the event and had planned everything out with the event planner at the home -the event planner who didn't mention that she left at 6pm every day. We got there at 7pm and there wasn't anybody in the dinning room where we were supposed to perform! Making a quick decision we decided to make our caroling mobile and sing in each corridor of the nursing home.

I hope we were a blessing to the people we sang to. Our group was quite a step down from a professional choir - earplugs anyone? But what we may have lacked in tune I believe we made up for in joy, laughter, and love. I kept thinking that if I was in a nursing home, I would just want someone to see me and remember that I mattered. I hope we made the residents feel like they still matter. They were so kind to us and never cringed when our group missed a high note. Ryan and I had a blast singing with our friends!

And finally, the reason for the turtlenecks... we had a Redeemer Student Ministries "Crazy Christmas Sweater" party! We'd say tacky, but some of these sweaters were so decked out they were almost cool. Can we all agree to make this silly trend fashionable? Ryan began the night with a devotional about choosing to share Christ this season and then we followed up with a night of fun games and dozens of Christmas cookies. It's been a wonderful Christmas season!