Oh, Christmas Tree...

I know, I know.  Everyone else out in blogland posted their Christmas tree pics back in November, right after Thanksgiving.  In my defense, I did TAKE these pictures that weekend.  Just haven't had time to get them off the camera, so now you get them...2 days before the decorations come down!

The quiet life

It has been a quiet week here so far.  We are enjoying no school, lazy mornings, and even went to a movie earlier today.  We saw The chronicles of Narnia: the voyage of the Dawn Treader.  It was very, very good.  Of course, I cried at the end.  We've been laying low, relaxing.  We've gotten a few projects done; the toy closet was cleaned out today, the laundry is getting caught up, the Christmas dishes are done, and the dog had a bath.  But mostly we've been laying low, not doing a whole lot, and enjoying it a LOT!  I'm hopeful to get some more "to-do's" done before I go back to work on Monday, but if it doesn't happen, I'm not going to freak out!  Hopefully will get a few Christmas pics posted soon as well!

Happy New Year!

Mrs. Meek

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas was great!  We started the celebration on Thursday, when we joined Jon's side of the family for dinner and presents.  Traditional ham, mashed potatoes and gravy...it was wonderful!  Our Christmas Eve service was a lot of fun; Jon and I opened the evening by performing the Christmas love song he wrote for me a couple of years ago.  Afterward, we went to "The Christmas House" to look at lights, a family tradition for us.  Christmas morning dawned beautifully bright and we opened presents and then got the house ready for company.  My mom made prime rib for Christmas dinner and we were joined by my sister and her family as well.  My dad and his girlfriend came over Christmas evening to celebrate with us.  It was a wonderful time to enjoy some great food and time with family.  Most importantly, we celebrated the birth of our wonderful Savior! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

More pictures

Pictures taken by the beautiful and talented Kim Cook.

Family photos

Taken by my fabulous friend Kim...

Christmas Cookies

Of course, one of our best holiday traditions is the baking that happens.  My very favorite cookies to make at Christmas are Spritz cookies.  My grandma always made them, and I think they are the best!  Here is my recipe:

Swedish Spritz
1 lb butter
1 egg, well beaten
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 C flour

Cream butter, egg, sugar and vanilla.  Add flour, do not overmix.  Using a cookie press, press cookies onto cool baking sheets (if your pans are warm, the cookies will not stick when you are pressing them....).  Decorate with sprinkles.  Bake at 400* for 5-7 minutes or until they are no longer shiny.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!
Mrs. Meek

2010 Christmas Card

Here is our Christmas card for this year.  My good friend Renee over at Pink Owl Paperie put it together for us! I just adore her work!

Merry Christmas, from our home to yours!!
(more family pics to come soon!)

ideas...

and time...
I currently have 3 or 4 ideas that might be stories or short sketches rolling in my head, but I feel like I don't have time to capture them.  I also have a bazillion crafty ideas that I want to try out, but again, the problem of time.  What's a girl to do?

busy, busy bees

We've been super busy around here for the past few weeks.  We had a great Thanksgiving, including an early break because of our SNOW DAY!!!  My classes are wrapping up, so there's been a bunch of homework to do, the girls had their Irish Dance performance, which was wonderful!  And yesterday was Michaela's Christmas program at school, Bethany is performing with some other violinists on Sunday after church, and our great friend Lee has been here from Mexico.  Wow!  No wonder I have piles of laundry and Michaela has been wearing the same pair of pants for 4 days!  Well, unfortunately, Gabe caught a cold, so we two are staying home today and I'm hoping to make some headway on that laundry and finish up some assignments.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I still have Christmas shopping to do!  EEEEEK!

So, after my brief post, I'm off to be productive...  I'll be back in a week or so when downshift from "the amazingly busy, crazy, and insane life of Jon, Becca and their kids" to just "the amazingly busy life of Jon, Becca and their kids."  Ha ha!

PS- I did find something that's making my life a little easier.  I normally spend a lot of time planning our meals for the week, but now I've discovered e-mealz.  It's awesome!  For $1.25/week, they give you 7 meals (already planned) and the grocery list to go with it!  You can pick the store, too.  So far, we are loving it.