holidays Archives - Page 5 of 30 - Feathers in Our Nest

Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2014 by Aliesha

CC-Christmas-Tree-2014

Jude-Christmas-Tree-2014

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Let’s not lose sight of the true reason we celebrate Christmas… the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!

“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Luke 2:1-20

Christmas at the Beach

December 9, 2014 by Aliesha

Over the weekend, we were blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas with Tad’s side of the family! His parents were so kind to rent a beach house for us for the weekend so we could all spend some extended time together!

We loved reading Christmas books together.

The weekend was so relaxing (as you can see below, I actually had time to drink hot coffee and read a few cooking magazines)!

The back yard was sandy (obviously), so the kids had a good time digging and playing!

Drew (8) dug a really big hole!

CC had such a fun time.

Jude was content to sit on everyone’s laps the whole time we were outside. (Vera would not have done that at that age!)

We had a fire pit, which was so cozy!

Tad, the girls, and I walked down to the ocean. It was windy, so the waves we really high!

Cordelia was delighted by the beach.

Love my sweet husband. 🙂 It was awesome to have so much quality time with him this weekend!

Vera loved the beach too, but she did get a little scared by a crab we saw!

Back at the fire pit, Jude loved being thrown in the air by his Uncle Jed.

Naturally, we made s’mores! We are particular about our chocolate.

Aunt Angela and Jude

“Just one more cracker, Mommy!”

Vera wanted to roast her own marshmallow.

That evening we had soup (buffalo chicken chili, beef stew in mashed potato bowls, and minestrone) for dinner. After dinner, the kids got on their new pajamas and decorated the tree!

Earlier in the day, they painted ornaments with Grammy. CC is hanging on her painted ornament.

Before bed we had a family sing-a-long! We sang lots of Christmas carols and worship songs accompanied by Uncle Jed on the guitar.

The next morning, we had to get a picture of all the cousins together!

They were much more cooperative than last year!

Our tree looked so pretty and we loved the double-sided fireplace!

This year, the adults drew names for gifts, and all the kids made gifts for one another. They seemed much more focused on giving rather than getting, and I think that was partly because they had helped make the gifts! It was so sweet to see.

Tad gave his dad a SUPER hot salsa, and while Dad pretended like it wasn’t that bad, he downed more than several glasses of water (while hiccuping/crying) in the kitchen! Quite entertaining for the rest of us!

We had a lovely brunch that morning with fresh fruit, donut holes, lemon poppyseed scones, goat cheese eggs, chocolate cherry granola, chocolate chip pancakes, and bacon!

Great way to start the day!

The kids enjoyed some hot chocolate in their special mugs that Angela painted their names on.

Too cute, right?

Later in the afternoon, Haley helped Angela and me make some sugar cookies.

We did a few crafts before dinner too. Washi tape is always a hit!

I folded the cloth napkins to look like Christmas trees, and I made monograms for the place cards. Love how it turned out!

Angela decorated the table with ornaments and shells.

Everyone was hungry… and it was a good thing they were!

We had Caesar salad, sweet potato casserole, loaded baked potatoes, lima beans, green beans, peas, bread, and filet mignon! Scrumptious!

The cousins all played so well together and it was so sweet to see how much they love each other. CC loves her Haley!

On the way home Sunday night, we had a flat tire (boo!), but we made it home on the spare!

We have so many wonderful memories from this weekend, and we are thankful for our extended family!

The group photo is on Dad C.’s camera, so I’ll add it to the post when I get it!

Thankful (Early!)

November 24, 2014 by Aliesha

We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday with my family, and we had a wonderful weekend together!

Our menu: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, roasted butternut squash, macaroni and cheese, green beans, cranberry sauce, and rolls.

I rubbed the turkey with herb butter, stuffed it with aromatics, cooked the turkey breast side down, flipped it, and cooked it a little while longer! It was really good (all 20 pounds of it!).

We were so thankful that the meal came together, since less than 24 hours earlier, I was doing this:

Yep… my oven broke earlier in the week, so I had to replace the bottom element Friday afternoon. We were cutting it close, but we got it fixed in time!

We enjoyed the food, but we really enjoyed sharing testimonies of what God is doing in our lives and how we are thankful in various ways!