Christmas Time...

On Christmas morning, me and my brother and sister went over to some friends house for breakfast.  Then we had a short church service.  After that, my family went over to my grandparents house. 

 

Of course, I took pictures as always. 

Tabitha was sitting at my table so I had a good time with her! 

 

 

Daniel wanted to show us his new gun, so we went out and did a little target-shooting.  

 

I'm a horrible aim, but had fun shooting the gun anyway.  It was really super loud!  Much louder than a shotgun.  

 

My dad was holding Hudson and I thought it was adorable!

 

The three cousins!  :)  I love this picture!

 

I have yet to upload some awesome videos of me, Sarah and Olvier spreading Christmas cheer and saying "Merry Christmas" to random people in the nearby towns.  It was awesome!  That'll be my next post.  :)



Bugs, bugs, bugs

 

Remember that huge stinkbug invasion we've had these past two years?  I know where all of the stinkbugs from Central PA must have congregated. 

Our attic!

 

When you live in an old farm house, you have to realize that there are going to be cracks in the attic.  Between the chimney and wall, there are cracks.  Somehow, the stinkbugs found their way inside and then died (how lovely). 

 

I decided it was time to clean the attic the other day and found this:

 

 

Pretty gross, huh? 

 

cleaning them all up actually made me feel pretty accomplished.  Then I took the trashbag they were in and made my brother feel the outside of the bag and guess what it was.  He thought it was granola! 

 

Don't be too grossed out: he thought it was hilarious!

 

 

On a less-disgusting note, I was able to babysit my nephew Hudson yesterday!  He was so cute...

 

I enjoyed it much more than he did I'm sure.  :)

 

Until later!

 



Christmas with Tabitha

I just know that those of you who are reading this are sick of reading about my nieces and nephew and seeing pictures of them.  But....I just can't help myself.  They're so cute and I love them SO much.  AND, in just 30 days, I'll be back at school again.  So I plan to enjoy them as much as I can. 

 

Tabitha came to our house on Sunday and because they stayed all day, she had to take a nap.  I let her sleep on my bed. 

 

 

On Christmas Eve, my church had a special candlelight service.  At the second service, Tabitha and I took a few pictures.  :)

 

On Christmas Day, Tabitha was wearing my santa claus hat.  :)  Isn't she adorable? 

 

 

Well, that is all I have for the moment.  Tomorrow I'll post some funny videos my brother and sister and I took on Christmas Day.  :)

 

Merry day-after-Christmas!



So far?

So far?  My Christmas break has been absolutely lovely! 

On Tuesday my family went to Mark and Lydia's house and had a small Christmas party. 

 

 

I snapped this picture of Katie, Sarah, Martha and Ryan when they weren't expecting it.  :D

 

 

I thought this picture with my dad was funny

 

Hudson wouldn't stop sleeping!  So I woke him up...

 

He wasn't very happy about it...

 

I thought this was a cute picture of Oliver and Hudson

 

The two little cousins...

Hudson and Abigail

 

And my favorite picture from the night!  :D  My nieces and nephew are so cute and precious.  I love them!

 



 

Hard to believe: Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!

On Saturday, I volunteered to ring a bell for the Salvation Army.  It was really a very wonderful experience.  I admit to being one of those who have skirted by the bell-ringers and tried desperately to avoid eye contact with them.  Being on their side of the bell though, I can see it differently.  When I go shopping next time, I will not only donate (if only just the change that I've gotten back), but I will make eye contact and say "Merry Christmas!"

I can see what it is like, to say "Merry Christmas" genuinely and have people walk past in a rush, looking at the floor, for fear that you will try to squeeze money out of them. 

I say "Merry Christmas", not to 'get' people to give money, but to spread Christmas cheer.  After all, Christ is the reason for Christmas. 

In essence, when I wish someone a Merry Christmas, I am wishing that they have a happy time celebrating Christ. 

 

Enough of my diatribe.  I learned a lot, from the short 2-hour bell-ringing opportunity.  I won't soon forget how wonderful it feels, to brighten someones day, by simply smiling and saying "Merry Christmas!!"

 

 



Christmas Cookie time!

Christmas time just isn't Christmas without Christmas cookies!  So that's what I've been doing a lot of since being home.  I love it. 

 

 

This was my first attempt at making peppermint patties.  I still havent tried one, so I don't know how they taste....

 

Hard to believe Christmas is in just a few days!  I'm off to start baking and preparing for our Christmas Open House tomorrow!  :)



Handbell Choir Performance

 

 

 

 

My Handbell choir from college performing two songs at the Winter Orchestra Concert. 

 

Sometimes you have to allow the movie to buffer to the end before playing it, otherwise it will stop playing in the middle.  :)

 

 

 

 

Nieces and Nephews

So far, my break has been WONDERFUL.  I was able to meet (for the first time) my niece Abigail and nephew Hudson. 

 

They are absolutely adorable and I'm excited about spoiling them rotten.  :)

 

 



Bells of Christmas

My bell choir had a super busy season this year!  First we played in the Winter orchestra concert, then in chapel, then after church in the balcony.  Then we were asked to play in the promenade two times different sunday nights after church.  On Wednesday we played in the Festival of Music and then Friday we went down to downtown Lancaster and played on the Blvd in front of Bex. 

 

Here are some of the pictures taken on the Blvd showing. 

 

and on the balcony...

 





 

Annnnd, in the Promenade!

 

This picture was taken at the Winter Orchestra Concert

 

Well, it's been an exciting semester of handbells.  We've had a lot of opportunities to play!  it was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to next semester. 

BUT, before that...I get to go HOME!

I'm leaving tomorrow to go home to Pennsylvania.  I've taken nine finals and I have only one left tomorrow morning. 

So exciting!  :)

The End of the Wire...

We're getting to the end of the semester (WHoooooooooo!).  Only one week left.  I took my first final on Monday night and I have 11 to take yet.  I just love the busy bustle of this season.  With the Winter orchestra concert last week, Festival of music this week as well as the Christmas musical, AND finals, I think I'm starting to become a music zombie.  :) 

 

It's all good though because as my teacher always reminds me "You are a music major!"

 

The orchestra concert went really well and there was a great turnout for it.  The festival of music is tonight.  On Friday evening, my handbell choir is going to play several Christmas selections in downtown Lancaster on the Blvd.  Then Saturday and Sunday are the showings of the LBC Christmas musical. 

 

On top of that, finals officially start tomorrow.  :)  I've already taken one early. 

 

I decided it was time for our room to take some room pictures for Christmas.  I bought some Santa hats (even though Miriam insisted she wanted the elf hat instead) and we took some random pictures around campus. 

 

 

 

 

I'll be posting more pictures from these music events later on.  Until then!



Roommate time...

Last week I decided it was time for a room-date with the roommates.  I borrowed a friends car and took them to Red Robin.  I chose Red Robin since I have a loyalty card there and get a free burger in my birthday month...:D 

 

We had fun...

 



The other day we decided it was time to decorate for Christmas. 

Miriam had the tree and bulbs from last year and we made everything else from scratch.  It was so much more fun than just buying everything from the store. 

 





So we found this odd banquet-time skirt in the free box and cut it up to make a tree skirt out of. 

Here I am, sewing it up.

 

Miriam insisted on making a star out of a plastic bottle.  I think it made our tree look ghetto, but hey, she had fun doing it.  :D 

 



We decorated our door with snowflakes. 

 

This is my first really lame attempt at a snowflake (I'm not the most creative person) :)

 



This is the skirt that we found.

 



My second attempt was a lot better.  It actually made it to the door.  :)

 



And......the finished result.  :)  It's little and kinda lame, but it makes us feel the Christmas spirit.  :) 

 



There are only 11 days left until I go home...now that's hard to believe!