Christmas 2014

The day after we moved in, Dec. 16th, we bought our Christmas tree and brought it home! It was nice to start decorating and making our home feel like Christmas!

A couple days later it SNOWED! We LOVE snow!

 

Because of our move just two weeks before Christmas we were unable to make it back to our families in California for Christmas Day. This is the first time we have been separated from our immediate families for Christmas since we have been married, first time ever for me. We missed the fun and games and the blessed feeling of sustaining joy that comes when surrounded by so many of those who love us. Nevertheless, we did have a marvelous Christmas. We feel it was a great opportunity for us to determine what Christmas traditions we wanted to establish for our own family. One such tradition; baking and sharing.

 

We made loads of cookies, more than needed. If we had still been in Bolivar, there would have been several homes we could visit and deliver cookies. Alas, we were not in Bolivar and I made a plethora of cookies… We decided to deliver them to all of our neighbors. There are only six homes including our own on the street on which we live. Needless to say, after delivering cookies to our neighbors, we still had too many cookies! Eventually, after a week or so we finished the cookies and we found new creative ways to eat sugar cookies. I had made thick and soft (Lofthouse wan-a-be) sugar cookies. We decided they weren’t too much different than pancakes and had them for breakfast with peanut butter on top. They were actually quite tasty :). You should try it sometime. 

We will keep the tradition of baking goodies together and then delivering them to neighbors, friends and family, but we will try not to overdo it next year. Another tradition we will keep is acting out the Nativity with the kids. They were so excited to put on a live Nativity. They loved dressing up and being the center of attention. However, most of all, we loved the spirit it brought into our home and hearts as we reflected upon the first Christmas, the first gift, our Savior.

We also made Christmas banners, a Reynders’ tradition. The kids love coloring so of course it was a hit. Right before bed on Christmas Eve, we hung the banners so they were blocking the entrance from the hall to the living room where the tree and presents were. On Christmas morning, the kids ran through the banner. Who wouldn’t love to run through and tear down a wall of paper?

We did a few other little fun traditions that we will perpetuate. In addition, we thought of things we would like to add next year.

There are so many things to love about Christmas. It is by far our favorite Holiday. The best part for us is striving to find every opportunity to remember Christ and share the gifts Christ gives with others, especially with our Children. Peace, love, hope, kindness, gentleness, meekness, forgiveness, joy; these are what we can strive for year round; these are gifts we can share with others.

Here are a few more pictures of the fun on Christmas Day:

Bubbles= true joy

Hannah: "Uh, what are we doing? Can I just eat this popcorn?"

"I'm read for this popcorn!"

Peter was so excited to give daddy his helicopter.

A little outside play :)

A Place to Call Home

We are pretty settled in here in St. Joseph. The fun part of moving for me, is to find a way to make the new place FEEL like home. Our new place does feel like home :).

Our snowman's carrot nose fell off, but he is still cute :).

Even Hannah loves it!

Moving

Moving is stressful. Enough said. We have felt the added strength of our Savior as we have gone through this period of transition. We love our new home, even though we will only be in it for three months, we already feel at home. We were blessed to find such a wonderful place.

Here are some pictures to tell the story of our move :)

Since we were moving, we didn't decorate for Christmas and we were feeling deprived, so we made some temporary decorations:

We had a goal to have everything packed into boxes or our suitcases to live off of until we left Monday. We were burnt out around 2pm so we took a break for the Christmas Parade. We were so glad we did. We all needed to get out and have some fun!

We LOVE these kids! They were true champs though all of the moving Chaos.

Bolivar's Impressions

Bolivar Missouri will be forever imprinted on our hearts. We have grown so much during our time in Bolivar. There are such good people in Bolivar. We loved our ward (church congregation). We loved the opportunities we were given to serve and learn. Our Father in Heaven sent us to Bolivar. We saw His hand guide us there. We have a better idea now as to why He in His infinite wisdom sent us there. Our testimonies and faith have been tested and strengthened, our talents have been stretched and strengthened, we have been privileged to know some wonderful people. We have been richly blessed by our time in Bolivar, away from our comfort zone of Clovis, California.

People in Bolivar that I will never forget and hope to keep contact with: Karen Jacobs (bubbly, hilarious, charitable, friend), Michelle Guerra (classy, intuitive, friend), Sheena Reisner, LaDawn Moak, CarolAnn Moak, Rebecca Duncan, Kerri Goodman, Sundee Gallion, Rebecca Kamerer, Amy Axom, Deena Vogl, Ireene Vogl, Caroll Wilkins, Rachelle Bolton, Tristian McGill, Misty Sortz, Catherine S, Jana Gosney... I feel I could go on forever. There are so many people that have left permanent impressions on my, mind, heart, and soul.

Thanksgiving 2014

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year but we had more family than last year! We had almost all of David's family. His older sister, Annie, and her family visited before Thanksgiving and weren't there for the actual holiday, and David's little brother, Scott, is still on his mission in Minnesota. We missed Scotty!

It was great having so much family around! It always is :). We made a lot of food and probably ate more than we should have... we played a lot of games and celebrated with some festivities. We read through the Thanksgiving story and had some fun Thanksgiving snacks (thanks to Pinterest).

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/6c/f4/04/6cf40482a0bf56095e42b0974f7be049.jpg

http://meaningfulmama.com/2013/11/turkey-treats.html

http://www.thecasualcraftlete.com/2013/11/24/frugal-crafty-home-blog-hop-51/
Ours wasn't quite as pretty... We peeled more apples than needed for our apple pies so we used those. It was not as colorful.

Our feast consisted of homemade mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and coconut cream pie bars. Needless to say it was all delicious and we had more than enough food. We ate our Thanksgiving meal for lunch so we munched on leftovers for snacks and dinner.

This was my first time making coconut cream pie bars. And they are worth the effort! They were a big hit. I will definitely be making them again. Recipe from Willow Bird Baking.

David requested my mom's blue-ribbon apple pie. My mom makes delicious apple pies! We have missed her pie! But we came out with some great apple pies this year. Kate and Janet, two of my sister-in-laws, helped make the pie crust the night before Thanksgiving. The next day my mother-in-law joined the fun of assembling the apple pies. They got crafty :). Janet made a polk-a-doted top crust and my mother-in-law made a latticed top crust. They looked great and tasted even better. It is always fun to make things with others :).

We all put leaves on our Thankful tree. It sure makes a beautiful tree when we all reflect upon our blessings :).

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the park and had some more fun!

It was truly a marvelous holiday!