MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Luke 2

The Birth of Jesus

¹ At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. ² (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. ⁴ And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. ⁵ He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now with child.

⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. ⁷ She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

The Shepherds and Angels

⁸ That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, ¹⁰ but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. ¹¹ The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! ¹² And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

¹⁵ When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. ¹⁷ After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. ¹⁸ All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, ¹⁹ but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. ²⁰ The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Bible passage taken from The New Living Translation and Bible Gateway

It's Christmas Time in the City!

As promised, here are the pictures from our trip into Philly.
Our family decided to go to Philadelphia for Christmas this year instead of NYC, as you might remember we did last year.We started in Narberth,Pa, which is a small town just outside of Philly.
They were having a Dickens Village Day.Almost everyone was dresses up in period costumes,and talking in a British accent.It was really neat!
After that we rode the train from there to center city.We got off and went straight to the German Christkindle Mart, which was right beside City Hall.Dad even paid $2.00 for each of the children to ride the Carousel.Next we went to Macy's and the light show. Sitting beside total strangers for an half an hour on a marble floor just adds to the fun!
Are next stop was Reading Terminal for the most delicious Cannoli in the world and the Reading Christmas Train.Finally after a great dinner at Olive Garden we strolled back to Macy's to see the Dickens' Village on the 3rd floor.It has a model of a miniature London of old and wax people to reenact the "A Christmas Carol" story.
You must be thinking wow, what a full day.You are definitely right, when our family dose something, we fill every minute with events!
Hope you enjoy the pictures!

mmmmmm........ decisions, decisions!!

Ignore the guy in the foreground,he was not the object of this photo

City Hall

These were some of my favorite pictures of the whole day!

A great ending to a great day.

Thank You Noah and your Bag for these great photos.
For more photos and laughs check out Noah's Blog

Cookie Break

Finally at last I have a few minutes to post a new blog entry!
I hopefully will be following this one up with a new one about Christmas in Philly.
But back to the subject at hand,cookie!
Last Saturday our family got together and made over 150 cookies.
We made Peanut butter blossoms,almond bars,Blueberry thumbprints,Gingerbread,Chocolate chip,and sugar n' peppermint candy canes. The Children had lots of fun making the candy cane ones.I snapped a few shots,nothing great.Sorry some of them are a little blurry.
Next time I will have to beg the Professional and his bag to take them for me!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas at Longwood Gardens

Last Friday was our last day on our year pass at Longwood Gardens. So we took advantage of it and got to enjoy Christmas at Longwood.My favorite part was the conservatory with all the beautiful plants and berries.They also finished the new entrance and amphitheater, and underneath the have a hallway with a living wall, which was really neat.The wall was covered in green plants, it almost looks like a rain forest hung on the wall.Another highlight was the Baptist Inspirational choir. It was a very good performance, the children loved the swaying and clapping!

It was definitely a great last visit. Enjoy the pictures below!

This was a carillon that they had set up outside for live performances

We have a new Photographer in the making!

The choir from the Baptist Church in West Chester was very good!

The Strolling Carolers were very nice and added to the ambiance!

Thank You Noah for the Beautiful Pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hi everyone I know it has been way tooo long since I have blogged, and I am very sorry!

Our family is in the process of moving and so blogging was the first thing to go.

But onto what the real subject at hand is, Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice time at my Grandparents in New Hampshire.We also got to spend time with some of cousins and Aunts and Uncles.In total we had 13 which is small compared to when the whole family is together, which numbers 21 or more.

Here are some snapshots of the great food and my great family!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!