His and Mine

The J-3 Piper Cub may be his,

but the oh-so-happy owner/pilot is definitely mine!

Log Home Christmas: The Little Pictures

Log Home Christmas: The Big Pictures

The Living Room, dressed up for Christmas!

(The wool quilts made by my great-grandma will stay in the living room all winter long!)

The stairs decorated with stockings from my husband's childhood

and stuffed handsewn ornaments

made by his great-grandma!

The gift-wrapping station located under the stairs

features an old wooden box I just inherited from my mother-in-law!

Reading Around the Fire

After your little brother is in bed and the house is quiet,

there's just nothing like curling up with a good book next to a warm fire,

especially when you're already in your jammies.

Daughter #3 opted for some poetry tonight:

Shel Silverstein, to be exact.

***

Daughter #1 is reading Prince Caspian

(from the Chronicles of Narnia)...

...for the second time in two days.

***

Daughter #2 is tackling The Spirit of St. Louis

by Charles Lindbergh

(because Daddy liked it).

Night Music

This is not an uncommon sound around here.

Sometimes I find it beautiful.

Sometimes it is just chilling.

This was part of tonight's concert.

Beautiful or chilling?

Turn the volume way up, and then you decide:

Happy Christmas!

As I got out the Christmas decorations this year,

I noticed that I have collected more than a few Nativity sets!

This one my husband bought for me in Israel

when we were in high-school:

The Scrabble letters spell out "Happy Birth Celebration"

(because according to Google, there is no Hebrew for "Happy Christmas").

***

This set came to us from Mexico via my husband's grandparents:

(Does Feliz Navidad really need translated?

Really? Oh. Well, it means "Happy Christmas" in Spanish!)

***

My friend got this one for me when she lived in Germany:

Frohe Weihnachten means Happy Christmas in German

(or so the internet tells me!)

***

My husband remembers this one from his childhood:

(it's new to us this year)

***

My grandma got this in Peru

(where I spent most of my childhood)

and although it's an ornament and not really a set,

it counts because it's the only Nativity-themed thing I've got from Peru!

Over the Weekend

This weekend, while my parents stayed with the kids, my husband and I flew to the other side of the country so he could run a half-marathon with some friends.

It was sunny and almost warm on race day, and 4/6 of our group had fun running their race.

The other 2/6 of our group had fun not running the race,

and after the 4/6 crossed the finish line, 6/6 of us spent the rest of the day having fun together!