December 4

Cornerstone Baptist Church can put on a feed! A couple of times a year we have a finger food fellowship and tonight it followed our special Christmas music of lessons and carols which, as usual,  proved to be a meaningful way to usher in the season.
Everyone goes all out on fixing favorite, though calorie laden, goodies.

December 3

There she is. The 2011 Christmas tree for the Taylor family. I've been eyeing this deodar cedar since the summer as it sits beside our driveway, seeing it often while driving or walking along our path. Now if I can just get its grower, aka my husband, to move it on into the house.

December 2

With Thanksgiving over, I gathered up the gourds and pumpkins that have been on display since October to ready the surfaces for Christmas decor. One small one was a sugar pumpkin, so I cut it up, dug out the seeds and strings and baked it for about forty-five minutes. I have two cans of pumpkin on the pantry shelf but I knew that this fresh pumpkin would be just as good or better with a little effort. When the pumpkin had cooled I whirred it in the blender, taking the time to stop and start the blender many times in order to push the mash into the blades until it all had the same consistancy. Now this beautiful pumpkin puree is waiting patiently to become a pie or bread. Yum.

Photo #1

Upclose and personal

Photo Project

My camera skills are less than stellar, but I've decided to participate in the December Photo Project to encourage me to hone them a bit. So for the next 25 days I'm supposed to shoot a picture daily and post it, thereby observing the world around me and making memories through the lens of a camera.
For more info on the December Photo Project check out this link http://www.tredways.org/december-photo-project/

Thanksgiving Week

Gray and the boys arrived in Mountville on Monday to enjoy the whole week of Thanksgiving with us. Other family members are drifting in as their schedules permit. We've had such fun with the children especially since the weather has been mild and we've gotten to be outside a lot.

Hamilton's new front end loader and his old favorite, the schoolbus, see a lot of action in the dirt and in the leaves.

Aunt Linda and Uncle Billy get reaquainted with Collier.

Pops and Hamilton roll and cut gingerbread cookies.

The best part's the eating.

Fresh Photos

A trip to Hanahan to keep the boys for the Morgans while they attended a church retreat, plus a visit from Gray and the boys in Mountville soon afterwards, afforded an opportunity for me to snap some cute pics of Hamilton and Collier.

Collier is becoming very mobile these days and scoots off his quilt regularly.

 

Sometimes he gets stuck.

Hamilton continues to be fascinated with trains and trucks. He plays really well for long stretches of time with his railroad--long for a 2 year old--that is.