Once Again, Allow me To Play "Catch Up"!

Not long ago, I finally got around to posting photos of our Christmas for my family members who live on other continents to enjoy. Tonight I was in a quandry, once again not able to decide what to post about. I have been in sort of a funk today, so I wasn't feeling very creative. I decided to browse through some photos and post some that my family members far away have not seen yet. I also thought it would be a good way for some of my newer *friends* who have been visiting my blog to get to know me a little better! I hope you enjoy the following photos of our Christmas Eve-2006!

Our festive evening began with a wonderful Christmas Eve service which was very moving as Pastor had the small ones come up on the platform and sit at his feet while he read the Christmas Story. There were some really cute exchanges of dialogue that took place between him and the children. After a short service, we were dismissed, but I noticed how many families lingered around, chatting and fellowshipping. It was a very nice feeling not to feel rushed to get home and get the kids in bed for school the next day. We hung around the auditorium for sometime visiting with many friends. Then the "photo shoot" started happening!

The Rios Family, Grandma and Grandpa Riffe, The Leonard Family, after our Christmas Eve service at Faith Baptist Church, Wesley Chapel, Florida.

One of my favorites of my boys! Taken after church service Christmas Eve. (Josh & Shane)

I told my dad to look dreamily into my mom's eyes. They both got tickled! So much for the romance!


Three Lovely Leonard Daughters and Two Handsome Rios Sons!

After service, The Leonards and Riffes came home with us for a Mexican Feast! Here is Amber helping Agustin finish up the chicken enchiladas in "salsa verde"! The apron Amber is wearing was given to Agustin by some of his employees years ago. Notice the chili peppers all over it! Amber loved this apron so much, that Agustin gave it to her! Talk about *re-gifting*!

A mean game of UNO broke out in the living room!

The two youngest had to entertain themselves as the night wore on! (Alex and Shane)

Following the Mexican tradition, after a late meal and the company left, we began opening our gifts! It was around 2:00 AM!

Not the best family photo, but it was around 2:00 AM remember!

Agustin tried on his new silk pajamas I gave him. As he was about to turn the covers down and finally fall into bed for the night, our son, Josh, started a wrestling match! It is now around 3:00 AM!

It was a wonderful night, but I think it would have been even more wonderful if my sis and her whole crew could have been with us. Oh well, maybe this year!

Better Late Than Never!

Okay, so Christmas was 2 months ago! But here are some photos I never shared with my sister and niece, who were so far away from us during this special time of memory making! So please, just indulge me for today as I play "MAKE UP"!

I asked my nephew to pose for a picture with his great Aunt Tommie before leaving. He just rushed right over to her and swooshed her up! She giggled so hard! What a great memory!

Shane with my cousin Ron Kennedy and his wife, Ellie. December 2006

My dad with his sister Tommie, Christms 2006. She collects fans, so he gave her this one that a missionary had brought him from Japan!

Shane and I, with Aunt Donna and Aunt Tommie, Dec. 06, at Aunt Donna's house.

Another Post About Our Christmas!

View of our home from the sidewalk. We had red and green floodlights lighting up the palm tree and red lights swirling up the front columns, but it didn't really show up in this photo!

Poinsettias in our newspaper box. Notice it was a rainy day on Christmas in the Tampa area.

The Poinsettias on our front porch after the rain!


Don't you just love the snow that fell onto his nose?

I loved these outside lights on a home down the road from our house.

The brothers strike a pose!
Aunt Donna, Me, Aunt Tommie, and Shane at Aunt Donna's house!

Our Center piece on our coffee table in the front living room. Aunt Donna quilted the Christmas table topper for me several years ago.
I love it!

The closest you come to getting a snowman in your yard in Florida!

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree

Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents. From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

Happy New Year!

Our Little Family On Christmas Morning!

See what we left Santa Christmas Eve?We don't leave the traditional milk and cookies, we leave homemade guacamole and tostito chips!

Happy New Year to all my friends in cyberspace! Love you all and will post more!

Around Our House - Christmas 2006!

WELCOME TO OUR HOME!
Come on in the front door and visit awhile!

Our two Cocker Spaniels are the first things you see as you enter our home. These are my kind of pets. They only move if they are plugged in!
(Thanks Aunt Carol Jane for this cute gift!)

OKAY -You may think it strange I included a shot or two of the guest bath, but hey, I want you to get a feel for the place in case you come to visit for real!

One of my favorite votive holders displayed as you walk in our front door.
Jesus is the Reason!

Agustin putting the finishing touch on the tree!

Bountiful Blessings!

Aunt Tommy with me, April 2005

Hey Hey the gang's all here! (That's Root Beer bottles by the way!)

Josh with Aunt Tommy on his 18th birthday, April 2005

I can tell its a busy time of the year! Not a lot of new posting going on. Pat is doing better than all of us! Go Pat!

I have received an abundance of blessings the past couple of days. My husband and Shane drove me to Sun City. We took my two aunts out for dinner to 'King Buffet' in Sun City. What a sinful amount of food on the buffets! But oh so yummy!

Back at my Aunt Donna's well decorated house, we received a most precious gift! My Uncle Ray who was a Pastor for so many years, had a collection of animal portraits and portfolios of information about those animals. They are housed in three large binders with gold engraved titles. Aunt Donna gave them to Shane and I for our homeschooling! I was very touched and honored by this gesture. It means so much to me and Shane fell in love with the beautiful portraits. I will post photos of some of them. It is something we can enjoy for years to come and hand down to Shane's children.

We got home and had a lot of laughs with Aunt Tommy. Its so good to have her here. She keeps you laughing and talking and sharing stories. I introduced her to the world of blogging. She enjoyed seeing Jackie's and Rita's as well as mine and Shane's. She would dictate comments for me to leave on every one's blog. She is so much fun for her age! We went to bed around 1:30 a.m. So today we took a nap from 4p.m. to 6p.m. Agustin said if we would go to bed of the nights, we wouldn't need naps! heehaw Later he passed through the room and called us "owls"! This made Aunt Tommy cackle loudly, or should I say hoot!??

Agustin and I took Shane to Patch Club. Church was great. Pastor had an awesome message from Daniel chapter 6. One point he hit on that stepped on my toes was when he pointed out how we let Bible reading and private prayer time slip away because we get too busy and caught up in our daily lives. Well Daniel was involved with ruling a Kingdom and he never neglected his prayer time. I mean, if anyone had a busy schedule and loads of responsibility, it would have been Daniel!

At the end of the service, I received yet another blessing when Bro. Mills was able to present our Pastor with a Christmas bonus! I believed him to say it was $2,000.00 but Agustin thinks he said $1,000.00. In any case, it was all raised on one day, Sunday while Pastor and Dina were in Australia recently, a special love offering was taken up for them and it was quite substantial for our small church. Praise the Lord!

After church, it was supper and time with Aunt Tommy. We bought the ingredients to make sugar coated walnuts and fudge tomorrow. I had a very painful day today with the pain subsiding late afternoon. It was a special treat this morning when my Aunt Tommy rubbed my Arthritis Rub Creme into my wrists and hands. She used to hold me on her lap when I was a little girl. I used to love to spend the nights with her and my Uncle Dale back in the sixties when we all lived out in California. I felt like a little child again for a short time this morning as she cared for me. It was heavenly!
Love to you all! Keep singing those Christmas Carols and saying "Merry Christmas" to all you come across.

My Christmas Tree

We chose this Frazier Fir at the tree lot!
Loading our tree to go home!
Shane helps dad trim it off a little.
Our "almost" finished tree!

I wanted to share a photo of my Christmas tree with you all. I still have ornaments in the garage, but due to poor health, I can't seem to get things done this year. I like my tree even though I feel it isn't finished and Shane thinks it is beautiful. He has had fun decorating it. Of course we had to go pick it out first, which we did the week after Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy the photos!

I look forward to Jacquie Lawson's beautiful cards each Christmas. Go to the link and check out this years. You will enjoy!!!
Get your kids around your computer. They will enjoy it as well!

http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2650116229

Also for those of you with younger children, I found this website that has free coloring pictures of Jesus' birth.
http://www.coloring.ws/nativity.htm

Christmas Preparations!

Hey Friends! I have been out and about all day and just couldn't go to bed without doing some "blogging". I was so happy to have new stuff to read on so many of your blogs! ! Like a kid in a candy shop, let me tell you! (giggle, giggle)

Our morning started off with Agustin reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 to Shane out of the Spanish Bible. Then he conducted a Bible Drill for Shane. He is getting really good at finding the verses in good time. Still room for improvement though. But oh how heart warming to walk out of my bedroom and find father and son reading the Bible together at the breakfast counter. I never cease to thank the Lord for blessing us with a Christian home. When I see a sight like that, I usually think of the poor little children who do not have the opportunity to share God's Word or His love with their parents or family members. I pray I never take it for granted. Then it was breakfast, showers, and off to the races.

Agustin has been off for 4 days in a row! Yes, 4!!! So my routine has been off some, but that is ok. We have taken care of some business and have done some shopping together. Agustin took Shane to Busch Gardens yesterday while I had a quiet day around the house doing little things that simply needed attention. I blared the Christmas music and went with it. I have a Carpenter's Christmas CD that has loads of wonderful songs on it. I also have some beautiful Christmas instrumentals. My tree is almost finished. I keep feeling it needs tweaking. My house is pretty much decorated inside. Outside needs some sparkle. We finally bought a wreath tonight. I wanted to put a live balsam wreath on my door, but when Pat went to get ours, they seemed too dried out. I do have a beautiful Poinsettia plant by my front door and a wooden reindeer stake with a bow around his neck and our family name on him near my entry walk way. I also have a snowman stake out in the yard near our mailbox. I want to put poinsettias in the newspaper box attached to my mailbox and still I want to add lights or bows on the two columns at our entry way.

My shopping is well underway. I started late this year. I am finished with Agustin and Shane, the McCobb's, Rita, Clint, Jewel, Jayde, our Pastor's family,and my parents. I still need to shop for my son, Josh, my nephew, and my brother, and a few special friends. I also have to get something for my husband's 3 co-managers. I usually send a platter of homemade goodies for all his employees. Boy do they love our peanut butter balls! Then there's Shane's Sunday School teacher, Jr. Church workers, and his Patch Club teachers. I'm sure a few others will be added to my list before Christmas! I do plan on baking for most of the teachers gifts. A few lead teachers will recieve Olive Garden gift cards!

Now to fine tune our Christmas Eve dinner! Friends and family come over. There may be 20 people over. We usually do a traditional Mexican Meal. This year we are serving chicken enchiladas with green sauce, refried beans and rice. Of course, my hubby will make his guacamole. Ask Jackie and Rita about that! There will be Mariachi Music playing. Then we'll end the evening with a Pinata for the grand finale! We try to incorporate as many Mexican traditions for our boys as is possible through out the year. So we open gifts after midnight and after our friends go home on Christmas Eve, (well I guess that is technically Christmas Morning!) We go to bed. We adults sleep late, but the boys get up and find their stockings stuffed with goodies. We usually go to my parent's in the evening for a traditional American Christmas Dinner. This year however, due to my mother's health issues, it will be at our home; so we have a little extra planning to do! I am looking so forward to Christmas! Remember, its my favorite time of the year!

I'm off to bed now. I have been enjoying a CD entitled "Dartt Family Christmss". They write all their own songs and accompaniments.