StewMama Says: Christmastime Is Here!

Christmas happened around here on Saturday, beginning with a trip over to the cattle farm to see what Santa brought the good little children at Andrew and Darci's house.

Haleigh and Ella received Bitty Baby Dolls. So much fun!

Matthew was especially pleased with his own bag of pistachios. Lol.

Later that afternoon, Jim carved the roast ~~beast~~ beef tenderloin.

Yum!

I tried to get a photo of everyone around the table, but this was the best I could do.

Haleigh and Ella opened cradles for their babies at our house. Here is Ella with hers. Word has it that the entire cradle was in bed with her later that night.

The big boys in the house received some cash, but had to solve a puzzle cube to get to it. I know, really Mom?

Jon got a little frustrated with his. :)

I think Andrew was first to solve.

Or maybe it was Adam, the engineer.

Bryan and Jennifer worked on his together.

Dr. David's was especially tricky.

Good thing he had Shylah to help!

Little Noah, who likes all things Santa, entertains us with a HoHoHo!

I found these cute Elsa and Anna hats for Haleigh and Ella on Etsy. They jumped right into character.

It's all about the braids.

Haleigh/Elsa and Courtney shared some giggles.

Jennifer, Bryan, and Noah.

Darci, Andrew, Ella, Matthew, and Haleigh.

Ella, Matthew, and Haleigh.

Sweet smiles.

We were blessed to have Grandpa Stewart join us for our meal, and gift-giving.

We thought it would be fun to get a photo of the grandkids, but you know how it is when you try to get 4 little ones to look and smile all at the same time.

There's some silliness.

And some kissing. And fussing.

Some boy time.

And some giggles.

Finally. :)

The evening ended with some game time in the basement. A new edition of Trivial Pursuit and Telestrations. Fun!

Sunday morning brought church, rehearsal for Christmas Eve with my darling little cherubs, and lunch at Carriage on the Square.

On Sunday evening, I enjoyed a very special outing with these three ladies. We had a date in Cincinnati that included dinner at the Grand Finale...

and a concert with our bff Sandi. She's got another cruise coming up!

She sang lots of Christmas favorites, including 'Come Let Us Worship the King.' I'm hoping my little choir kids sound just like her when they sing it tonight! THAT will be a Christmas miracle!

Her daughter Aly as been on tour with her this month, and they take a selfie with the audience at every stop along the way. I don't think we made the selfie since we were way over on the side.

I borrowed a few photos from a twitter feed since the seat location and camera were superior to mine. This is a sweet one of Sandi and Aly after Aly sang.

A special treat for Sandi was having her parents and her brothers in the audience. She told about growing up with family carol singing at home around the piano, and then invited her dad to the stage to lead us in the singing of 'Silent Night.'

It was an amazing evening of worship and fun with Sandi, and especially with four good friends. We were blessed to be able to make time in all the Christmas busyness to be together to celebrate our friendship and our Savior. (There was that man sitting in front of us who observed that there may need to be some sort of alert issued when we are out together. Not sure what he was talking about… unless it was the small outburst when Aly mentioned the upcoming cruise…)

The only teeny smudge on a bright and shiny weekend was that my team lost. The photo pretty much sums up the season. (And what do you think you're doin' to my quarterback?)