Memorable Nativity

This Nativity is very special to me. It was purchased in 1983 at Offutt Air Force Base Exchange.
Our move to Offutt AFB in NE started the stormy weekend before Thanksgiving. We had quite a trip. My husband, I and our 2 daughters then 3rd and 4th grade stayed in the military TLQ, (for those of you who do not recognize TLQ, temporary living quarters, these were small one room with a small kitchenette and bathroom.) Little did we know that we would spend 3 holidays in this small living quarters. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. It was mid Jan. before we finally got in a military home. It was a good thing I had Christmas shopped before the move. The weather was very bad and most of that time we had no school, no work for my husband and worst of all, no Church. When my mother sent our gifts, she sent me $$ for Christmas as my gift was not as much as the rest of the family. So 10 days before Christmas when this beautiful Nativity had finally gone on sale I purchased it so we could use it to decorate and remember the blessed gift of a savior. We celebrated Christmas dinner with our next door TLQ neighbors and we still remain friends to this very day. Every year when I decorate using this Nativity, I remember those days with joy. Those 6 weeks turned out to be a blessing for our small family of 4, spending much quality time with each other weather we wanted to or not.

Yellow Bus

My Husband and I both work for the School District. He drives a large bus for regular Ed children and I am a bus aid on a smaller bus for Special Ed children. We really enjoy our jobs and this gives us time off over Christmas and summers off to enjoy travel, fishing and family. The picture above is us with 4 of our grand children. My oldest daughter home schools there children so they were excited to see the buses we work on. This picture was taken in May 2006

Christmas Decor

Dec 19th we enjoyed having our youngest daughter, husband and 10 yr old son over for supper. It gave me an opportunity to use my new snowman place mats that I received as a last year Christmas gift from my oldest daughter. The tall Terry Redlin water glasses were a gift from my youngest daughter and family. They both add to the beauty of the Christmas table setting. The advent wreath was purchased in Germany as we were stationed there 14 years ago with the Air Force. A candle is lite each week before Christmas until finally on Christmas Eve all the candles including the White pure Jesus candle is lite. This candle reminds us of Jesus as the pure and Holy gift as a child and also as the center of our lives. We have had an Advent wreath since our 2 lovely daughters were age 4 and 5 years of age. They both have included this meaningful tradition in their family celebrations.

Christmas Tree

A blessed Christmas to everyone. It is still the Christmas season and especially at our home. We almost always leave decorations up until Jan 6, Epiphany. This year they will stay up longer as we will be having our Christmas gift exchange Jan 15 when our oldest daughter and four grandchildren from NE will be spending a week with us while her husband attends a conference with

their pastor and other friends at Ft Wayne. Since my younger daughter, her husband and son spent Christmas out of state with my parents, we decided to all celebrate together in Jan. It should be a lot of fun and I wouldnt be a grandmother if I said I wasn't very excited. I can not think of any other holiday that is so important then our Saviors birthday and well worth extending the joyous celebration. Above is a picture of our new pre-lighted artificial Christmas tree . We purchased it last January at a very good sale price and we are certainly enjoying it. We have a wood burning stove in our family room where we like to display our tree so a live tree would be severely dried out by this time. This tree will also be nice for when we spend Christmas away from home with family. That way we wont be forced to take it down early. I love having the angel at the top of our tree to remind us of that special message from God that His Son had been born for you and for me and would save His people from their sins.