Holiday Happenings in Denton

We started our Christmas get-together yesterday with a snowman puzzle. Cullen (7) and Camden (6) are very good at putting a puzzle together.

We bought Amy some inexpensive, make that cheap, Christmas dishes several years ago and we alternate between Jennifer's and Amy's house for the Christmas event. Wonder if Jennifer would like some holiday dishes for next year.....

We had a couple of mystery gifts to open.....

fun glasses to wear.....

a hug for PaPa.....

cookies to decorate (thanks, Jennifer)....

and new toys (Bendaroos) to play with.....

Easy on the sprinkles, Camden..... (the plastic top with holes was missing)

All in all, another wonderful family time, enjoying each other, laughing and playing, sharing a meal and pausing in the midst of it to remember Jesus - the reason we celebrate. We were blessed with good health and much happiness in 2008 and look forward with anticipation to what 2009 has in store for our family.

Wishing a very merry Christmas to any and all who read this.

JoAnne & Ron

Wannabee Christmas Party

The Wannabees met at Maggie's house yesterday for our Christmas party and gift exchange. Here's most of the bee with honorary member, Buster. Wish Beverly had been able to come.







Here's Janet with the miniature quilt I made for her and me with the runner Kaye made for me.

Merry Christmas to my blog friends!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Santa in Texas

Santa's ready to ride!

ASAP party

Mel Burda was one of the volunteers at the ASAP party Sunday night - we were all decked out in reindeer antlers. The other photos are of the baskets for the expectant moms. I wished I'd taken a photo of the girls picking out their quilts. There were 37 girls at the party and they all flocked to the quilt room first to pick their quilt. I was monitoring that room and it was so neat to see their excitement as they looked at all the quilts.

Here's the basket Jennifer, Amy and I did for a new mom-to-be in the ASAP program. Hope she likes it!

Christmas at ASAP

Today is the day for the ASAP party and here are some photos I made yesterday when I dropped off our bee's tree and the expectant mother's basket I did with my daughters. The director is Diane Nixon and she told me she's expecting around 50 girls at the party.



The girls will be able to choose a toy and some books for their child and each one can pick a bear from the bear tree. Diane does a wonderful job of providing these gifts for the girls. What an awesome project to be able to be a part of!

Playing in the leaves

Kenna, Cullen & Camden spent Saturday night with us and enjoyed playing in the leaves with Papa. The photo is kind of blurry but I think it captured their enthusiasm. Sometimes simple things are the best.

ASAP Christmas Project

My quilt bee decorated a tree for the ASAP Christmas Project this year. ASAP is Assistance for School Aged Parents and is a program which helps high school mothers stay in school to finish their education. Our guild supports this program and some of the bees sponsor a mother for Christmas. This was a fun project - buying clothes and toys for a 15 month old boy. The mother will receive the tree at a party on Dec. 14th. In some cases, this may be the only tree the family has and the only gifts the child will receive. I purchased a couple of Elmo toys yesterday and they scared me to death. I was driving along when one of them started making a noise that sounded a lot like a police siren. Thankfully, I did not have a wreck but I sure was startled for a moment.

Photographer Down!

As you can see, Amy will go to any lengths to get the best shot. Here she is, on the ground getting the best angle. The second photo was taken by an upright Nana, a bit far away but I wanted to get the castle. And then I still chopped off the top of it! Maybe I should do a little cropping on this photo. Or check Amy's photos - hers are probably much better!

We're back!

We're back from our wildly wonderful week at Disney. It was an enjoyable but exhausting week. Robert wore a pedometer and we averaged walking more than 6 miles each day. That's a lot of walking for an out-of-shape Nana. I stole this photo from Amy's blog (thanks, Amy). Amy is documenting each day, if you're interested check it out on her blog, http://www.thepiercefive.blogspot.com/. I have over 200 photos on a Wal-Mart site I can share/bore you with - just ask! All in all, the week was magical and I'm glad I have all those photos to help me remember it.