Christmas Advent!

Here is a picture of our Advent Candles. We enjoyed the tradition of the Advent Wreath and are looking forward to refining the tradition through the years. We pray God will remind us all year of his Gospel, from the beginning of time, to the birth of Christ, and unto the ends of the ages!

We look forward to spending Christmas with my folks and sister this weekend. We leave this afternoon for Elberton and will stay there until New Years Day. I'm anticipating a visit from my VERY dear friend, Kristin. I found out yesterday that she and her family will be stopping by my parents house on their way back to Jacksonville from the Western Carolina mountains. It will be good to see her! We'll also be able to visit some some of my cousins, who will also be stopping by on their way from south FL to IL! It's going to be a fun and relaxing time!

Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We took this picture yesterday afternoon before our gift exchange. I'm looking forward to posting about our Christmas soon and I'm looking forward to hearing about yours!

Going to Gram and Pops House!

Well, we just said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa (my folks) who came up for a brief visit and we'll be heading down to see Gram and Pops (Patrick's folks) this afternoon. Mallory will have a chance to see both sets of grandparents in one day!!!

We're looking forward to visiting with friends and family this weekend and enjoying the Christmas festivities with Patrick's parents. We'll be back on Christmas day and share our gifts to each other that night. I'm looking forward to posting about a wonderful time and likewise hearing about your Christmases! May your celebrations be filled with Christ!

8 months old!

Here are some of Mallory's 8-month pictures that I took yesterday. A lot of them came out great. It was hard to determine which ones were my favorites, but I think these 3 are:

Misc. happenings and the fourth Advent

There are so many things that we've done over the past few days that I'm behind on sharing with you all. Here's a brief summary of some Moss happenings:

- Christmas shopping! Patrick and I have been playing tag-team in going out into the mad, mad shopping world to purchase gifts for each other and our family. We both have done our share of shopping and I think we're finally done!
- Christmas baking! I made some sugar cookie dough on Friday afternoon. While I had been shopping that night, I picked up a container of 100 cookie cutters with all kinds of shapes and sizes. Patrick thought I was crazy buying all those cookie cutters, but I saw years of baking cookies down the road and they were only $10. Anyway, when I got home, Patrick and I rolled the dough and cut out some Christmas shapes and enjoyed piping hot sugar cookies while watching Christmas Vacation. It was a fun late-night snack and movie event!
- Christmas parties! We went to Patrick's office Christmas party on Saturday night. We were able to bring Mallory and she was a big hit. It was nice to socialize, show off our daughter, eat some good food, and be a part of a nice gathering.
- Christmas wrapping! After church on Sunday, Patrick and I spent a lot of time that afternoon wrapping gifts for each other, Mallory, and our family. I usually watch "It's a Wonderful Life" when I wrap gifts, which is what I did. I ended up watching it one and a half times! It's a great movie...and we had lots of gifts to wrap!
- Christmas worship! We enjoyed church again this past Sunday. They're a loving and hospitable body of people in a God-loving church. We attended both morning and evening services and joined in on a good ol' Southern Baptist social afterward. Good food. Great fellowship. Mallory has been having issues with being in the nursery. She DOES NOT like being away from Mommy. She almost hyperventilates as she works herself up. I feel so bad for her and the nursery workers! The nursery workers have been very patient with her and I've been so appreciative of their service to us by handling a crying 8-month old!
- Christmas worship (at home)! We enjoyed our fourth Advent service this week. We read about who our promised Savior was (from John..."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God") and reviewed a little of the prior weeks. We sang "One Small Child" and "Hark the Harold Angels Sing". As we approach the holiday weekend, we're looking forward to reading about our Savior's birth and the response of Mary, Joseph, Wisemen, and Shepards to His coming. We're looking forward to being with extended family this weekend and sharing our final Advent services with them!
- Christmas fellowship! Last night, we had our first guests over for dinner (other than family, of course)! There is a couple we met at church who we seemed to click with quickly. We invited them over last night and enjoyed a fun evening of food and fellowship. Josh is a physical therapy student at ETSU, so he and Patrick had a lot to talk about. Rosana just graduated with a Business degree, so we had a lot to talk about! They just got married back in May and just joined this church we've attended back in the summer. They don't know a lot of couples either, so we both really needed this time with each other. Anyway, I think we've found some good friends!!! God has definitely provided fellowship we so greatly needed!

So, that's it in a nutshell. There is so many other things to share, but I'll have to stop there for now. Today is Mallory's 8-month birthday, so it's picture day. Plus, I've got a bunch of errands to run before my folks come up for a visit tomorrow. They'll stay through Friday morning and then we'll leave on Friday afternoon to Charlotte for the holiday weekend.

Regal Beagle

Patrick has asked me if I will make a post about Cayman. She definitely keeps life exciting and I guess she deserves a whole post to herself. She's a handful and I sometimes have to hold myself back from not yelling at her too much. She loves to play and and take walks, but she also finds ways to annoy the mess out of me. She is a sweet dog, but I'm hoping that her later years will be a lot calmer than her younger years! Here are some pictures of her recent meanderings.

Here is Cayman with her pacifier... er...Kong. We shove a treat up the Kong and she'll be mezmerized by it for a little while.

Here she is mezmerized by the air vent. She spent about 3 days back in November staring at the vent ALL DAY! She would whine at it, scratch it, sleep next to it, etc. We still don't know why, since we looked under the crawl space and didn't see anything. Weird.

Here's Cayman on her new perch - the grill. I'm amazed at how this dog can jump!

Here's Cayman sleeping on the grill. I think the black cover keeps here warm and she likes to be up high, which helps her "man the fort", though she'd probably hide under the bed or something if danger is imminent. She can be a bit of a wuss.

Here is Cayman with Crab. Crab is sort of like Wilson the volleyball in the movie "Castaway". Crab is her friend. She plays with it outside all the time; they run together, play together and even perch on the grill together. They are best friends. Again, weird.

Here's a video of Cayman jumping on the grill.

She's something else.

Good news from the doctor...

Back in June, I made a post saying that my cholesterol was a whopping 253! I went to the doctor last week and just received my labs in the mail today. My cholesterol has dropped to 208! Though still a tad high, I'm so thrilled by how much it's dropped!!! Praise God!

I'm not too good with needles, so when I had my blood drawn for the labs, I got a little tense praying that I wouldn't faint. When she poked me with the needle and drew the blood, it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. At that moment, I looked over at my daughter and realized that the pain of childbirth has usurped the pain of a needle prick. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not going to voluntarily offer my arm to a needle! It just didn't hurt as much.

My doctor's appt was the first step of others that I have to see. My mom is coming up to watch Mallory for me in Jan when I go to the dermatologist to get some moles removed AND go to the OB/GYN for an exam...both in the same day! I'm not looking forward to that (though it will be nice to have a visit from my mom)!

Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news about the cholesterol!

Christmas Craft Idea

I was sharing all of my Christmas craft ideas with my friend Dana and I realized that I wanted to share one of my crafts from last year with you all...

I remember flipping through the pages of a Pottery Barn magazine last year and saw large frame (either 16x16 or 12x12) with a big white matte (to fit a 6x6 picture) and the matte had a bunch of colorful Christmas sayings on it. I remember thinking that I could make something like that, but didn't quite know what to do. So, as the Christmas cards started coming in and piling up...all with pretty Christmas scenes and sayings, I figured I could use cut-outs from the cards, tape them on a matte, and make really pretty frames for my family! I ended up making about 8 frames; one for each of my family members. Some frames I used cut-outs from one card and others I used a conglomeration of things from a variety of cards. The frame and matte combo were on sale at Michael's for about $5 and the enlargement was $.99 at Wal-Mart.

So, go get yourself a frame, matte, scissors and double-sided tape and have fun decorating!

Our frame I made last year:

Details:

Decorating and Third Advent

We spent a lot of time last week decorating our house for the Christmas holiday. Patrick always enjoys putting out the nativity set and he was able to do it this year with his little "Mallor". Mallory also put up the first ornament this year, which was her "Baby's first Christmas" ornament. Patrick and I enjoy going through our ornaments and reminiscing about the significance of them, like where and when we got them or who gave them to us. We have ornaments from Patrick's childhood, my childhood, our lives together, and now with Mallory. I guess you would describe our tree as an heirloom tree. We don't focus on a particular color or theme.

This is the first year that we've hung stockings. Mallory received a beautiful stocking from her Great Aunt Dee, who crossstitched one for her in honor of her birth. I looked around in various stores for stockings that compliment hers, but I was very disappointed in the selection. I kept comparing all the stockings to the ones that my mom had made for us as kids and they didn't even come close. So, I had the bright idea to call my mom and ask if she would be willing to make Patrick and me a stocking. She was happy to this for us! Last Tuesday, I received a package from her with our stockings in it. They were so beautiful! I was so excited to hang them up!!!! I think the stockings from mom and Dee just make the whole house look Christmas-y! Again, I love items that I can consider heirlooms. As the Christmas holidays come and go, I will always be able to share with Mallory that our dear family took time out of their busy lives to make us something so special.

(Notice White Christmas in the background of this picture?)

We took Mallory Christmas shopping this past Saturday. We had so much fun picking out some toys for her and enjoying her company in the mall. We always get compliments from strangers at what a beautiful little girl we have. We are definitely pround parents! I've done a lot of shopping online, though I try to make a lot of gifts, too. I'm excited about our purchases and am looking forward to gifting our friends and family.

Other things we've done this week include writing the Christmas letter, stuffing envelopes, developing pictures, wrapping gifts, shopping, and I can honestly say that the list goes on! On Sunday, we visited a church we both thoroughly enjoyed and are anticipating another visit next week. We've been so busy over this past week, but we stopped on Sunday night and as a family, opened the big black Bible and read more passages to prepare our hearts Christmas. This week, we read about the purpose of our promised Savior. We read the passage from Luke about Mary visiting Elizabeth and her song. We read about John the baptist and how he will prepare the way for the coming Messiah. We read Zechariah's prophecy that is rich with ways our Lord will redeem his people. We read that our Savior will be Immanuel, God with us. Oh, what a joy it must have been to see the fullfillment of the prophecy "and the virgin will bear a son and he shall be called Immanuel, which means God with us". We sang "What Child is This?", "I Heard the Bells...", and "It came upon a Midnight Clear".

"My soul maginfies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior!"

Broccoli

I took this video a few weeks ago, but I just got around to uploading it. I thought it was kinda cute.

Oh the weather outside is frightful!

Today, the thermostat has reached 13 degrees. 13 DEGREES!!!! With the wind chill, it feels like 4 or 5. Patrick always told me that he's wanted to live somewhere that was colder. Well, here we are! Being a Florida girl, I'm a *tad* bit cold.

Brrrr!

Gingersnaps!

I love Gingersnaps, but I've never made them. I've decided that I wanted to do some baking this year, eventhough I'm still trying to drop the last few pregnancy pounds. While I was sifting through my handy-dandy Betty Crocker cookbook, I came across a recipe for Gingersnaps and decided that this would be the cookie I make this week!

I had all the ingredients except Molasses. I've never cooked with it and was surprised by how cheap it was at the grocery store! I put Mallory in her car-shaped exersaucer in the kitchen, played some Christmas music, and started the cookies.

They smelled so good while they were baking and I couldn't wait to taste them! When they came out, I patiently waited for one to cool before I had my first taste. Boy, were they good!!!

This will NOT be the last time I make Gingersnaps. In fact, I will probably write this down as one of my favorite cookies of all times.

Thanks, Betty Crocker, for showing me the way to one of my cookie favorites!

Our Christmas Tree!

On Tuesday night, we went to go pick out our Christmas tree. It was a brisk 25 degrees when we went to get the tree. It was COLD! Mallory did so well, despite her tired eyes and pink cheeks. She barely made a peep the whole time we were outdoors.

We went to a local tree lot in Elizabethton who hand pick their trees from a tree farm up on Roan Mountain, about 30 miles east of here. The trees looked so fresh! The lady who was helping us said that they had just been cut the day before. Oh, there's nothing like the smell of fresh cut frasiers!

We picked out a tall, narrow tree instead of a full-based tree. We don't have a lot of space for a tree, but the tree we picked fits perfectly in its little nook. I have only got around to putting lights on the tree, but I will probably finish decorating it this evening. When I grew up, my mom always popped in Irving Berlin's White Christmas when we decorated the tree. Now, I can't seem to decorate without it! I usually watch that movie at least twice over the holidays. Patrick has never seen it and I am committed to have him sit down and watch it with me this year!

 

Weekend trip and Second Advent

This past weekend, we went to Charlotte for a visit to see Patrick's folks. We arrived on Friday night and it was so great to see them! It had been about 6 weeks since they had seen Mallory and she's grown so much since then. On Saturday, we enjoyed a nice breakfast together and then I left to do a photo shoot for a client. After that, I had about an hour and a half before I needed to be back to feed the baby and I figured I'd try to find someone who was available for a visit. I called my sweet friend, Courtney, who gladly welcomed me for a visit! It was so good to see her, hug her, and have fun conversation about life's changes...for both of us!!!It was nice to have some time to myself, thanks to my hubby and in-laws!

We had a nice dinner together and used the time around the dinner table to express our thanks for what has happened this past year. Later that evening, Patrick and I went on a highly anticipated date! Patrick's mom bought him tickets for his birthday to see Monty Python's Spamalot, which played this weekend. So, we dressed up and enjoyed our time together watching a hilarious play!!! We both enjoy the theater and counted over 12 plays that we had seen together in the past 5 years of our history together.

On Sunday, we were able to go to our home church, see old friends, give and receive hugs, listen to our pastor preach, and fellowship with a sweet family afterwards at lunch. It was so nice to be in a familiar environment with a church family we dearly miss.




























We left Charotte around 3:30 and arrived back home around 7:15pm, which is pretty good figuring we stopped 3 times! When we got home, we had a very tired baby on our hands, so we immediately lit our Advent wreath and started our second service this season. This week, we talked about the announcement of the promised gift and read the passages in Matthew and Luke which document angel Gabriel coming to Mary and Joseph in addition to the announcement Zechariah received about the coming of John the Bapist. We sang "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus", "Angels from the Realms of Glory", and "Joy to the World". Patrick does such a wonderful job explaining the passages to Mallory. She was so cute as she listed to him wide-eyed. Though she doesn't understand what he's saying, she seems to enjoy listening to him as he reads. Whenever we started singing, she kept looking at both of us wondering what we were doing! It's such a sweet time we have together and I'm looking forward to sharing this season with her in the years to come.