~Day 18 of Christmas~

For the anonymous writer who left a comment...NO my sickness isn't the 9 month kind. That surely would be more FUN than what I have been struggling with. =)
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Here's Day 18 and I'll do 19 and 20 tomorrow...for this one has TONS of pics of our Church Christmas gathering that we held at our house!  When we passed out the invitations we figured out that there are about 45 to 50 (and maybe more) families in our church.  I knew that there was No way that they all would be able to come, but I was HAPPY with the 46 of us at our house that Thursday night.  We had A LOT of fun eating, laughing, sharing, and being together!  On the invitation I asked those who came to please bring a tray of goodies/snacks and a drink...that way there was plenty to go around.  And of course I made a bunch of snacks too. =)
~Noah and Elijah helped me make these "Reindeer" out of brownies cut into triangles.  A little dab of choc. icing held their M&M nose and eyes and mini pretzel antlers in place.~

~And since I had recently made 2 apple pies and a cherry one for my in-laws and Michael and Beth and our families, there was still one apple pie left on my counter.  I had someone ask if it were real. =) ~

~My Phillip got me some fresh greenery from Lowe's which I have enjoyed placing in different places throughout our house. (If you go to the section where they are wrapping the fresh Christmas trees, if you ask, they will usually give you all the cuttings from everyone's trees for free. )~

~Since I was busy making sure the food stayed "stocked" I didn't get many CROWD pictures...but here's one I got of people walking around our dinning room table helping themselves.~

~Kimberly, Sarah, and Katrina~

~Bro. Jowers, Steve and Bro. Clemens all visiting together.~

~Sis. Clemens and Tammy.~

~A bunch visiting in the living room.~

~Bro. and Sis. Carter and Mary.~

~At my friend Connie's house, I saw adorable PAINTED canning jars. She told me that she had won them from a blog.  I had never seen them nor thought of painting one.  So, I quickly came home and when I painted my shutters, I painted this one. (The 3 little lanterns came from The Christmas Tree shops for 78 cents each. =)~

~I brush painted this, but you could spray paint it too, I'm sure.  Then after it was dry, I took my fingernail and gently scrapped the paint off the words "BALL" and "MASON."  The berries in the jar are my berries that Phillip cut for me back in November.~

~My friend Dee used Scrabble letters to write, "Be Near Me Lord Jesus."  I thought it was a sweet idea...so I have it below my chalkboard that says, "Away in a  Manger" in our dinning room.~

~Our friend Sarah W. took some pics for me the night of our Church gathering at our house.  Here's our Mary.~

~It was fun to see the pics she took of some of my decor.~

~Our Sarah.~

~Heather (Me) and my dear assoc. pastor's wife Susanna.~

~Visiting and telling the fun stories of where we have gotten some of our things/Christmas decor, etc.  We were SO GLAD for each one of our church family and friends that came to charm us with their presence that night.
I told our guests that our house is like CRACKER BARREL ON STEROIDS!!!  Treasures everywhere. =) ~

~Our Kimberly getting some of my Cappuccino punch.  Here's the link for that Taste of Home recipe.  
 I have used this since our AZ days.  It is an ALL-TIME Favorite!!!  I always at least have double or triple ingredients for this recipe made up (the coffee part) or on hands (milk and ice cream) to keep re-filling the punch bowl.  =) =) =)
People Love it!~