~The Lord gave us a good Christmas...part 2~

~Our Silly Elijah.~

~We now have a "Fireman" who lives with us.  (And that's his "Tennis shoe firetruck." =)~

~Gram got this "It's Always Christmas at Grandma's house" shirt for Elijah a couple Christmases ago...so it was fun that Mary got to wear it this year! =)~

~Our Christmas tablescape.~

~Each place setting looked like this.
(I had found these cloth napkins on sale years ago but this is the first time I got to use them.)
Grammy got us the fun place cards.  I LOVE to use lots of plates...but since I couldn't bring my Christmas chargers with me (that we got on sale back in the US!!!!) and don't have any other plates here,  I just used a green plastic plate for another layer.~

~For our centerpiece I decorated with the extra 2 cloth napkins, elevated candles, my little gold Christmas tree, pictures of our family (since Christmas is all about Jesus, family, friends and love!), and I threw in a gold key to represent us giving the keys of our hearts to Jesus for Christmas. =)~

 ~And since we had had turkey for Thanksgiving, and the hams that Phillip found in the grocery store were $200.00!!!! I just made a new, simple, fun menu I found called "Chicken a la King!"   You make "crowns" out of bread...(I got this basket for Christmas too =)~

~And fill them with this yummy Chicken gravy.  We also served a big salad, sparkling juices, and my homemade apple pie and ice cream.~

 ~Mary says that with 2 brothers that got handcuffs for Christmas...she is needing SpEcIaL prayer.  =D
Elijah put these on Mary...but she had fun playing with them.  When Daddy took them off, she put her hands back in the holes. =)~

 ~Kimberly got a Mate cup and 2 straws for Christmas (along with some money towards her camera she is saving up for.)  You see in Argentina "Mate" (an herb drink similar to a STRONG tea) is a VERY cultural thing.  You see it everywhere.  And you know you are "in" with a group if you walk up to them and they share their Mate with you...using THEIR straw! =)~

 ~The blue thing is a straw...but on the end it is a filter so that you don't drink the dried herbs up in your straw.~

~Noah got a fun car ramp.  Noah's dear CNC SS class got him one like this back in the US...but he didn't get to bring it with him.~

~I made a fun recipe for Eggnog Punch to drink Christmas night.  We have never been able to find eggnog in Colombia nor did we find it here, so we really enjoyed having eggnog again! =)
(Pardon the "punch bowl"...it's the only thing I could find to use in our rented Apt. here.)~

~Everyone is enjoying Noah's 240 piece puzzle that he got.  The only thing is...we need a BIGGER puzzle, for the kids put it together so fast it's unreal! =) (We thought Grandpa would enjoy seeing the fun details on Noah's car puzzle. =)~

~Sarah got lots of nice presents too.  These 3 pieces of wooden doll furniture were among them.~

Thank you for each of your thoughts, gifts, and prayers for our family this Christmas! Even though we were SO FAR from familiar surroundings and family, the Lord helped us to not be too lonely.  We poured ourselves into doing lots of fun baking and making Christmas special for our children.  This Christmas made the LONG TRIP that Jesus made from HEAVEN to earth...and the "culture shock" he must have faced...even more real!  Wow! What a Savior!

~The Lord gave us a good Christmas...Part 1~

Thank you for all the nice Christmas wishes!  It was fun hearing from each one of you!
~We found out that on Christmas EVE in Argentina...every.one.sets.off.fireworks! You have NEVER seen or heard more fireworks in your life.  It made "Fourth of July" look like a couple kids with sparklers! =D  It seemed like EVERY one of the over 13,000,000 people in our city of Buenos Aires was setting off HUGE fireworks!  Every.where.you.looked. there were beautiful lights and LOUD sounds!  =) It was really neat.  Phillip bought a few to do on our roof with our kids.  (I didn't get a picture of the Bigger ones that we shot off.)
It was COLD so please pardon Noah's pink coat that Sarah loaned him.  You see Mary was already asleep in the room where his coat was.  The amazing thing was that our Mary WHO AWAKENS at the slightest sound...SLEPT through the HUGE LOUD fireworks that were going off on top of our roof, RIGHT beside our windows, and ALL AROUND US... and that lasted for 30 mins. =)  She slept nearly all night that night!  Wow!  Let's do fireworks every night.  HA! It's supposed to be VERY HOT right now...and has been in the 90's but Kimberly WISHED for some colder weather for Christmas and Jesus sent us some.  We enjoyed drinking hot choc. and watching fireworks on our roof. =)~

~Now...The stockings socks were all filled!~

~CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!  4 of our children with their stockings!  (Pardon their "square eyes"...they had just awakened.  Sarah saw this "hat" head band and loved it. =)

~We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of eggs, (with cheese and ham), grape fruit which we haven't had in YEARS, and my homemade cinnamon rolls.  After we enjoyed a good service filled with God's sweet presence...it was picture/gift time.=)~

~Sweet little Mary.  It was like it was her "first Christmas"...since she was so tiny last year.  It was so fun to see her cute little smiles when we were opening gifts.  She loved all of her gifts.~

~Me playing some fun Christmas carols!  We had fun singing some Christmas carols together.
(Do you like our "2 stool piano stand?" We couldn't bring the stand to our keyboard with us. =)~

~Our family~

~My sweetheart and I.  (My fun skirt was a gift from him to me.  It's a double sided wrap skirt/outfit. There's about 6 different ways you can wear it.  We've seen several ladies here in Argentina wearing these.
= )

~Before opening our gifts. 
(Explanation of our gift wrapping:  If you know anything about my Moma...you know that I grew up in a house that could easily be in a Victorian Magazine! =)  Each year her gifts under her tree are wrapped beautifully and with matching paper!
So, it took some adjusting for me to find no Christmasy wrapping paper sold in the stores here in Argentina, or when I finally did find some paper it was TINKY rolls of paper...that weren't my style.  Thankfully, the big grocery store we shopped at for gifts had rolls of FREE gift wrapping paper for each customer to tear off some and wrap up the gifts they'd purchased there before they left the store.  The only bad thing was...that it was a different style/color of wrapping paper every time we went. =)~

~We got these 2 adorable chairs for Elijah and Mary.  (They don't have a lot of keepsake type things to one day pass down to their children like our other children do.)

~Sweet Mary~

~Elijah and Mary enjoying their chairs.~

~Our 5 wonderful kids.~

~Do you think Kimberly needs BIGGER glasses?  It was just a fun "white elephant gift" for her to open.~

~Elijah and his glasses.~

~Mary loves her little stroller she got!~

A couple silly quotes from our kids:
One day Noah was sitting at our dinning room table eating with us and he was dreaming of some small toys that he had just seen at a store that he wanted to buy.  So, in his little mind he was trying to figure out HOW he could earn some more money to get them.  Out of the blue he said to Sarah, "I could PULL MY TEETH OUT  and play Spanish Rosetta Stone to make some more money."  It struck us funny when he said he could PULL HIS TEETH OUT (to get some money under his pillow)!
(By the way...He got all of those small toys for Christmas...plus more!)

Daddy was brushing Elijah's teeth...and when he opened his mouth...his throat made a noise.  To which Elijah told Daddy..."I have a Kitty Cat in my mouth and it just meowed!"

Part 2 of our Merry Christmas coming up soon! =)

~Christmas wishes!~

~A VERY Merry CHRISTmas and a Wonderful New Year ~

...from our family to yours! =)

~Fun Food Friday...Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip cookies~

~"Thank God for dirty (& clean) dishes they have a tale to tell...While other folks go hungry, we're eating very well." =)
(My Moma has a plaque that bears that saying hanging near her sink.  I grew up washing dishes reading that.  It's so true!)~

~Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies~

from The Sisters Cafe.com

2 sticks softened butter (1 cup)

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 1/2  -4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag of chocolate chips
1 package of Double Stuff Oreo Cookies (I just used reg. Oreo cookies...~Heather~)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars until well combined.  Add eggs and vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips until just combined.  Using a cookie scoop or a spoon, place a scoop of dough on top of the Oreo Cookie. Now take another scoop of dough and place on the bottom of the Oreo Cookie.  Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed in dough.  Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until lightly browned.  Let cool 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  Serve with a tall glass of milk and enjoy!

Makes 2-3 dozen large cookies.

~We made these yummy Oreo Stuffed Choc. Chip cookies last night.~

~We enjoyed dipping them into a glass of milk.~

~Good to the last drop crumb.~

~Elijah...with his "Got milk mustache"...and a little "Oreo cookie beard"! =)~

~I was so HAPPY to find a good recipe for Toasted Salty Pecans. When I was a teen my Daddy pastored a wonderful church in Louisiana. I was the only one left at home and being a PEOPLE PERSON I LOVED it when the families in our church invited us over. One of the families that would invite us over was Miss Nellie and Miss Cleo. We always enjoyed our times at their house. I well remember the yummy salty pecans they served near Christmas. Just the other day I found a recipe that tastes very similar, and I'm sharing it with you. I like spicy pecans/almonds too, but I really enjoy munching on these simple toasted pecans.
~Sea Salt Roasted Pecans~ 
from epicurious
2 cups pecan halves
3 Tab. unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 teas. fine sea salt    (NOTE: After making these twice, my family and I think they would be better with only 1 TEASPOON of salt, for they are a tad salty. ~Heather)
Preheat oven to 325 F. Toss pecans and melted butter in med. bowl. Sprinkle sea salt over the pecans and toss well. Spread pecans in single layer on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until fragrant and slightly darkened in color, about 15 mins.
Cool pecans on baking sheets.

 

  Happy eve...of Christmas Eve! =)

~Our evening with our new friends~

We were invited to a dinner with our new Chinese friends.   I wanted to share some photos of our special evening with you.  There were 3 different families plus ours.
~It has been fun getting to know a little more about the Chinese culture through our new friends Jesus has sent us here in Argentina.  William told us that Chinese love to eat.  That when a Chinese meets a fellow Chinese he doesn't ask him, "How are you doing?" ...he asks him, "Did you eat?" =D
Charlie told us that the Chinese don't like a lot of sweets...so I kept that in mind while making a tray to give to each family of Christmas goodies from our family.  I included my pumpkin filled crescent rolls (and left off the icing), a new recipe for Delicious Southern Roasted salty pecans (that I was SO HAPPY to find), and Laura's shortbread cookies with a drizzle of choc. on top.~

~When Uncle Charlie and Aunt Jolie picked us up...they surprised us with Christmas gifts for each one in our family! =)~

~We ate in a room in an apartment building...so that there would be room for all of us.  Here U. Charlie was trying to teach Phillip how to say, "I am Phillip" in Chinese with just the right tone inflection.  WHEW!  That's a HARD Amazing language I'm telling you!~

~U. Charlie, Phillip, and the pastor visiting about the Lord, our testimonies, where all all of us have lived, etc..~

~They treated us to an Argentine grill-out!  It was Delicious!! (The grill is the black wall to your right.)~

~Here's a picture of the table where we ate our first Argentine grill-out.  Argentina is known for their meats! We were served Chorizo with bread, pickled eggplant, a big salad, Chicken, Flank steak, and ribs!  Our wonderful meal was ended with YUMMY fresh melon and Cherries, and then some ice cream. =) ~

~The pastor's children and ours playing a game.  (Poor Elijah had had no nap and was EXHAUSTED!  We laid him down after this picture.)~

~Aunt Jolie has the right touch...and she got Mary to sleep, then Elijah.  I told her that she can come to my house every night about that time to rock my babies to sleep. Ha!  =)
We got home after midnight after a delightful evening!~