We had our 2nd Annual Christmas Cookie Swap party this weekend, so we spent a good part of the weekend doing party prep. Friday night, I made breakfast pizza for dinner…and we cleaned and cooked. It was great to get so much done!
Saturday, I met Brandy at the gym for some Cardio Dance Party in the morning, and then I helped Tyler at his shop. I came home and took a GLORIOUS nap, and then woke up and finished party prepping. Saturday evening, Tyler and I drove into town for our little town’s Christmas light drive through. They line the park with some cute light displays!
One of our favorite was the fishing Santa!
We also liked Santa and his reindeer!
Sunday, we had a GREAT time at church. Lots of good conversations at Life Group, a GREAT sermon…but then right after church, we came home for our party!
For our cookie swap, I make lots of lunch foods and everyone brings cookies. I only took these three pictures. I got so busy chatting and laughing that I never picked up the camera!
We had probably 20 or so friends…and about 15 kiddos…ranging from this sweet 3.5 week old Nora …to pre-teens. It was SO fun.
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| My MIL got her baby fill! She spent time holding and loving on every one! She even took the bigger kids outside to play on the tractor and look at the pond! |
We all just eat and talk and laugh.
The guys like to hole up in the dining room where they can have some more quiet conversation (when they aren’t taking turns watching their babies!).
But the real action is in the kitchen with all the food and goodies! It made my heart so happy to have a home full of friends who we love so much.
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| It is hard to see with the backlighting…but there were like 15 people in our kitchen at this point! ha! I love a full bustling house! |
When we moved here about 1.5 years ago, I just prayed to make some friends. I knew Tyler knew lots of people (this is his hometown, after all), but I prayed for opportunities to be intentional about making friends. God was good and gave me lots of chances to make friends. And these people just welcomed me into their hearts and families. Some are Tyler’s high school friends who quickly became MY friends too…some are friends from church…but either way, I am so blessed.
The cutest time was when Tyler took his RC car outside and all the boys (big and small) went outside to watch. One of the little ones, Noah (age 4 or so) ran inside and yelled at his mom Kacee “You HAVE to see this! It is so cool!” They were eating it up!
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| Tyler is on the left driving the car…and then there are 5 little boys watching…plus a couple babies who were mesmerized…along with a few dads too! So fun! |
The party prep was SO worth it. I enjoy all the cooking, and the cleaning needs to be done anyway…so it is totally worth it to have a house full of blessings.
I love all our friend’s babies. There were 4 new babies born this year….three who were in tummies last Christmas at the party! And there was one in a tummy today. Our circle of friends is growing all the time and I couldn’t love it more! It is so fun to be a part of these babies’ lives as they grow. So fun to play with them and love on them. Life is so good.
I feel like this party is what Christmas is about. Loving one another and just being together. There were no tacky sweaters, no gifts, no gimmicks…just food and fun and friends. We are so blessed.
After the party, we got Mikey from my MIL’s (he doesn’t do great with crowds or kids, so he spent the afternoon over there) and then we came home and watched Gone with the Wind. It was my first time watching it! My mom has the VHS tapes, but we only watched it on days I was home sick (when else do you have 4 hours to watch a movie) so I would sleep through it….but we watched it all and I LOVED it.
I normally wouldn’t post a picture of the TV, but watching this movie was on my 30 Before 30 list…so I had to document it! ha!
I hope you had a good weekend, too!
Oh Britt!!! that party was a blast!!! The kids had so much fun and of course we did too!! the food was amazing!!! And I’m so glad you loved Gone with the Wind!! It’s one of my all time favorites!!
It was so fun! We will have to do it again sometime soon!
Looks like a great party!!! Wish I could have been there!
Me too, sister! 🙂 You would have been the life of the party!
hi! New follower here!!
I follow you on instagram and am finally getting a chance to follow your blog!
I’m attempting to lose weight and get in shape for my wedding in June and you are a big motivator for me! thank you!!!
PS- our dogs could be twins!!!
Hi Courtney! Thanks for following! What a CUTE doggie you have! 🙂 Can’t wait to check out your story too!
wow looks like ya’ll had a big group. love big christmas parties like that. i had a small christmas get together with my friends this weekend, too. i really am so blessed to have a great group of people in my life.
i haven’t watched gone with the wind since i was a kid, and even then my mom said she always had to turn it off when the little girl dies cause i would cry my eyes out. i need to rent it and watch it. maybe i can actually make it through the whole movie.
It was long (like 4 hours) but it was surprisingly good. Some of the lines were cheesy, but even Tyler put his iPad down and watched it…so it kept us entertained!