Christmas with Mom's Family

We celebrated Christmas with the Hoefakker side of the 

family on Christmas Eve. 

delectable.... :) 

 Erick, Brandy, and little Bently were able to come for a little bit!

Bently is SO CUTE! :) 

 Bekah and Aunt Carol came over for a little bit. 

It was so nice to see Bekah again! :) 

 Baki and Aunt Carol

 After the first group left, we sang carols while waiting 

for the next group to get there. It was tons of fun, although 

because the women in my family are made up of mostly altos,

 I decided I'd help out Aunt Tawnya and (try to) sing soprano.

We sang for almost an hour. I can't believe I lasted that long... 

It was still my favorite part of the night! :) 

 Daniel and Thomas: The Dynamic Duo! :) 

 Josiah read the Christmas story to everyone...

 Tarah was quite content to sit on 

Nathan's lap all night. :) 

 Nathan was showing her how to color...so cute! :) 

 gifts...

 Papa and I :) 

the kids played SET afterwards. 

It's a favorite around here... :) 

Aunt Tawnya and Hannah

 Daniel totally forgot about a present he had

 hidden in Mom's room for Aunt Tawnya, so 

right before she left, he remembered it and ran to go get it. 

He made quite a show of presenting it to her! 

It was so cute! :) 

High School Sunday School Girls Christmas Party

Sorry for the wordy title, but how else do you describe 

Ms. Lambrecht's Sunday School class??? ;) 

First, we went caroling to various people. 

We visited Mrs. Kuchta :) 

 and Mrs. Woodrow...

 and Mrs. Wilson at the nursing home. :) 

 the other ladies there really enjoyed us, so they asked us if 

we could walk some of the halls and sing for a little bit longer.

Many of the residents there were very touched by our visit.

It was such a blessing to minister to the folks at the nursing home. :) 

 at Ms. Lambrecht's house...

Brianna, Lara, and I eating the most awesome snack 

in the world: dill pickles and frozen cream puffs!!!!!!

I'm convinced there is nothing better...yum, yum! :) 

 some of us enjoyed(or should I say suffered through) a game of twister...

 are you comfortable, Michelle?? 

 someone's going to go down....soon....

 as you can see, only two contestants left... 

 then I joined in. :) 

 the gift exchange...

didn't get too many pictures of this... :( 

 Ms. Lambrecht got the "Do It Later!" Planner 

from Michaela. :) 

It's just perfect for procrastinators... :) 

here is Ms. Lambrecht sharing some wisdom 

found within the pages of the "Do It Later!" planner... :) 

Lara and I eating her special dark Hershey's chocolate bar... :) 

 it was a little deformed after we got done with it. :-/ 

poor Lara.... ;) 

 Sarah, D'Lacey, and Michaela singing 

"Kumbaya" accompanied by Ms. Lambrecht

 Challenge time! :) 

 for some reason, Jess thought Mrs. Clause 

seemed like a good snuggle buddy that night... :) 

Christmas Play

I don't have any pictures of the actual play 

because I was running the video camera for it, 

but here are some pictures of the characters 

getting ready. :) 

I'm sure the guys just loved the eye make-up... 

 Ms. Lambrecht was commenting about how tall Joel 

looked in costume....

 Prayer with Mrs. Ross before the play...

The play was great! 

(despite a couple technical difficulties...

you could probably blame most of them on the sound booth... :-/)

Good Job, everyone! :)