This past weekend we hosted our small group's Christmas party at our home and it was a lovely evening: good company, a table full of tantalizing appetizers, Harry Connick Jr. crooning on our stereo, and fun times all around. A few people weren't able to be there (the Dykstras and the Jonsons) and they were missed, but we managed to whoop it up without them as best we could. I really had my heart set on getting a nice Christmas picture of me and Steve to send out with our Christmas letter this year. I should have know better. Steve hates posing for pictures, so we took a few duds and then he said, "We'll take one tomorrow. I promise." That was five days ago. Hopeless. Maybe we'll just have to use the above photo, even though it's kind of out of focus, and my big mop of hair is blocking Steve's face. Serves him right. :)
Then we had a gingerbread house competition. Girls vs. guys. We got beat. Very badly. We, the girls, had the bright idea to plaster the roof of our house in those big hard Christmas candies. Each roof panel must have weighed two pounds and the entire house ended up collasping in on itself. It became a memorial for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The boys, on the other hand, pulled out their power tools for gosh sakes! There were routers and drummels and monkey wrenches and belt sanders and nail guns. They painstakingly created this masterpiece. We were impressed! Talk about OCD. Our boys took the task seriously, to say the least. Now we have a lovely centerpiece on our dining room table (at least for one more hour, before I bust it open and start chowing down on the walls, piece by piece).
Merry Christmas to my wonderful Bible study pals! See you tonight!