Merry Christmas!!!

Cousin Lucy, Max, James, Uncle John, and Robert are the stars of the show

Max was supposed to be an angel but he took off his outfit and turned his halo into a gun!

We hope that Christ is the center of your Christmas!

Glendale Glitters

 the city of Glendale has a light display in one of their parks in old town Glendale. I loves the palm trees with lights. Lots of activities and lots of people!

I have to confess that I love the warm december nights! Yes you can still get into the Christmas spirit with Palm Trees and Sunshine. 

In fact there are no icy, snowy, car packed roads to fight with-- that is best of all!

Bouncy House

Pizza after in old town.

This was the BEST REAL PIZZA!! Im still craving it. We pigged out on soda and pizza and had a fun time being out side with street vendors and little folk bands playing their music.

I loved the music, and the dark ally, and the christmas lights.

 Most of all I loved being with my sweet family.

Dear Santa...

When Santa came to our church party James was very sick! He didn't get to make it.

He was so sad and had written a letter so we made it a point to go to the "Mall Santa"so he could meet him.

Santa wanted to charge $33 smackaroos for a pic!! I know Santa and I know he doesn't play that way

Anyway- Rob was positioned in place and managed to snap a few with out getting caught....

Here is the best one below

When it came time to tell santa what he wanted he asked for an Etch- A-Sketch!!

I was so surprised because he has a serious Mario/Nintendo obsession.  That is a switch I can live with!!

(Dear Santa from James)

(Max and James and Blue Doggy, his fav. stuffed animal, want a dog movie)

Cheesy Christmas Letter and Picture

Merry Christmas,

 to all who read this blog!! 

If you didn't get a letter it is 

because I was too cheap to buy more stamps,

 we love you still the same

Here is a little cheesiness Harris style...

(picture taken by my dad with a green screen-  fun right?!!)

Are you ready for a bazillion posts and pictures??

Since I last posted this is what I've done....

My sister Andrea her hubby Ryan and Ava came from Idaho bringing a truck full of potatoes!

We went on walks tot he park, golf for the boys, baseball and lunch at the Surprise Stadium, Shopping and lunch for the girls in scottsdale. I made her teach me her never-fail chocolate chip cookie recipe-- which by the way I've puled off twice now! I feel like I can finally make good cookies! I think a good time was had by all. I loved being a hostess and cooking good food.. Little cutie Ava was a doll. Max still says, "where'd that go Aba?"

haha!

Next- three days later- my parents and sister sarah came for T-day!! It was so fun to have them and host again. I think I wore my mom out!! If you didn't know my family you would wonder where my dark hair came from because so many people have red. Some day I'll post pics of my dark haired family people. We went the the train park in scottsdale, down to some shopping, and lastly to the mesa temple!

Cutie Sarah! It was fun to "happen upon" the lights! I wanted to just show them the temple and surprise the lights were on! pretty cool.  Then home to back my pies!! On Thanksgiving morning my dad took Max and James fishing with robert at surprise pond/lake. James had been begging for Grandpa to do this with him since he sees all the other grandpas out there. My dad has AMAZING patience!!

After all my planning and creating - this is what I created below-- much more simpler than I originally thought- but hey my table is SMALL!!  I bought the wine glasses at Goodwill- the turkey platter my mom gave to me she bought in the 70's for $1!!! I made the table cloth, napkins, and runner out of linen. It was a good day with lots of yum from scratch-- After 5 pints of whipping cream and 4 lbs of butter I think we were satisfied!

The day they left I was exhausted but I was so excited for christmas that I had to put my tree up-- that night!! and all my decor for that matter. But I still have 5 of my 9 plastic bins full of stuff I didn't use because our place is smaller- it is nice to have a simpler look.

I loooooovvvvveee making bows- I love ribbon. I have two bins full of ribbon. 

Somethings wrong with me...

Free Christmas Tree! From John and Myrna- their garage is like a goodwill!

can I beg you any more to grow indoor bulbs. They are fabulous!

 Of course this plate was fuller at one point, and of course it was gone at least a week ago...

James rearranged the nativities he could reach so everyone was making a circle around baby Jesus. So adorable. In the process he broke one of the Marys. I still haven't glued her head back on- I think of how Jesus would have missed her so much. He needed a great mother to be the king of the world!!

Also--- in lieu of all my visitors I started unpacking a few boxes and hanging up pictures. I FINALLY printed off pics that my friend Liz took a year ago. They look gorgeous and vibrant in their frames!!

Thanks again Liz for the beautiful pictures.

The day my parents left My dad took some pics of our family-- he is an aspiring Photographer!! 

He says he will gracefully roll from Musician to Photographer as he retires!!

Here is a sample...

And of course- last but not least.... I went to the Dr's The day before Thanksgiving.....

and found out we are having 

A Boy!!!

three boys!!

Im going to take a belly shot someday.  

And in the next few days my goal is to post something that happened in the month of December...... haha