I took some pride in how my first peppermint cheesecake turned out :)

And I like this pic of Kassi studying Grandma Sylvia's Christmas village :)

We had a great family Christmas this morning....Brad and I surprised the girls and were not in our beds...haha....we knew they were coming downstairs soon because we could hear them scrambling around upstairs.  They always like to run into our room and yell, "MERRY CHRISTMAS" and wake us up, so they had asked us what time they could do that....we agreed to 7am :)  well, maybe they didn't agree, but that was the time we set.  So, I made our bed look like we were still in it and Brad and I hid in the bathroom for a few minutes and silently giggled at the whispering outside our door.  When they came in and yelled, they were confused that we were not in our beds and we were sneaking up behind them recording it all...haha!

Vannah read the Christmas Story for us out of Luke....and we celebrated with gifts for each other.  Then we traveled to Horton to celebrate Christmas with the Foster side of our family.  We had a terrific dinner and very meaningful time talking about Christmas and praying and all the girls had prepared some music to share.  I am going to brag a little and just say....I remember as a kid I hated when my mom would ask me to play something on the piano or my violin for guests, but SOMEHOW.....I have children who mostly enjoy doing this and do not fuss when asked to share their talents.... I know this is a blessing and NOT AT ALL what I deserve.....sorry mom :P

Karly sang Happy Birthday, Jesus

Out of nowhere....Danielle said she wanted to learn a song on the flute last week.  She is in 5th grade and they do not start learning instruments until 6th grade in school where we live, so Vannah helped her work on her notes and fingering for Silent Night.....she did amazingly well picking that up in one week!

Kassi entertained us with Jingle Bells on her alto sax

McKenna blasted out O Christmas Tree on her trumpet

And Vannah played Greensleeves (also known as What Child Is This) on her oboe....as well as teaching Danielle her flute part :)  Thankful for her patience and willingness to help her sister accomplish that!

This family is such a blessing to me....days like this remind me of how much I have to be thankful for!  Listening to Grandpa Phillips' prayer for us today was such a highlight!!!