The Grinch

A Barbour family tradition . . . watching The Grinch!

Christmas cookies

The children helped Mommy make Christmas cookies for our Discipleship group Christmas party. They did a great job - the cookies were a hit!

Our first fire

Tonight, we are enjoying our first fire.

Trimming the Christmas tree

Today, we trimmed our first Christmas tree in our new house. We played Christmas music and had lots of fun hanging our ornaments. Daddy had the honor of placing the angel on top of the tree (he was the only one tall enough).

Egg Bowl

Daddy took Charlie to the Egg Bowl. Thanks to Mr. Lotterhos, they sat in the Rebel Club, so they stayed warm and ate lots of yummy food. Mommy took the girls to Chick-fil-a and shopping during the game. The game didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but we all had lots of fun!

Thanksgiving in Yazoo City

Last night, we spent the night in Yazoo City with Pop and Sherrie. We ate dinner, sat by the fire, and spotted lots of deer in the front yard. The next morning, Pop and Daddy went duck hunting in Louise. It was too cold for Jane Gray and Charlie to tag along. In the picture by the playset, you can see all of the frost on the ground. It looked like snow! Sherrie bought a gingerbread house for the children, so we spent the morning decorating it. It didn't turn out very pretty, but it was very delicious!

Christmas tree farm

This morning, we went to the K and B Christmas tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. The children picked out this very large tree (in the first picture), but we ended up with an 8 1/2 foot tree, perfect for our den.

Thomas

Our elf Thomas showed up this morning. He always arrives the day after Thanksgiving to check on the children and make sure they are behaving. Every night, he reports back to Santa and then returns to a new spot in our house. Charlie spotted Thomas first, and the children were so excited to see him again!

Thanksgiving

We started Thankgiving with a worship service at church. Our cousin, Emily Fair Fisher, gave her testimony about losing her sister, Caroline, to pneumonia last Christmas. It was a very emotional testimony, and Emily did great! After church, we headed home to watch the Macy's parade and then to Alice's for a short visit. We ate Thanksgiving lunch at Nana and Grandpa's. Our whole family was there, and the children had so much fun playing with their cousins. They went "fishing" in Nana and Grandpa's water fountain, rode in Grandpa's truck, went on a nature walk (Charlie found this skull), and posed for lots and lots of pictures. It was a great day, and we are so thankful for our many blessings, especially our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the family He gave us!

Thanksgiving Eve

We spent the day before Thanksgiving in Yazoo City. We had a great time chopping firewood, playing football, watching the horses, and swinging on the tire swing. Daddy also took Jane Gray and Charlie squirrel hunting. They saw lots of squirrels, an owl, five deer, and a chipmunk that ran over Daddy's foot. It was a very successful hunt! We stopped by Dicey's on the way home. She had a lizard in her house, and Charlie heroically offered to remove it for her. Apparently, Charlie didn't catch the lizard close enough to its head because it reached around and latched onto Charlie's finger. You should have seen Charlie's face! Lesson learned.