Cousins

After Thanksgiving the cousins came to visit.  My baby sis, her husband, and their children.  My adorable nieces and nephews.  One of the things we did is we went to a pioneer village that is relatively close by and enjoyed a "Candle Light Christmas".  It is a real pioneer village that has been kept and maintained.

After we visited with Santa we hopped into his sleigh.  Guess what photo is going on our family Christmas card this year.........  bet ya can't guess........

Next it was onto the Polar Express!  The cousins all bunched together singing Christmas carols.

Speaking of Christmas carols.....  there were carolers walking around singing.  Does anyone Christmas carol anymore?  I know our family does from time to time.  Not every year but every so often...  I miss Christmas carolers!

Off to the old school room to do some dancing.  You can totally tell this is all authentic by the microphones and the amplifiers.  Kidding aside, this really was the old school room.  I love the idea of one room school houses.  I think I was born in the wrong era.
 

Where there is music there must be dancing!  We were taught a fun dance which we did around the big Christmas tree in the middle of the room.

As we danced around we switched partners.  Levi thought the dancing was quite fun.  He takes after his mommy.

The SM dancing with our cute niece Miss C.  See the pot bellied stove on the left?  It had the whole room piping warm.

Or maybe it was all the bodies dancing around.   Cousins!

Daddy and daughter.  Wish I were that limber.  Was I ever that limber?

A live nativity.  This was neat.  A little family with an infant.  How that sweet mother sat there all evening in the cold with her baby is beyond me.  It was neat though and as we all stood there in that barn, all quiet and watching, even the little ones, my heart was filled with peace, gratitude, and joy for this wonderful time of year.

Every live nativity isn't complete unless it has a friendly goat that is just dying to say hello and shake hooves with everyone that passes by.

Craft time!  Take some shiny glittery beads and some pipe cleaner, string the beads on the pipe cleaner and you have an icicle to hang on your tree!

The beads have to be clear glass looking and several shapes and sizes.

As you can see by the looks on my nephew's faces....... it takes a great deal of concentration to do this!

Even the big boys made some.

At a time of year when it is hard for our furry and feathery friends to forage for food, one must not forget them!  These bags have bird seed and pine cones in them so we could make treats for the birds.

My baby sis's husband and Baby E who is not going to be the baby anymore in a few more months!!

A happy couple looking on........ looking on trying to find some mistletoe.

Cousins!!

Mr. B saying something that has captivated his brothers and The SM's attention.

The pioneers didn't have television.  You didn't know that?  Seriously!  They didn't have television so they had to entertain themselves by other means.

Puppets.  A puppet show that was the weirdest funniest Christmas puppet show we've ever seen.  We didn't know whether to be disturbed or amused.  We chose amused.

Every child writes a letter to Santa.  If not on paper, then in their minds or hearts don't they?  They all have wishes, desires, dreams.......

Except these three bafoons.  Yes, three.  I can count.  I realize there are only two heads.  Count the sets of legs.  These boys were told they'd get lumps of coal for Christmas.  Mr. C said he is excited because then he'll light them on fire and BBQ himself some meat!  Years ago when Mr. B my eldest was little he had learned about coal turning into diamonds so he asked for coal one year so he could have diamonds.

I was't able to take pictures outside very much because it was so dark.  We would walk on a boardwalk from little cabin, school house, church, cabin, cabin, cabin, etc.  Each cabin was lit with candles and we were able to learn about the pioneers and how they celebrated Christmas.  In this particular cabin we were told a story of Christmas past by a mountain man.  He told us, "The Night Before Christmas".

Another happy couple.......  Isn't my baby sis just beautiful?

Did you know you get to choose if your name goes on the naughty list or the nice list?  Not only do you get to choose but we actually got to write our names on those lists!  I won't tell you which list I wrote my name on but I will tell you that The SM isn't writing his name on the naughty list.  He is teasing a certain little Henny Penny and writing her name down for her.

Mr. J knows better.  He knows he won't live long enough to see coal turn into diamonds.

What is a pioneer village without a printing press?  Not only were we shown how the printing press works but we were also given a Christmas card made on that press.  A Christmas card that was the first card (print/design) made on that press and given to others many many many many years ago...........

In walking through the pioneer village and learning about Christmas long ago I learned that some things are different now......... and some things haven't changed at all.  The things that haven't changed I am glad for because they are the very most important part of Christmas.  The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the importance of family and loved ones spending time together.