Last year, Rip and I started a new Christmas tradition. We had completed a 3-year remodeling journey with our home, and it was time to swing open the doors and invite people in! And at Christmas most of all! So, the weekend before the week of Christmas, we invited all our family and some friends who are family to our home for the celebration of Christ’s birth. This year, we needed to back it up a weekend because Trace Cronk is graduating on the 16th in TN. (HUGE PRAISE!!)
So, this past Saturday we had a house full of family and friends (unfortunately, I don’t have photos of all the people there), enjoying delicious food, working a nativity puzzle, decorating Christmas cookies and just having a fun time together. For some of our guests, they were able to meet new people and spend time with folks they haven’t seen in years.
But what makes this past Saturday night even more special is seeing what GOD had planned all along…anyone who believes that God is Sovereign, believes that He is in total and full control. Nothing happens that is not under His complete control. And when Rip and I saw all the people His Sovereign hand brought to our home, and saw their smiling faces, heard all the “joyful noise” from their talking, laughing and enjoying each other’s company…we were both so blessed!
So, here are a few photos from our time celebrating…
Nathan having his 1st Christmas dinner at Lolli and Pops, wearing the bib his Nana (Irma Rippy) got for him.
One dear dear friend of mine,…the Lord knit our hearts together and she is definitely an “inner circle sister!’
….her husband, Billy and my Rip! And Rip’s shadow, our dog Vlad.
Nathan’s two grannies – Lisa Harris and Lisa Rippy (Mimi and Lolli)
Goofy Grannies 🙂
I’ve known sweet Lisa since Samantha and Blake were babies!
Love the HARRIS family!…they really got into Christmas cookie decorating, too! Landon showed his artistic skills with his “perfect” icing techniques!
Samantha and Nathan with his cousins, Colton and Emory…and Samantha’s rescued friend, Vlad. They have such a sweet bond because she rescued him from the pound in Colorado. When she walks into our home, he takes a straight stride to her and shows the sweetest affection toward her.
Nothing sweeter than cousins!
And here is mine! Susie Morgan is not only my cousin, but she is by far THE SWEETEST most caring and MOST GIVING person! She lives to bless others when she can, where she can. As she travels through town on work, Rip and I get to have her stay with us and she and I sit up talking and talking and talking. We gave her a house key, too, so she can come and go as she needs, AND because we want her to know that our home is her home. I wish I had taken a photo with her and her husband, Greg, but we were all so busy working puzzles, decorating cookies, cleaning up the kitchen and just relaxing that I plum forgot! But if you scroll back up to the photo of the Harris’ decorating cookies, you can see Greg sitting on the sofa in the background. They have two adult sons, Noel and Eric, who both graduated from Ole Miss.
I took this pic after Rip hung our new chandelier, (which I found at a local consignment store), and before everyone arrived. It was the calm before the FUN!
Because there were so many coffee drinkers coming, I set up two coffee services. One here in the dining room, next to last year’s Christmas puzzle. After I Mod Podged it, we framed it because it’s one of those new Christmas traditions! But the coffee service has some Cappuccino English Toffee Creamer, Cinnamon, a bowl of small individually wrapped chocolates, and Stevia Packets.
The kitchen coffee service had all the same, except instead of the English Toffee Creamer, I put out Simple Truth Vanilla Creamer. The floating shelf that Rip made has precious Nathan is framed next two an angel that Mimi (Lisa Harris) gave me. When I turn it on, it gives off a soft white light. And the little “For this child I prayed” block was also a gift from Kristi Horne as a “Congratulations In Becoming a Grannie” happy! The Christmas mugs are a hand-me-down from my parents and that big brown jar holds our favorite coffee – Community Coffee with Chicory.
The next several photos were some we needed to take for a magazine article the publisher was wanting to write on our home and our home improvements and design & decorating business.
These 1978 wall sconces were mounted in the Master bathroom when we first bought the house. But after we took down walls and closets to make the dining room space, we knew they would need to go right along side the hutch.
