'Tis the Season!

Well, well, well...another year has crept up on us...

December has showed up and reared its AWESOME head! I LOVE this time of year!  It's the season of freshly baked cookies, gift wrapping, Christmas songs, holiday cheer (in most cases), and best of all....it's Jesus's birthday!!


Seeing as how this is our first Christmas in our "new" house...We decided to go all out (when DON'T we). Luckily we stumbled upon a 75-90% off sale on Christmas lights last December 26th...that's right, we stocked up on over 4,000 lights before we even knew what house we would have to decorate!  So with all of the lights already purchased, this year we simply had to buy the electrical cords to power them all!  Whew, talk about an interesting couple of shopping trips.  How many people buy 20 extention cords and no lights??

It took a couple of days but we finally got the outside finished and VOILA!

                                      Our 8.5 foot Tree (fresh from a farm!)

   

 We asked and the girls are ok with sharing a stocking

                    This used to be my grandmother's ceramic tree!

And since we commensed the "exterior illumination" just after thanksgiving, Emily and I figured we needed something to officially "ring" in the Christmas season...Trans-Siberian Orchestra!!  Our friends Justin and Shara, and of course J and Meghan all joined us as we spent the weekend in Raleigh and shared a truly amazing experience!  Now I've always enjoyed the music of TSO and of course I've heard about the shows but to hear and to actually witness are two amazingly different things! Between the story, the music, the instruments, the lights (and FIRE), it was a complete awe-inspiring moment!  And in case you couldn't tell, all 6 of us HIGHLY recommend taking in a show!

So the season is well upon us and, in fact, Christmas is almost here.  What will you be doing?  We're going to be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior while savoring the times we get to spend with family and friends!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBOOOOODY!

Love, The Straslers

Thanks!

Wow, what a week it has been.  Last Wednesday my folks came into town for the very first time since we moved back to Havelock! Adam also came down Wednesday afternoon and Jessica, Jason, Landon, and Bella (just a couple of months away) came into town Thanksgiving day!  Emily made one HECK of a Thanksgiving meal and was quite the hostess as we had a full house for the first time! 

After everyone got some much needed rest Friday morning, Emily and I took the family to Minnesot Beach and Oriental by way of the NC Ferry system!  Although it was overcast and VERY windy, it seems as though everyone had a good time and Landon got to enjoy his first ferry ride!

 

It's been a few months since all of us have been together under one roof and hopefully it won't be that long again.  We had a great time hosting and it was really good being able to spend Thanksgiving together again!