Second Christmas

My mom, Mama Linda as the kids call her, drove up from NC the day after Christmas. She came bearing many gifts from my grandmother, aunts and uncles. We had a "second Christmas". Thank you LaRue and Doug, Curtis and Cynthia, Bobby, Barney, Mama Mae, Jamie and Kathy for giving so many fun toys. The kids had a blast on "second Christmas".

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! from M Freeman on Vimeo.

Finishing Touches

Stringing popcorn and cranberries for our tree has been a tradition for the past several years. After getting our tree this year I developed bronchitis so I was not planning on doing it this year. However, the tree just didn't look right without them. The kids were big enough to help this year, I was so pleased. Now the tree is perfect and ready for Christmas day.

Joining in Giving Thanks for the Snow

Three days ago we received 10 inches of snow and last night got a few more. At this point we are over 30 inches for the snow season a few inches ahead of where we were last year at this time. Last year we broke the record for snow fall in a season with 101.5 inches of snow. So how can we be thankful? Our kids get to play in the snow, we get to have an intense work out every other morning, it is really pretty falling down, and we actually experience all four seasons in Wisconsin every year. This last one is probably the reason I am most thankful. Having a silver white winter that melts into spring is really a cool thing to experience, it makes you even more thankful for spring. And fighting with the snow plow guy after he plows a foot of snow into a drive way you have just shoveled out of, well I'm not so thankful for that. That is just part of living in Wisconsin and that is where God has placed us and where I am so thankful to be. So for all of you friends and family that read our blog and dread all of our snow we don't have to dream of a White Christmas. We get a White Christmas, a white New Year, a white Valentines day and many times a white Easter. By Easter it gets a little harder to be thankful. Merry Christmas, may all of your Christmas' be white, ours have been!

Cookie Day!

Cookie Day is one of our favorite traditions at Christmas. Sometimes it spills into two cookie days, but we have a lot of fun baking goodies and singing Christmas songs from the local radio station. After we are finished we bag up all of the cookies and give them to our church family (we do keep some for ourselves). Here are a few pictures...

Another reason to be thankful

Another reason to be thankful for the snow is that it sure is fun to play in. The kids have a blast playing in--and even shoveling the snow. Here's a video of them sledding down our (short) driveway.


Fun in the snow from M Freeman on Vimeo.

Thankful for the snow

December 21st is the official first day of winter, but in Wisconsin winter begins when two things fall: the temperature and snow. Rather than bemoan the fact that we must put on our warm jackets, hats, and snow boots...just to get the morning paper, we're going to try to give thanks for the winter time.

One thing we thank God for is that He made snow so beautiful. It really is neat just to watch it fall to the ground and make everything white. This video captures a little bit of that beauty.


Snowfall from M Freeman on Vimeo.