Happy Birthday, Bob!

Well, my "born too close to Christmas" husband celebrated his birthday this past weekend. He and the kids and Ethan went to see the movie, "Tron", in the afternoon. Then Gramz took us all to Cattlemen's for a delicious steak dinner. After dinner, we played cards, opened presents, and had a delicious pie that Gramz made. (Have I ever mentioned that my Mom is the absolute best pie maker in the world?? Well, she is!! Look at the pictures below.)

On Sunday afternoon, Bob and I, Ethan, and the kids went to see the new Disney movie, "Tangled" in 3D. It was really cute!! It's definitely a "must see"!

(Note: Pie photos courtesy of Lyle Jones Photography)

"Fun"draisers

Let me just say, the Junior Class at Redding Christian High School really know how to put the "FUN" in "fun"draisers!!! This year, they sold Christmas trees to raise money for their senior trip. What a pleasure (and I do mean pleasure) to help out with the fundraiser. These kids work hard, are very responsible, polite and kind to each other and the customers, and go the extra mile every time. It was freezing cold that day, but you didn't hear any complaining! Class of 2012 -- YOU ROCK!!!!!

Christmas Parties

Last weekend, the high school youth department at Redding Neighborhood Church had a Christmas Fest:

Dinner, Door prizes, and Dancing was the right combination for TONS OF FUN!! He had sooooo much fun! I must say that Lyle must have been one of the most handsome guys there:

And...what do you wear with a semi-formal outfit? CONVERSE TENNIS SHOES, OF COURSE!!! (At least they match the tie!)

On Sunday, Hilary and I went to our Annual Christmas Tea at Miss Denise's house. We look forward to this special time each year. We always have the most yummy goodies to eat and lots of visiting and laughing (those women in the Little family really know how to laugh!)

Here's a picture of me with two of my dearest friends, Donna Nicholas and Faith Nicholas McCarthy. Faith is the one who introduced me to blogging. Let me just say how much I love these two women!!!! Thank you, God, for putting us in the same corner of this big world!!

Another Acceptance Letter?

Yes, another acceptance letter to Humboldt State University. Ethan came over the other day with his newly received acceptance letter!! Congratulations, Ethan!!

Yes, in eight and a half months :0( these two will be headed off:

And, I will miss BOTH of them terribly!!!!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

So many of you have the tradition of going to the mountains to cut your Christmas tree, so you'll probably laugh at our tradition (for 26 years now). We save our aluminum cans and plastic bottles all year long, cash them in, and go buy a Christmas tree at a lot. When the kids were little, we would go to McDonald's afterwards with our leftover money.

What a wonderful day we had on the 5th (I know, I'm behind). Ethan joined us for church, we went out to eat at Lumberjack's (yummy breakfast), and then went to get a Christmas tree. We always go to Simonis' tree lot on Churn Creek. Here's the tree we picked out:

We then spent the afternoon and early evening listening to Christmas music and decorating the tree. Here's the end result:

Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Concert

The Oak Ridge Boys on currently on their 23rd annual Christmas tour - and they did a show in Redding on Tuesday night. My Mom treated Bob and I and my Aunt Monda to a "night out on the town". AND, BOY DID WE HAVE FUN!!! We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Olive Garden and a fantastic Christmas concert.

The foyer of the Redding Convention Center was decorated soooo beautiful:

The Oak Ridge Boys have aged some, but man can they still sing:

The first 40 minutes, the Oak Ridge Boys sang some of their old and new songs. They entered the stage one at a time (in the dark), singing their new song, "The Boys Are Back". After a 20-minute intermission, they came back on stage and did the Christmas concert. It was so GREAT!! I especially loved how they shared about this being a "Christmas" tour, not a Holiday tour! They went on to share about celebrating Christmas because it is the birth of a baby who went on to become the Savior of the world. What a great testimony they were, showing the world you can mix the fun Christmas songs with the songs about Jesus!

It snowed during some songs:

And Santa even showed up from the North Pole to bring some Christmas cheer to Redding folks:


Thank you, Moma, for a wonderful evening!

Adopt-A-Family

The Adopt-A-Family Program

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Very generous people at my brother's work

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Some great "Black Friday" deals

(at an ungodly hour in the morning)

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LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS OF SHOPPING

for the best price

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One very nice Christmas

for a single mother and her three children

My brother's work always "adopts" a family each Christmas, and he is in charge of the project. This year, the employees donated $770. My brother comes to Redding the day after Thanksgiving, and I help him with the shopping! Since he doesn't get here until the afternoon, Lyle and I get up VERY early to hit some of the "Black Friday" deals. I consider it a personal challenge to try to get the most for the money the employees have generously given! In addition to all the presents above (which will be wrapped by the people at my brother's work), we got a Safeway and Target gift card!

I thoroughly enjoy helping with this project each year! It is so rewarding and fun to know that someone will have a wonderful Christmas with presents from both their "most needed" list and some from their "most wanted" list!