I Love Thanksgiving

Well I do love Thanksgiving. First of all THANK YOU for cool, delicious weather! Growing up in South Texas, it was summer all year long, so I love the change of seasons. Tyler is beautiful in the fall. And YES, thank you for Grandchildren. I just adore them.
I like this holiday because you don't have to DO anything except cook, and eat and be thankful. No costumes to make, presents to buy, trees to decorate, Valentines to mail or eggs to hide. Just be thankful. Take a breath, play some games, watch a movie or take a walk. Well truthfully I'm not crazy about all the dish-washing, oh well.

We've eaten with Tyson's family the past few years and this year it was Janice's time to host. I wish I had taken a picture of her tables because they were so pretty. So inviting and so special. I brought a Cajun fried turkey and some mashed potatoes. Sarah made a broccoli/cheese casserole, Beth whipped out a pumpkin cheesecake, Janice and her family brought a ham, a green bean casserole, fruit salad, dressing, gravy and MOMO rolls.
This is Tyson and Sarah and Momo - Tyson's grandmother - and she makes rolls ... really good ones.
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I'm thankful that our daughters are such amazing moms.
I'm thankful that Tyson and Matt are part of our family now - they're such good dads.
Did I mention that I'm thankful for grandchildren?

Christmas Calendars

When Beth and Sarah were small, my mother (Grandma Hall) gave them a Christmas Advent Calendar that she made. It was so cute! It was made from felt and in each little pocket there was an ornament to put on the tree.

She must have loved sequins because EVERYTHING had sequins on it. There was the little train at the bottom of the tree....
Each ornament was adorable and sequinney and cute...


Each day during December, the girls would look forward to putting an ornament on the tree. Actually I STILL look forward to it! Here's what it looks like with all the ornaments.

SO I had to make one for Camryn and Emery (and their siblings)!

Honestly, mine are not as detailed, but I think they turned out nicely.

Love, Gigi
PS: Grandma Hall also made elaborate Christmas tree skirts, which I will NOT be doing !

Dedication Day

Emery Elizabeth was dedicated at Glenwood yesterday. One of our elders always holds the baby as they are dedicated and prays for him/her. Of course Beth and Matt asked Greg to do that for Emery! It was a special morning.

This is the blessing that the church read to her:

"We rejoice to take Emery under our care. We seek God's grace to be a community in which the gospel is truly proclaimed to all. We will support you and minister with you as workers together in Christ Jesus and heirs of His promise."

Afterwards we all came to our house and ate King Ranch Chicken. Like I said, it was a wonderful day!