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Monday, December 29, 2008

Not Yet Three French Hens....

We realized this would be our last Christmas as two turtledoves....

We had five days of Christmas this year, starting on the 23rd and ending on the 27th. We started out the festivities here in Birmingham and then headed up to Nashville for the last bit of our time off. We enjoyed our usual Christmas traditions and contemplated the new ones that we want to start next year with the little one.

Our holiday season was full of thankfulness as well as the dreaded unknown as we thought about the upcoming year. We have many big changes coming our way next year, some expected and some unexpected. As we try to keep in mind that God's plan is supreme, we can't help but wonder, "what exactly is His plan?" Fortunately this is not an original thought, and we are surrounded by people who have this same question, genuinely care for us, will guide us, hold our hands, and pray for us.


Our Christmas tree---I love Christmas lights and ornaments. This year we only had one tree, but I can see that changing next year (of course there are the small decorative trees, but I don't count them unless they are at least as tall as me).

This is our mantle. It is a conglomeration of all the Christmas decor that I forgot we had, and I think it turned out nicely. Yes, there are five stockings....one for me, one for Matt, one for the little one on the way (these are the three that match in the center), one for Jackson, and one for Maggie. I love stars (really year-round), and these stars plus Christmas lights really make me happy during the Season. This is Matt and I at the Knierim's house between church services. I believe this is our only picture this year....good thing it turned out!

Matt is rolling and cutting out the infamous Knierim-family-recipe Christmas cookies. These are cookies made from scratch every year at Christmas time. You might not be able to tell, but he is showing his Christmas spirit by wearing his Bass Masters tshirt---complete with two signatures.

For those of you who remembered that we were telling the name of our little one at Christmas time, here is a picture of the ornaments that we made to give to the expectant grandparents. Turns out that it's hard to take pictures of glass...who knew. One side says her name (Avery) and the other side has her monogram. Her full name will be Avery Noelle Knierim. Avery was one of three names that Matt and I agreed on (literally), and Avery was the only one of those three that we did not know someone with that name. Apparently it is also an old family name. Noelle is because my middle name was Nicole (they are similar but not the same), we found out she was going to be a girl at Christmas time, and I felt her kick for the first time while we were singing The First Noel at church. We are spelling it that way because I have known two ladies named Noelle in my life, and both of them spelled it that way, and we think it's pretty that way. So, that's her name and the reason!