Wednesday, February 4, 2015

New Years Celebration in the Alexander Home

Bringing in the new year is a special thing in our house.  It's definitely a looked-forward-to highlight each year!  This year we really tried to put forth more thought into it.  Our family loves creating new family traditions, and we sought to do this this year both in a spiritual sense and with some fun activities.  So here's a little piece of what it looked like at the Alexander home bringing in the new year for 2015.
At our house, New Years Eve isn't complete without some special favorite treats. :-)
This was something new we did this year.  Mom placed a slip of paper inside each balloon.  Then she blew them up and wrote various times of the night on each one.  At whatever time it was, each person got to pop a balloon and read the slip of paper to see what activity was next.  It was fun, especially for the kids, and helped us keep our time structured enough to get more in.
Sarah had her turn first.
Bell helped her read her slip of paper.
First up was making the food preparations.
Titus melting chocolate...
...and Sarah and Brittany blending Oreos and cream cheese.
Oreo Bon-Bons are a favorite treat here, especially for Tayte.
Elizabeth preparing our tray of cheese and crackers and salami.
Definitely a stand-by treat for special occasions.
After the food preparations, it was Esther's turn to pop her balloon.
Our snacky dinner was next.
Daddy with us kids.
We're waiting...... not everyone's here yet.
Taste-testing, just to make sure.
Yep; definitely good. :-)
The table-full of family favorites.
Now everyone's here!
Titus's turn. - Love his smile. :-)
Dad and Tayte telling a story.
I know it's a little blurry, but I love the picture.  It was such a good story. :-)
It's always fun to go back and reminisce.
Bell popping her balloon.
Next is a jelly bean game.
 The goal was to transfer all of the jelly beans from one bowl to the other using the straw.
And Dad was the winner.
Haha.  Love the look on his face. :-)
 Tayte was next.
 
Mom found this idea of hanging doughnuts from a string and having everyone see who could eat theirs first.  It was comical to be sure, and fun.
 
Ginger Bread Houses
Ginger bread houses are a New Years tradition at our house.
This year we tried something new and used graham crackers.  That worked really well.  A lot better than the huge ginger bread house kits.  And it allowed everyone to make their own small house.  It was fun to see everyone's creativity and style.
As you can see, we had a lot of fun. :-)
We played cards.
Something new Mom and Dad have taught us this year that we enjoy doing from time to time.
Sweet Mom playing "War" with the little girls.
We decided to do sparklers this year, as something different and fun for the kids.
Keeping in mind, that up north in January it's too cold to be hanging out outside with sparklers.  We had never thought of such a thing. :-)
Love Essie's face in this one. :-)
 
We did a few other things as well, including a balloon release and devotion time.  As we watched the balloons  up in the sky for as long as we could, Dad read from the Bible about when Christ ascended to Heaven and spoke about watching for and being ready for Christ's return.  It gave a really neat thought-provoking analogy.
 
We also decided to do something special for New Years Day this year.
We took a family bike trip, only the second time we'd been out on our bikes as a family since our move, so it was a real treat. :-)
 
The place we went was beautiful!  It was so peaceful and quiet.  Their weren't a lot of people around, and it was a perfect day to be out.
That evening Dad and Mom took us all out for dinner.
We had a wonderful dinner, which happened to be our first experience at a southern buffet :-), and had a nice time of talking and reminiscing about the past year, seeing how the Lord has worked and blessed, and discussing goals, thoughts, and hopes for the new year.
The Lord has truly blessed us very much this past year, and we are looking forward to seeing how He is going to work in this year as well.
 
"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him"
~ Psalm 34:8 ~
"And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation."
~Isaiah 25:9 ~
"This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes."
~ Psalm 118:23 ~
 
~Brittany

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