Christmas in the Buchta house

We had a wonderful Christmas. Sadly, it never really felt like Christmas. It was so strange. FOr both of us we had a hard time finding that "feeling". There was a part of me that was like, I remembered what Christmas feels like. Where did I lose it? What do I need to do to find it? I incessantly listened to Christmas music and baked my brains out and shopped, shopped, shopped!!!! At first we thought that it might be the weather. It's so damn warm here and there is no snow and the humidity is awful...especially in the winter around Christmas time...Needless to say, we never found it but we did however find the Joy in husbands coming home, our children tearing open gifts, sisters all together under one roof, the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree and the giddiness of giving and receiving of gifts. This will more than likely be the last Christmas where we will be partaking in some of the Christmas traditions. We have recently learned about the roots to some of these traditions and have made the decision as a family to not partake of them in the future. It has been interesting how the "feeling" never came and how God was preparing our hearts to receive His truth and change some of our ways. Please some of you are probably freaking out right now thinking we are complete freaks. I will blog about this more in the future but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. On that note, we are taking one day at a time and trusting Him with our every second.

Christmas Baking

This is something that I have been doing for years. I started it at some point when I lived in CO Springs and have continued to do it over the years. I usually try to make different things every year but there are a few faves that remain the same. Oreo balls, mint chocolate fudge, pumpkin cookies and gingerbread. We made 13 plates this year and passed them out to friends near and dear to us here in the south.

The 2010 Christmas tree

Daddy is home!!!!

Well, I'm obviously a few weeks behind. Ben surprised us on the evening of December 5 around 6:30 pm. I was expecting him later that week and during the middle of dinner I heard a slight knock on the front door and I looked at Connor and he seemed unphased by it. So I got up and turned the light on and looked out the front door window and I didn't see anything...I heard the knock again and slowly and cautiously opened the door. He popped his head around from the screen door and there he was in his tan flight suit and mustache...I WAS SHOCKED!!! Ellie screamed from her chair "DADDY!!!!!!" and came running over. After a few minutes of hugs and kisses at the door we walked back in the kitchen and Izz was still sitting at her high chair eating her chili with no clue as to what happened. We have now enjoyed most of this month with im at home with us. Our time has been spent with last minute Christmas shopping, making "to do" lists around the house to get it ready to go on the market in January and moving Brittany. Yes, Brittany has moved into her own place. Scott came home on Christmas Eve and Brittany is now 37 weeks pregnant! We are spending the next few weeks checking off the things on our list and awaiting Aidan's arrival...stay tuned for pics of this little man to come:)