Days With the Duerksens

Delaney was excited about her new Chelsea doll from Cambry. It looks like Cambry was just as excited to give it to her! A Christmas present from Delaney Besides choring outside, Chelan literally stayed inside all day playing "The Farming Game" with Caiden - a new game from us. It took 4 tries, but Cambry finally finished her first rubber band bracelet. After that, she made 3 or 4 more! I think Cambry's favorite gift was the little puppy from Delaney! Legos everywhere!  Delaney got a doctor kit, so she and Cambry were busy doctoring all afternoon! This Lego Technic set was Caiden's favorite.  It took him about a day and a half to put it together.  There are gears and drive shafts and everything!  At one point, I did hear him say, "This is the best Christmas ever!"

After the church program, we went over to my parents' house for goodies and presents.  This year, the boys read the Christmas story and the girls played/sang "Jingle, Jingle Happy Bells" before the presents were opened up.  Such a joyful night! Rubber band loom! She adopted a dolphin! Cinderella Legos!  She looks sad, but it's actually a look of adoration! A Breyer horse - her favorite!  She named it Black Nose He was pretty impressed with this Lego set.  He built all of it on Christmas Day! Papa's big ice chest! As always, the box is usually the best gift! Since none of us had plans for Christmas Day, I invited everyone over to our house for Christmas dinner.  I sent one of our beef briskets home with Doug so he could smoke it, and boy was it tasty!  Thanks Doug! Yes, Chelan is wearing glasses.  He had an infection in his eye, so glasses it was for a couple of weeks! Yummy!  This dinner was a good ex...

Our church's Christmas Eve Program is one of the highlights of my year - I'm not sure I could every really have Christmas without it!  And one of my favorite parts of the program is when the children have the chance to share a Christmas piece.  While there aren't too many who line up to do this anymore, our little performer (a.k.a. Delaney) couldn't wait to get up on an actual stage and sing into a real microphone.  She had it in her mind that she would sing "Away in a Manger."  And that's what she did, with the help of her friend and cousin, Levi.  They sang a beautiful duet!  Unfortunately, we only got half of it on tape before the camera did something weird.  But have a listen and enjoy anyway: Grades 2-8 put together a musical this year - lots of work, but they did a great job! The three-year-olds through 1st grade shared "The Shapes of Christmas"  Thanks to my cousin, Tina, for the 2 pictures in this post -- I hope it's oka...

Last Sunday, we went to my parents' house for our annual "making of the peppernuts!"  The kids were busy rolling dough into ropes and cutting little bits.  We also enjoyed supper together and watched the Duck Dynasty Christmas special - something we wouldn't normally do because we don't have that station.  Thanks, Grammy and Papa.  It was a fun evening! learning "Jingle, Jingle, Happy Bells" for Christmas Eve

Church was cancelled today because of icy roads and snow.  It wasn't as bad as we had anticipated and we could have probably had church, but it was nice to be at home - cozy, relaxed, no hurry to get out the door!  We had a little "church" after breakfast when Delaney had us play her "game" of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Shepherds, and Angels.  This culminated in all of us singing "Away in a Manger" while holding hands in a circle around Baby Jesus (her doll, Clara).  It was really quite sweet that she had all of that up there in her head! Then, we decorated a gingerbread house.  I've never done this before - growing up or now with my own family.  This was definitely a first!  For that reason, I bought a kit.  Kits are a good thing for this not-so-creative mom!  I like step-by-step instructions, a picture to show what it COULD look like, and all the candies, frosting, and pieces included.  So, once we finally got the house to stay together, t...

That depends on who you ask.  Delaney came up with the outfit on the left.  The one on the right is mine.  If you ask Delaney, hers is "more beautifuler."  You can see who won this debate today!