Merry and Bright

Our family celebrated our Savior's birth and all the festivities that surround it.  We purposefully try to keep things low key and simple.  We had a nice worship service on Christmas Eve, entitled Jesus, the Light of the World.  At the end of the service, everyone comes up and lights a candle on the tree to signify Matthew 5:16.  It is an old tradition at our church and is always a moving service.

Way out in the country in Hathaway, Louisiana, there is a family that puts up lots of Christmas lights - 4 acres of lights to be exact.  We walked around and looked at all of the beautiful lights.

It is amazing that people will put in the time and effort and expense to put up lights for the community to enjoy.  Truly a sight to see!  My photos just don't do it justice.

We had already made tamales, but had some baking to do.  First we made pumpkin empanadas and almond crescents.  Then we made Gingerbread men.  We always get a kick out of decorating them.

Here is a special one I made for Benjamin.  It is a Benjamin Gingerbread man CT scan, showing the titanium rods in his spine and legs.  

Then we made baklava.  This is a favorite dish of ours.  It is tedious with 10 individual layers of phyllo dough followed by a mixture of pecans, coconut, sugars and spices, followed by 10 more layers of phyllo and another layer of the pecan mixture and 10 more layers of phyllo dough.  We slice it and bake it.  Then we pour a diluted honey solution over it and let it soak in overnight.

The resulting confection is a sticky-sweet delicious dessert.  Look at the flaky layers.

We enjoyed spending time with family and being thankful for the many blessings in our lives, first and foremost, the birth of the Messiah, Jesus!