A Few of Our Favorite Things

Last Saturday, we had the amazing opportunity to experience some of our favorite things- all in the same day!

We had to wait until after Monday to post about it because part of what we did on Saturday had to do with Monday and we couldn't reveal any secrets before Monday was past. But now that Monday is over (and a few more days in addition), we can post about Saturday... so here goes!

What do you think are our favorite things?

Well, for one, spending time with some of our most favorite people in the world, of course! Bright and early, we once again gathered to rehearse Monday's big event, which I can now tell you about because Monday is over and its now (another) Saturday..... ok, ok, I'll stop .....

The big event you've all been waiting to hear about is that we sold another traveling supper (wow). This time we opted for a Christmas-themed one. We all wanted something more to do this Christmas. So we got together for one and a half Saturdays (with a Friday evening in there, too) to put this thing together. If you aren't that interested yet, you are really missing out. It was the experience of a lifetime- for our family, anyway.

Here are a few pictures from practice (we'll give the actual event its own post):

Joseph and Mary

Mary and Gabriel

No room at the Knapp Inn

as the "curtain" raises, there's a whole darling chorus to join the innkeeper in singing "No Reservation at the Inn."

the sweetest little lamb of the whole flock (well, the second sweetest)

Angel 1 and her heavenly host

the stable and its fake animals (real animals come later)

the wisest three kings around

some of the (do they look weary?) directors

You really want that next post now, don't you- well, first you have to see the rest of Saturday (that came before the Monday that we couldn't tell you about....)

When we finally convinced the cast to leave our house (well, actually, they weren't convinced, so we just started making food anyway), we started preparing for another favorite thing: a Thanksgiving meal with some of our favorite family members- wait, that's not quite right, they are all our favorite- but only a few could be here this year....

Matt and Kim's family and Grandpa and Grandma joined us

And after we enjoyed some great family time, we got to spend the rest of the evening making music- another of our all-time favorite things to do!

The Prairie Youth Ensemble had a special Advent program to inspire us all to prepare for Christ's coming this special- and favorite- time of year. A variety of instruments joined the core group of strings to play an assortment of hymns and carols. During the second half, the audience joined in the singing. The church was filled with song! It was wonderful- one of those times when you sing as loud as you can and you still can't hear yourself. The message behind all the songs was a beautiful encouragement to prepare and wait.... Jesus is coming!

they sang so beautifully- I fell asleep that night with their song running through my mind

The pictures just don't do the evening justice. It was hard to get a good shot inconspicuously; I wondered if I was rather irreverent to even use my camera at all! The stage was very small for 40 people and stands and instruments. Faith is in the second row playing violin.

The amazing day did eventually come to a close, amazingly. I didn't really think too much about the magnitude of it until I reviewed the shots I had taken on my camera. We had covered a lot of territory! And by the time I had finished looking over my pictures, Dave was deep into another favorite thing (of his)- sleeping, of course. 

And now that we've covered Saturday, we can move onto Monday!-Kara