Christmas highlights

Here are a few of our favorite moments over the Christmas season, captured on "film".

Christmas dance!

Merry Christmas to Ewe!

...from Ireland with love!

Photos taken on our frosty Christmas Eve walk today!

So beautiful outside, but sooooo cold!! I have to say though, it's perfect weather for Christmas!

Merry Christmas

From the Darraghs!

Christmas Day

Our second Christmas as a married couple and first as parents was a wonderful one. Here is a little peek at our Christmas morning:

David got a bike this year for Christmas!

(If you remember, he gave me mine last year)

So now all we need is a baby seat and we will be all set.

The view outside was so pretty that morning. Every surface was coated with white frost. It's hard to see it well here, but it gives the idea anyway.

Mariah didn't have a clue about how to proceed with gift opening. She did watch with great interest though. I guess her little brain is processing and preparing for an all out attack next year!

This is what our living room looked like after we were finished!

My family sent us loads of presents and spoiled us rotten!

Thank you all...we love our gifts and so does Mariah!

(I will post a video shortly of her enjoying her present from my parents!)

Merry Christmas!

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

(Matthew 1:21)

Our Christmas Day

Here is a re-cap of our Christmas Day...

First, I woke up and came down stairs to find this!!

A Land Rover bike from my incredible husband! He said that now I will be the envy of all the farmers because Land Rover's are THE vehicle for farmers around here it seems. I just think it is a wonderful and thoughtful gift to a girl who can't drive yet and has no car. I feel a little guilty that he has given me so much! *sigh* He is so wonderful!

Our next Christmas Day adventure brought us to Caldwell and Maryann's for Christmas dinner. It was so so so yummy! I am still full from it. So here is what we had:

Appetizer:

Red Lentil soup

Garlic bread

Main Course:

Oven Roasted Turkey

Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Potatoes

Turkey gravy

Roasted Parsnips and Carrots

Stuffing (two different kinds)

Cranberry Sauce

Broccoli Bake (I made that one!)

Sausages

Bread sauce (a new experience for me...very tasty!)

Beverage: Shloer (pronounced "sh-lur" and very refreshingly fruity)

Dessert:

Trifle & Plum Pudding

Then it was off to open presents! This was Lilia's first Christmas and she was full of wonder at all the excitement. What a little doll! I held her during the entire first round of gift opening and it was such a pleasure!

Sarah got a new bike too! We all pitched in towards it and she was very happy!

Reuben got a little go-cart from Sarah. 

I made a little quilt for Lilia and finished it on Christmas morning! (typical procrastinator...will I never learn!?)

My dear mother-in-law held it up so I could take a picture. This picture is for you Mom! At your request. :)

Paul and Karen and their sweet kiddos! Christmas is so much more fun when kids are about! 

I am very grateful for my new Irish family. I was rather overwhelmed with the "blues" of not being home this Christmas with my family back in Minnesota, but my new family is so wonderful that I just can't be sad for very long. Thanks guys, for making my first Christmas away from home such a special one!

A homemade Christmas!

I had so much fun making Christmas presents this year. Since I am at home during the day these days, I have had tons of time to do things that I always thought would be fun to do if I had the time. Here are some of my baking endeavors...

Christmas cookies!

I thinned down the frosting enough so that I could use a paintbrush (a brand new one, mind you) to spread the frosting...I felt like Picasso in a bakery. Well, okay, so they weren't that fancy, but it was delicious fun! We gave these little packages of cookies to all of David's music students.

Then, I was reading my cousin, Erica's blog, and was inspired to try her recipe for biscotti. It was so yummy! Thanks Erica!

We used these in a gift to my wonderful parents-in-law. We gave them each their own jar so they wouldn't fight! Just kidding, I really can't imagine them fighting actually. They are both too sweet.

So now, it is 1:32am and Christmas is officially over. It was a wonderful day and I will be sure to post pictures of it tomorrow. The day ended with the most amazing gift ever!! A conversation with my WHOLE family back in Bemidji on Skype. They sang us some Christmas songs and we got to see each and every precious face and send them our love. That was a perfect ending to a lovely first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. God is good!

An Irish Christmas III

Our lovely "Charlie Brown" tree! It is sitting on our coffee table so that you can see it out our front window. It is scraggly and has large gapping holes and kind of short and just perfect!

So here she is!!!

And now with the lights off! 

Ta Da!

Ahhh, I just love how the lights sparkle and I love squinting my eyes and making them all blur together. Does anybody else ever do that? Is that weird? Hmmm, maybe I should just keep some things to myself. 

So my first Christmas Eve away from my family has been bitter-sweet. I miss all the wonderful traditions of going over to Grandma's house and all the sweet kiddos around. But at the same time, I am exited to be building new memories and traditions with my wonderful husband and his family too. It is good to remember what all these celebrations are about...Jesus, and His great gift of love for us. He is a wonderful reason to celebrate!

An Irish Christmas II

Come on in...you are very welcome to our home! Very glad you could stop by! 

Happy Christmas Eve!

I found these cedar boughs and holly leaves up on Sollus and made a wee wreath for our door. It was fun to make and I just love jingly bells! Every time we open our door they seem to say, "Merry Christmas!" (I know, I know! I am really corny...I woke up in this mood and it is just not going away so read on at your own risk!)

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-la-laaaa, la-la-la-la!" 

(These are especially for you Karen!)

I caught David in the living room enjoying our lovely tree and cozied up with a book. I am sure he just loves it when I burst in on him and start taking pictures of his book and other random objects. He has the patience of Job, that man! 

And finally, one of my favorite ornaments...

This was a gift from the Beighley hunting crew ladies. I was incredibly touched by their thoughtfulness and I think it looks stunning on our tree! I will be sure to post a picture of our tree soon. I keep forgetting to do it at night when the lights show up best. So...more to come!! 

An Irish Christmas

Many people have been asking me what it is like to celebrate Christmas over here in Ireland, so I thought I would do a few posts to actually show you. This is what Ireland looks like at Christmas time...green, green, GREEN!!!

Our house is down there among all those other white ones. This hill that I have climbed is called Sollus, which means "light" and overlooks our valley.

On the road up, I felt as if I were walking in a beautiful green fairy land...

They say that you can see Scotland from the top. Can't say that I did but I guess I wouldn't really know if I had. Anyway, it certainly is a breathtaking view! 

AND!! you know that song..."the holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown..."? Well on Sollus, they grow together, intertwining themselves together. So lovely! 

So Merry Christmas everyone! 

From David and Melanie in Ireland

More Christmas posts to come!

Christmas highlights continued...

Every Christmas Eve we have the wonderful blessing of gathering at my Grandma Berge's house and celebrating our Savior's birth all together with all the cousins, aunts, and uncles. We have a tradition of taking a "grandkids" picture in front of the tree each year. It is so fun to look back and watch as new members are added to the picture each year through birth or marriage. The group just keeps on getting bigger and bigger each year. I remember when you could actually still see the Christmas tree behind us! Here is this year's photo:



Grandma Berge gave all the little girls new markers and coloring books. However, Erina found a more interesting use for them!

Christmas highlights...

Here are some more of my favorites from this month.


Carolers:
What a sweet suprise it was to open our front door and find a group of christmas carolers gracing our front step. They sang to us in amazing four-part harmony. It was so beautiful.

The Kastner and Berge crew singing in the snow

Thank you Kastners and Berge girls for that sweet music!