We’re ready to celebrate the New Year.
We just received the proof CD! Now begins the process of “refining the mix”, and determining song order…
“Another tender Tennessee Christmas – the only Christmas for me
Where the love circles around us like the gifts around the tree”
(now we can actually sing this song for real!)
Christmas 2008: our first Christmas in Tennessee at Providence Glen! History was made on the 25th of December, folks.
And for this, a special occasion, a “first” amongst all other “firsts” for our new home we did…
…NOTHING!
You all should try it sometime – it’s great!
Not really. By “nothing”, I mean only that we did nothing unusual; we didn’t travel on Christmas, we didn’t invite anyone over. Instead we stayed at home, enjoyed each other’s company and chilled the entire day.
We had a delicious breakfast of baklava and homemade bread, then headed to the family for the reading of the Christmas story and the last chapter of our advent book, Tabitha’s Travels. Just amongst ourselves we didn’t have too many gift exchanging; we decided instead to make memories, and go do some fun things together (seeing The Wizard of Oz production was one of them). But we still had presents to open from family far away…
When the weekend came and Dad was off from work we headed up to Virginia to spend a late Christmas with family. It was a great time of fellowship, crazy games, calendars and presents! We even drove by a reknown house up the street to admire their excessive Christmas lights decor.
I hope everyone’s Christmas was as pleasant as ours, and filled with the love of God!
-Kasie, for TheWilli
Merry CHRISTmas everyone from the Willi!
Enjoy this adaptation of a Christmas song by Casting Crowns – we love it!

Once, when we were at homegroup, our friends began craking Chuck Norris jokes left and right – we laughed until our sides hurt! I just had to share some with you.
Prepare yourselves…
“When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn’t lift himself: the earth goes down.”
“Superman wears Chuck Norris underwear.”
(this one you’ve got to say in just the right voice…)
“The BoogyMan looks in his closet every night to see if Chuck Norris is there.”
“Darth Vador dresses up like Chuck Norris for Halloween.”
“When Chuck Norris falls out of a boat, he doesn’t get wet: the water gets Chuck Norrised.”
“If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, he has more than you.”
“Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.”
So ridiculous, aren’t they? You have to be in just the right mood to enjoy them. In our case it was late at night, we were getting silly…
Ah, fun stuff!
-Kasie
…’til Christmas.
Wow! Where has the time gone? Has it really been a year since we spent our first Christmas away from New York?
This year is a special Christmas: it’ll be a first for Providence Glen! Our friends have told us that, whatever house you move into, it’ll feel more like home after spending Christmas there.
Since then we’ve put up all our decorations, trimmed the tree and hung stockings over the fireplace. (we even held our first party here!) It all looks so cozy, inviting, and warm…
…and about what our friends said? I think they’re right. It does feel like home.
What’s everybody doing for Christmas this year?
-Kasie
Pattern pieces are being cut…

…a hum from the sewing machine fills the room…

…all of this careful construction in preparation and anticipation of our Civil War Ball!
Some may argue that March 29th is ‘still a long ways off,’ but knowing myself and my procrastinating ways, I need to get this done now.
In the upcoming months Angie and I will be teaching/aiding friends and other homeschoolers with sewing their ball gowns. Since I don’t know for sure how much time we’ll have to work on our own costumes, we’re using this time while we can!

Isn’t my fabric so pretty?
-Kasie
P.S. Angie said to tell anyone who may wonder about her recent disappearance from our family blog that she’s gone sewing…
Last week we spent a day with friends Valerie and Evan to make our gingerbread houses together. Valerie provided ready made gingerbread dough and icing, we brought a selection of candy with which to decorate our masterpieces, then the construction process began!
Whenever you do a project with friends, it’s bound to be a new and fun experience. In our case, we sang and danced in the kitchen to the music of VeggieTales and Beach Boys as we built and decorated with goodies!
Some of our conversation went like this;
“I still think it needs more color..”
“More candy!”
“No, no, more chocolate!”
(this last exclamation from Mom)
There were of course, games and a dinner in between the gingerbread and candy. It was a lovely time!
So, have any of you all made gingerbread houses this year?
-Kasie
…Like you’ve never heard it before! Way to go Annie Moses Band!
(Listen and watch the whole 6+ minutes – it just keeps getting better and better).