Merry Christmas!

Wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!

God bless you all!

~The Sangers

:: Christmas Gifts for our Neighbors ::

Every year we try to give our neighbor friends a little something at Christmas time.  Most of our neighbors are Amish people and they are such a blessing to live near!  Over the past years we've given them Bath & Body hand soaps, Planters nut mixes, Pineapples, and Votive Candles.  This year we wrapped candies, canning jar lids, a notebook, a pack of pencils, etc. to make a "sleigh" piled high with "presents".

 

We also wrapped a Message Book to go along with each sleigh.

{Why It Had To Be Shepherds}

...a few of the goodies from our sweet Amish neighbors...

May you all have a blessed Holiday season!

~Kaitlyn



Decorating Sugar Cookies

Since December is such a busy month with all the Christmas gatherings and family vacations, we only had one Keeper's meeting this year.  The meeting was at Sis. Annette's house where we learned different techniques for decorating sugar cookies.

...sugar cookies ready to be decorated...

 

Lillia mixing up some icing...

 

 One of the techniques we used was "Marbling".
Take a plain sugar cookie and pipe a border of icing.  If you don't pipe a border, your icing will run off the sides of the cookie and ruin your design.  Then you fill in your circle/square, depending on what cookie you are decorating.


Then you take two different colors of icing and "scribble" on your base icing.

Taking a toothpick, drag it through your icing one way, wipe it off, then take it back over the cookie the opposite direction.  This creates a "marbled" look.

 We also "stamped" sugar cookies.

We rolled the chilled dough into balls then pressed them down with terra cotta cookie stamps which had snowflake, snowmen, and Christmas tree designs on them. It helps if you dust your dough ball with flour so the stamp doesn't stick and ruin your design! We then baked the stamped cookies at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes.  When they came out of the oven they had neat little designs imprinted on the top!

 

Hope and Faith decorate cookies using edible markers and stencils...

 

We also used rubber stamps to decorate a few cookies.

Make sure your icing is hard because when you press down on the stamp your icing will crack if it isn't completely hardened.

Faith and Joy display some of their creations :)

 We certainly had fun decorating these yummy Christmas treats!
Thank you to Sis. Annette for teaching us the different ways to decorate sugar cookies!

~Kaitlyn


{ Siblings, Snow, & Sledding }

 

These two little guys bring such joy to our home!

David already loves Benjamin so much and it's adorable to see them interact! David brings him toys to play with and wants to hold him constantly. It's crazy how fast four months have already gone by!  Our little guy is growing up and getting cuter every day!  His little coos and smiles brighten up anyone's mood!  You can't help but fall in love with this little bundle of cuteness!!!

 

 We've gotten quite a bit of snow here this past week and it started flurrying again this afternoon.

So...I ventured out of the warm cozy house to get a few pictures for you to enjoy... :)

 

Joy and Elainah decided to come out with me and have some fun sledding down our front hill!

 

 

So of course I had to grab some shots of their fun! :)

 

Joy decided to go over the "hump" on the saucer

 

 Then they convinced me to go for a ride too :D  So we had mommy come out on the porch and take a picture of us all piled on the sled!  It was quite a fun ride down!! :D

 

 Elainah just makes you smile as she goes squealing past on her sled! 

 

 I know this isn't the best quality but it captures Elainah's joyous personality so well!! 

She is such a fun little sister!

 

Thanks for reading :)  God bless you...

 

~Kaitlyn

Sanger Christmas 2013

It's that time of year again...snowflakes gently falling from the sky while a warm fire burns in the woodstove...Christmas gatherings with family and friends...warm cups of hot cocoa waiting after sledding and snowball fights...yes, it's winter...it's Christmas time!!!  Saturday we had the David Sanger family over to our house for a Christmas brunch.  Mommy wanted to do something a little different this year instead of the traditional Christmas dinner.  It was nice because then we had all day to visit and play outside with our cousins!  :)

 

Of course mommy prepared a feast...Fresh fruit, grits, eggs, sausage, cinnamon rolls, blueberry and strawberry cakes, and a doughnut "tree" were enjoyed by all.

 

 Of course the cousins were looking forward to sledding together! :D

 

 

 

 All lined up ready to go down the hill!!

 





Everyone came inside and warmed up by the fire before coming upstairs for some Christmas trivia! :)

 

Admiring what gifts each other received...and HEY!, if you get a rip-stick, why not try it out while it's still in the box? ;P

 

 The younger cousins had fun building a train track in the basement...

 

 ...and playing Patrick's new game!

 

All in all it was a great day with family.  We're so blessed to have such awesome relatives!!

 

~Kaitlyn

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a little video I put together...enjoy! :)

I'm Thankful for...

....so many things that if I listed them all you would be reading for quite some time! :)  The Lord has blessed our family this year and Thanksgiving is a nice time to stop and reflect on God's goodness. 

------------

This year the Youth Group held a Thanksgiving Banquet for the couples age 50+ in our church.

Joshua, Lillia, and I arrived at the Bomberger Farm around noon to help with the preparations.



Preparing relish trays for each table.  We also made individual fruit cups for each guest.

 

Emily, Abigail, Zoe, and I worked on arranging the centerpieces.

 

 Many hands make light work! :)

 

 Lincoln and Lillia aren't in the Youth Group yet but they sure were a big help setting up, doing dishes, and setting tables!

 

 A few of the girls hung up the guests coats while others welcomed them and offered Apple Cider. 

The guys who had their licenses offered valet services while the ones without drivers licenses opened doors. :)

A few of the servers in the buffet line.  We had a scrumptious meal prepared with supervision by head chef, Aunt Rebekah ;) Turkey, roast beef teriyaki, sweet corn, green beans almondine, mashed potatoes, and rolls. 

 

 Assorted desserts...

 

 The Youth Group also sang a few Thanksgiving songs and our favorite songs from Camp.
Will put together a Thanksgiving quiz also...

It was such an honor to serve them and make the evening special for those attending!

 ------------------------------------------------------------

Our family invited some friends to come for Thanksgiving at our house on Thursday.

I don't have any pictures of the food but let me tell you it was delicious!

 We enjoyed an afternoon of fellowship with the Mellema family, Grandpa and Grammy, and Sis. Naomi.

 

Of course we had to check out the Black Friday deals! ;)

 

I hope every one of you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving!

God bless you...

 

~Kaitlyn

 

1 Chronicles 16:34

O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good;

for His mercy endureth for ever.