Mountain Musings

Holly Jolly Bingo ~ Day 2

And now we have moved on to day two! Here are your next 15 words:

Do you have special ornaments that your family hangs on the tree every year? Eric and I have collected numerous ornaments through our growing up years that we both brought to put on our first tree. Not only that, but while on our honeymoon we collected several ornaments as well as receiving others as wedding or birthday gifts. Aren't they cute?

One of the new traditions for me this year was watching The Muppets Christmas Carol after we finished decorating the tree. We combined that with my tradition of having orange Danish rolls and hot chocolate (or Coke, for a certain person who doesn't like hot chocolate). It was a lot of fun, as I had never seen that version of A Christmas Carol before. What's your favorite version of that traditional Christmas tale?

~Sarah

Holly Jolly Bingo ~ Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of the 2015 Holly Jolly Bingo game here on Mountain Musings, everybody! Without any further ado, let's have the first 15 words:

As you may know, each day that I post words, I choose one or two of them to write about, and I welcome anybody to comment with anything pertaining to the list above. :)

Do you have any traditions surrounding the giving of gifts at your house? Do you open any on Christmas Eve, only on Christmas morning, all at once, or one at a time? This year will be one of making some new traditions for me, but one tradition that I still kept was being the first to put a gift under the Christmas tree. I brought a little something with me, so as soon as Eric and I finished decorating the tree, I ran and grabbed the gift bag to slip under the tree right away. As you can see, he added one later as well. :)

Do any of you have a nice festival of lights that you enjoy each year? One place that we went on our honeymoon had a Christmas lights display that was huge - it was so neat to drive through slowly one night while Christmas music played in the car. Eric knows me well, doesn't he? Ahhh, I loved it! :) Here's a low-quality phone picture to give you an idea:

There was also an area to get out of your car and walk through a "forest" with light displays throughout, as well as little shops with plenty of ornaments and other knick-knacks for sale.

Well, I hope that this first day has started you all out with numerous cross-outs on your lists! :) See you right here on the blog tomorrow morning!

~Sarah

 

Holly Jolly Bingo ~ Year Four!

Hello from Georgia, everyone!!! This is Sarah, now officially a guest poster here on Mountain Musings, welcoming you to the FOURTH year of Holly Jolly Bingo!

I am going to be running a contest this month, just like the last three years. If you played last year, you already know how this works; if you're new around these parts, read the rules below and feel free to jump in!

Game Instructions & Rules:

1. Choose 25 words from the list below. Write them down to save for yourself AND email your list to my email: girottih(at)yahoo(dot)com. Include your name in your email.

2. All list submissions must be received by MIDNIGHT (EST) Sunday, December 6.

3. Beginning Monday, December 7, I will post 12-15 randomly chosen words each day (Sundays excluded). Words will be posted around 8 am EST until the first two people reach BINGO! 

4. Participants will want to check our blog each and every day to find out what words were called and cross them off your list!

5. As soon as you have crossed off all 25 words, please leave a comment posting “BINGO!” I will double check your list to make sure it is a good bingo and will announce the winners on the blog. Even if someone has called “Bingo”, please continue to post “Bingo” until a winner is announced.

6. Multiple family members are welcome to play, just send me the separate lists for each of you.

Prizes:

We will again have prizes, yet to be determined, as is our little tradition every year. It will be something good, I promise. :)

BINGO WORDS:

Remember, choose 25 words from the list below. Write them down to save for yourself AND email your list to my email: girottih(at)yahoo(dot)com. Include your name!

Deadline to get your email with your words submitted is:
MIDNIGHT (EST) Sunday, December 6.

(click on this picture and then the magnifying glass to enlarge a bit for easier viewing)

Let's see if we can break last year's record for participation! It's a ton of fun to play along, try it and see. :)

~Sarah

 

Wedding Behind the Scenes, Ceremony, Reception, & Our Guests

We promised more wedding pictures, so first here are some behind-the-scenes decorating shots. Wonderful friends helped prepare the green apple and hydrangea vases for the reception tables: Emma and I worked on labeling the favor bags of raspberry fudge which Sarah made: ...while lots of smiling kitchen workers prepared salads for our guests: And, of course, the tablecloths had to be ironed....did you know that two dads working together can do some great ironing? Our dear friend, Kate, set up the cake on wedding day and was our cake server. Thank you, Kate! Here's the reception area all ready for our guests. The color of the day....green: A view of the wedding party participating in singing with the congregation during the ceremony: The siblings of both the bride and groom sang As Man and Woman We Were Made while the bride and groom prayed together as husband and wife and signed a copy of their vows: Food line: Our menu:Some of our special friends visiting with the bride and groom: Hannah and our friends:Thank you, friends, for coming to share the day with us: New neighbors who blessed us by coming to Sarah's wedding: Tom's two sisters and brother-in-law traveled from Connecticut for the wedding, and it was wonderful to see them again: Father and son in conversation: Friends from church: Soon it was time for the bride and groom to depart for their honeymoon. Here are Sarah and Eric leaving as guests throw fall leaves into the air. What a wonderful wedding day!: We appreciate our friend, Kyle Decker, who took lots of photos throughout the wedding--and a lot of them are in this post--Great job, Kyle!

A big thank-you goes to the professional photographer, Carla Jane Photography, for her photos of the wedding. This is one of my favorites: Welcome to the family, Eric! We all pray that God's richest blessings will be on your marriage as you both serve Him together.

 ~ Deb