Blizzard! 

 We have been having so much fun with a blizzard that came through yesterday! It started to snow close to noon, and kept getting thicker. Then the wind picked up, and today we have plenty of drifts and snow piles!

This is when the snow first started.

This morning, we woke up and found everything packed with snow! There are

 plenty of drifts and snow piles to sled down, build tunnels in, and so on. :-) 

Craig, clearing snow and making more piles!

Looks tempting, doesn't it? Well...!

Brady loves to build tunnels under the drifts.

Colby and Brady digging another tunnel

Look how big that drift is!

Our dog, Trixie, loves the snow. She's very playful this time of year!

Colby, age 4, is old enough to enjoy the snow this year! 

Brady

Riley

Oops!

Abby and Riley

Here are some shots that I got this morning. 

The snow makes everything so beautiful!

         Not to us, O Lord, not to us
        but to your name be the glory, 
          because of your love and faithfulness. 

^{Psalm 115:1}

^{Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God,} 

^{you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.} 

^{Psalm 104:1}

^{God is so great! I am always amazed by His beauty and wisdom in all that He created.}

^{May the Christmas season fill you with joy for all He has done!}

^{~Brittany, for the Bergen Family~}    

Trixie!

 

 I was looking through some pictures of our Saint Bernard, Trixie. I found so many cute ones! 

The first ones are on the day we bought her, in 2009. She was seven weeks old, and was very clumsy!

This next one is the winter of the big blizzard, in '09. She loved the snow! She was six months old. 

Saint Bernard to the rescue!

:: About 8 or 9 months old!::

These were taken this summer.

And this one was taken today!

Christmas Fun!

The Christmas season holds so much joy for those of us who know Christ personally! It's a celebration of His birth; what an amazing gift He is to us! We've been having lots of fun celebrating Christmas in different ways this year; some of these ways are decorating at home and at church, baking Christmas goodies, and, of course, music! I'd love to share some photos with you of what we've been doing this Christmas season.

 ::Decorating at Church::

::Getting ready to hand up the top of the tree::

 ::Craig, putting up greenery::

 ::Alysha, a friend, hanging up wreaths on the windows::

 ::Keeliann (a friend) and Colby are handing wreaths up to Brady::

::Hanging the Ornaments::

 ::Finished project!::

This is what Christmas is truly about, isn't it!

Christmas Cookies!

 Grandma had Brady, Katie and I (Brittany) over to help with Christmas cookies!

 We really enjoy dipping pretzels in melted chocolate and white chocolate.
 Ritz cracker sandwiches with peanut butter between them is another favorite treat!

We also helped frost cookies!

::Grandma, frosting the Christmas trees::

 ::Katie's creativity is shown in lots of ways, but this is the yummiest!

 ::These cookies were all made by Katie and I::

 ::Making candy cane cookies::

Mmmm!

Violin Christmas Program

Abby, Riley and I are really enjoying the Christmas music that we have been practicing. We had a Christmas program on the 10th of December at a nursing home.
Abby has been taking lessons for 2 1/2 years; I have been taking lessons for
 2 years, and Riley started at the end of September!

::Our whole group::

::Riley and Abby are part of the 'rhythm section' for this song.
They get to pluck their strings instead of using their bows::

 ::Brittany::

 (from left) Levi, Mitchell, Brittany, Molly

::This is the older group of students playing the harder songs::

 Brittany, Rachel, Stephanie

Riley and Levi, who came wearing almost the same outfits!

We really enjoyed our time playing for the residents of the nursing home, and hope that our music was glorifying to God and uplifting to the people there. Many thanks to our teacher, Kathy Nauman, for her patient and cheerful attitude!

Merry Christmas from the Bergen Family!