My cookie party was a lot of fun and a great group of ladies showed up. I was amazed by the abundance of cookies that were contributed. We filled 15 gift boxes plus some gallon freezer bags and still managed to sample a few and take some home. These are the recipes I made and they tasted fantastic: 
Raspberry Pinwheels
Sugar Cookies
Mulled Cider

And here are some photos:

Our friend Jeff is coming to visit this weekend and then my family is coming down Wednesday to begin our Christmas celebration!

It has been cold and a little bit frosty even down here. Time to bundle up in puffy coats and scarves and enjoy hot drinks while strolling through twinkle light decorated streets. Ahhh...

Downtown Mountain View has a tree lighting festival each year that we went to with our friends Josh and Kate.  

We got our Christmas tree and decorated it as well as the apartment. We have some stockings and Christmas cards up and everything is looking festive. This weekend I will be baking dozens of cookies. I am hosting a Cookie Exchange Party on Sunday, only the purpose is to make treat boxes filled with goodies for a local Pregnancy Center affiliated with our church. I'm sure we will eat a few as well, of course. Such a fun time of year!

Every year at our church, a second year intern is asked to give the sermon for the Thanksgiving service. This year Jonathan was asked to do it. It was very enjoyable to witness him hashing out the sermon for weeks in advance and refine it and the result is a message that is very much from his heart. If you would like to listen to it, you can through our church's website.

We are so thankful for everyone and everything in our life and pray that we can really see them for what they are: gifts from God that we don't deserve.

Jonathan went to Oregon for five days to visit. While he was away, Mary came to visit me. We went to Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz for part of the time she was here. Every year thousands of monarch butterflies migrate to the park and we got to see some of them. It was gorgeous!  

We also did some shopping and eating and sight-seeing.

We have enjoyed following Duck football more closely this season than we have in the past. The only game we missed was while we were in Hawaii. We had the privilege of seeing them play at Stanford Stadium with the Bell family (including baby Sophie, she slept the whole time. What a champ!) It wasn't my favorite game of the season, they lost, but it was sure fun to be a part of the commotion.