I knew they'd "sleigh" you.

It was cold tonight.
School's been out all week
It's 3 days before Christmas .

And yet MAGGIE / MADDIE / MARY WALKER / VIRGINIA / CECELIA / ELAINE / SAVANNAH / KAYLA / NICKI / MERRITT / SAM / CRAIG / PRUDEN / ANNA / BRIEN / STEVE / BLAKE / TYLER / MARK / T.J. / TWIG / KEITH / TREY / CATHERINE / CAMERON / DALLAS /

all came out to help cook and feed tonight. They did a great job.

OVEN FRIED CHICKEN

MADE FROM SCRATCH MAC'n CHEESE
GREEN BEANS
ROLLS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA/WATER

Leg quarters were 49 cents a pound this week so we went the chicken route for this weeks meal.
I always want to do fried chicken but it's not practical. Then I remembered an oven fried chicken recipe this girl I used to date would fix. I went online and found an easier one and we used it.
I also found a recipe for Macaroni and cheese for 100 people. It called for 8 lb of macaroni and 8 lb. of Velveeta. I bought 12 lb. of both and adjusted everything else. For some reason we had twice as much cheese sauce as we needed when we were done pouring it over the macaroni. I have no idea why. But I got about a gallon and a half of cheese sauce that's gonna get used in a recipe in the next couple of weesks.

WHAT DO YOU CALL A REINDEER WEARING EAR MUFFS?
IT DON'T MATTER, HE CAN'T HEAR YOU.

Josh and Chris Armstrong were in town for Christmas break and came down to help. They're twins and Chris goes to UNC and Josh goes to NCSU.
Nice.
It was good to see them. We laughed a lot over the course of the night, which reminded me how much I missed them being around. BLITZ!

WHAT'S THE FIRST THING SANTA'S HELPERS LEARN IN SCHOOL?
THE "ELF-ABET".

We set up all the clothes and miscellaneous stuff we'd collected up to now in Fireside Hall. Before we ate out front we took them downstairs to "shop" and get what they needed.
Then we went back up and served. When everyone had been served, we passed out our Merry Christmas bags. We had a pair of socks in the bottom, then 2 apples, a tangerine(yum!), an orange, a bag of of hard candy, and a candy cane. Then as they were leaving the first stop we gave everybody a blanket.
The blankets came from the kids that attended Celebrate Christmas! a couple of weeks ago.
Gary Wilcox collected some blankets and coats for us, too.
The Merry Christmas bags were a joint effort. Brien bought the bags and put the socks in them, Steve Leger bought the oranges and tangerines, and some friends of mine from the other side of the state helped fund the apples and hard candy.
Thanks go to them for making those things possible.
God is faithful and amazing in the ways he provides resources for us to do the things we do on Tuesday nights.

What's red and white and gives presents to gazelles?
Santa-lope

HERE'S THE DEAL:

If you're reading this I want to you to leave a comment telling me what your all-time favorite Christmas present as a kid was.
Seriously.
Whether I know you or not, tell me.
I'm gonna tell you what mine was.
That's easy: A metallic green 3 speed Schwinn Sting Ray bike. I have no idea what I did to deserve it that year (probably not a darn thing) but I got it.
And. It. Was. SWEET!
I loved that bike.
And to my parents credit, they got my brother a bike that year except his was totally different. I was the only one with that bike.
I don't remember being" cool" as a kid, but I sure thought I was when I was on that bike.
Nothing but Twisted Steel and Sex Appeal. Lean, Mean, The American Dream.

Now it's your turn.
What's the best present you ever got as a kid?

As far as the jokes go........