A December to Remember

Enquine le gena adersashewu!

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Merry Christmas!

From our family to you!

This is JUST the most fun....

I especially love the ending!



(Hat tip to my fun mom!)

Welcome to Our Home

Welcome! I'm so glad you stopped by! Not much has changed (decorating-wise) around here since last year but I've taken some new shots from some new angles... Having this on my blog actually helped me this year when I couldn't remember how I had arranged some things. I just got on the internet and checked! (This year I didn't do a slide show, since I know those are difficult for my friends with dial-up.) I'm sorry if the smell of my Yankee Christmas Cookie candle faked you out... I haven't had time to bake cookies yet today. But I do have some great coffee...

Anyway, without further ado, welcome to our home!

This is my grandmother's foil tree that she always had in her home and then in her little apartment. I inherited it and it is such a treasure to me. It sits on the glass table in my entry way with the lights under it. Someday maybe I'll get a color wheel!

Here's the tree. From the looks of it I'd better log off my computer and get to shopping and wrapping!

This is one of my favorite new decorations, a gift from a friend. I love plugging it in each morning while the house is still dark.

Here's our big mantle. It covers one whole wall in our family room and every year this intimidates me! For years I did 33 candles of various sizes (one for each year of Jesus' eartly life.) This year I just did greenery and lights.

This is a rug I picked up this year. Everywhere I see the word "Joy" and it's catching my eye more than ever, as we have pretty much decided that will be our new daughter's middle name. I love seeing this rug with the little African chairs on either side.
Here is my little Christmas village on my cookbook shelf in the kitchen. I just love Dollar Tree!

Here are our gingerbread houses in the china cabinet, where they live each year. We learned our lesson one year when our dog helped himself...

I haven't collected the whole Willow Tree set yet, but I found this stained glass Bethlehem last year and I think it looks great with the pieces I do have.

My daughter's tree

My son's tree

The view from upstairs. Notice the sleeping Dachshund curled up on the couch cushion. It's his birthday today!


Each new candle brings us one week closer to Christmas Day! I just love this time of year.

Thanks so much for stopping by our home, and thanks, Boomama , for hosting us.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Advent with Preschoolers

It's the first Sunday of Advent! I'm so excited!

A couple of people asked in the comments a couple of posts ago about what I suggest for celebrating Advent with preschoolers. There are so many great ideas out there in blogland and all over the web, and while I don't have any earth-shattering new ideas, I have written a post on my homeschool blog about what we used to do.

Celebrating Advent with Preschoolers

Oh, how I pray that today begins a blessed season for your family!

Come, thou long expected Jesus....

Happiness Is...

Boxes to put it all in...

(I was JUST so happy about it, I took another picture from downstairs...)

A patch of sunshine to take a nap in...
..and a blog to post it on, just because...

Have a terrific Thursday, doing whatever brings you happiness!

:)

Christmas Scenes

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas with those you love. We have had such a fun Christmas with all of our family. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past couple of days...

Merry Christmas!

Our nativity figures with our Advent wreath

"Joseph's Lullaby" by Mercy Me

Go to sleep my Son
This manger for your bed
You have a long road before You
Rest Your little head

Can You feel the weight of Your glory?
Do You understand the price?
Or does the Father guard Your heart for now
So You can sleep tonight?

Go to sleep my Son
Go and chase Your dreams
This world can wait for one more moment
Go and sleep in peace

I believe the glory of Heaven
Is lying in my arms tonight
But Lord, I ask that He for just this moment
Simply be my child

Go to sleep my Son
Baby, close Your eyes
Soon enough You'll save the day
But for now, dear Child of mine
Oh my Jesus, Sleep tight

Visit Sting My Heart to see more nativity pictures. Have a blessed day!

Christmas Eve Eve

We had our first family gathering, a Christmas Eve Eve brunch yesterday at my brother's house. He made his famous pancakes, I brought sausage balls, and my mom brought a delicious breakfast casserole. We ate way too much and had a wonderful time!

Here is our Christmas Eve Eve as seen through the lens of a 10 year old with his new digital camera he received from Gram and Grandad:

Merry Christmas Eve!

Treat yourself...

and go watch this. It's precious!

Kids Draw the Nativity


Have a wonderful Eve of the Eve of Christmas Eve!

So little to do, so much time! Wait, reverse that...

I caught myself doing it yesterday. The thing I do when an event is getting closer. I'll be thinking of all the things I need to accomplish for the event when other things stealthily sneak onto the list,which have nothing to do with said event. Like, when I'm having a dinner party and I clean out the closet under the stairs and dust behind the T.V.'s. Like when I'm busy making our lesson plans for a new semester of school, and all of a sudden I must go get a new haircut. Or when I vacuum behind the piano in the dining room because someone is going to run a book by and stand in the entry way and chat. What does one thing have to do with the other?

Yesterday I realized it was December 20th... 4 days 'til Christmas, and only 3 'til Christmas Eve. Two days left until our first family gathering. NO, I haven't finished buying gifts. NO, I haven't wrapped what I do have. NO, I haven't baked everything I was going to bake. So, yesterday when I was experiencing the Prelude to my Pre-event Panic (which isn't Pretty) I was mentally going over checklist of things to do: "Okay, I need to get the ornaments for the kids to exchange at the party Thursday night, pick up some more stocking stuffers, make sure I have all of the brunch ingredients for Saturday morning, clean my closet, make sure the kids get to decorate their gingerbread houses, organize the pots and pans, make sure I put that Linens N Things coupon in my purse so I can run by there later, and oh-my-GOSH we still haven't seen 'The Navitity!' " Did you notice what sneaked in? My master closet is, indeed, a wreck. One does need to wear protective footwear when opening the pots and pans cabinet under my stove. We are most definitely planning to see the movie. But why, oh, why do I feel like I have to get those things done before Christmas Eve? Especially since we have the whole week between Christmas and New Year with nothing-in-particular going on?

At least I caught myself. That's growth. In previous years I would've been in my master closet today sorting clothes and putting new shelf liner in my kitchen cabinets. But today, I'm going to do what needs to be done for tonight, for Saturday's Christmas brunch with my family, for Christmas Eve. The closet can wait. Maybe I'll organize it next time we have someone over for dinner.

Christmas Tour of Homes

I had decided not to participate in BooMama's Bloggy Christmas Tour of Homes this year, because I have seriously pared down my Christmas decorating over the years. Seriously. Why, oh why, didn't I have a blog the Year of Seven Christmas Trees? Or the years I had exactly 33 candles on my mantle (one for each year of Christ's earthly life)? When there was greenery, candles, and sparkle from the front door to the back door? When I see others' beautifully decorated homes, it reminds me of what I have not done this year. But that's not what Christmas is about, and certainly not what the Christmas Tour of Homes is about, now, is it?

So this morning I got up, looked around, and decided I am perfectly content with what we've done this year and that this would be a perfect opportunity to put Romans 12:13 into action and "practice hospitality" right here in my little corner of the web. So... Welcome! I've got hot chocolate and Starbuck's Christmas Blend, so help yourself and enjoy some of my favorite Christmas decorations.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Works-for-me Wednesday

This is a coffee mix I love to give each year. People really like it. In fact, one year I gave it to one of my the kids' choir teachers, and she was excited because the teacher my child had had the previous year had told her how good it was, and she knew that we gave it each year. (My son looks forward to helping me because he's my official "mint crusher" :)

Bavarian Mint Coffee

1/3 cup powdered coffee creamer

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup instant freeze-dried coffee

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

4 hard peppermint candies, crushed

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients. Store in airtight container.

To use, stir mixture before measuring.

For each serving, place 3 tablespoons mix in cup and add 6 oz. boiling water. Stir well.

To make as gifts, I usually triple the recipe and usually end up making more than one batch. I put enough for 3 or 4 servings in decorative Christmas bags with tags or labels denoting the serving suggestion. I also usually use decaffeinated coffee, and have found that people appreciate that.

Enjoy!

For more great tips from some of Santa's most industrious elves, visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Works-for-me Wednesday

The focus of today's WFMW are things that make our holidays easier/ more fun. So here are a few of mine:

Saving the top of the Christmas tree: It's been a couple of years since we got a real tree, but the last two years that we did, I had my husband cut off the top of it before we (sadly) disposed of it. I would leave the top propped up in the corner of the garage where it would, of course, dry out and whatever needles hadn't fallen out all over our living room would fall off. As we approached Easter, I would put that dead, prickly tree, or "branch" in a pot for our Easter tree. ("Branch" is a name for the Messiah in scripture: Is. 4:2, Jer. 23:5, 33:15; Zech. 3:8, 6:12) I also have several beautiful cross ornaments that I use on our Christmas tree that I would set aside to use on the Easter tree. For me, it was a powerful symbol of how Christmas points to Easter- that's why He came. To die. On an old, dead tree. But the beautiful cross ornaments would remind me of the beauty of the cross, for what it means to all who believe on the name of Christ and accept His gift of salvation. And, it's particularly meaningful when that piece of an old, dead, tree was the very tree that had looked so alive, green and lit up in our living room just a few months before. It was simple to do, made Easter all the more meaningful (and we got more "mileage" out of our Christmas tree!)

Dollar Grab-bags: Two years ago my daughter and I discovered those little $1 "grab bags" at Dollar Tree. They are small paper sacks, stapled shut, labeled for boy, girl, male, female, child, adult, with an assortment of... stuff... in them (presumably for that age group.) Well, just for fun, we grabbed one for each member of our family. It was so fun the first year, we did it last year, too. (I think mine last year had a dish scrubber, a little towel and some other odds 'n ends in it.) It's fun for there to be "mystery" bags under the tree that even Mom and Dad have no idea what's in them! And it's usually something you can use!

Our make-ahead breakfast: I know many of you make your Christmas morning breakfast ahead of time, too, so I just thought I'd share what I make. My Grandad used to always make sausage balls for Christmas morning. I made them a Christmas tradition in my home because they taste like the Christmas mornings I remember from my childhood, and because they're super easy. I've always made them ahead and stored them (unbaked) in a container in the fridge, then popped them in the oven when the hubbub dies down in the morning. Here's the recipe I use:

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 8 oz. grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 lb. hot bulk sausage
• Mix together and roll into walnut-sized balls
• Bake at 375 until brown

I also make some muffins ahead of time, and serve it all with Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee, and cocoa for the kids.

For more Christmas tips, visit Rocks In My Dryer.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!