Homespun Holiday January 12, 2012

What a wonderful, blessed Christmas we had!  Here are some of the highlights:

I scored this beautiful tree on black friday- next best thing to a real one, most people couldn’t tell it was fake!

The REAL garland to give the home a piney smell.  Also scored on black friday!

Ara and James loved the tree this year.  The ornaments were never in the same place and we had quite a few bite the dust, unfortunately.

Our first fire in the fireplace 🙂

Ara and I strung cranberries to make garland and then juiced the rest.

This year we did quite a bit of holiday baking!

Peppermint Bark chilling in the fridge

Baking Maple Granola for gifts…

Along with 6 dozen cookies: 3 dozen chocolate chip and 3 dozen toffee crunch

Packaged and ready to go and one left for Paul and I to munch on…

We took the kids to see the Christmas train display

Made gifts for our family…

…started to knit the kids stockings… and then decided to let that go this year, maybe next.

What a sweet Christmas it was!  Quiet, no places to rush off to, celebrating with family and friends the birth of our Lord.

So grateful for the blessing of God’s Son sent to earth and the blessings He continues to send everyday.

I hope you and your family had a very blessed Christmas as well!

My Ugly Heart December 6, 2011

• (DISCLAIMER:  I have no idea how those bullets down the side got there or how to remove them.  SORRY!)

• 

  photo found at rachelgoode.blogspot.com

• The Christmas season has a way of revealing to me what a sinner I am.  Fitting, since the holiday is a celebration of my Savior’s birth, but humbling none the less.
• Every year around this time I get bit by the bug.  A bug so rampant, I’m thinking it needs to be added to the strains of illnesses included in the flu season records.  As a helpful guide, I am including a list of symptoms.  You may have the Christmas bug if:
• 1. As you are shopping through Target, every toy you pass you imagine being opened Christmas morning by your child with a huge smile on their face, accompanied by the exclamation, “I love it!  You are the best Mother in the whole world!”
• 2. The words “Honey, we bought each other a house (or insert needed appliance, car repair, or plumbing job here) for Christmas, let’s not exchange gifts this year” make your heart drop with sadness no matter how right they are.
• 3. Your store daydreams change from #1 symptom to imagining your child unwrapping the boring things like underwear that they really need but don’t want with a disappointed look on their face, accompanied by the proclamation, “This is the WORST Christmas ever!”  (you only think that’s an exaggeration- I have a very dramatic little 5 year old.)
• 4.  You start wondering how kids during the great depression didn’t break their parent’s hearts after opening their one and only gift- an orange which was a rare treat to them.
• 5.  You realize now, more than ever, you are much more materialistic then you ever imagined…
• 
• Treatment for the Christmas bug includes a hefty dosage of reality:
• 1. Your child doesn’t need every toy in the store, in fact they are undoubtedly better off without it and so are you.  Not to mention, as the years pass, their enthusiasm for gifts drastically reduces and last year we were horrified to hear the dreaded phrase, “what else did you get me?” escape our child’s lips more than once.  “Where did we go wrong?”, we asked ourselves.  After all, we had been careful not to make Christmas about the presents…or so we thought.  We didn’t “do” Santa, we limit our gift giving to a few special items per child, we read “The Three Gifts of Christmas”  leading up to the holiday, we even tried no gifts on Christmas day one year opening them on Christmas Eve instead so all of Christmas day could be focused on Christ’s birth.  How did we end up with such greediness coming from our children? Perhaps the first dose of medicine I needed to swallow was the reality that my children get the Christmas bug too.  Whats worse?  They caught it from me.  MODEL CONTENTMENT!
• 2.The house, furnace. dishwasher, new axles for the car, toilet repair, you name it was a BLESSING!  And despite the little pang in your heart that tells you otherwise, it is enough.  Gather friends and family in that gift of a home.  Warm bodies from that furnace mean warm hearts snuggled in their beds on Christmas Eve.  Dishes covered in food being loaded in the dishwasher make me grateful when I think back on six years without one and thankful that food was on those dishes around the table where my family joins together to eat.  Whatever you may have inserted in that blank, whether a car repair which enables you to travel and see loved ones or even the fixed toilet that saves your ears from the constant sound of it running-  GIVE THANKS!
• 
  
• 3. When needs are met, whether through Christmas or any other time of the year, teach your children to praise God!  “Kids you know you needed new underwear, don’t tell me you didn’t notice the holes in yours and no- holiness isn’t a good thing when it comes to underwear.  Praise God!  He provided you with new underwear this Christmas!”  CHOOSE JOY!
• 
  
• 4. Oranges DO make great stocking-stuffers.  Throw in a ziplock baggie of cloves and let your kids decorate them to make pomanders for your Christmas table centerpiece.  BE CREATIVE!
• 
  
• 5. Pray that the Holy Spirit would change your heart about Christmas.  Pray that He would take your greed, selfishness, and desire to please anyone but our Savior.  Pray that He would transform your family through the power of His love and that we would all be awestruck by the wonder of His glory!  PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!

Ara and James at the Christmas Tree

My dear friends, that truly is “All I Want For Christmas”…  for God to take my ugly heart and give me one washed clean by His blood.  Hallelujah, HE DID!  And that is the reason for the season!

Feminine Friday- Holiday Decor on a Shoestring Budget December 12, 2008

Beautifying the house for the holidays!

Alright, this Christmas we had basically no budget for Christmas Decor but I wanted to share some ways I tried to add Christmas cheer to the house inexpensively.

Living Room

My Stepmother-in-law gave me this beautiful wreath that I hung ornaments on to make it festive for the holidays. It hangs above our green sofa.

(The light through the window made the wall look yellow but it is actually renter’s white.)

I hung garland around the edges of our two bookshelves on both sides of the couch and hung tiny ornaments on that as well.

I made three matching stocking out of scraps of Christmas fabric and hung them on the stairs along with garland.

Our mirror behind the chair features a festive ornament :).

And the window seat will eventually hold the display of packages once I get them wrapped.

Kitchen

I tossed some ornament balls into my lime green pedestal for a centerpiece.

My lime green tea kettle matches perfectly with my Red, Green and White kitchen color scheme.

The striped kitchen towels.

Our memory verses written out in red and green to match.

Bedroom (AKA the Christmas Room)

Our living room is too tiny to fit the Christmas tree so it is in our room this year.

Ara bought this sock monkey ornament with her own money this year.

Here we are! Well, Hubby and I.

Christmas quilt on our bed.

So, that’s what I have up this year on a shoestring budget. If you blogged about your Christmas decorations, leave a comment in the comments section with your blog URL. Merry Christmas and a happy Feminine Friday!

Just Around the Corner… November 15, 2008

…its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Starting this coming Monday (that is in two days) be sure to stop in for a Very Merry Mason Jar Monday. Every Monday up until Christmas I will be posting Christmas crafts for decor, gifts, etc. all using a mason jar.

Can you tell I’m excited? Stay tuned…