The Aftermath.....

Christmas has come and gone yet, in a blink of an eye. It was just the other morning that my children were in their Jammie's opening up their gifts on Christmas morn. It was a lovely day in which we spent together... just the four of us. It is so wonderful to hear that my daughter's favorite gift was surely the one that I made for her. She has been sleeping with it every night since. Her very first vintage style sock elephant filled with lavender and love was surely the hit of the morning.

My son sits here sporting his handsome hat. Yes, my boy asked for a nice hat to where when he goes to Church. He has always had such an old soul to him. He looks quite dashing in it too !!! Christmas was not big with presents this year... it was truly focused on Christ and family.

We have enjoyed the many Christmas season activities this Winter. My parents came for Christmas Eve, which I must confess my favorite part of the evening was singing Christmas Hymns with them. The children enjoyed going ice skating. A first for us..... and they want to go again. Now we look forward to the new coming year ahead, as well as look back on this years blessings.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

From my family to yours....

We wish you a very Merry Christmas.

For Christmas morning breakfast we will enjoy this sweet Gingerbread Man cake that my daughter and I made along with a nice hot cup of Celestial Seasons Gingerbread Spice tea !

We will open our Magi gifts this year as we praise our Father in heaven for His salvation. Thanking Him for His care, as a Shepherd over His sheep, as a Father is to His children. We look upon our joy this day as we celebrate the Messiah's birth.

Merry Christmas !

Traditions....

Even though there's a lot to do at Christmas, families still need some quiet time together!

Time to build traditions in the home. We treasure these times when we make Christmas cookies, go ice skating, shop for presents, build gingerbread houses, bring cheer to the less fortunate as well as the elderly. These are just a few of the things we have done this season.

We look forward to hanging our stockings, decorating the tree, lighting up the house and drinking cocoa with lots of marshmallows.

With all those fun filled activities.... there are also the quiet moments spent together as a family reading the Gospel, doing Christmas advent and in praying. Yes, we are all busy people. Why not give time to Christ & your family in this way... building a strong Christian treasured tradition that will surely be passed down for generations to come.

The focus on Christ has disappeared in so many homes during the Christmas season. Do you realize that it is Christ, that we even celebrate Christmas ( holidays) ?

Don't let the focus on the true meaning of Christmas fade away in your home dear friends.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned....

For to us a child is born to us a son is given....

And

He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince Of Peace.

Isaiah 9:2-6

We come together every night as a family communing in a devotional time. We have a book called Christ In Christmas A Family Advent Celebration . We also read all the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as well as sing Christmas songs from our hymnals.

I hope you will find this book of use in your home. We have been blessed by our treasured moments as a family which has only grown us closer to one another in a relationship with Christ who was born a man.

He came, He died to save us from the darkness....

what a gift !

A Walk Through Gingerbread Lane...

This week we went to our friends house to make Gingerbread Houses. This has become a tradition in which we have enjoyed doing throughout many Christmas pasts. My friend made sure there was lots of candies to work with.

This year we used graham crackers instead of the big process in making homemade gingerbread. The kids got into creating their houses.

But... I have to tell you that the teen boy's enjoyed it the most. it became almost competitive. They spent a long time working on their houses.

My daugters house ended up falling down. She soon left the house, as the boy's continued on.

Here is my son's house.

Here are the houses that stood at the end of the day. I had my house all designed...but ended up helping out in the kitchen, helping the kids and eating the darn candy instead of building one. Well it was a great time. If you have never done this project with your kids.... I say do it... build a new tradition in your home.

Oh Christmas Tree..

We have been here in California since September, I was anticipating that the remainder of our belongings that didn't make the truck in our move to be shipped here in time for Christmas. Not that I care about " Stuff", actually I can see already I am not even missing much of it, except that our Christmas Tree and ALL our decorations and ornaments didn't make it. My children look forward to every year reminiscing the years of ornaments given to them each year from family and decorating the tree with them. I am sad to say... it will not make it for Christmas.

Since we aren't going to have our tree my mom brought over a tree. I took one look at the little dinky thing and the first thing that popped out my my mouth was

"Oh my, it's a Charlie Brown tree !"

She brought her ornaments and a few new ones for the kids. As I decorated the pathetic little thing, I had to be realllly careful that it wouldn't tip over since some of the ornaments were wayyyy too heavy for the little thing .

Well, in the end it turned out pretty cute. This will be my first Charlie Brown Tree since I was a kid in the 70's-80's. I guess it's not as bad as Charlie Browns looked.

Then I started to think it's really not all about a tree anyway. I am thankful from the bottom of my heart to be here... with my husband and kids. I am thankful for what God has done for me. I am thankful to even have a tree.

Even Charlie Brown was thankful for his little tree !

A Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Kind Of Day...

For frosting whip up a batch of

3 C. powdered sugar

1/4 C. milk

1 tsp. salt

We had a fun day making Sugar Cookies !!!

The kids decorated them up so nice !

My favorite drink to have with sugar cookies is Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Tea by Celestial Seasons.

MMMM !

Add a bit of sugar and cream ....

It tastes just like a sugar cookie!

Giving Tidings Of Great Joy...

Tonight was our Home School Groups talent show for a local Retirement home. My son & his friend Jonah played a few of their pieces together for the elderly in our community. What a gift it was to them. There were many families that participated. It was beautiful. All the while we had the opportunity to share the good news with them through song, reciting scripture and spending time with them.

The Lord has surely given these children wonderful talents that truly was used as a ministry to these people tonight. It was a blessing and a gift back to see their hearts fill up with joy as they watched our children perform. My son was able to share his piano, guitar & singing talents which brought a few to tears, even myself.

The little children made a BIG Christmas card and signed it for the Retirement home.

The group brought cookies & punch to share

As well as homemade Christmas cards which were passed out to every one there.

Even little packages were given to each person... just a sweet sentiment to wish them the Merriest Christmas this year.

My daughter served a few ladies their packages... which tickled them down to their toes and straight up into their hearts. My daughter just smiled.

If you ever have an opportunity to give someone the gift of Christ... this is a delightful way to make people feel the joy and the presence of Christ weather they realize it or not. What a gift this was just to give.

The Nutcracker...

Inspired by Pvotr Ilvich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker and my daughters love of ballet... she performed her version of The Nutcracker in our living room prior to going to the ballet for the first time.

Here she plays out the ballet in a red tutu and elf hat. She was holding her Nutcracker at one point leaning in to kiss him. Very sweet !

Finally the moment came. I planned for just her & I to see the ballet. She was thrilled beyond mention. The theatre was beautiful. Our favorite scene was The Dance Of The Snowflakes... snow fell on the snow fairies as the danced around the stage... it was brilliant.

This was a memory I will always treasure with my daughter and hope to go again with her, in the years to come.

Brief History of The Nutcracker
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Nutcracker Ballet is based on the book called " The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" written by German author E.T.A. Hoffman (1776-1822). It was published in 1816 as a rather morbid, depressing story. It was revised by French author Alexander Dumas Pere (1802-1870) in 1844 to appeal to children.

The Nutcracker Ballet was first performed in Russia, on December 5th or December 1st in 1882, almost 100 years ago. It was written by Peter Tchaikovsky who lived between the years 1840 and l893 and wrote many famous scores for ballets including Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. This piece of music was his 1st Opus or work.

A short version of the ballet was first performed in the United States in 1940, but the full version, the one so familiar to millions of Americans, was first staged in 1954. It is now an annual holiday event in communities across the country.

If you haven't already seen the Barbie version to The Nutcracker on DVD I would surely recommend it for the whole family. Especially if you have little girls. This has been a favorite movie in our home since it first came out. My daughter plays out the story even with her Barbie dolls. It is just the sweetest thing !