Santa & His Elves Cocoa Party

I love having parties! 

We invited our neighbors kids over this morning for a little cocoa party to bring them

 Christmas cheer before Christmas Day. These kids are adorable!

 Freckles has been babysitting them for this last year. 

We wanted to make it a special time for them.

 We decorated the table all fancy with Santa mugs and elves

 (who were on there best behavior today)

 and wintery things.

 We added English Christmas Poppers and paper crowns..

.Snow donuts, cocoa, chocolate chips, sprinkles and marshmallows to top it off.

It was fun...Even though they only lasted an hour...

But it was a fun, festive hour.

Here & Now

 

In my Shop

Today I will not worry about yesterday or worry about tomorrow...I will focus on Here & Now...Today I will find true joy in my life whether big or small. I will remember today and always that He loves me no matter what.. I have so much to be thankful for and so many gifts & blessings to count.

    

Sorce:Wheatfield

Enjoy your Here & Now.

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7. Knowing I don't have to pick petals off

a flower to tell me that He loves me.

8. How someone took the time to make

 all these wonderful afghans (gannies)

9. Hot cocoa with whipped cream and

colorful sprinkles on a chilly afternoon.

10. Old books...to read to my girl every night before bed.

11. Little things that remind me of my childhood. Like when my

Uncle got me my first Kewpie Doll when I was a young girl about ten.

12. For the Here & Now

Morning Ponderings....The Reason I Wake Up Everyday...

 
This post will most likely be a bit of babbling... This last week has been a quiet week for the most part. I went to my moms house and cleaned for her on Tuesday...Worked on my own a bit. Had a few friends over for tea on Wednesday which was very nice. I am working on cutting out the carbs...so here is breakfast....A nice bowl of white peaches which I canned this last Fall. So nice to go into the pantry and have yummy fruit for the Winter. We finished off our pears and applesauce...Yet, have just enough peaches left for the remaining Winter season. These peaches mind you are so good...they taste like peach pie without the crust.
 
This is what I made for Christmas... a mug from Shutterfly...cute as can be. with my kids picture on the other side. I made one for my hubby too...which I wrote a Bible verse on....He loves it and drinks his coffee from it most mornings, when it is clean of course. I wrote "the reason I wake up everyday" on my mug. It is a wonderful reminder even on days I don't feel like getting out of bed. My God given gift is to be a mother and wife and to take care of my household. Truly these things are gifts to me.

My kids are growing up so fast...before my eyes really. It amazes me everyday I look at them. Though they are growing up, they still very much need us. These have been some difficult times for them as far as friendships and such. We have dealt with pain and tears and hurt feelings. We have had many talks, many hugs and breakthroughs as well. I am thankful that they come to us and not bottle it up or go to their peers for advice. We have always been a close family and these sorts of things have brought us even closer in so many ways. I am thankful they trust their parents. We are grateful to be their parents.

I keep praying this year will go well. As a church this New Year we have already lost a friend to brain cancer, yet have seen a little blessing be born....Just a few more months down the line, my dear Mr. Darling will graduate from Seminary...It is exciting yet scary at the same time not knowing what God has in store for our new future. My hubby will soon be a Pastor and I a Pastors wife, my kids PK's ( Pastors Kids). Where will we end up moving, where will we live? So many questions...I try with all my might not to let it worry me. I try with all my might to give all my cares, concerns and worries to God. Please pray for us. I'll keep ya all posted. Now the next question is....Do you think I can get away with eating chocolate for breakfast?
Have a blessed weekend.

Happy St. Lucia's Day & A St. Lucy Ornament Tutorial

Happy St. Lucy's Day.
We celebrated by baking and making a craft. It was a fun filled day inside as it is dark and gloomy out today. This tradition has become quite special to us...something that Freckles and I really look forward doing for her daddy and brother. Sadly today our guys had to do finals today so they missed most of the day. We will still have some fun later tonight and play some games, eat our cookies and St. Lucia cake.
  
We made Swedish Peparkakor Cookies
 and decorated them with white icing...so fun, simple and yummy.

The past several years we have made
 St. Lucia Buns...
But, this year we decided to try our hand at making a
St. Lucia Crown Cake.

It was very good. it takes time to make but worth it...
 It is quite tasty with a cup of hot tea. We will definitely do the crown cake again.
 
The candles were aglow, our little St. Lucia served the cake...It was really delightful. Then later today we made St. Lucy ornaments. They are so cute...I thought I would share with you how we made them.
 So here you go, a tutorial.

Ingredients:
White yarn, red yarn, a piece of green yarn, wooden bead for head,
yellow paint, skin color paint, pink paint for cheeks, black permanent fine tip pen,brown or red pen for lips,glue, and hot glue, sturdy cardboard pieces.
****
1. I cut out a couple cardboard pieces to use for wrapping the yarn around. Cut one cardboard piece 3 1/2 X 4 for the body skirting and one 2 1/2 X 4 for the arms. Take the cardboard piece for the body and wrap the yarn around the board 25 times. set aside. Do the same for the arms except going around 15 times. Take two 3 inch pieces of white yarn and tie  and knot off each side of the arms to create the hands.
See picture # 1 and # 2
2. Now take the wrapped body piece off the cardboard carefully and insert the arm piece right through at the top. See picture #3. Tie and knot off the top section securing
 the body and arms together as shown in that picture.
3. Now cut two 6 inch red lengths of yarn and tie it right around the waist tying it into a bow in the back. Cut strings to desired length. Now cut the bottom of the skirt straight across so there is no longer a loop at the bottom. In picture # 4, this creates your skirt.
   
Now it's time to paint your head.Picture #5... Draw with a pencil lightly how you wish your hair to be. Paint the hair yellow, let dry. Paint the face section in skin tone color, let dry. Paint on pink cheeks, let dry. Using a permanent fine tip black pen make dots for your eyes. draw a small u shape nose. Draw lips with a brown or red pen or you don't need to have lips or simply make a happy face. This is really up to you how you wish her face to look. We even dotted some freckles in her cheeks with a brown pen.
 
Now in picture #6 glue on a piece of green yarn around the head making it a crown...Let dry. Hot glue the head to the middle of the arms on top. We then cut a 6 inch piece of thick thread and tied it to the back of her dress through the yarn strings, cut to desired length, tying it off so we can hang it on our tree.

She was hung on the tree in all her light and glory...She is simply sweet.

We ended our afternoon with a big cup of hot cocoa topped with marshmallows a big candy cane and a delish cookie. We got our fill of sugar for the day, that is for sure.
It was a fun filled day which memories were made.
Wishing you a Happy St. Lucy's Day.