Tour of Nativities

My Tour of Nativities continues with one of our first nativities.  

I bought this the year Beau and I were married (it's our 15th Christmas)...

It's nothing special, I'm sure I picked it up at WalMart or Target...

it's ceramic but durable.

I've always let my kids play with my Nativities...with supervision of course.

I have these mini suitcases in our living room, I use them for decor all year round, and I usually set up one of my nativities on/with the suitcases...I think it's fitting, with all the traveling this little family did!

I've always liked this baby Jesus...so sweet...When Madison was little she would always want to nap with baby Him!

Here is the far away look...it's sharing a table with our fish tank...Jesus can hang with the fish, wasn't he a fisher of men?!?

 

do you have a special way of displaying your nativities?

Tour of Nativities

Christmas isn't Christmas until the Nativity has been set up.

...or Nativities....

As a Christian and a pastor's wife, I've been asked the question so many times, "Do you put of a Christmas tree or a nativity?"...

that is such an interesting question to me.  I never thought of only doing one, not both...

We do both...

one tree and multiple nativities all over the house! (I guess I have a few tiny fake tress scattered around the house also)...

I see no reason why we would have to choose one over the other.

Anyways...

I love my collection of nativities...

and I decided to give you a tour of them over the next few days/week...

this first one I picked up at a weird yard/book sale thing that we went to a few years ago.  It was a house & property that had 1000's of books, bookshelves everywhere, inside and outside all under tarps and easy-up's, etc... and most of them were for sale...it was the oddest thing...

anyways, the girl child pointed out this glass nativity sitting on top of some books, I asked the lady how much for it and she said I could just take it...okay!  

Not all the pieces were there, I don't think, sometimes it's hard to figure out if you  have a Joseph, Shepherd or wise-man...I feel like this one is missing Joseph and Shepherds...

I set it up this year in our kitchen window on a cake stand.  I had some cranberries that I didn't use at Thanksgiving (yes, they are real)...and then some moss that I found in a cupboard in the garage, not sure where that came from.  But, anyways...I just threw them together for a fun little display...

and here is my whole kitchen window...(with a small fake tree in the back right corner!)...

Do you have more than one Nativity set?

Where do you display it/them?

Merry Christmas...

Advent Calendar

This is just a short little post to share with you the Advent Calendar I made today.

My mother-in-law sent me this link to the FREE Dayspring Printable Advent Calendar

and I just printed them out on white cardstock,
cut and glued them to colored cardstock on the back and then hung them with clothespins to some greenery that I hung around our entryway...
it's totally simple and easy...
and LOVE the Advent Calendar
all the references are about God's Promises Fulfilled, with a Bible verse and then a prompt about the promise/verse...
example
Dec 3...The Promise of Light "I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  John 8:12... Where will you walk today in order to bring the Light of the world to the world?

be jealous of my mad photography skills!

 The greenery hanging around the entryway with the Advent cards clipped down both sides

can you find the camel in this picture?
again, mad skills!

 Close up of one side of the 'calendar'...with the Advent cards clipped..

 cards on other side...

back of cards with scrapbook paper so when we flip a card over after reading it that day it will still look nice.

Starting sometime this week I will start my Nativity Tour...I will show you my collection of Nativities and where/how I display them!

Do you have an  Advent Calendar you use?

November 30

1}  I'm thankful for my Bible.  How amazing is it that I can hold God's words in my hands and any time I want I can open it up and hear His voice.  It blows me away that there are still people groups in this world that have no written word....seriously, their language is not yet been written down...and because of that they also have no Bible...God's word is not something they have ever read.
Without counting and searching I know that right now there are at least 10 Bibles in my home...but probably closer to 15.  Everyday...every minute...I can pick up God's letter to me and read it.  I'm thankful for that.

2}  Thankful for a good nights sleep despite the storm and no husband being home.  I struggle with fear.  And those are my two worst...windy, stormy nights always equal no sleep...husband out of town...no sleep.  Last night I slept like a baby and feel amazing today.  It was totally a gift from God.  I prayed all day yesterday when I would think of the night ahead of me.  I kept seeking God's peace and comfort.  And guess what, He gave them to me.  I woke up this morning so very thankful, and surprised, that I had slept all thru the night with no fear!

3}  Thankful for Christmas & Christmas decorations.  Love that we celebrate it for a whole month...Going to pull out the decorations today and get some twinkling lights strung...and set up all my nativities...

Bonus...
4}  Thankful for 2 friends that tried to help me fix my fence last night in the storm...one being 9 months pregnant {only a week from her due date}...it was very comical with the 3 of us trying to figure out something to hold the gate from blowing open and making noise all night long...and we were unsuccessful in our attempts, and I'm pretty sure I going to have some clean up this morning...

also thankful that I took this month to reflect on being thankful...something we do no do enough of as a culture...

November 24, 25, 26 & 27

1}  I'm thankful that I'm not tied to my blog.  That I can take a few days off for the weekend and that's okay!

2}  I'm thankful for flowers...more specifically flowers growing in my flower beds and various pots around my porch.

these hydrangeas are from a tiny plant in my front flower bed.
they bloomed a pale pink and then this fall turned this dark red.

3}  I'm thankful for the bartering system that is alive and well with my talented friends and I.  I can crochet up a few things and trade with my friend that is a photographer for our Christmas picture...love that!

4}  I'm thankful that my Christmas pictures are done and my cards are printed and just waiting to be addressed.

5}  I'm thankful for books.  I love reading.

6}  I'm thankful for seasons.  I enjoy every season and I am usually ready for the next one when it's time...I pretty much think God knew what he was doing when he created the whole season thing!  He's good like that!

7}  I'm thankful for ziploc divided containers to pack my kids lunches in.  It's like their own personal lunchable without the crap junk food!

8}  I'm thankful for music.  My husband is a musical genius and my kids are blessed enough to have some of his genes and the gift of piano lessons.

9}  I'm thankful that all the Thanksgiving desserts are GONE so I can stop eating them.

10}  I'm thankful for a friend to run with on cold fall mornings.

11}  I'm thankful for the 'extra' week of November to get ready for girl child's birthday!

12}  I'm thankful for meal planning and menu's that help keep me organized!

oh designer Christmas tree

oh Christmas tree...
how I love your branches...
your branches filled with memories and fun...
branches filled with perfectly-imperfect creations and ornaments created and chosen by our children

Norman, our Christmas tree this year

Christmas is about family
about children
and memories
and warm fuzzy feelings
and joy, love, peace...
and a perfect babe born in a stable...

my biggest Christmas pet peeve is the need to have the perfect Christmas
the perfect house lights
     don't get me wrong...I LOVE house lights
the perfect door wreath
     I love me a pretty wreath...but it doesn't have to be $75
the perfect plate of goodies to deliver to the neighbor
     let the kids help with the goodies, 
the perfect family Christmas photo/card
     I love a great Christmas card, but does it represent YOUR family
and the worst of all...
the designer Christmas tree...
you know the one...
the house...
the family...
that has the designer tree...
the tree that is Perfect...
not an ornament out of place,
not a light or twinkle not where it's supposed to be...
and not one perfectly imperfect handmade kids ornament on it...

boy child's penguin-circa 2009

the families with these perfect trees talk about how 'special' the kids are because they get their own tree...
in their room...
with THEIR ornaments on it...

girl child's kindergarten present to us, 2006

I've never talked to any of these kids,
     not sure how they turn out as adults,
but I can't imagine growing up in a house where the macaroni wreath with my toothless 1st grade smile ornament wasn't 'allowed' to hang on my mom's perfect tree...where the special weird snowman ornament 'Uncle Randy' gave me had to hang on a different tree out of sight from the perfect tree in the living room....

How has the beauty of Christmas gone from the perfection of a babe born in a barn to a what-ever-the-color/theme-of-the-season-is-perfect-kid-free Christmas tree?

I find it ironic and sad that our Savior was also not good enough to be the main attraction on the first Christmas...that he wasn't born in the 5 star inn with the newest nursery theme decorating his nursery...

boy child's ornament 2010-so.very.random!

I think our Christmas trees should be filled with kids...
with their uniquely handcrafted works of art
their hand selected ornaments
their love
these all point to the perfectly imperfectness of the first Christmas.
Christmas was never meant to be 'perfect'
we can't be perfect...
perfect was born for us on the first Christmas morning,
born to free us from the burden of being perfect

lollipop-boy child 2008
 Popsicle nativity-girl child 2006

and that is my little Christmas soap box...let your kids hang their uniquely crafted artwork on your Christmas tree...show them that they are good enough for your tree, they don't need to be perfect to fit into your Christmas memories!

Seriously, what is more important, your designer Christmas tree or the heart of your child that feels loved year after year when they get to hang their hand crafted, uniquely picked out, cherished ornaments on the family tree!

boy child 2008

wasn't the meaning of that first Christmas so obvious?
that Christmas is for all children
for the imperfect of us all
for family
for love, peace, joy

both girl child's all pink heart painted at 7,
'Jesus loves me' given to us by a church that was
praying for her when she was in the NICU

I mourn the day when our grown children claim all their weird/unique/precious ornaments that they have created and collected over the years leaving our tree free from their memories, from their perfectly-imperfectness.

Merry Christmas

if the shoe fits

...or sock...
and it's more like if the sock DOESN'T fit....

I made our (my Beau & mine) Christmas stockings 14 yeas ago...
and I guess the style back then was ugly...
or something close to that!

I've hated our stockings for about 10 years now...
not sure I ever really loved them...
but full on HATED for quite awhile!

this is how attached we were to our stockings...we couldn't even remember from year to year who's was who's...I think we settled on mine being the lighter one and his the darker...but I'm not sure it that was the original assignment!

anyways...off to the fabric store...
and I found some fabric that I LOVED...

oh, so pretty!...just a little Christmas decorating tip...don't get stuck in the Christmas fabric section...
rather than the ol' snowman/Christmas tree/Santa/candy canes/reindeer
decide what color scheme you want and look for fabric in those colors....
I wanted to stick with the green theme because of the tree skirt I made last year...
but also wanted it to not be too green....
I also like texture and corduroy is a favorite of mine...so I found our pattern fabric first and then off to the corduroy to match up colors...
I didn't end up using the polka-dots...might make a table runner with it...we'll see.

I traced our old stockings

adding more curve to the heel because it felt too straight

cut them out...
measured for the cuff

sketched out the toe and heel

printed off initials for them (so we can remember which one belongs to who (or is it whom?)

the 'B' is Lucinda Calligraphy and the 'K' is Victorian LET 

cut them out

and then cut the heel, toe and initial out of the contrasting fabric

you will need 2 toe's and 2 heels,
(make sure to label them and draw an arrow for the top of them because they are both slightly football'esq shapes and look a lot alike once they're cut out!)
only one initial is needed unless you want one on both sides
and make sure to cut the initial out backwards (well, if you're cutting out on the wrong side of the fabric!)

the stripe fabric on mine is leftover from our tree skirt last year
the pattern fabric on Beau's is also on our tree skirt but I had to buy more

cut it all out...

sew them all together...

which I'm not quite done with yet...

I like our stockings to have a little more body to them 

so I wanted to line them and have them padded.

and I didn't have material for the lining...

so off to the store for more fabric 

and then I will finish them up today...

I'll update this post when I have them all done....

...to be continued!

AND
Done!

and because I'm not a real seamstress...
I just play one on my blog
I can in no way walk you through getting from

this 

 

to this

I can tell you there was some seam ripping/frustration/under the breath mutterings that all happened but I'm not sure that is needed to get to the final product...

Dirty Santa...

they are in awe of how big dirty santa is

that's our new tradition...

since target went and closed their garden section...

taking our Christmas tradition and spitting on it!

girl child trying to pop off boy child's head

we were forced last year to find a new Christmas tree getting tradition...

getting our tree at the 'dirty santa' tree lot

their faces were over the top cheese in this pic...
just give me a nice simply smile...please

just to clarify...

we've named him dirty santa...

that's not the actual name of the place....

santa just looks like he could use some oxi clean...

a good long soak in the stuff...

but I get it...

year after year of being out in the nasty elements 

and your whites aren't looking so white anymore!

i will love him and squeeze him and call him george

the kids could hardly contain themselves...
we never get a tree this early...
we always wait until after the girl child's birthday...(Dec 2nd)
I never wanted Christmas to crowd her birthday,
making her birthday not as special or something like that...
last year she wanted to know why we waited until after her birthday to get a tree
I explained my reasons...
she disagreed...
having a tree up for her birthday would make it seem more special...
only Dec babies get the opportunity for a Christmas tree up on their birthdays...
well played girl child...
so this year...
lights up...tree up
house decorated for Christmas...
all before December even starts...
I think I'm going to like this new tradition...

this is how I wanted them to pose in front of dirty santa...
but they just couldn't get their acts together and contain themselves for one nice dirty santa shot

dirty santa is a nice tree lot...
mr. tree man...
who thought I was weird when I asked if I could take a picture...
or maybe he just wasn't 'speaking the same english as us'
(boy child's suggestion....
he did seem more native to south of the border...)
anyways...

mr. tree man was very nice and friendly...
talked to me about his grandkids...
how he likes to sell trees because it makes kids and families happy...

he told me how nice and behaved boy and girl child were...
guess he wasn't hearing me yell at remind them to stop being crazy

 and extra bonus...our tree came with a name...
a name at no extra cost...
in fact I think the name made it cheaper!...

boy child wanted to sit next to Norman on the way home...keep him safe...

Beau liked the price so much that he was okay with us keeping Norman's name tag on him....

what's your Christmas tree getting tradition?

the Christmas Program

last night was the girl child's debut in a play...

okay so I was a small play...

but it was her first, 

the church has an annual Christmas program that showcases all the different talents from our church body...

the bell choir and the choir are a given

and one of the 'entrys' is usually the kids choir

this year, bless her heart, Mrs. Judy, the kids choir director, decided to try to put together a mini play...

a few short lines in between songs with a few of the kids choir kids

highlighting the 'story of Christmas'...

Madison had the 'led' (for lack of a better term) in the play...

she was excited and nervous

loved the fact that she was going to wear a mic...

and she did great, and had a great time...

but...

but...

with anything that involves animals or children

especially the boy child

you must expect the unexpected...

and well, 

Madison might have had the lead role in the play, but Wilson stole the show!

during the 2nd show he spent the majority of the time showing the audience how HOT the stage lights were by trying to undress...he was wearing a polo shirt with a sweater on top...

he ONLY wanted to take the sweater off...

after a few failed attempts to remove the sweater he decides to just deal and push his sleeves up...

and that works...for about 2 minutes...

and then he returned to the original goal of getting that hot sweater off...

many times he'd get it over his head and realize that he was going to be stuck and then he'd just pull it back on...

finally, he managed to get the sweater off...

and then he noticed that his polo shirt didn't have all the buttons buttoned...

so now for the rest of the show he MUST get those buttons buttoned...

and finally before the last note of the last song, he managed to get it all together!

all this happening in the background while poor Madison in delivering her lines and wondering why the audience (and her parents) are laughing!

and of course I didn't take any pictures or video of it...

Giving More this Christmas

our church is participating in the Advent Conspiracy this Christmas season...
a grass roots movement to change the focus of Christmas
focusing on
[Worship Fully]
[Spend Less]
[Give Move]
[Love All]
and a tag line of
Christmas can [still] change the world

lots of info and don't want to start a sermon here, but I did want to share some ideas....
the whole concept of
spend less-give more...
feels sort of like an oxymoron, but it's not...
the more might be less money,
but more thought,
more emotion,
more of yourself....

this can be kind of a hard thing to do for some...
they might feel like they aren't very creative so they can't create something to give...
well, I just wanted to share some ideas of giving more
....
give the gift of pictures....
    *make a mini photo album for someone....great gift for grandparents or parents
    *frame a special picture for someone
    *give a gift certificate for a photo shoot...
          ~could be a family shoot (multiple generations) or
          ~a gift for a senior in high school or
          ~for new parents
     if you live locally in Redding there are a ton of great photographers...
          but I love Betsey Walton

give the gift of jewelry...okay, just don't freak out here...
*I know jewelry can be pricey, but not all jewelry is spendy, and some can have special meaning
I just gave the girl child a mother/daughter locket for her 10th birthday...it was only $20 at Target, and she LOVES it, I printed of some teeny tiny pictures from our computer of her when she was a baby and one of the two of us together when she was about 18 months old...and put them in the locket...(that was a labor of love, it's tricky getting pictures into those things!)..
*I also have some friends with some great inexpensive jewelry on their etsy sites...check them out....
Mrs. Smith sells fun bottle cap pendents and bird nest necklaces @ TheSmithHotel

this one is on her site...I have two bottle cap pendents
both with my kids names found on maps!

Zizi has some cute little earrings and hair clips that are just so sweet @ The Green Mum

I bought this pair for the girl child for Christmas!

and Lisa also has some great custom pieces...I'd ask Lisa for a gift certificate so your loved one could design their own piece...and because it's probably a little too late for her to make anything custom before Chistmas!...check out her stuff over @ Juella Designs 

such a sweet gift for a mother or grandmother!

the gift of health
sounds hard...but you can do multiple things...
*you can offer to become a work out partner for a family member or friend...
*work out gear (new shoes, new running pants, bike helmet)
*membership to a gym (okay that might be pricey...but it'd be a great gift for someone that might not need much!)
*pay for the entry into some 'event' marathons & triathalon & all of those things cost $$$
*help someone plan healthy meals and menus and offer to take them shopping
*a pass to a National/State Park for a year-to get them out hiking, biking, swimming...

the gift of food
*make a nice meal for someone
*offer to 'teach' someone how to cook that might not know how...maybe give them a few different hand made 'gift cards' with 'for one meal of your choice', 'lesson for one crock pot meal', 'good for one candy baking session', 'redeem to learn the art of pie baking'...you get the idea...
*grocery shopping for a month...sounds crazy...but what a gift to a mom, tell her that you just need cash and a list and you will do her grocery shopping (including unpacking and putting away said groceries) for a month...(make sure you know if they do their shopping every week, every 2 weeks, etc...and do it FOR them however if works best, I know I can't shop for an entire month, my fridge and freezer just can't handle that much food!).  and know their store of choice if you're using THEIR money you need to stay on budget even if that means shopping at a store you wouldn't choose...
*gift card to a grocery store
*gift card to a restaurant
*type up a recipe book of your favorite recipes

the gift of service
*free babysitting
*teaching someone to drive
*lawn/garden service
*housekeeping

relational gifts
these are so varied and so personal but amazing gifts for the person that receives them...
two examples that our daughter just got for her birthday
*daddy gave her a 'gift card' for a date night that included dinner at her favorite restaurant and viewing of a movie that she's been wanting to watch since she was 4 and we told her she had to wait until she was 10 (a 1950's horror flick, Tarantula)...she's still talking about the date!
*her aunt Julie gave her a 'gift card' for a 'spa day'...she took Madison to Target to pick out polish of her choice (in a specific price range, WOW polish can be spendy!)...and then gave her a manicure, pedicure and facial...

Madison felt so treasured by this gift, she knew that her aunt was choosing to spend this time with her and she loved every minute of it!

~~~~~~~
There are so many gifts of MORE out there that have you spending less, but thinking more about the person, and giving more of yourself rather than something that will just end up in the garage or closet....

so I challenge those of you who haven't finished your shopping yet, to step out of the box and figure out how to give more to the people on your list!

Easy Christmas Cookies VI

I was only going to post 5 recipes for the Easy Christmas Cookie Challenge...
but I made this one yesterday and it was so super easy...
and I'm pretty sure it taste good*...I have a major head cold and can't taste anything right now...

anyways...this post was inspired by a fb friend Nikki...we went to school together, pretty sure almost all 13 years...those early years are foggy for me!...anyways...Nikki said that one of her favorite Christmas cookies are peanut butter cookies with a Hersey Kiss in the middle...
we've all seen them...
we've all eaten them...
but for some crazy reason I've never made them...

so yesterday...
when the whole family was taking their Sunday Afternoon nap
and I had taken some version of a 'non-drowsy' cold med and was so tired, but WIRED I decided to try to bake up a batch of these easy cookies.

you can of course use any peanut butter cookie recipe that you have on hand, probably even use a store bought dough...
but to stick to my challenge I found a peanut butter cookie recipe with less than 5 ingredients....
it also has NO flour...for you gluten free peeps out there!...not sure if peanut butter is gluten free...or Hersey Kisses for that matter...


Hersey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies
1 c. peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (I used crunchy)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sugar
Hersey Kisses (about 2 dozen)

Combine all ingredients except for Kisses. Drop by spoonful into lightly greased cookie sheet, I again used my Pampered Chef mini cookie scoop thing...love it.  Press an unwrapped Hersey Kiss into the middle of your cookie balls. Bake at 350 degrees until done (about 5-7 minutes).  Let cookies cool before taking them off of the cookie sheet, they are pretty crumbly until they're cool...I covered my cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper (or wax paper) and then just pulled the sheet off to cool on the counter.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies....and you can put a lot on a cookie sheet because they don't spread during baking.

just had to post the picture again...don't they look so cute...got me thinking that you could make like sugar cookies and use the red and white striped kisses they have out right now and make them look like sleeping elves or something...

*as for taste...like I said, my taste is gone right now because of a lovely head cold...
and when I asked my family how they tasted all of them said...at different times...
"...they taste like peanut butter...."
really, really...so I make a cookie with peanut butter as the base, call it a peanut butter cookie...and it taste like peanut butter...shocking!
they all did eat more than one...so that had to be good!

Easy Christmas Cookies V

Playing Catch up on the Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes...

and so excited that I decided to do this little challenge because of this cookie!

one of my all time favorite cookies...and totally Christmas in my book...
and totally 100% super duper easy!
yet, I have never ever made them, and now I don't know why!

the Macaroon!
wow, and it meets all the the challenge criteria
*Easy-super duper easy...'can't believe how easy'-easy!
*under 5 ingredients
*Christmasy

Coconut Macaroons
5 cups flaked sweetened coconut
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
*2/3 cup dark Chocolate Chips or mini Chocolate Chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with wax paper sprayed with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (if using mini Chocolate chips add them now, if you want to melt the dark chocolate and drizzle it onto leave them out).

Scoop out 1 inch mounds, I used a mini cookie scoop, Pampered Chef, placed about 1 inch apart, on a lined cookie sheet, these cookies won't change shape or anything since they are just basically egg white and coconut.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just turning brown. Cool and store in a sealed container between sheets of waxed or parchment paper. The macaroons will keep nicely for several days.

Variations:
*Melt dark Chocolate chips in a plastic bag in microwave, cut off corner and drizzle over the top of baked macaroons...

*Divide the coconut mixture in half, and add the chips to one half, leaving the other half plain.
Makes about 3-4 dozen macaroons.

told you it was easy!  I even cut this recipe in 1/2 (tricky with the 3 egg whites)...because I only had 2 1/2 cups of coconut in my pantry...I just used 2 egg whites...
and I took pictures during the process...if I took pictures it means super duper easy recipe and I have time to snap pictures...
pictures...and math (cutting the recipe in 1/2)...
from beginning to end this took me less than 25 minutes!