Thoughts and Hopes as the New Year Approaches

…To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:

and all my bloggy friends

2Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Because we all need an abundance of grace and peace.

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Although we sometimes forget it.

4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

And this world is so corrupt, we need a means of escape.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

I want to be good and knowledgeable, have self-control, persevere, be godly, kind, and loving. But mostly, I want to be effective and productive for my Lord Jesus Christ.

10Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.

2 Peter 1: 2-12 (New International Version)

And I will remind myself of these things, even though I know them. I need to be reminded. And often.

Happy New Year everyone.

I Am a Domestic Goddess

I came out of my cave for awhile today. I went to the grocery store and bought some normal things. (i.e. not butter, sugar, and cream). I then came home and spent the day in the kitchen. I made lots of things to freeze and eat later. Nothing made with butter, sugar, or cream. I'm so ready for some normal food.

One of the things I made was my favorite soup. It is a recipe I got from my sweet friend, CCCW. It is adapted from a recipe from The Mansion on Turtle Creek. It is yummy, freezes well, and makes a lovely dinner and on a chilly night. I like it with a green salad and cornbread muffins. Mmmm.


Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 T corn oil
4 corn tortilla - cut into small squares
6 garlic cloves – finely chopped
1 T chopped, fresh cilantro
1 C fresh finely chopped fresh onion
1-15 oz. tomato sauce
1 T cumin powder
2 t chili powder
2 bay leaves
2 qts. Chicken stock
Either 2 chicken breasts cooked and cubed or the meat from a whole, cooked chicken cut into pieces
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste

Optional: cubed avocado, shredded or cubed cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Heat oil in large saucepan. Sauté tortilla with garlic, cilantro, and onion. Add tomato puree and bring to a boil. Add cumin, chili powder, bay leaves, chicken, and chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour, stirring frequently.

Garnish with avocado, cheese, and tortilla chips. Serves 8-10.

Enjoy!

Still Hibernating

I'm still in after Christmas hibernation mode, but the following was sent to me by another homeschooling mom. I just had to share it with you. It's too funny. And so true! : )

Our Homeschool Family

Merry Christmas to All

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

May you all be blessed by the joy and wonder of this season.

Merry Christmas to all.

Wrapping Made Easy

I promised you crafts and haven't delivered. Sorry. We have been busy. But today I will try to redeem myself by showing you how we do most of our wrapping.

The grown-ups in our family don't get Christmas presents as such. We make goodie bags for everyone. They might have baked goods or little trinkets in them. Just a little something so everyone feels loved and festive. The kids and I started making bags a couple of years ago to hold all of this merriment. It's simple, fun, and looks really cute.

We start with plain shopping type bags. We cut out some construction paper in the colors of our choice and we get some kind of foamy stickers.


Of course, you will need your handy dandy glue sticks.

This year we went with brown bags, pink, blue, and white construction paper, and pink, blue, and white stickers. Last year we did white bags, red and green paper, and gingerbread men. The possibilities are endless!



Then you must enlist the aid of some cute little hands to start putting on the paper.


We do this assembly line fashion. It doesn't take more than a few minutes to do it.


Add a few stickers, and this is what you end up with. What this bag needs is a tag.


Cut out some smaller pieces of paper, add and sticker and a name and - voila! Instant cute.


Now fill your bag, add some tissue, and you have a darling gift that says and Merry Christmas! OK, it doesn't really say Merry Christmas. Bags don't talk. But you can say it and they will still be impressed.

Merry Christmas!!

Tis the Season

I haven't been around here much lately. I have been being a social butterfly and getting cultured. Not the buttermilk/yogurt kind of culture. The "taking in the arts" kind of culture.

Saturday we had some dear friends over we hadn't seen in a month of Sundays. It was a lovely quiet evening. One we must do again sometime soon. K?

Sunday the hubs and I went to the symphony. We saw A Very Merry Pops. It did put me in a more holiday mood. We got our share of intellectual humor while we were there. It is not the kind of humor that we are most often treated to. It has its own special charm and I enjoyed it immensely.

I think Monday was a try and catch up day. I didn't, so don't get all excited.

Tuesday the girl and I went to the Nutcracker. It was a special girl night. We had a wonderful time. The theater is amazingly beautiful. We got all dressed up and had fun looking at everyone else who was all dressed up. Can I just tell you how excited she is about this little dress? You see, Barbie has one very similar to it. She feels very pretty in it. What do you think?


And tonight we had Aunt Sarah over for dinner. I feel just awful. She has lived here for 2 years and tonight we realized she had never been to our home during the Christmas season. Well, she had been here when I was working and had piles and piles of wreaths all over the house, but she had never seen our house decorated for Christmas. I guess I do it for her, too. She oohed and ahed and made me feel like I'm not the only nut for Christmas.

Many of you have heard me speak of Aunt Sarah, but have never taken a gander at her. Well, here she is.


The boy had to pull out his latest car magazine and tell her all about the newest models. And a few older models. Doesn't she look enthralled?



I hope everyone else is enjoying the Christmas season as much as we are. What are you all doing?

Have you heard?

Have you heard the new Michael W. Smith Christmas CD? I got it a couple of weeks ago and have been listening to it while I decorate and just hang out. I'm at a loss as to how to describe it.

It is full of lovely music to be sure. I mean, really, did Michael W. Smith ever record anything that wasn't? But this is an odd sort of album. It really has the feel of a soundtrack.

The first song, Christmas Angels, starts out with tinkling sounds and then jumps into this sweeping orchestration. It is lovely, but the whole time I am visualizing wide camera shots sweeping over freshly fallen snow on a city street. Maybe just as the stores are opening for the day. It then turns to the actually song with Michael singing with a choir back up. Great song. Great arrangement. I love it.

The second song, The Promise, is back to the orchestration again. Again, very beautiful. But again, I'm visualizing cameras flying over fields and trees. It settles into quiet lyrics about the promised Messiah who is to redeem us. Again, a beautiful song. Just a rather odd intro.

Most of the rest of the album is what you would expect to hear on a Christmas album. All of the songs are unmistakably Michael W. Smith - which is a good thing. Mandisa joins him on Christmas Day. She is awesome.

I like the album. Personally, I would like to have a whole separate album of the heavily orchestrated instrumentals. Or maybe just have it separate from the other songs. While beautiful, they just seem strange stuck in between the other songs. Like I said, I felt like I was listening to a soundtrack.

If you would like to hear some of the album you can click here. Enjoy!

The Tree

Here is a sample of the decorations around the house. I will explain the tiny red stocking in a later post.

On Legacies and Passing the Torch

I love Christmas. I love the decorating, the baking, the parties, the shopping, the cards, the music, the quiet time under the tree. My first job was at The Original Christmas Store. While I don't like to start at Halloween, I love the whole Christmas season.

In one of my former lives, I decorated stores, malls, and parties. I did it all year round, but there was always Christmas. When I left that life, I brought a lot of the accoutrements home with me. I have always gone completely overboard decorating the house. I like to pretend that I do it for everyone else. After all, we have Christmas at our house all day. We have people for breakfast and dinner. But I know the truth, it is really just for me. No one really comments or seems to care about the decorations. No one ever really helps much either. That is, until now.

My daughter has inherited the Christmas gene. She loves it. She went out with me all over town to hang everyone else's decorations. She helped in any way she could. She wanted to be a part of it.

Sunday we finally started decorating at our house. She was beyond thrilled. Quite frankly, this year I was just a little tired. We had a grand time putting up the tree. Ours is a tall and varied tree. It has gold beads and tapestry bows on it. It also has a strange mix of ornaments that the kids made, that I made, that people have given us, and that we have collected over the years. It really looks quite elegant from a distance, but when you get close to it you see that it is a family tree. I like it. So does my girl.

I went ahead and put some garland on the mantle. I announced I was tired and maybe we could finish tomorrow. I was told to sit down and rest. She then pulled the ladder up to the mantle and proceeded to decorate the garland herself. And may I say she did an excellent job. After we finished the mantle, we called it a night.

Monday we put out all the little figurines and knick-knacks on all the tables. She then came down with a fever and slept most of the day. Now, I usually drape garland down the stair rail and hang it over the window and door frames. Like I said, I go all out. While she was down for the day, I secretly thought we could just forgo all that this year. Our tree was lovely and together with the knick-knacks, it just seemed like enough.

When the girl came down this morning, I said, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here." Her response? "Not really."

What? She pointed out that we usually have garland over there and over there and up there and and and.... *sigh* I have created a Christmas monster in my own image. While she watched a show on TV this evening, I went down and added four more garlands. That is only half of what I normally would do, but it was enough. When she came down she I got a hug and kiss and a "thank you for decorating the house, Mommy."

I am so thankful to have someone to decorate for and with. Just like me, she carefully opens each tissue paper bundle and remembers it from last year. We make quite a pair. We are sentimental fools and love every minute of it.

Make Your Own Snow Flake

Something to entertain you. Just click on the banner and have some addictive fun.

Getting Back to Normal

I did something today that I haven't done in a long time. I sat outside with the girls. My poor chickens have been sorely neglected during these last busy weeks. Since it was such a lovely spring fall December day, I spent some time just sitting out in the back yard.

I let them run around and hunt for bugs while I just enjoyed being outside. It was nice to just be outside. Well, I've been outside lately, but in a wrought iron, concrete driveway, cars going too fast down the street kind of way. It was nice to be outside in the backyard with the chickens and the leaves and the quiet and my chair.

They had such a good time, too. The poor dears have been going through their first molt. They are shaggy looking things right now. Poor Muffin has two pathetic little tail feathers sticking up. They seem to have come through it and are laying again, so hopefully they will start growing some new feathers soon. They were scratching in all the leaves and looking for bugs. I have to smile whenever I see "vegetarian fed" on the eggs in the grocery store. My chickens are not vegetarians. That is not their natural diet. They eat bugs, worms, caterpillars, and frogs. I have even seen Muffin down a small snake.

In any case, it was nice to get back to doing the "real" stuff. I'm starting to feel a little more like myself and less like the crazy working woman that I have been of late. I'm really a home body. It was good to be home.

Woo-hoo

Praise the Lord and pass the garbage can!

I completed the last property yesterday afternoon. I will spend the day collecting bits of ribbon end, snipped off zip tie ends, stray pieces of greenery, and putting the remaining supplies in the storage facility. I am reclaiming my house and car!

Next on the agenda is to spread some Christmas around here. While we have record highs for the weekend, there is another front promised us in the next few days. I would love to have the tree up, the lights on, and a fire going to enjoy a nip in the air.

I'll let you know how all that goes.

Are You in a Stable?

Missy over at It's Almost Naptime has written a piece that is worth the read. It is about Christmas and Mary and our expectations and our realities. Go have a look. It's right here.

Making Christmas Cards

Despite the madness of trying to decorate the entirety of the city of Houston, we are trying to keep some of our Christmas rituals. One of those is making Christmas cards. Usually, both kids work on them. The girl seemed much more interested this year.

We start with a pile of supplies.

I buy the blank cards at the craft store. We always make our cards with the same basic design. It's easy for the kids to do and it's cute. This year, the front overlay is a translucent, gold vellum. I also printed out a verse for the inside of the card. We always have a stamp and ribbon.



First, she glues the message inside.


Then, she adds a stamp on the inside cover.


While the insides dry, and after a tubby and jammies, she makes some stamps on the front overlay.


After everything dries, I punch holes and tie a ribbon and taa-daa! Christmas cards! We don't make a lot of them, but they are each made with love. With any luck at all, I will get them out before the new year!

Merry Christmas to all.

While I Was Away.....

We actually went away! We got out of town for a few days at Thanksgiving. I'm sure that contributed to the madness of the past week or so, but it was so worth it. We went and stayed at my dad's hideaway in central Texas. It is 100 acres of woods and solitude. It was the nearly frozen north this time. That was the week our cold front came in and blew us all away for a few days.

We took one day and drove up to a Homestead Craft Fair put on by a community of Anabaptists. I don't know if they actually call themselves that, but they are an off-shoot of that group. They live mostly on 500 acres, a few have farms in outlying areas, and live off the land. They also teach others to do what they do. They have this huge fair every year, but they also offer classes all year long.

Here is a sample of what we did.

We made baskets.


We made jump ropes and dog leashes. And we were very cool doing it.


We went on a hay ride. Of course, when we stopped for a scenic view, the boy had to chat with the kid that was driving the horses. "Never met a stranger" was never truer about anyone than my boy.




We saw goats. Such cute goats. It was all I could do to not stick one in my coat and smuggle it home. Just look at these babies! These are Boer goats. They are raised for meat, but they also had Nubians which are dairy goats.


And then there were these puppies. Oh. My. Gosh. I really wanted one of these Golden Retriever puppies. They were so laid back and snuggly. So soft. They also had Lab puppies and some other breeds I couldn't tell what were.







And of course, what homesteading weekend would be complete without a barn raising. This particular one was salvaged from New England. They tore it apart and brought it down here. If you look closely, you can see a certain carpenter friend of mine wielding a big stick.

Some of us just sat around being cold and cute.


We also drank fresh, hot, apple cider and ate freshly made kettle corn. We saw sheep shearing, queried the chicken genius about our chickens, and watched all sorts of demonstrations.

Such fun. It was just a good time.

The Last 15

You see this:
This is good news. All of the assigned properties now have decorations. With the help of my ladder-toting husband, we put up the last of them yesterday. Now there is just this pile of 15 wreaths that don't have homes. I have been told that they should shortly be given their new addresses. For now, I am cleaning up the layer of glitter that is all over the house.

I look forward to beginning my own Christmas season. I'll take you all along for the ride. We have a fun and crafty Christmas season. You'll see. It'll be fun!