12 Days of Christmas At Home By Lantern Light

This year we started a new tradition that has turned out great! I wanted to do the traditional 12 Days of Christmas for someone else. But it just didn't work out this year. However, I did go onto sugardoodle.net and found a file of 12 stories that are used for the 12 Days of Christmas. They are all short enough stories to keep the kids attention. And they all end with a great lesson, of course.

Each night we have brought the lantern to the table (candles were way too dangerous with our little monkey, aka Caleb) and we read the story as we eat a yummy Christmas treat. Does the meaning of the story sink in? Probably not every time. But the Spirit of Christmas is definitely in our little home for that short time (hopefully it lingers longer.)

We try very hard each year to help the true meaning of CHRISTmas sink into our boys' hearts. I pray that our efforts work in the end.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2nd Annual Country Women's Christmas Candy Making Party

The title is long, but the party itself goes by too quickly. Last year I held the party in my home. This year my sweet friend Karin offered to have us come to her home. Thank you so much Karin! Her kitchen and dining area was perfect for the great turn out that we had!

The Country Women's Christmas Candy Making Party is a Christmas tradition that I started for the women in our community to enjoy. I came across a Taste of Homes Country Women's Christmas Cookbook and wanted to try several of their recipes. But I knew I would Never make them all on my own, nor would it be any fun if I tried them alone. So, I invited the ladies in town to join me in the fun.;) Last year I had around 5 or so ladies come. This year we had around 20! Yippee!

The sweet smells of chocolate, peanut butter, and peppermint filled the air. Mingled with the sounds of Christmas carols, visiting friends, and laughing children. Can't get much better then that! This year I invited anyone who wanted to to bring soup and cookies to share with everyone as we made the candy. That was a really nice addition. Especially for those of us who hadn't had dinner.

In the end we made 7 recipes from Taste of Home online. We doubled the recipes and everyone walked away with plenty of goodies as well as leftovers to take to neighbors. Truly a MERRY CHRISTMAS Celebration!

Here are the links to the recipes:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy
Chocolate Peppermint Bark
Microwave Marshmallow Fudge
Holiday Truffles
Toffee Peanut Clusters
White Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles (AKA: Bloodshot Eyeballs for Halloween)
Oreo Cream Cheese Truffles (AKA: Hosts of Ghosts for Halloween)

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

From Christmas Candy Making Party 2010

REMINDER FOR NEXT YEAR:
* Cover at least 10 cookie sheet sized pieces of cardboard with heavy duty tin foil to use as makeshift cookie sheets.

Mama and Jakob's Date: Polar Express

Jakob and I went on a special date last night. Our town sponsors a "Polar Express" every year. Last night I was able to take Jakob. We listened to the "Polar Express" story read by our local librarian. We then passed by a table spread with all kinds of tasty cookies and hot chocolate. Outside, we boarded a large wagon decorated with lights pulled by a tractor. They pulled us throughout town as we visited together and sang an occasional Christmas song. Eventually we made it to "The North Pole" Which was the elaborately decorated home in the town and this is where Santa visited us and gave us all a bell. It was a fun night out together!

Answers: Christmas Scriptures, Did the Chicks Survive?

I wish that I had more energy at the end of the day to write. So much happens in one day here at our little homestead. Maybe this short post will spur me on to write more tonight. We'll see...

Anyway, A couple of friends have asked me questions that I want to answer before it's out of my mind.

The first question is: Did the chicks survive through the smoke incident? YES! And we are So thankful! They huddled in a far corner of the box and were spared.

Second: What are the scriptures that I will use for my Christmas Countdown Candle? I found a great resource online that has a page full of great scriptures HERE. It has scriptures in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I'm really excited to start our countdown. This particular list of scriptures starts on December 14th. It's a 12 day countdown. I will put 12 marks (with red wax, sequins, beads, etc.) on our candle. We will burn the candle to the next mark each night. We'll read and sing by candle light and of course the Christmas Tree lights. I Can't Wait!

New Family Christmas Tradition

When the wise men visited Jesus after his birth they came bringing gifts for him. As far as we have been told, there were three wise men and three gifts. Special, yes. But there were only three. Not the dozens of gifts that we tend to find under the traditional Christmas trees in our generation.

For the last couple of years Jakob has received many gifts for Christmas. All ranging from the new size of wardrobe needed, to the classic toy that we just HAD to get him. We started to notice after two years that he really didn't care about ALL of the gifts. He just enjoyed the whole thought of it all.

So when my friend told me about their "Three gifts for Christmas" tradition. We grabbed it! As you have probably put together, just as Christ was given three gifts for Christmas, we will follow this tradition and each person in our family will receive three gifts for Christmas from this point on (except from other outside sources of course like family and friends, though we have asked Santa to keep his present giving to one gift per child:)

We will spend the weeks after Thanksgiving leading up to Christmas focusing our teaching moments on the true meaning of Christmas and the gift that our Savior is. I found a few different families who follow this tradition and they have nothing but good things to say. Their children even say that it isn't a concern to them not to get dozens of gifts on Christmas morning. The feeling of the Christmas Spirit steels the show!

But what about all of the NEEDED items that are purchased and put under the tree each year. You know like undies, new clothes, socks, etc? I am not going to wait when the kid's need these items. We will just purchase them when needed and not make them such a huge event. This might help us give special gifts for Christmas.