36 days till X'mas

Traditions! (I love that song from The Fiddler on the Roof!)

Our Christmas traditions begin on Thanksgiving. After all the visitors leave, we watch "It's A Wonderful Life." The weekend after Thanksgiving we get out Christmas tree. We bundle up, and go out to Mexico NY to chop down our own. We have our favorite Christmas tree farm that we started going to a few years ago. After we get the Christmas tree, we put on Christmas music and send my sisters to bed. Mom, Dad, and I decorate the Christmas tree. We put on white lights and red ribbon first. The red ribbon reminds us of the story of Jesus' birth, how it wove in and our through prophecies in the Old Testament. 

We then put on our special ornaments like the ones we get for the year we were born. 

Then we finish with icicles and snowflakes. Every year we get a new snowflake to add to our collection. One year we had a homemade one. 

We also put up our homemade stockings from my Aunt over the top of the corner cupboard as my family exceeded the space on the fireplace. The kids wake up the next morning and are so excited to see the tree looking so pretty and special. During this time, I create and make Christmas presents for my four sisters. 

We go to Lights on the Lake sometime early to mid-December. 

We started the tradition of putting on a Christmas performance for nursing homes with several of my friends. I am the leader of the group. Some sing, some dance, and some play an instrument. We have fun spreading Christmas cheer. 

Towards Christmas we get out a plate of plastic cookies and a little sign that says "Cookies for Noah". When one of my sisters was little, she had just talked about Noah's Ark in Sunday School, so when Santa was popping out all over the place, she thought he was Noah.

On Christmas Eve, we get ready and dressed in our pretty Christmas dresses and go to Church. The Church has dimmed the lights and we each get a candle to hold. We sing Christmas carols like Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High and Joy to The World. Then my Pastor retells the Christmas story. We finish by lighting our candles and singing. After we drive around looking at Christmas lights. We always go by the tree Downtown. My sisters love to see it's pretty lights twinkling. We head home and each open one Christmas present. Then my sisters go to bed, and we pull out all the Christmas presents out of hiding spots. We set up the Little People Nativity while Dad starts chopping up fruit for breakfast.

The next morning we can open our stockings but no other presents till Mom gets up. Dad and I finish getting food ready for our Special Christmas brunch. We have fruit, like pomegranate, kiwi, starfruit, mango, and more. We also have cheese like apple smoked Gouda, cheddar, Colby Jack. We bake brie in a pastry and have a loaf of french bread. We snack on the leftovers until we have dinner. After we finish breakfast we get to open our presents. Then we get to play/use them. We like to invite my Great Grandma over and we spend the evening together. My family has many wonderful Christmas traditions, these are just a few. Christmas is our favorite time of year.

What are your Traditions?  

P.S. We are getting our Christmas tree next weekend!!!!

(Last year's tree!)

My Mice

I used some candy canes, that I mentioned here, to create the candy cane mice. I will have a total of 7 when I am done, but right now only 3 are ready. Aren't they cute??

Wouldn't you like to wake Christmas morning

to see him peeking out of your stocking?

Aren't the adorable? I said it before. This is the cute kind of mouse! :~D Tasty too! My cat Ansel, tries to convince me the other kind are yummy, but I don't trust his shifty character. lol

37 days till X'mas

Every Christmas season I always look at the Martha Stewart website for Christmas ideas. I saw these today, and I will be making some VERY SOON! They are absolutely adorable.


(Photo Credit- Martha Stewart)

These are so cute! Don't you agree?

How to make them:
Mouse How-To
On a photocopier, enlarge mice template by 150 percent; cut out. With a pencil, trace ears and body onto felt; cut out. Cut inner ears and a dot for a nose from felt in a contrasting color, cut dots for eyes from black. Glue the face and inner ears in place. Make slits in body for ears and candy-cane tail where marked; to make cutting easier, fold felt across center of slits, and snip. Slip ears through slits at front; then slide wrapped candy cane through body slits, tucking the end underneath the ear piece at the back.

(Credit- Martha Stewart)

I see working on this, this afternoon or in a few days! They would be cute in the Christmas stockings!

38 days till X'mas

Auld Lang Syne (One of my favorite carols)


Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
on Old long syne.

On Old long syne my Jo,
in Old long syne,
That thou canst never once reflect,
on Old long syne.
My Heart is ravisht with delight,
when thee I think upon;
All Grief and Sorrow takes the flight,
and speedily is gone;
The bright resemblance of thy Face,
so fills this, Heart of mine;
That Force nor Fate can me displease,
for Old long syne.

Since thoughts of thee doth banish grief,
when from thee I am gone;
will not thy presence yield relief,
to this sad Heart of mine:
Why doth thy presence me defeat,
with excellence divine?
Especially when I reflect
on Old long syne

39 days till X'mas

One of our favorite "Christmas" dishes that we make is Baked Brie.

You need a

can of crescent rolls,
and some brie cheese.

Take the crescent rolls and put the pointy part of the triangle in the middle using (I think all) to make a circle.

Then put the cheese in the middle and bake (using directions on the package).

This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas dishes.



What is your favorite holiday dishes?

:~D

On the topic of Christmas,

I saw an article today on our local newspapers website. They were talking about the radio stations that switched to ALL Christmas music November 1st. I think those radio stations have a wonderful idea!!

All the comments were people who dislike the idea of Christmas music so early.

I listen to it all year round!

Why not start listening to it on Nov. 1st??

I challenge y'all to listen to a Christmas CD!!! 

(One of my ABSOLUTE favorites!)

40 days till X'mas

Wrapping presents can be fun, funny, or just plain annoying!

A fun way to wrap presents is to wrap them in the comic section of the newspaper.

A funny way to wrap presents would be to wrap them in a box that is totally different than the object inside.

A annoying way to wrap presents is when you run out of tape.

Are you a "perfectionist" wrapper or a "who cares" wrapper? 

41 days till X'mas

A good old fashioned shopping guide.

I love Messy Mondays!

Email readers must click through to see the video.

42 days till X'mas

Candy canes are so much fun!

Some fun decorations to make are chenille wire candy canes. We have a bunch we put on our Christmas tree.

We also have candy canes (candy ones) that we saved from last year from decorating.

And the big plastic ones.... those are the best. My sisters use those for EVERYTHING. Trumpets, horses, swords (when they think no one is paying attention) and more.

What candy canes do you like?

43 days till X'mas

Before the rush, and outrageous prices check ALL your Christmas lights.

If you wait, if they are broken, dead, or simply overheating, it will be much more expensive.

And another recommendation I can give you, if you need to replace, go for LED.

They work MARVELOUSLY! I love them. We got a bunch a couple years ago and they work so well.

Also, when you plug them in. If you turn them off at night (for a tree) and plug them in the morning you want have a higher energy bill. Mainly do this is you have the old fashioned lights, and not LED.

Don't just check them, check your outdoor lights, and inflatables.

Make sure you don't have any holes in the inflatables. That could be bad......

:~D

By the way, for those of you who put up lights and decorations:

I LOVE THEM!

I love to look at each house's personality. From the lights galore, to a couple simple lights they all look beautiful!

Picture from Oracle On Delhi Studios:
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Website

(My Dad! :~D)

44 days till X'mas

Pray for a friend(s) who has no contact with Church. Invite him/her/them to your Christmas program at your Church!