34 days till X'mas

My sister (6) is trying to earn enough money to buy Christmas presents.

She is very excited to only have $1.50 left to earn.

I set up a bank for her, she is earning $7.56. She spent a $1.08 on present.

She is very excited with the prospect of buying presents.

She made herself a list with the person's name and the present she wants to get.

You can easily do this with your family.

My sister is having a blast. And she is learning about tax and a little math too.

What do you do kids that want to buy gifts for people?

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!)

Let me tell you about

Let me tell you about my day.*

Lets see, I got up and made Jesus breakfast, oatmeal.
Then I put Jesus' laundry in the washing machine.
Then I rocked Jesus to sleep.
I got Jesus a snack.
Then I put Jesus' laundry in the dryer.
Found some clean clothes for Him to wear.
Then I made Jesus lunch of peanut butter and fluff.
Then I helped my Mom put Jesus to bed for a nap.
After that Jesus helped me with my Algebra..........

Jesus said in Matthew 25:31-45

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Matthew 25:31-45

I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

That is what Mother Teresa's outlook was. 

My Mom and I recently read a couple books about her. 

What an AMAZING woman after God's heart.

I thoroughly recommend reading about her. 

So when I get mad at my sisters, I get mad at Jesus. 
When I do the laundry, I am doing Jesus' laundry.
When I forgive one of my friends, I forgive Jesus.
When I chat with my friends at dance, I chat with Jesus.
When I dance, I dance for Jesus.
When I clean, I am cleaning Jesus' house.

This is the life I want to live. 

I want to live for Jesus by serving him, by serving people.

I think this song sums it up: Good to be Alive

"I wanna live like there's no tomorrow

Love like I'm on borrowed time

It's good to be alive"

 
(Mom, I'm stealing your lesson from Chapel!! :~D)

Christmas Countdown: Day 48

A cute Christmas present idea!!

(Can't take credit, saw it online! :~D)

Once a Month Book Club

Every month your child/sibling's unwraps a package that has a book.

We are going to do ours every 25th of every month.

Every month till the following November they get a new book.

The kids benefit from the books, and, if your like me, you local bookstore will too. I get my kids books at the library's book room for $0.25 apiece. (Plus tax).

So I am very excited about this project. And if you think of the cost I will get them at, the total project will cost: $3.24 cents for every 12 books!

So I am excited about this.

This will be one of the best presents I've ever gave!

What I needed to hear

I am taking a fast from email this week.

Which is hard, because that is how I access my blog, through email.

I do this every now and then. It really refreshes my outlook through God's word and how I see and chat with my friends.

Email is my form of communication. No Facebook, no cell phone, no texting, no Twitter.

I wanted to write a blog post.

Why, I have no clue.

I pulled up my email to access my blog.

And I saw I had a new blog entry to read from "A Holy Experience", written by the author of "One Thousand Gifts".

And I read it.

And her post talked about something I am dealing with.

PERFECTIONISM

I have a pendulum.

It swings one way: I AM IN PERFECTIONIST MODE
It swings another:   I AM IN WHO CARES MODE

I try to do one or the other. And I am never happy where I am. And then it struck me.

I am fine.

I help out around the house.

I help my Mom.

And then I think.....

:~D ....the rain is falling. But the Son is shining!

I had no clue what to write.

But now I do.

I am going to write my goals.

1. Continue my skim through the Bible, reading about God's holy women.
2. Straighten the library like I promised Mom.
3. Start my French book. And do some math.
4. Think of dinner, because its been a long day for Mom.
5. Work on repairing an antique blanket.
6. Take costumes to the dance studio. 
7. Work on my clothes of Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Gentleness, Patience, and Love. (Colossians 3:12&14)
8. Have a tea party with my sisters. 

I have nothing to worry about. 

If my bed isn't perfectly made, the cat who was sleeping on it won't care, that is okay.

If my sisters aren't perfect, that is okay. 

If my outfit isn't perfect, that is okay. 

If my hair isn't perfect, that is okay. 

HAVE A MARVELOUS RAINY DAY! THE SON IS SHINING! 

Brownies, the BEST EVER

I made some brownies last night. Unfortunately, they are gone.....

They are the best homemade brownies. EVER

They were... :~)

So good, I memorized the recipe, while I made them. 

Lets see,

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 stick (half cup) of butter (melted)

Mix them together.

• 1/2 cup of flour
•  dash of vanilla (didn't have this on hand, but you might want it)
• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

Mix that with the rest of the ingredients.
Put chocolate chips to make it taste......more chocolatey!
Use semi sweet AND milk chocolate chips, if you are adventurous!
For extreme adventurous use chocolate chips and crushed pretzels.
After you try pretzels on top, you'll never want nuts again... they are boring.....

Bake at 350 Fahrenheit, for 30 minutes. I used a pie pan.

When they are done, sit down with, a good book, tea, and the WHOLE pan!

If the brownies were detected by a sibling/children/spouse, share.

Maybe ;~D