Beautiful For Me...

Once a year I love to play this song as a reminder to myself and my children that they are so special to God.  With all the talk about weight loss this time of year, I like to remind my family they are beautiful to God no matter what. 

 Enjoy!

 

Blessings,

Pamela

Ideas for New Year's Eve Food...

With New Years Eve and New Year's Day just around the corner, I wanted to share some healthy food recipes that I will be making for my family. We celebrate Christmas in our home until January 6th so we are all still in festive moods around here.  We put some of our decorations away, and start to freshen up our home for the New Year, but it still feels and looks like Christmas.

So lets talk party food family style!! We feed 11 in our home so the amount of food we buy to feed our family is more than most. When I give my recipes to families not as large as ours I always remind them there will be enough to freeze for later or save for another night! Our meals last us 1-2 nights, it all depends on how hungry everyone is. For a family of 6 what we make in our home would be 2-3 nights of food for sure!

This year like last year we are starting our New Year's Eve night bowling with our church family. We plan on having pizza after as a group which should be fun. Are plan is to open gifts when we come home since we allow the kids to stay up anyway.

So, munchies will need to be ready for sure, someone is always hungry in our home!  I am always given a list by family on what they would like me to make, and this year is no different.

Here is our Menu for New Year's Eve Night..

Pizza with our Church family (not so healthy, but so much fun)!!
Organic Popcorn
Cheese and Gluten Free Crackers
Vegetable tray with Yummy's!!
Hummus Tahini Recipe with Spiced Olive Oil
The Best Rockin' Guacamole with Tomatillos + Lime
Mess-Free Banana Split Bites

New Year's Day...
Shrimp Cocktail
Easy Cider Roasted Vegetables - Vegan and Gluten-Free
Gluten-Free Turkey & Sweet Potato Enchiladas
or Stuffed Green Cabbage Rolls
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Oh, and don't forget all the fun drinks for the family,

New Year's Eve Punch
 cranberry juice
 orange juice
 pineapple juice
 lemon juice
 water
 sugar
 almond extract

 Shirley Temples

and Banana Split Power smoothies
Flax milk
Cottage Cheese
Banana
Strawberries
Pineapple chunks

Hope you all have a wonderful News Year's!!!

 

The 12 Days of Christmas the start of the Christmas Season...And a Little History behind it...

The twelve days of Christmas is coming up and I have some new plans this year! It is so sad that everyone celebrates the 12 days of Christmas before Christmas. The twelve days of Christmas is celebrated from December 26th- January 6th, which is after December 25th. It is so sad to see everyone get really excited in November and celebrate through December 25 than just stop. Everyone goes onto a New Years Eve mood with parties and than back to normal lives.

The musical origin of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is that of a "catechism song." Between the years 1558 and 1829, those of the Catholic belief in England were not allowed to practice their faith, in public or private

Without regular mass, sacraments, or catechism lessons from the priest, there was little parents could do to help their children learn and remember the Catholicism the 12 days of Christmas was created in order to keep Catholic beliefs alive.

In our home we do a lot during the time of Advent but we do more after Christmas. We are not Catholic but love the meaning behind the 12 days. It's wonderful to hear schools and non believers sing this song loud and clear during the Christmas season. I kind of laugh "and smile to myself inside and know that the song they are singing has Christ filled meanings behind it.

Christmas Eve we prepare the whole house for the big day! We finish cleaning, cooking and setting up. I really want nothing to do on Christmas, sometimes easier said than done.

Oh, I heard that Christmas Eve is the second biggest shopping day of the year now next to black Friday. I sure hope I heard that wrong!!

Here are all the wonderful things we look forward to Christmas Day and the 12 days after.

December 25 Christ is born!! A day in our home that is set aside for our Savior! It is his birthday not ours it's his day not ours, let us give him the gifts of love and peace today Rejoice and praise our great Father in heaven for the best gift anyone could ever receive!

We open new pj's Christmas Eve and stockings Christmas morning. I will miss going to Christmas Worship Christmas Day as our church does not have a service on this day:( Maybe next year, but this year we will just spend quite time as a family with a party for our savior.

December 26 is the feast of St. Stephen—a traditional day for giving leftovers to the poor (as described in the carol "Good King Wenceslas").

December 28, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Innocents, the children murdered by Herod. These were not martyrs like Stephen, who died heroically for Christ. They were not inspired like John to speak the Word of life and understand the mysteries of God. They died unjustly before they had a chance to know or to will, but they all died for Christ! I think this is kind of a important day to remember don't you!

January 6th - finally in our home the day we open gifts a day everyone gets to enjoy! We may even open gifts on New Year's Eve this year since my girls are having a hard time waiting but January 6th is the goal! The celebration of Christmas comes to an end today. The ultimate celebration of Christmas is now behind us. Epiphany is the beginning of the Gospel, Christ is born the Magi have visit a great time to thank our great creator. A perfect time to celebrate with family and friends!

 

Xavier Romero-Frias

Here is my list for The Twelve days of Christmas 2012-

This year we will be keeping the cost of what we buy and do low! I love to give my family a little gift or make a special food, since we are a family of 10 now group gifts seem to work much better!

 

To start-

I found this really cute 12 Days of Christmas Cupcake Kit By Meri Meri I may use these for my Ladies fellowship or maybe our Church fellowship meal. ( I thought the price on this was good)!

 

Day 1 - A Partridge in a pear tree (Pears) - Jesus Christ, the Son of God

Day 2 - Two Turtle Doves (Chocolate that is) for each child - the Old and New Testaments...gifts from God

Day 3 - Three French Hens (Chicken Noodle Soup) - Faith, Hope and Charity sometimes referenced as Faith, Hope and Love...the three gifts of the
"Spirit that abide" (I Corinthians 13). The French hens may also represent
God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Day 4- Four Calling Birds ( Cardinal Beaded Safety Pins) , pencils and post it notes:) - the Four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Day 5 - Five Golden rings (Pineapple Rings ) - first five books of the Old Testament

Day 6 - Six geese a-laying 750 Piece Panoramic Jigsaw Puzzle: Winter Songbirds - Six Days of Creation

Day 7 - Seven swans a-swimming The Twelve Days of Christmas in Wisconsin . This looks like such a cute book! - Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit or is it really 6? Isaiah 11:2 (KJV)

And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord

Day 8 - Eight maids a-milking (Little individual chocolate milks and milk duds) - The Eight Beatitudes

THE EIGHT BEATITUDES OF JESUS

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:3-10

Day 9 - Nine ladies dancing (Nine candy cane cookies) - Nine Fruits of the Holy Spirit -Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Day 10 - Ten lords a-leaping (Have the girls write out the Ten Commandments) - The Ten Commandments - Exodus 20:1-26 (KJV)

Day 11 - Eleven pipers piping (Study the names of the 11 faithful apostles)

Day 12 - Twelve drummers drumming (Learn the 12 points of doctrine in the Apostle's Creed)

If you are looking for some healthy food ideas check out Beneficial bento, (I don't know much about the author of the blog, but she has some really cute gluten free lunch ideas for kids)

Blessing,

Pamela

Merry Christmas...

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!!

 

 

Many Blessings to all of you at this wonderful time of year!!

Today our Savior is born, thank you Father for the best gift anyone could ever receive!!

Help all of us to keep our eyes fixed upon you Lord as we go about our day with family and friends!

Amen!

A Look from our Last Week

Since my mom can't be with us this year for Christmas my blog is a little heavy with pictures. She may not see us for a very long time, since she lives 1200 miles away. Like most weeks in December we had a full week of plans staying busy doing all kinds of things and loving every moment of it. If you look at my post on our Advent books and Plans for 2012  you'll see we do a lot as a family. After my husband worked 12 hours he still smiles as he carries our family tree in from the cold, what a man!

 

  In past years we would normally wait till the week of Christmas for our tree, but my husband and children love the Christmas tree so we decided to go ahead and enjoy it much earlier  this year.  We have our lights up but I think we will wait till Christmas Eve for the Ornaments, a fun way to surprise the children Christmas morning!

 

We had a visit from my sister Laura and her 2 wonderful children, which was such a fun time. It has been almost 4 months since we have seen her, way to long. Since my sister came up on December 8th the night Hanukkah starts we decided to have a little Hanukkah party, with Potato Latkes and games, such fun! We played the game War with our Gold chocolate coins, and laughed into the late evening. My sister had to leave early the next morning since we woke up to the falling of snow, with a 4 hour drive home in good weather we understood. 

 

So,  like I said early the next morning we woke up to snow which was so pretty to see, we should have snow in December it just makes since.  We went to church where we spent the day in worship, fellowship. After lunch we spend the afternoon in our church bible study which I have grown to really love! We are going over a new book together  The Enemy Within: Straight Talk About the Power and Defeat of Sin  what a great book! If you have a chance pick this up and read through this with your spouse or church family, you will be so glad you did!

 

The snow we received from our great Creator was perfect for Snowman, which my husband and children made before we even walked through door after church. The next morning we had to fix our snowman up a little which my girls did not mind. I  was reminded that the next time it snows my family would like to add buttons, scarf and hat. I think the thrift store would be a great place to find all of that!

 

Okay my blog post would not be complete without pictures, so I took a few pictures to share with you all!

 

 

My wonderful husband looking great as ever!

Waiting for daddy it seems like forever when your little!

Thomas wearing his lumberjack outfit for the occasion

Daddy and Thomas

Counting our chocolate coins
Oh, that mess in the glass bowl is a chocolate trifle which was worth the pound I gained from eatting it!
Most was gluten free, so mommy felt okay

Dessert on our Haunakka plates

Let the fun begin!!

Juliana was the first one out the door to fix our snowman

 

Advent Blessings!

 

2012 Advent & Christmas Books, Daily Activities and Plans

We like to read at least 1 new book each night in our home. In the past I have wrapped each book, and we have even drawn names out of a basket to see what we would read. This year since we have taken a more relaxed approach to Christmas the girls get to pick out what they want each night, and this is the list we have come up with. The * is next to the craft, idea or outing we will be doing for that day, The ** is for what our paper chain activity is for the day.

December 2 (First Sunday of Advent) ~ Waiting for Christmas: A Story about the Advent Calendar
*Decorate for Advent with Advent Calendars, Advent Wreath, Jesse Tree, etc... Set out Manger for Baby Jesus and all of our Christmas Books.  
**Light the first candle for Advent and pray for our Missionaries

December 3 ~ The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey with CD: Gift Edition
**Make treats for the birds outside

December 4 ~ The Little Fir Tree
**Tell each family member you love them

December 5 ~ The Baker's Dozen: A St. Nicholas Tale,
**Read a story and watch a movie about St. Nicholas

December 6 (Feast of St. Nicholas) ~ The Miracle of Saint Nicholas
** Pick out our Christmas Tree

December 7 ~  Varies Nutcracker books including Nutty Nutcracker and The Nutcracker / Baryshnikov, Kirkland, Charmoli Ballet
*Make Peanut Butter Cookies
**Make Christmas cards for your sisters and brother

December 8 ~ The Christmas Bird ( Hanukkah begins at sundown)
*Make a Jewish Meal

December 9 (Second Sunday of Advent) ~ The Christmas Candle
*The Sabbath Day:) We will enjoy time with our church family today.
**Light the second candle and pray for families in need of salvation

December 10 ~ The Three Gifts of Christmas
**Spend the afternoon as a family playing games and making garland

December 11 ~ An Orange for Frankie
*Have Chocolate covered oranges
**Camp out in the living room and read Christmas stories and watch a Christmas movie

December 12 ~ The Legend of the Christmas Rose and Yuletide Ice Cube Fair (Big Idea Books / VeggieTales)
* We will me making Sopapias today, and buying our poinsettia
** Donate 1 toy or favorite item from each person in the family to the thrift store for Christmas

December 13 (Feast of St. Lucy) ~ Lucia, Saint of Light and Hanna's Christmas
* Make St. Lucia Bread
**Have eggnog and watch a Christmas movie

December 14 ~ God Gave Us Christmas
* Christmas Caroling in our town with our church
**Make thumbprint cookies an share with the neighbors and friends

December 15 ~ One Christmas Dawn
*Send out all our Christmas cards by today!
**Make gluten free lemon cookies for mommy:)

December 16 (Gaudete Sunday) ~ Night Tree
*The Sabbath Day:) We will enjoy time with our church family today.
**Light the third candle and pray for many blessings in 2013

December 17 ~ The Miraculous Child: A Christmas Folktale from Old Russia
*O Wisdom...
**Go to Culvers and have ice cream sundaes

December 18 ~  How the Grinch Stole Christmas: A 50th Anniversary  and watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas  
*O Adonai, and Ruler of the House... ( We bought a new movie this year The Little House on the Prairie )
**Watch the Grinch and have a Grinch party!

December 19 ~ Merry Christmas Curious, George
*O Root of Jesse...
**Watch The Polar Express and have hot chocolate

December 20 ~ The Gift of the Christmas Cookie: Sharing the True Meaning of Jesus' Birth
*Bake Cookies for Christmas to give as gifts
**O Key of David - Key Lime mousse Pie and Sparkling Drinks with Dinner

December 21 ~ The Crippled Lamb
*O Dayspring...
**Hot Cocoa in thermoses and drive around to see Christmas lights in town after dark!

December 22 ~ One Winters Night
*O King of the Gentiles...
***Bake and Decorate Cut-out Cookies.

December 23 ~ (Fourth Sunday of Advent) ~ B is for Bethlehem
*O Emmanuel...
***Bake Starlight Cookies

December 24 ~  (Christmas Eve) ~ * Night-Before-Christmas-Clement-Clarke  and a new book  A Christmas Manger (Punch-out-and-play Books)
**Gingerbread House Decorating

The following books I did wrap in gold paper for the 12 Days of Christmas:

December 25 (Christmas Day) ~ The Nativity by Ruth Sanderson and The Very First Christmas

December 26  ~ Good King Wenceslas

December 27 ~ Stephen's Feast

December 28 (Feast of the Holy Innocents) ~ Angela and the Baby Jesus

December 29 ~ The Christmas Magic

December 30 ~ Mortimer's Christmas Manger and Pascual and the kitchen Angels

December 31 ~ The Little Match Girl

January 1 ~ Who's Hiding: A Christmas Lift the Flap (this is a Christmas gift to baby Thomas this year)

January 2 ~ Mary Engelbreit's Nutcracker 

January 3 ~ Christmas in the Barn

January 4 ~ The Third Gift

January 5 ~ The Last Straw
* Watching a new movie I found Mystery of the Three Kings DVD

January 6 ~  (Feast of Epiphany) ~ We three Kings

Daddy and Thomas enjoying the stories

We have so many more books I hope to list the rest sometime before Christmas, but family  and baby kisses first:) Maybe next year:)

Getting Ready and Preparing for Advent 2012

 

I have been really spending a lot of time preparing my home for Advent this year. I knew with a new baby in our home I would just need the extra time for planning, cleaning and prepping. I try to have all my shopping lists complete and most of the shopping done by the first Sunday of Advent.

I really can't believe that Thanksgiving is over! I feel a little more ready than in past years, but really we have also decided to not do as much as years in the past. I thought I would share with you are plans for this Advent, some new ideas and some older ideas that we have grown to love.

This year looks a lot like last year's Advent only this year we are not part of the Catholic Church so things have changed some.

If you look on my post from last year you can see the changes we have made this year. I am not going to type everything out again but I will share the changes and new ideas:)

I still think that we all need to spend time with our father in heaven every day, I miss going to Mass twice a week even three times if I feel really down. I how ever have the best church family anyone could ask for and am happy with our choice to leave. We spend almost the whole day at church on Sunday, not because we have to but because we want to. We have a choice to attend a bible study during the week, and I know that if I asked my Pastor he would open the doors to our church so I could sit in quietness and pray.

First thing is we will be spending a lot more time in prayer this year more than ever. Our country needs it more than ever and our children need to know how and why we do it. Our plan is to keep our church missionaries in our prayers all through Advent praying for a few new families each night and learning a little about what country they are in.

Larry and I will be giving each other more time each evening to pray alone and together!

 

Our Jesse Tree evenings will stay with us, something the whole family looks forward to each night!  We are a little funny about our Jesse tree sets since we know have 3 Jesse tree sets in our home!!  Our new set came from dear friends on line and I just love them. We have the set Larry and I made together over 5 years ago that was for the girls, and a new set we bought last year.

We will be traveling the world again from home learning about all the traditions of other countries that celebrate Christmas. We will eat way to much food and gain some weight as we taste foods from all these countries.

In our family my husband is the head of his house and his wishes are firm, no praying to the mother of Christ and please no praying to people that are no longer living. This made the Christmas month that much more focused on Christ, and not so focused on People who have passed that have nothing to do with Advent or Christmas. How the Lord has changed my heart in just one year, all I had to do was be still quiet and listen.

This is what we feel about the next Advent event we will celebrate, since it is a feast day in the Catholic Church. We will be celebrating St. Nicholas for the good things he has did and because my husband and children have both grown up with this we will be keeping this feast day in our home.

So, Dec 6th we will remember Nicholas of Myra for all the wonderful things they say he did while he was alive. On earth he could have been a saint for Christ just like us who follow and live for Christ. Did God make him a special saint in heaven I don't know; only the creator knows that. Some say most of the stories are true about Nicholas, others say they are made up.

We know he was a Bishop of Myra in the fourth century, and the Legends are many. Legend or not his stories show us many wonderful things that we can do as Christians.

We teach our family to give to others first, to help the poor the ones with less than we do. We want our girls to spread the love of Christ to all who will hear it.

Nicholas of Mayra we are told did just that.

We leave our boots out on Dec 5th and the children have the boots/shoes replaced with new slippers, books, candy, fruit and Chocolate coins.

We watch the movies on Nicholas and have yummy treats.

As for the rest of Advent we will be spending our nights making crafts, reading Christmas books, and baking cookies. Caroling with our church this year we hope, and finding ways to spread the love of Christmas to others and the true meaning.

My prayers for my children this year is to find a best friend in Jesus! I want them to always think about him and spend time with our Lord each and every day.

I pray that the hour or two we put aside every evening during Advent/Christmas will help them do just that.