The Season is Upon Us (with a Christmas Craft)

This will be my last post of the year and what a year it's been.  As with any year, there are ups and downs.  Looking back over it all is a bit overwhelming.  There have been projects, trainings, work, canning, growing, cooking, baking, laughter, hugs, kisses, joy, tears, fighting, frustration, pulling-out-of-hair, re-grouping, forgiving, and loving.  And that was just the month of September!  Okay, all kidding aside, we are so thankful to have had another year together to grow and learn and love.

Tuesday was our last day of school, so we are on Christmas break!  Here's a bit of what we've been up to in the past few days....

The baking has begun (and will end today).  While some of you may have gotten the impression that we make ALL our favorites every year, that is not the case.  This year we've made caramel popcorn and four kinds of cookies.  The end.  When done the week before Christmas, it feels like just enough.

 Caramel Popcorn (babies were once bathed in this tub)

Miriam helping me make my all time favorite cookie (also shown below).

Making Haman's Ears

One of my huge projects recently was to finish Miriam's Christmas stocking.  She's three and a half and the poor girl was afraid she'd have to go another year without her personalized stocking.  Note to young women and new moms:  Don't go overboard making all kinds of special things for your first child if you plan to have several more!  You may be plagued with guilt as you force yourself to do the same for your other children.  And, remember, by the time you're cross-stitching your third child's stocking (9 years later, for me), your eyes will not be so good and you'll have to use your son's reading lamp clipped to the frame to be able to see anything at all.  But it was a labor of frustration love, so it was worth it :-).

In case your kids get a little restless over their break, here is a fun, FREE, and time-consuming craft they might enjoy- Christmas Tree Catalogs.  These have been around for awhile and you may already make them, but our family joined in the fun for the first time this year (thanks, Carmen!).  And when you're done with them?  Just toss them back into recycling.  Seed catalogs and pharmacy journals are our favorite to use.

Only three folds are involved.  Starting with the cover, take the top right hand corner and fold the top edge of the page to meet the left side.

Next, bring the fold you just created also to the left side.

Now, fold up the bottom little tag/flag, so it's flush with the bottom of the catalog.

Turn the page you just folded to the left and start on the second page.  Repeat until you've done every page. Stand it up and then staple or tape the front and back covers together to help keep the tree spread out and open.

Merry Christmas, friends.  You are dear to me!

Love,
Jane

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus, 

that we may share in the song of the angels, 

the gladness of the shepherds, 

and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate

and open the door of love all over the world. 

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. 

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,

and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,

and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, 

forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

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