Merry Christmas!!!

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perrish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Am I Sheltering my Child too Much??

I just received an email from The Old Schoolhouse entitled Am I Sheltering my Child too Much? You can read it for yourself here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Christmas to Remember

I love to reflect. To think about days gone by. I hope one day when I am old and gray (or should I say older and grayer) that my children will look back on their childhood and a smile will come to their faces.

Out of all the Christmases of my childhood there is one year that sticks out in my mind above all the others. It's not because I got the biggest or the best gifts that year. Quite the contrary. Looking back I can see now that it was a very meager Christmas. But none the less it was my favorite.

I was nine years old that year. We were building a new house. The house we had lived in had been bought out by the government due to the ground being contaminated with dioxin. We lived with my grandparents for quite sometime while the new house was being built. The location of the new house was across the field, then filled with apple trees, from grandma's and grandpa's. The house was not finished, but with Christmas near it was important to my parents to be in our own house for the holidays. We had no electric except for an extension cord ran down thru the field from grandma's house and no water (yes, that means no plumbing). But we did have a wood stove for warmth, we had each other, and we had our own home. We lived in one room. A quilt was hung to keep the warmth of the fire in, me and my sister slept on cots and mom and dad had a pallet made in the floor. I still remember decorating our little tree that year. With the tree being so small it made it seem like we had so many presents!

Me and my sister decorating the little tree!

Me and Shelley in our cots






Here's a picture of my mom that year. She has always made Christmas special for us.




Opening presents Christmas morning!

A Gingerbread Day

My sister invited us over to decorate Gingerbread houses today. She already had everything made and ready. All we had to do was get creative!

We each got to make our own house. That was six houses in all! We had a Gingerbread Village!

Thanks Shelley for such a fun day! Bethany has looked at hers long enough, she has already started eating it!

Christmas is....

I am not one that gets real personal on my blog. I try to keep it light, posting about country living, recipes, etc. But for tonight, I'm going to get personal. I feel the need to share my feelings, my thoughts, and how God has been speaking to my heart.

There is only a week left till Christmas, and to be perfectly honest, last week was a very trying week for me. There have been some things that have left me hurt, stressed and at times angry. I've learned through all the seasons of my life that the times that you feel the most hurt, the most broken, in those times, if you listen close, God is there comforting you and ready to minister to you.

I have said before, that Christmas is giving gifts to each other to represent the gift that God gave us. I have said that Christmas is the time of year that families show each other how much they love you. I have said that Christmas is being with those you love. All those things about Christmas are partly true, but what about the true meaning of Christmas. I have been raised in church, I've been a christian for a long time, I know what Christmas is all about, I know the meaning, but until this year I have never thought about it so hard, meditated on it, or let God really speak to my heart.

Christmas is....a Father.

A Father that was so merciful that He gave a gift. The gift of His son. His only son. To a world that was lost and dying, to all people. He gave this gift to me. He gave this gift to you. I have never had anyone else love me so much, that they were willing to give their son's life for mine.

Christmas is....a Son

A son who willingly came to this earth as a baby. He knew His destiny. He knew the plan. He knew the outcome. He knew that the very people He came for would turn their backs on Him. He came anyway. I have never had anyone else love me so much, that they would lay down their life for mine.

Christmas is....Love.

A love that is stronger than any power on earth. A love that goes deeper than sin. A love that reaches the unreachable. A love that came in the form of a babe. A love that came to die, a love that grew to be a man, that experienced hurts, betrayal, pain. At anytime before he came or while He was here on earth, He could of chose to stop it, but because of love he didn't. I have never had anyone else love me with such a love, that they would look past my sin, my mistakes, my unworthy heart and love me anyway.


My prayer this season is that God would prepare my heart. Not to be a Bethlehem like we so often hear. Bethlehem had no room for it's King. But instead to be a humble stable, a manger, a home.


If you are feeling stressed, hurt or even angry this Christmas, remember that Christmas cannot be bought, created or made. Christmas can only be found. You can take away the tree, the family, the food, the presents, but if you have Jesus, you still have Christmas.

Creamy Hot Chocolate Mix

On a cold winter day, who doesn't like a cup of hot chocolate? It's the perfect drink to sip on while snuggled on the couch with a good book or to have ready when the kids come in from playing in the snow. This year I have found a delicious recipe for a homemade hot chocolate mix. It makes quite a bit and would be perfect for Christmas presents. You could do a festive "mix in a jar" or make up your own packets and include a chocolate dipped spoon for stirring.

My Bethany made these. She loves making gifts for Christmas!

Creamy Hot Chocolate Mix

6 1/2 Cups powdered milk

1 Package of chocolate pudding mix (use regular not the instant kind)

2 Cups of Nestle Nesquick instant chocolate drink mix

1/2 Cup french vanilla coffee creamer (mix)

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

1/2 Cup sifted cocoa powder (non-sweetened)

Mix all the ingredients and then put it in your jars, packages or a large container for yourself! The mixture will keep for 3 months if sealed properly.

Handmade Christmas Cards

I love making our Christmas cards. It is so easy and the whole family can join in the fun! Here is a few that we've made so far this year.

Let Him Come to You...

Have you ever experienced the sweet peace of Jesus? That peace that floods over your soul, when everything in your life is anything but peaceful....and then Jesus comes in, soft and sweet, and you experience a calm, a love, a peace like never before? Sometimes we just need to be still, to know, to feel, to experience....

Psalms 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God"

If this Christmas season is finding you anything but peaceful, close your eyes, listen to this song, and let Him come to you...soft and slow.

It is Finished.

My Christmas shopping that is. I really do not like to shop. I am NOT one of those gals that can spend a whole day at it. When I go, I am on a mission. I have a list, I have a goal, I have a plan. I know which stores I am going to and the order in which I will go to them. If things don't go as I planned I tend to get grouchy. My kids will vouch for that. So today when I headed out to finish my Christmas shopping and to get the kids their Christmas outfits, I had a goal, a list, a plan, I had my stores mapped out.... I was a mother on a mission. Mission failed. Out of all the stores we went to Bethany could not find one outfit she liked....with the exception of one purple skirt that we could not find a single top to match and personally I did not think it looked very Christmasy anyway. I would hold up an outfit and ask her if she liked it and her response most of the time was "a little less than a maybe". So we finally settled with a red sweater to go with a black skirt she already has. I know that when she wears it she will be complaining that it itches and that it makes her hair have static, but I will not think about that today. Dakota on the other hand was easy. His only complaint was..."why couldn't I stay home and you just pick it out?" I'll take note and remember that next time.



The last few gifts I needed to get I could not find. The stores were crowded and everything was picked over. The things that were on sale, which by the way was the whole reason I went shopping, were already sold out. So I came home. Tired, disappointed, and with a monstrous headache, got on-line and finished my shopping.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

On Christmas day, 1864, the beloved poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received word that his son, a soldier in the Civil War, had been wounded. Just two years before, Henry had lost his wife in a fire. As this devout Christian man sat alone with his grief, on the most joyful of Holy Days, he penned words of hope to challenge his own despair. He called his composition Christmas Bells. Little did he know that those words would someday be set to music and become a blessing to millions of people around the world.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day was set to music by composer John Baptiste Calkin in 1872.

In 2008 Casting Crowns came out with this version and ever since it has been my favorite Christmas song.