A Christ Centered Christmas!

I have pondered for several years now as how to make Christmas more meaningful for my family and help them understand the true meaning of the season!  This year it has been a welcome relief to honestly not have the means to have an extravagant Christmas.  I know that might sound strange that it is a relief, but it is true!
 We, like a lot of families across the Nation have been hit hard by the financial Crisis and poor economy.  
So this year (and I am hoping many years to come no matter what our financial situation is) I want to start a new special Christmas gift giving tradition. On the first Christmas Jesus received 3 thoughtful and meaningful gifts from the Wise men.  That would be useful in his life.
So I decided that each year we would give are kids three gifts also.  One being something they want and wish for, the next being something that is useful or needed, and last being something from the heart that reflects their personality, talents or hobbies
 Another  tradition I want to start that will hopefully bring Christ back to the center of things is that they choose a gift that they want to give Jesus.  Not only for the season , but for the whole year. Something they can do to improve their relationship with Christ.  Some examples might be to have more consistent and sincere prayers, letting go of a bad habit, saying I love you to someone everyday etc.  I have a little gift box and on Christmas morning I want everyone to write down what they want to give Jesus that year and then we will put the papers in the box (kind of like a time capsule) and then the next Christmas we can open the box and read and be reminded of what we had promised Jesus the year before and Choose a new gift for the next year. 
Another Tradition I want to start is a Family Christmas Journal.  each Christmas I want to record the events of that Christmas Season and what is going on with each family member.  When my Mom grew up my Grandma bought a new box of ornaments each year and they would write a poem or a write the events of that particular Christmas Season on the back of the box.  I wanted to continue this tradition, but I don't need more ornaments for our tree so I thought that a Christmas Journal would be a nice replacement.

So what are some traditions you do to bring more meaning to Christmas? 

Little Peg People Nativity

I thought it would be fun to make a Nativity set out of little peg people!   My Two year old sure has had a ball playing with them :-)  (Move over Fisher Price!) 

I still need to spray them with sealer and add some burlap or something to tie around Joseph's head,(right now he looks a little too much like obi-wan Ken obi) I would also like to add the wise men, animals and a shepherd eventually, but right now this it all I had time to paint.
If you want to paint your own peg people  you can find them Caseyswood.com

Grandma Lucille's Carrot Cake

 I am not usually a big carrot cake fan. And I have decided that it is because most carrot cakes have nuts in them and I can't handle nuts in cake.  (It is a texture issue I have had my whole life), but my family was over at my sister Kari's  for her Birthday last Sunday and her daughters made Grandma Lucilles carrot cake for her(without nuts).  Talk about a pleasant blast from the past! It had been years since I had had that cake and I was instantly reminded of how amazing it is!   Thank goodness when my sister Kari was in college she had the presence of mind to ask for the recipe.(A few years before Grandma passed on.) 

You want the recipe too?

Grandma Lucille's Carrot Cake and Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp cocoa
1/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups grated carrots

Frosting:

1/2 Cup butter
1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
about 5 cups powderedsugar
Directions:
Cream sugar and oil. Beat in eggs one at a time. sift dry ingredients. add alternately with buttermilk to egg mixture. Add carrots.
Pour into large oblong pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hr. Cool and Frost.


Frosting:

Cream butter and cream cheese; add sugar and vanilla mix. Spread on cake.

Garnish with nuts.

Yummy! Yummy!  Yummy! 

Also because all ovens bake differently it may bake quicker then the recipe asks.  I pulled mine out about 12 minutes earlier than the recipe said. 

And just so you know this cake rises up quite a bit.

I had been having trouble knowing what would be a inexpensive gift for friends and neighbors this year and I have decided that they need to have some of Grandma's carrot cake too.  So that I what I am making this year.  I am baking it in bundt pans and mini loaf pans so I can easily slice pieces and spiral them on a plate. 

December bugaboo book pick

For this month I chose the book "Little Women" by  Louisa May Alcott

I love this story!  And it reminds me of the Holidays.  And since the December book club  theme is Christmas/Holidays, this is a book that came to mind.  I know we have all heard of this book and seen one of the many movie versions, but have you ever read it?  If not you are in for a treat!  If you have not noticed by now, I am a sucker for classic books and this one is one of my favorites for sure!

Regular 2011 Primary Bookmarks

Hi all! 
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season :-) 
I am sorry I have not posted much lately.  I have been busy making flour sack aprons and painting Nativity puzzles, but I finally took some time yesterday to make a much requested bookmark!
I had posted a magnetic bookmark with the 2011 childrens Primary theme a little while back, but several people have just wanted regular bookmarks that don't fold.  This is what I came up with. 

If you notice I made this one unisex and have the boy one and the girl one on the same page.  I don't know why I have not thought of that sooner :-) 

 Anyway  click on the photo.  Copy and past it to your computer. Print it out as a 5x7 or at some photo places (Wal Mart) you can choose to have them printed out "True to size".  Cut them down the center and thats about it.  I personally would also laminate mine just to make them more durable.

The Scotch brand laminator is the best deal out there when it comes to laminators. 

Baby Jesus

I make and sale these Nativity Puzzles at my Esty shop.

  

 It is a lot of work painting all the detail on each puzzle piece, but the most difficult puzzle piece to paint is the Baby Jesus.

 The hardest part ( and it is always a miracle to me each time I pull it off ) Is getting his face just right.

And I have to admit I was pretty pleased with how this Baby Jesus turned out that I painted today :-)  So I had to take a picture and show it off before I ship him off with the rest of  this puzzle to his new home!

I think his face is really sweet  :-)

Thanksgiving crafts

I love Thanksgiving!  I have not had much time to do any Thanksgiving crafts this year so I wanted to share some things I have done in the past.  Here is the link
 Also here are a couple of crafts I saw out in blog world this year that I thought were cute and wished I had time to make.  First I just adore this Turkey! You can find it at a blog called "Under my Umbrella".
I also love the idea of a Thanksgiving countdown.  I like the idea shown here.  I love the idea of counting down all the things we are thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving.   I think this concept would work well also as a Thanksgiving tree.
I am sad to say that these ideas will have to wait until next year though :-(  The time between Halloween and Thanksgiving goes way to fast these days!

Happy Crafting!