Christmas in Arizona

While I admit to loving the sunny Arizona weather, I also admit that it has been a bit hard for me to get into the holiday mood with the 70 degree temperatures.  After all, the last few places we have lived have been blanketed in snow quite often, and while I do NOT like being cold, I LOVE SNOW!

And just for the record, there is no snow in Arizona.  Well, at least none here in the greater Phoenix area.

But it IS December and time to decorate.  I have been dragging my feet a bit this year.  In my defense, I DID just decorate this house a mere 3 months ago when we moved in.  Every time I thought about bringing out the boxes of Christmas decorations I got a bit overwhelmed.  Not with the volume, per se thanks to 34 Weeks of Clean, but just to the idea of moving things around again.

Luckily for my kiddos I have pulled up my boots straps and set a few things out.  Things are a bit simpler this year, but I did get our trees up.

The Cross tree is still my favorite I think-

But the Americana tree grips my heart every time I look at it, reminding me of the 26 years of our lives as a proud Air Force family.

The kids' tree hold memories of my childhood as well as of our kids

We always out out the ceramic tree that my aunt made years ago.  I love pulling it out each year- reminds me of the love of family!

And of course our family tree which is waiting to be decorated on Wednesday after our college girl gets home!  We can't wait.

This year we put our white nativity out.  It is one that I grew up watching my grandmother put out each year.  It is still one I love because of the memories it holds.

The other nativity we pulled out this year is one from Guatemala, to celebrate Colby's heritage.

And of course, Ashton decorated the mantle again.  Because she is talented and I am not!

A few extra touches-

A sweet treat from a friend!

 This year we join our sweet neighborhood in decorating with outside lights in addition to wreaths and such.  Several streets here have lit arches lining the sidewalks and rumor has it our street is next.

Regardless of what decorations go up or not, my prayer is that we keep the main thing, the main thing.  The decorations are beautiful, and my heart may still long for snow, but none would be needed if we weren't celebrating the birth of our Savior.  If we strip all the extras away, I pray we are still as joyous and content- knowing that the Savior's birth, his death to save us, and our salvation are the REAL reasons for us to celebrate!

May you have a blessed Christmas!

Greetings!

Christmas Tour

I have to admit that we have been a bit slow this Christmas with decorating.  Usually I pull all the boxes out and do it in one long day.  This year, I have pulled out a few boxes at a time and strecthed it out more.  No real reason other than lack of motivation honestly.

Well, that and when you have been working hard to simplify the last thing you want to do is add more things back in. 

Plus we have seen no snow. 

PLUS, one of our daughters just got home, so tonight we will put the ornaments on our family tree!  I simply refuse to do it without her.

Here the bare look-

This year I also chose to not bring out the Nutcrackers, but instead swapped with the stuffed animals that did not come out last year.  These belonged to the kids as they grew up and they loved having special things to play with in December.  While they are too old now to play with them, they hold special memories and I was feeling nostalgic, so I added them back in.

 
Another tradition we had when the kids were younger was to add a Christmas book each year.  Some of these books have been read many many times often under the lights of the tree at night. Colby still pulls them out each day, and some of the older ones still get read aloud for fun.

Two of the other trees I decorate are my Cross Tree-

 And the Americana Tree.  Both are favorites and I usually add an ornament to both each year.  The angel tree did not come out this year, just not enough room!

 

 
Other simple touches on the mantle-

 On the couch-

 My favorite nativity in the entry-

And one in our family room-

 
 A touch of Chritsmas in our kitchen-

  And a few little surprises tucked in our bookshelves.

Finally, to welcome you to our home is our cardinal tree and wreath!

And our goal-

Hope you have a beautifully blessed Christmas!

Blessings,

Homeschooling Through the Holidays

It's that time of year again!  The holidays are drawing near and the excitement is growing.  When you homeschool, that often means distracted kiddos and derailed lesson plans.  Let's face it, there is something about cold temps, warm fires, snow, and all things Christmas that can just pull at our attention.  Not to mention decorations to put up and big feasts to plan, right?

So how does one manage to actually get school done in these crazy, but exciting times?  Here are a few ideas for you!

Unit Studies! I admit these are not my forte, but the few times we have tried them I have not been disappointed.  There are so many out there, especially over the holidays, that make learning fun while concentrating on seasonal subjects.

Use what you have! Want to do math?  Count candy canes.  Need to get that art project in?  Make Christmas cards for your friends!  How about History?  Study Saint Nicolas or the very first Christmas!  Reading?  That's an easy one!  Grab a seasonal book and snuggle in for reading time.

Make learning fun!  When kids are distracted, learning gets a bit more challenging.  During these busy times it often helps to add a little something different to your schedule.  Put their spelling words into a word search or simply change locations of your "school room" for a few days.  Shaking things up can often keep kids more motivated.

Cooking Day- Save an afternoon or two and let your kids spend some time baking with you.  Measuring flour can surely count as math and following a recipe can be included in our home ec. lesson plans.

Jammies Day- We all know that the "homeschoolers do school in their jammies all day" concept is a myth for most of us.  But why not interrupt your regularly scheduled day to put on your jammies, grab a cup of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies and school by the fire?  Or at least on the couch!  Your kids will love it and you might even decide jammies for school are not such a bad idea after all.

Embrace the Crazy!- Take some time off of school and just enjoy the season with your kids.  Watch Christmas movies together, string popcorn, and sing songs.  School will always get done, but the season is short and your time with your kids is even shorter.

Blessings,

Homeschool Christmas Giveaway- Elementary Bundle

As a reviewer of homeschool curriculum we are blessed with a lot of amazing products.  Many we keep and use, but there are often great products that we simply cannot make room for, have duplicates of, or that are for different grade levels than we have in our home now.  Because of that, my stack of unused curriculum sometimes grows taller than we would like.

That's where you luck out!  It is time to move it out, and I figured what better way to do so than to bless two of our readers with some fun new stuff for their homeschooling needs?

So here's the plan!

There are TWO different bundles you can win!
You can enter to win both, but we will make sure to award TWO different people as the winners.
You supply your address, and I will ship it to you for FREE.  It is our gift to you!

We would love for you to share this post, and visit and like our Family, Faith and Fridays FB page, but none of that is mandatory.

This giveaway is open to US shipping address only!

So here is the first one!

Elementary Homeschool Bundle

Kwik Stik 12 Colors Solid Tempura Paint
Kwik Stix Metalix Solid Tempura Paint- 6 count
Sunya Adding and Subtracting Card Game
ARTistic Pursuits- Elementary Book 1
Jump Rope Review Handwriting
State:  The Facts- A Guide to Studying Your State from Laurelwood Publishing
Spiritual Circle Journal
Dad Time Homeschooling- Thinking Tree Publishing
Fun Schooling Journal- Thinking Tree Publishing
Foreign Language for Kids by Kids- Spanish Level 1- DVD, workbook and stickers!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
Come back on Wednesday to see the Middle School/High School Homeschool Bundle and enter for that drawing!

Blessings.


Enjoy and be blessed!

Holiday Traditions

My family is not too big on traditions.  Sometimes I wish we were but honestly with all of our moves, each holiday can often be quite different from the year before.  Throw in a husband's crazy schedule and the fact that he has missed a few holidays here and there, and well, we do the best we can.  We have also learned that being flexible can help keep disappointment at bay.

It's all about the memories, right?

Like the year he flew on Christmas so we pretended Christmas was the day before and celebrated a day early.  A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do! ;)

A few things we do hold dear and try to keep the same each year-

Christmas Books!  We have a basket of Christmas books we bring out each year and read through.  Some we read together and others disappear to certain children's rooms for a period of time.  We have even read most of them under the lights of the Christmas tree when the kids were younger.  Each year we usually add at least one to our collection and someday I will look forward to reading them to grandchildren maybe.
 

Advent devotions!  Each year this looks a little different for us but we love the advent season.   The anticipation of each week drawing closer to Christmas is just intensified when we focus on the birth of Jesus!  Four years ago we discovered the books Jotham's Journey, Tabitha's Travels, Bartholomew's Passage  and Ishtar's Odyssey.  We cycled through reading them and began again this year with Jotham's Journey!  Even the big kids will sit with us each night and read a quick chapter together during our family time.  Such precious memories we are making.
 

Nativities!  We love putting up various Nativity scenes around the house.  Some years they all make it out and other year we pick and choose, depending on the space.  Each child also has a special one for their rooms that they will eventually take with them.

 

 

 

Christmas Eve Buffet!  After going to our church's Christmas Eve service we return home to a fun family dinner comprising of each person's favorite "fun" food!  We let each person pick what they want and then that's what is for dinner.  For the past several years we have invited others into our craziness, making it even more fun to see what everyone will choose.  Someone in our family still  votes yearly for ice cream, but we do try to encourage  something with a little more nutritional value.  I can tell you shrimp, bacon rapped water chestnuts, and crab dip always make the cut!

Looking at Christmas lights!  We do try to take one night to pile in the car and drive around looking at the lights in the neighborhood.  I always thought it would be fun to do in our pajamas, but we have lived in some pretty cold places folks, and my hubby does not always entertain the same idea of fun as I do.

Christmas morning coffee cake!  My mom started this one for us about 6 or 7 years ago.  She gave us this beautiful pie plate that has a recipe for coffee cake on it.  Each Christmas morning we make it and enjoy a leisurely breakfast in between opening stockings and gifts.  The only thing you have to watch for is that once you pour the batter in, you are out of luck for the icing recipe if you have not written it down before hand.  Ask me how I know this!

 

See?  Simple but fun!  And something we look forward to each December.  How about you?  What traditions do you have in your family?

Blessings,