The Gift of December- A Christmas Eve Meal

Cristi is a fellow military wife ,mom and blogger I have gotten to know over the past few years.  She blogs about her life and homeschooling, as well as special needs at Through the Calm and Through the Storm.  I think I want to eat at her house on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day!

 Thank you Cristi for joining us today!






As a fellow military spouse, I don't have a lot of set in stone holiday traditions. I'm not tied to specific events at specific places, particular decorations that must be displayed in my house, or even celebrating on December 25th. When given the choice, though, I do have a few meals that have become Christmas traditions at our house.

For Christmas Day, I serve grilled steaks and baked potatoes. A few days before Thanksgiving this year, my oldest daughter commented that she was looking forward to our Christmas dinner even more than the big meal I was planning for Thanksgiving. (If you'd like to hear how a deployment more than twenty years ago started my family's steak tradition, I blogged about Christmas Dinner as one of my "years ago" stories last year.)

Although it's not as dear to my heart as our Christmas Day meal, we also have a traditional Christmas Eve meal -- chili.

Cristi's Easy Chili Recipe

1 - 1.5 lbs ground beef
2 cans pinto beans
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 can Spicy V-8
1 - 2 Tbsp chili seasoning (see below)

Brown the ground beef and drain. Add beans, tomatoes, V-8, and chili seasoning. Simmer for at least 15 minutes. It works well in the crock pot, too.



Homemade Chili Seasoning mix 

4 Tbsp chili powder
2 1/2 tsp coriander
2 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix and store in an airtight container. I usually use a recycled spice jar for ours.



My husband prefers to eat his chili served over Fritos and topped with lots of shredded cheddar cheese. Since my family used to always eat cornbread with our chili, I'll share our easy cornbread recipe.

Easy Cornbread

1 3/4 cups + 2 Tbsp cornmeal
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk

Mix and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. I like to melt a bit of bacon grease into my cast iron skillet while the oven is heating up and then pour in the cornbread mix. Yum!

Note: I usually add two tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar to a milk substitute (flax, coconut, or rice) to make a buttermilk substitute. If you can find it, you can use 2 cups of self-rising cornmeal in place of the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

Regardless of whether you have fancy holiday traditions with elaborate seven-course meals or just simple ways of enjoying the season, I wish you and your family the very best!

Cristi

The Gift of December- Advent Calendar Craft

One of the things we do in our home each year is an advent calendar type activity. Through the years it has varied, from paper calendars with doors, to a special advent tree, and lately special advent stories.  But one of our most beloved advent calendars is a homemade one we have, much like Holly's you see here!  It is never too late to add this to your tradition- I know it will provide years of beautiful memories for your kids, as it has mine!  Thank you Holly for your Advent Calendar tutorial!

 

When I was a kid, we had these chocolate advent calendars.  Every night, we opened a little door and got a piece of chocolate for the evening.  It was lovely, and gave us something to look forward to each night.  The holiday season was always a busy time, and this was one thing that we could count on being the same each day.

I've always loved the idea of advent calendars.  For children, it's some semblance of routine in the madness.  For adults, it's a daily reminder of what the season is all about....and no, it's not about the gifts behind each door.

As a new mother, I wanted to create a lasting family tradition.  I had a large box of scrap cloth and took a notion to make our own advent calendar.  This isn't your average one, either - this thing is about 3' x 5' long!! 

We had just moved into our first house, and hung curtains.   The living room curtains had to be cut down, and this was a leftover piece of one of them.  So, the backing is made of curtains, but you could start with a larger, sturdy piece of cloth - fold it over about 2" and sew across the top to create room for a hanging dowel.  

I started with the month, at the top, but you can use whatever header you'd prefer.  Everything on this calendar is free-handed.....I drew it out on the cloth first, and then cut it carefully.  When you're sitting in front of CSI, or The Voice, or whatever keeps you boob-tubed at night, is a good time to be drawing and cutting.   

Cut out twenty-four different squares approximately 4" x 4".  Pick a different design for each square and sew them to the front of the squares.  (I made sure to dedicate a square to each of the kids, and used both religious and secular images.)  Cut out your 24 numbers and sew those onto each square as well.  Sew the header onto a large piece of fabric to go across the top.  All of this hand-sewing will take some time, but done carefully, will last a lifetime.  Do not sew down any of the larger pieces until all of the fine-work is done! 

You're going to want to piece the squares onto the fabric in a somewhat orderly fashion.  I recommend playing around with a ruler and some chalk to draw a grid of where you want them sewn.  Each square is going to open up to create a pocket, like the one above.  The top edge of each square needs to be folded over and sewn, about 1/4".  This will prevent fraying.

Once you have figured out where to place each square, use pins to pin everything into place.  Start by sewing down the header at the top of the calendar.  Then start on the squares.  Fold the other three sides of each square over 1/4", and sew down onto calendar fabric.  Take it one square at a time...don't rush!  When you're sewing, switch your machine from a straight stitch to a sturdier stitch (choose from whatever options your machine has).  This will help ensure that excited hands don't rip the pockets off!

It took some time, but your advent calendar is done!  Instead of getting their treats at night, we do the advent calendar each morning.  This way, if there is an event that night, such as caroling, they get to look forward to it all day.  On November 30th, we hang our calendar and the "elves" fill the calendar with the following goodies :

• lollipops & small candies (usually from Halloween)
• event notices (if we're going Christmas caroling or to see a play)
• one thing from the Christmas bucket list (free printable)  

Aren't able to make your own right now, but want a neat advent calendar?  Try one of these :

• Felt Nativity Scene
  
• Pop-Out Nativity Scene
• Magnetic Nativity Scene
• Chocolate-filled
• Lego City (gender neutral)
• Lego Star Wars (traditionally boys)
• Lego Friends (traditionally girls)
• Mega-blocks Minions
• Hot Wheels

     Holly is a road-schooling mother of two active boys!  While traipsing across the country, she creates Lego-themed school and enjoys meeting up with other families.  Find her at Gypsy Road, Educents, or on Facebook.

The Gift of December- The Jesse Tree

Celebrating the Promise and Coming of the Savior With the Jesse Tree

Having family traditions that center around the Christmas holiday has always been very important to us. Traditions bring the family closer together, create great memories, and help us to keep our focus on the spiritual significance of the holiday season. One of the traditions we enjoy is the Jesse Tree.

The Meaning of the Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree is a visual picture of the promise of the Savior throughout Scripture, ultimately leading to the promise fulfilled in the birth of Christ. The Jesse Tree comes from Isaiah 11:1-"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit." 

Beginning with Creation and following the thread of history through the Israelites and the line of people who would ultimately lead to Christ, the ornaments of the Jesse Tree show God's plan for redemption from the start. For each day, from the first day of Advent through Christmas, there is an ornament that symbolizes part of the redemption story. As we put on each ornament, we read a Scripture that explains that ornament, and we talk about what it means.

Many Advent traditions only focus on the birth of Christ. That's an important event for sure. But the Jesse Tree goes further and reminds us of the big picture. The birth of Christ wasn't just a random, isolated event. God had a plan for His people all along, and that plan, begun at the Creation of the world, continued on through history, culminating in Christ's birth.


Creating Your Own Jesse Tree

To make your own Jesse tree, you can use a real, small Christmas tree or you can draw a tree to place your ornaments on. We've done both through the years, but I finally decided on a tree drawing because I can keep it from year to year and pull it out for the first day of Advent. It's also a good choice for us because we don't have the space to put up an additional Christmas tree. I laminated my printed ornaments and put velcro tabs on the back. The tree has velcro tab spots where the ornaments can be placed.

The tree that you use can have bare branches because the theme verse in Isaiah talks about Christ as the Branch that bears fruit. I like to have the Isaiah verse written out with the tree because this reminds us of the focus of the Jesse Tree.

You will need a set of ornaments to use each day on your Jesse tree. You can print these or draw the ornaments yourself. I'll give some resource links below that I've used to print already made ornaments, There are twenty-eight symbolic ornaments and the symbolism of the tree which you explain on the first day of Advent.

• Dove
• Tree with fruit
• Rainbow
• Stars
• Ram
• Ladder
• Sack of grain
• Burning bush
• Lamb
• Torah tablets
• Ram's horn trumpet
• Clay water pitcher
• Crown
• Shepherd's crook
• Stone altar
• Empty tent
• Fire tongs
• Tears
• Watchtower
• City wall
• Scallop shell
• White lily
• Mother and child
• Tablet and pencil
• Carpenter's hammer
• Star
• Manger
• Chi-Roh symbol (Greek letters for Christ)

We use our Jesse tree for family devotions throughout the month of December. Each day we'll read the passage of Scripture, and then the kids take turns placing an ornament on the tree.

Jesse Tree Resources

This site has a great free printable pack that has all of the Scripture references, a devotional explanation of each day, and printable ornaments.

If you use an Advent wreath in your family, this site ties in the Jesse tree readings with the weeks of Advent, so you could see how the days fall along with using the Advent wreath.

This site has a little different version of printable ornaments if you would like a little different style.

The Jesse tree can be a great way to focus on Christ and the promise of a Savior as well as the fulfillment of that promise. It's also a great way to give kids a big picture view of God's plan of redemption throughout the Bible. It's a tradition we've come to look forward to year after year.




Leah Courtney is a homeschooling mom of four. Her days are filled with being a mom, homemaker, and teacher. In her (very rare) free time, she enjoys blogging, reading, and reviewing books and curricula. These days she’s learning the joys of being a mom of teens. You can read about her family and homeschooling life at As We Walk Along the Road.






Love the way Leah used velcro tabs to keep everything in its place!  This is a great project to do with kids of all ages.  THANK YOU, Leah, for such a wonderful addition to our Christmas celebration!

The Gift of December- Snowman Soup

You have got to take a peek at Rebekah's blog There will be a $5.00 charge for Whining!  Seriously, this lady makes me laugh out loud- often! Here's what she says about herself-

 I like books, classical poetry, musicals, vintage china, scrapbooking, the color red, flip flops, sushi, little boys named Josiah, the smell of lemons and dangly earrings. I am sometimes right, but more frequently wrong. I am sometimes only slightly fruity. Most of the time I am mostly fruity. I am learning to take what I have been given and make for myself and my little family a beautiful life.
Enjoy!  And thank you, Rebekah!



 I am tickled that Michele has let me hang out on her blog for a bit. She is always such a blessing and an encourager. What a treat to be able to share one of my Christmas projects going on at my kitchen table right now!

I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it. As we begin our preparations for the celebration of the birth of our Lord, my heart always turns with how I can bless others.

Some years, I have a little more to give. Some years...a little less. You know how it is. However, I've learned that a cute and thoughtful gift doesn't have to be extravagant or complicated.

I also like having projects that my son and I can work on together. Not only do we get to share in a fun Christmas memory, but he is learning how to give.

I am sure most of you have heard of Snowman Soup. It's the kitschy little gift perfect for teachers, neighbors and friends. Or your teacher's neighbor's friends.  We are fairly free with our snowman soup.

I first heard of Snowman Soup many years ago. My sister-in-law and her family participated in a secret "pal" kind of gift exchange that took place with other members of their church. One cold evening, they heard a knock at the door. When they opened the door the family found a whole basket filled with Snowman Soup ingredients and a cute little poem. A bag of marshmallows! A box of candy canes, fun Christmas mugs....Everything a family would need for a wintery night at home.

This was the days before Pinterest (can you even remember?) and over the years I have created many versions of Snowman Soup.

The easiest and most economical version is one of my favorites. This year we are assembling snowman soup bags for Swim Coaches, the student teachers from my son's P.E. class, neighbors and church folks.

To create Snowman Soup you will need:

Hot Chocolate mix (you can make your own if that's the way you roll)
Peppermint Sticks
Candy Kisses
Mini-marshmallows
Small clear party bags


This year I even doodled my own little bag topper. I want to share it with you! I'll link to the final product (PDF) at the end of the post. I used cardstock for my bag toppers. I find cardstock is sturdy and makes for a nice presentation. However, you can use plain copy paper if that is all you have. You can make it sturdier by gluing it to a piece of construction paper.

I hand colored this copy. This is a perfect project for the Littles. I am going to also provide you a link with the colored version to make somebody's life easier. The assembly of the Snowman Soup baggies will be enough for at least a few of you (I remember those days). I like using gel pens for coloring. They make me happy. Colored pencils are also a good choice for these kinds of doodles. A finer tip will provide a much nicer result.

For the Snowman Soup poem I enlisted the help of my ever pithy momma. There are plenty of cute Snowman Soup poems out in webland. However, because I doodled this bag topper just for you, I wanted something I could share without infringing on someone else's creative property. Feel free to use this bag topper as often as you want!

After preparing my bag toppers, I gathered my ingredients together...minus a few candy kisses. This project is so economical. A body could get everything he or she needs at The Dollar Tree.

This is the size of the party bags I used. I am a big believer in using what you have. You can even use lunch sacks, but these cost under $1 at Walmart. I like the clear bags so the ingredients are visible.

I stuck all the Snowman Soup ingredients in the bag and folded over the top just a little bit. I tried to take a picture of that particular step, but the end product was too shiny to see. You will just have to take my word for it!

I then folded my topper in half and stapled the whole thing at the top.  I also added a little sparkly bag filler with my Snowman Soup ingredients. Everyone needs a little sparkly bag filler in their life.

This is the back view. I forgot to color his nose! Want to know something funny? Notice the word "SassyFras" just underneath the snowman. My mom and I have a online shop called SassyFrass Art & More. Did you just notice my boo boo? What kind of person misspells their own business on the back of a product? And here I thought I was being clever.

I did add some bling (in the form of some stick-on rhinestones) at the last minute. I looked for my glitter, but couldn't find any. That, my friends, is probably a good thing. I can get fairly liberal with the glitter.

As promised, I am providing links to my doodles just for you!

These links will take you to my Google Drive. You can print off as many as you need to. Set the kiddos down with the Snowman Soup ingredients and have an afternoon (or evening) of Soup making!

Just a few housekeeping notes. I did notice that my Black and White product wound up with some sort of strange line around the doodle. I think the paper moved during scanning. Just cut it off. And if you can remember...Add a another "s" to SassyFras!

Snowman Soup Black and White
Snowman Soup Color

I hope that you will find all sorts of folks to bless with Snowman Soup this year!

The Gift of December- Prepping for Christmas

Welcome to our December series- The Gift of Christmas.  I am so excited to have this series kicked off by a sweet friend of mine, Robyn, who blogs about her faith and family adventures at A Closer Walk!  You can also read about her Israel tours and book her to speak at robyncarrillo.net.  Our family met her amazing family when we first moved to New Mexico years ago and we were blessed to be in their Sunday School class.  It was there that we stepped our of our "Christian" shells and learned what is meant to be a Believer.  Our eyes were opened in so many ways and we thank God for their teaching and leadership.  I know without a shadow of a doubt our family would not be where we are today without having known them!  I love how God works!
So, thank you Robyn for the time spent pouring into our lives and for guest posting for me today!
********************************************************************

Do you look forward to playing Christmas music and setting out Christmas decorations? A lot of work goes into planning, prepping, cooking, buying and wrapping to make Christmas a beautiful and fun holiday.

This year, I questioned if I plan and prepare for the right reason. Instead of spending all my time on the tasks of physically setting the stage for the big event, like Martha did. I need to sit and prepare my heart like Mary did, at the feet of Jesus.

In preparing our homes and our hearts for Christmas, I’ve made a short to-do list.

1. Outside lights

2. Inside aroma

3. Gift bags vs. paper and bows

1. Climbing on the roof and untangling the strings of lights is not a fun task. I usually find an excuse not to participate in this part. We can’t do everything, right? I opt out of the rooftop, extension cords, replacement light bulbs chaos part of the decorating. I prefer to leave in the morning and return after it is finished when my job is to ooh and aah at the results.

I wonder how often I opt out spiritually. There is only one person who can untangle the sin attitudes and actions that have crept up in my life. I love what they do on the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. They write down the sins of the previous year, bring them to the Lord, then burn them as a symbol of repentance and forgiveness.

In preparing for Christmas, I want to evaluate the thoughts and actions I need to ask the Lord, and perhaps others, to forgive me for. Let’s not rush into traffic, long lines and busyness with a frustrated, get-out-of-my-way attitude. Jesus came to bring us peace. Although there has not been much peace on earth, the Holy Spirit can give us peace in our soul, if we surrender our agenda, and ask Him to fill us with His love and joy for others.

2. I love the cinnamon, pine, and sugar cookie smells. Those smells can waft from time spent cooking and baking, or I can take the short cut and buy candles and diffusers. The Bible says our prayers are a sweet aroma to the Lord. I want to spend time reading His word and talking to Him daily, praying and praising Him, especially this month as we remember His birth. I don’t want to short cut my time with Him because of the busyness of the season. Like Brother Lawrence said years ago, the busier he was, the more time he spent in prayer.

3. Gift bags are so practical: no scissors, tape, ribbons, or mess. Yet, the beauty and thoughtfulness of a perfectly tied bow on matching paper is always a treasure. I want to show love to my family and friends with practical gifts and plates of cookies. But isn’t the real treasure spending time with them, actively listening, and taking opportunities to tell them how special they are and how much God loves them? This month can be stressful as we worry about our budget and spending extra money on things. A truth I’ve realized recently is; words are free. It cost nothing to compliment, bless, encourage, and speak kindly to others. In the rush and rudeness this month can bring, it is a beautiful treasure when people smile and speak thoughtful, kind words, whether at home or standing in a long line.

During this first week of December can we take a few minutes to

prepare our hearts?

1. Untangle our sin attitudes and ask for forgiveness.

2. Spend time daily reading God’s Word and praying in the aroma of the real meaning of Christmas.

3. Choose to be a treasured gift to others through our time and our words.

Wishing you heartfelt blessings as you prepare your heart for Christmas.

Robyn