White Christmas 2010

What a blessing God sent us on Christmas Day! Here in the south, we rarely get snow! So, to get snow on Christmas Day is especially a treat! I can remember getting flurries but I don't believe I've ever experienced a true white Christmas! We took a ride through some beautiful country side before they closed the roads Christmas afternoon. Sadly, I didn't think to bring my camera. I did get some shots of the boys playing in the snow!

Love bug Eli...



Sweet Luke..




So excited!



Looks like he's about to throw it, right??



Nope, just gonna eat it! :)



Daddy and Luke with a sad, Alabama snowman!



And of course, we must right the gator in the snow!



Our backyard yesterday morning... yes, most of it stayed a whole 24 hours!




Disclaimer for my friends up North: Yes, I know, the ground still peeks through.. But, this is considered a 'white Christmas' for us folks! ;)

The Search for Square Pretzels

Photo from Disney Family Fun

Update: I found them! Actually my sweet husband found them! He drove about an hour and a half away to get them for me! And I didn't even know! :) Then, guess what? I went back to WalMart.. and they had a gazillion bags! Of course! ;)



See those square pretzels... that's what I'm looking for! Some call them waffle pretzels. I can't find them!! We have been to five stores in search of them and also called another, but no luck. They are no where to be found. This is the recipe I'm wanting to make: M&M Nativity Legend and Recipe with Candy Cane Kisses! Super cute! And Candy Cane Kisses are probably my favorite holiday candy.

You can make many variations of this candy though with whatever kisses and M&M's you like. Last night I was reading a few blogs and found a new "Bakng with Vivi" video over at Raising Homemakers! (Remember, I shared with you all about her Tuna Salad Video). She is just precious and explains so well how to make this yummy treat!

So, if you happen to find the square pretzels, pick me up a bag or two! What kind of easy treats do you like to make at Christmas?

Clinging this Christmas

Last Sunday at church we were singing, "Before the Throne of God Above".. a song I love, a song we sing often. As we neared the end and the words rang out..

"Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace..."
(Charitie Bancroft, 1863)

I thought of the baby, the baby in the manger. And it's a thought I've been pondering and mulling over all week. When I see that baby, I see Christ. He is the Lamb of God that was taken to slaughter, crucified. The baby, the Christ Child, came to be murdered. That was His destiny.

And I think of the beautiful God who loves me so, who sent His Son to that lowly manger. And tears rush as I think of Jesus the King of glory stepping from heaven. It doesn't make sense. But neither does invisible love, nor perfection. Christ is both of those things to me.

The manger scene is a beautiful one.. an angelic baby, radiant Mary and humble Joseph adoring their new babe. The glorious stars twinkling in the sky that sing with all of heaven, rejoicing that redemption has come to earth.

I am desperate for Him. I am frail and weak. Oh so weak. And I need the cross. I need to remember Him on the cross. There is no Christmas without the cross.

"My soul is purchased by His blood.."

He was wounded and was hurt.. He knows wounds and He knows hurts. And the cross shouts LOVE and GRACE to a wounded and hurt world.

So this Christmas, I will cling to the cross. I need daily dying. I need to remember the baby who came to die. His death is my life.

"And if there is no cross in my Christmas, then my Christmas has lost the Christ —- what is the manger if it not for the Messiah, the one who saves us with the scars?" Ann Voskamp



Take a moment to go read Ann's post on this very subject. She puts words to my thoughts and I am so thankful for her gift!

Jesse Tree

As parents, our hearts have always been prayerful that our boys would come out of Christmas season knowing and feeling the real meaning of Christmas. And even though they are young, we've always felt that it was possible. Unfortunately, in talking with our oldest just a few weeks ago, it seems that we missed the mark. So, I set out on a mission to find something.. some sort of devotional, Scripture reading, book. I hadn't really found anything that I just loved until I saw this.

I've written before about how much I have learned and gained from reading A Holy Experience. I highly suggest you taking some time to go through some of Ann's posts!

The FREE eBook is an 80 page Jesse Tree Advent Devotional. And while it started today, it's not too late to print it out!

The picture above is the boys right before we read the Scripture reading tonight. I want this to be special.. lights dimmed, candles lit.. my prayerful attempts at making an etched memory in their minds. Memories that will hopefully happen year after year.

Was it perfect? No! Both boys tried many times to blow out the candle... so many that we just moved it off the table. And yes, they were told that being quiet and attentive would get them a surprise at the end. We do Bible stories during the week so they are somewhat use to having to sit still and listen. But we know they are two and four and need much grace!

My prayer is that the anticipation of Christ's birth will be felt in our home. We will look for Jesus through the Scriptures.. longing and waiting for Him to come.




(BTW, I'm looking for some fabric to put under the tree.. burlap type fabric.. I want it to look homey)


What is a Jesse Tree?

Real Peace

I started this post on the 23rd and time just got away from me.... and although Christmas Day is over it's message doesn't end.



This past Sunday at church my pastor preached a message out of Luke 2 and since then, I've been thinking about all that he shared in his message. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the birth story of Christ. We all know the songs about baby Jesus being born in a manger. So, even if you've never read the birth story from the Bible, you know the jest of how He was born. If you've never taken the time to read it out of Luke, take the time now. (Luke 2:1-21) What an amazing story it is.

Luke 2 begins with Mary and Joseph making their trek to Bethlehem. Joseph was of the lineage of David (Is 16:5) so they had to travel to Bethlehem to register. And we all know that while in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor and Jesus was born in a stable. Have you ever thought why God chose to have Jesus brought in the world this way? What an inconvenient way for Him to be born! Right in the middle of a census.. having to travel so far on a donkey! And finding no room in the inn, they were left to birth God Himself in a stable... But aren't God's plans often inconvenient? Don't get me wrong.. His plan is perfect. But often God makes our lives inconvenient to get our attention. I can tell you that over the past year there have been some inconveniences. And although in the beginning it all was very unclear, I am beginning to make a little sense of what He wants me to learn.

Then there are the shepherds who are attending their flocks. What an amazing gift to be granted the news of the birth of the Savior! And not only that, they were lead to Him by that glorious star. It's a mystery as to why they were chosen to welcome Christ. I see it as a glimpse of the goodness and grace of God.

If we back track just a little we see that when they met the angel who came to them in their fields, they had great fear. And rightly so.. I don't have time to go into the wrong ideas that most have about angels. Just FYI, they don't look like precious moments figurines. Anyway, after the angels had given the shepherds their instructions on where to find Jesus, there with the angels was a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

This might strike you as a little different than how you've heard this verse before. Most have heard quoted "peace and goodwill toward men." But a more correct translation of that verse is "peace among those with whom he is pleased".

The reason I share this is because not everyone is at peace with God. I was thinking about this driving home Christmas Eve. The Hubs and I were talking and tears just welled up in my eyes thinking about all of the family and friends I know who aren't true believers. So many of them had a fantastic Christmas. They had great food and great fellowship with friends and family. There was such excitement as their kids and grand kids opened presents. Maybe they even felt warm and fuzzy inside when they thought of baby Jesus lying in a manger or heard Silent Night playing on the radio. I'm sure some looked back on the past few days and smiled because they felt such happiness and joy and peace. So, why does my heart break? Because without Christ, all of those things are just temporal. They are a mere vapor. And when they die or Christ returns, Hell is their eternity. I know that seems like such a harsh statement, but it is reality. I'd rather share the truth in the chance that God uses it in some one's life than just pretend all is well.

So, how do we have peace with God? Through His son. That is what Christmas is about! Christ has come!!! How do we know we have peace with God? Through repentance, faith and belief in Christ. We treasure Him as Mary did. We hold on to Christ tightly with one hand and the other we hold open with everything else, our spouse.. our children.. success.. friends... money.. our very life, willing to give it up to keep Him. He must be our treasure above all else.

Is Christ your treasure?

1 John 1:5-10
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."


1 John 2:15-17; 28-29
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him."

1 John 3:4-10
"Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."

1 John 5:12 "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

Christmas Traditions

I am having a rough day. I'm going to pretend that I'm not though and go ahead and post what I had planned on posting about today. I'm just really struggling with Luke. Many of you know the issues we've been having but his behavior has me stressing out big time too. Everything is a struggle right now. I'm praying.. praying.. and praying some more. I know that we have to establish discipline and correction NOW but it is so hard! I'll talk more about this later though.... I'm hoping that blogging about Christmas will get me out of this yucky mood!

Last week I played along with The Preacher's Wife Christmas Blog Party. I didn't play along with the first week which was about Christmas Traditions. So, I thought I'd share a few old and new ones with you.

1. Christmas Pajamas. For as long as I can remember my mom and dad have given me and my sister Christmas PJ's on the night of Christmas Eve. Even after the Hubs and I got married we headed over to my mom and dad's Christmas Eve night to open our PJ's.. the Hubs included!! My mom and dad even get some now! Then we all go put them on and just hang out in our new PJ's! Now the tradition continues with my boys. This year my sister comes home on Christmas Eve night so it will just be the four of us opening our PJ's at home since mom and dad will be going to the airport! I know this is a tradition that will continue for many, many generations!

2. Christmas Day. When the Hubs and I got married we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (and much of the weekends surrounding) hopping from one family members home to the other. When we started a family we knew that we wanted to start some of our own traditions. One thing that I definitely wanted was for us all to be home on Christmas morning. I just didn't want all of that rushing around. So, since Luke's first Christmas we've hosted a brunch with all of the grandparents and great grandparents invited. We keep things really simple. I always make this eggnog coffee cake (btw, I do not like eggnog! My hubby loves the stuff so I found this recipe for him and it's actually really good). I usually make something like sausage balls or pigs and a blanket to go with it. And then ask everyone else to add to the spread. We usually stay in our PJ's and just enjoy the time together and the kids get to play with their toys. After we eat someone reads the Christmas story out of Luke 2. I plan on this year having a birthday cake for Jesus. I actually wanted to start this last year (in years past Luke just hasn't been old enough to understand the concept of Jesus' birthday) but last year was a mess. So, it just didn't happen.

3. Presents. Last year was ridiculous at the presents my children got. The hubs had just gotten fired and my parents just went overboard. I'm thankful, very thankful. But looking back it was just out of control. Maybe they were trying to compensate for all that we had been through the previous two weeks. So, we talked this year and the Hubs and I agreed on three gifts each for the boys and one big gift for them together from Santa (I may blog about him later.. but until this go here and read this and this after you finish here of course! .. it shares a lot of my feelings on the subject..). Jesus received three gifts.. so why not just stick with that number? We also asked the grandparents (3 sets) to only give the boys one gift each. Just in case your worried, that is still SIX gifts each.. TWELVE total. That's a lot. More than enough. I was talking to some friends of mine about this and they said they wanted to know how that came out (thinking that it was not going to work!! Ha). Well, they were partly right.. because the grandparents are sneaking in gifts. Just this week Luke and Eli both got 'just because' gifts from each set of grandparents. So, I am on to you.. I know exactly what you're doing! Next year we'll just make the rule one gift for the whole month of December. ;) Sigh.. believe you me, I would give them everything they wanted if I could and knew it wouldn't ruin them. But there is better use of money.. and in the end it is the best for them. We truly desire for God to be glorified in our family and what we teach our children about 'stuff' is a huge part of that. I would like to say THANK YOU to our Santa's though. We could not do it without you. We are truly blessed.

4. Something new. This year we are doing something new on Christmas Day as a family. While reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan the fabulous group of ladies I was doing the study with began thinking of something radical we could do to put what we had read to action. If we're going to live what we read.. if we desire to be biblical believers then let's start living like it. So, many of the ladies who were a part of that study are going to be serving lunch and providing dessert, along with their families, at the Salvation Army on Christmas Day. I have a feeling this is going to be a new family tradition! We also plan on serving with the Salvation Army in the future. Our pastor spoke with someone there and said that they have no church involvement/volunteer work at all. And while the Salvation Army is considered a church in itself, they have a great need for volunteers to partner with them to help them meet the needs (both physical and spiritual) of those in our community. Christmas Day is a busy day for most. We have obligations.. family to visit... gifts to open. I think each one of us has a deep desire to honor Christ and what better way than to serve others on the day we celebrate His birth. May He be glorified. Matthew 25:40 - And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Well, it's time to do some laundry.. my mind is brewing so I'm sure I'll be back with something soon.

This is How We Christmas: Decorations

Lisa, over at The Preacher's Wife is having a Christmas blog party. I missed out on last week but I decided to jump in this week! This week we're sharing all about our Christmas decorations. I was really excited to get to decorate this year since last year everything was packed up and sent to storage! I have to warn you.. I just uploaded A LOT of pictures. I couldn't help myself!


First to start us off is our tree. It's a skinny little thing but I really do like it. I love real trees to so maybe we'll start a tradition of getting a real one once this one wears out.. or I just get too many ornaments.. the latter is a greater possibility! It's packed already!



Here are a few (haha!) of my favorite ornaments:

A wedding gift... First Christmas Together!


Love!

Another wedding gift with our anniversary engraved:

This one if my new one this year. My mom got it for me last week at the Cracker Barrel (love that place at Christmastime! The Lion and the Lamb:

This is my sweet Luke's foot print turned into a snowman! This was his second Christmas. He was 18 mths old. We had two made this year of the boy's hand prints but I haven't gotten them yet!

This is also a new one. If you read my last post you know I just finished a book study with a great group of girls from church. We read Crazy Love by Francis Chan. One of the girls (thanks Jami) made everyone a crazy love ornament! Cute! (Can you see me?? Haha!)

Here is the book shelf corner of the living room. I'm not finished here. I'd like to get a few strands of lights to weave through the greenery. And.. I'm not sure what else. Can you see Larry the fish, on the left of the desk?

Here is one of my nativity sets. This shelf/ledge is right above the love seat and my monkey of a 15 month old loves to climb up on the back of the couch and play with this. So far the only accident is that one of the wise men's toes were broken off... oops! I really need to get a set that the kids can play with.

Here is my hutch in the kitchen.

A little closer look... that stocking is one of the Hub's handmade stockings from childhood.

The only thing else I may do is put Luke up some of the pieces of the Christmas village. I'm thinking about clearing off the top of his chest of drawers and putting a few there. I have a huge set but I don't want to fool with it this year! He loves them though, so he may get a mini village in his room!

If you'd like to see more decorations or play along in the Christmas blog party, hop over to Lisa's and join in!

A late Christmas gift!

(If you haven't heard my news go here)

Those of you who saw my Christmas Tour may remember one of my favorite ornaments.. the one of Luke's little hand print. Well, I was soo excited to find out at New Years that my mom just happened to be keeping Luke the Sunday in December that they were making ornaments again! One of the girls at my mom's church had told me that she helped with his footprint but I didn't even think about it being an ornament! I was really surprised! So I just had to share my cute new ornament that will definitely be on the tree next year!!

His foot turned into a snowman:





And here are his little toes!

The other side has his other footprint and his name and year. So cute!

And as a side note: the other pic I showed of his 'hand print' ornament actually has a little baby in a manger on the other side. The manger is his thumb and baby Jesus is his little finger prints! I don't know why I didn't take a pic of that! They are too precious!

What Fun, What Fun!

We had a blast yesterday! Santa came!!! Luke got TONS of toys. Way too many! I mean we tried to be reasonable.. but everybody else did not!! Oh well, such is the life of the only grandson on all sides!! As of yesterday our den looked like this:

Yes, this is the damage of one child (and his father). Thankfully it only looks half as bad now.

I hope that your Christmas was filled with lots of love and family time! I thank God for the wonderful blessing of His Son, Jesus Christ! Without Him I would be nothing!

Christmas Tour

So, I was late for officially getting in on Boomama's Christmas Tour of Homes, but I have had fun looking through all of the homes. You should definitely check them out.


Here's the wreath that hangs on the front door. Sorry it's at an angle, I wasn't about to go outside this morning in my pj's in the freezing cold! Plus we live in the parsonage.. so I'm not sure it's appropriate to go outside in my pj's anyways. It needs a bow or something at the top but I don't do bows.. my mom makes all of mine!

And here is our 'skinny' tree. In our previous house we didn't have much room so we bought this skinny little thing. I would love to upgrade one day.. but not this year.

Yep, my mom made that bow....

Here are a few of my favorite ornaments:

This one is from Christmas 2005. I was about 3 months pregnant around Christmastime and my mom and dad gave us this "Parent's-to-Be" ornament.

This little sweet ornament is from last year, Luke's first Christmas. A very talented woman at the church where R and I met made it. It has Luke's name hand painted and his little handprint on it.

Here is the hutch in the dining room. I am not one to take down everything and replace it with all Christmas things. I just don't have that kind of decorations, I've only been decorating my house for 4 seasons... so I've got some years of decorations to collect! The stocking is my hubby's stocking from his childhood.





Here is a little closer look....

This is the other corner of the dining room with my mini tree. I hope to one day have enough gingerbread/candy ornaments to fill a large tree. And that little fellow in the mismatched pj's (and notice the black rain boots that he wore with his fireman Halloween costume, on the wrong feet mind you) is the reason why there are limited decorations at hands reach.


And here is an up close pic of some of the gingerbread/candy ornaments on the small tree, I just LOVE them!

I have a few other things out but these are my favorites. Thanks for stopping by.. and I'm so glad that it was a virtual visit. Because today my house is a mess!! I've got to shake this cold so I can do some cleaning! Hope you didn't catch anything while you were here! ;)

Luke 2:14“ Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

A Baby and a King...

Guess what I did today? Got out a Christmas CD!!! I didn't really do it on purpose but I'll often look through my cd's while Luke is napping and play one while I clean up. So, today I did the same thing and came across the Christmas is Jesus CD from the Christmas program we did at the church where R and I met a few years ago. I LOVE this CD!!! (BTW, I just did a search and apparently you can't get it anywhere... Amazon.com had a few but that's it!) Luke and I were out this morning at Hobby Lobby and of course all of the Christmas decorations are out. I just thought it was fitting that I listen to some Christmas music! I turned it up loud enough that I could hear it over the running water at the sink and just had a great time! I'm sure this will not be my last Christmas post either.. I mean we have 48 days until the Big Day! All of the songs are awesome and really tell the gospel story... I mean the Christmas story is a BIG part of the gospel story! But as I began to sing, tears started to flow... I held it back as best as I could while I washed dishes but as I walked into the laundry room to put a wash rag in the dirty clothes I just couldn't hold it much longer. I just had to stop for a moment and Praise Him (and have a little crying spell too!)! I was just overflowing with adoration... I told myself how silly it was for me to try to hold back those tears! Why should I not take the time to just cry and thank Jesus Christ for coming to this world to save me! I wrote not too long ago about how Jesus humbly came to this earth to reach us.. but I don't think most people really get it. And I know I will never totally get it until I meet Him in all His glory. Then, I will really know what He left to come to this earth.
The Christmas story.. it really is an amazing story. The God of heaven sent His Son. He came to earth as an infant to be my Deliverer. Can you imagine that baby in the manger. We all know how tiny and sweet newborns are... Can you see Mary as she looks her son over and counts His ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes (as all mothers do)? Can you imagine His little nose and rosy red cheeks. Mary's heart will want to burst with love as she wipes a tear from his tiny face. She'll wrap him up in a swaddling blanket and lay him down in a manger full of hay... Jesus Christ, a little baby. That precious little baby is a King.. the King of kings!

You are my King.
You are the Lamb.
Lion of Judah, the Seed of Abraham,
The Holy One, God's Only Son.
You are the King of who I am.
(Tanya Goodman and Michael Sykes)