Favorite Christmas pictures and a mini blog-cation

Hey blog friends!
We have family in town, so I will be on a mini blog-cation. Hope to see you back here next week. I will still be posting at my new Interiors blog, Fieldstone Hill. See you there? You are awesome! Thanks for supporting my dream, blog friends!!

In the meantime, I leave you with some of our favorite Christmas pics. Enjoy!!!

My absolute favorite!:

 Getting ready for Saint Nicholas:

 Twas the Night Before Christmas:

 The most wonderful story; according to Luke:

Christmas morning. Can you see the "ashen" kisses on their cheeks from St. Nick?:

 Caleb kissing baby Jesus who had just been discovered in the manger Christmas morning:

 hmmmm. Looks like Santa was reading Luke too:

 Happy Birthday, baby Jesus!!!:

May all of you have a SAFE and fun New Year's Eve!
Happy New Year 2011!!!!!!!

Our Heirlooms and Traditions Christmas

As a part of the Nester's Tour of Homes for Christmas 2010, here is a sneak peak into our home at Christmastime:

For more details on our home and our Christmas decorating, it would encourage me so much if you would visit my new decorating blog, Fieldstone Hill! Let me know you stopped by... oh, and if you Follow it, it would just make me so stinkin' happy!!!

Fieldstone Hill:

Our new Heirloom stockings:

Our Parlor:

The Kid's Tree:

The Staircase leading to Our Tree:

One of our Mantles:

Our Jingle Bell Wreath:

Wintertime at Fieldstone Hill:

You can see more pictures of the inside of our home HERE.

And for more of our HOME TOUR:

Please join me today for a {slightly huge.} picture listing of some of our most precious Christmas traditions and the inclusion, this year, of some precious family Heirlooms:

Our new Heirlooms:

This Christmas, we added something special to our holiday decorating. I had old and thinning (yet stunning) tablecloths and napkins of my Grandmothers made into a tree skirt and linen Christmas stockings. Oh, how thrilled I am with these special Heirlooms in our Christmas Home:

Our Tradition: Hanging Dried Grapefruits from our Tree:

Each year, while we decorate our tree, we dry a bunch of sliced grapefruits in a low temp oven. Then, they are hung on the tree using a cheap package of ornament hangers. You can't imagine how the fruit looks like beautiful stained glass!

Our Tradition: Brown Paper Packages Tied Up In String:

This is how we wrap all of our gifts for our friends and family. They look beautiful all gathered under the tree!

Our Tradition: Going to a tree farm for a freshly cut tree:

This was only our second year, and it is definitely a new tradition for us to go and cut our tree. We had a wonderful time that morning. 

Our Tradition: The Greatest Gift of All Bow:

Each year, after our evening of decorating, we ceremoniously top the trees with bows, and we ask the kids "What is the Greatest Gift of All for Christmas?" Why, it is Jesus of course!

Our Tradition: PJ's, Hot Cocoa, and Garish Christmas Lights:

Each year, we pack the family into the car, in our Pajamas!! We take cocoa, and head out on a hunt for the ugliest Christmas lights. And we LAUGH and LAUGH!! I just love this night!

Our Tradition: A special Christmas Eve and Santa's Kiss:

On Christmas Eve, we always attend Children's Church service, and then come home for a celebration of family. Our evening includes: making cookies for Santa and leaving out carrots for the reindeer, exchanging one gift, snuggling in the dark looking at the Christmas tree, and reading The Christmas Story out of the Bible.

We also have the special tradition of Santa's kiss. After our little ones go to sleep, "Santa" sneaks in to give them ash covered kisses. Here is Caleb's kiss from last year at our dear friend's home:

Our Tradition: Waiting for the arrival of Baby Jesus:

Oh, how we love to build anticipation with the children as we eagerly await and actively prepare for the Birth of our Savior! Jesus does not arrive on the scene of our nativity until Christmas morn.

Oh, how I love this time of year!!!

Merry Christmas, y'all! And thank you for visiting my blog and my interiors blog!! It is so nice to meet you!!

{this is an updated and edited repost from the archives}

Getting Ready

Today we nearly made a fatal error.

I am not sure what was overtaking us, but at first it seemed to make sense.

My hubby needed new slacks.

We were driving RIGHT past the Banana Republic Outlet on our way home from my sister's.

He could just run in, and grab a few in his size.

We would save time, and gas.

presto.

Um.....

I am not sure what we were thinking we would find at the Outlets the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Probably because we don't usually partake in Black Friday festivities.

note:

{just learned that it is called Black Friday because it is the weekend that retailers finally get their accounts 'in the Black.' duh. It made sense all along! Thanks for the info, Uncle Dan. Maybe you guys knew that already......}

anywho. Like I said, we thought it was a brilliant idea.

We were wrong.

We spent 30 minutes at the outlets: 10 minutes to get into the parking lot. 20 minutes stuck in the parking lot. and 10 minutes getting out of the parking lot.

{Why in the world do people do this? every year? really?? If you are one of the amazing people that brave this shopping weekend.... I gotta know the lure!}

This is how some people get ready for Christmas, I guess. No, actually, at the Outlets it seemed as if this is how EVERYONE but us gets ready for Christmas.

For many it is the main way they get ready. For others, it is just a part of the fun and part of their tradition and I seriously admire their stamina.

But at our home, we are getting ready too.

This is how we will be getting ready for Christmas this year:

A daily Jesse Tree Advent devotional

Our favorite Christmas traditions

Hoping to get this amazing Advent wreath.....

{btw: 90% of my shopping is finished after 2 child-free hours at T.J. Maxx last week, plus homemade gifts are in the works. It's those last few gifts that are so hard to find.....wish me luck! hope to be done before December hits...}

As American as Cutie-Pie

Fourth of July Cutie-Pies:

An all American Fourth of July meal:

Watching Fireworks {the boys got to stay up so late!}:

Happy Birthday America!!

For Lent.

I decided to repost this from last year's Ash Wednesday since it captures how I feel about this season in the church calendar.

Today, February 17, 2010, marks the first day of Lent. Some Christians observe this traditional day on the church calendar by entering into a season of fasting and reflection as they prepare their hearts for the Passion season of Christ. Tonight we will head to church for the 'imposition of ashes' and the reminder that "we are from dust, and to dust we shall return."

My fasting list for this year includes:

No more cussing. (I am originally from New Jersey. What can I say?)

No bread. No cookies. No cake. No doughnuts. No crackers.

This year I won't be observing a fast from the internet, since last year's fast took care of my overdosing. I am now an official blogging slacker... and a happy one at that!!

**************************

For Lent

Lent begins today.
40 days until Easter.

This is a time when we reflect. we dwell on thoughts of what He did for us. and we remember the Ultimate Saving Sacrifice, with a small token of our own sacrifice.

I love the season of Lent because I love me some good Drama....

Easter unfolds fresh and glorious and bright,
after a season of remembering the days of Gethsemane, sacrifice, beatings, and silent suffering that He endured.
for you.
for me.
so we can have Hope.

For Lent, I am giving up some little things... some normal things,
and refocusing on things that are good for me. that are alive.
So that I can dwell on Him more.

So that I can think on Him whenever I have to stop and resist, or make a good choice.

No cake. No muffins. and No cookies.
No internet after 6pm (this one is hard! would you please forgive me for a decrease in commenting????? maybe you should join in?).
And an attempt to work-out, even just 10 minutes, every single day.

that is my list of not-very-spiritual-seeming-sacrifices.

But during these 40 days, I turn my eyes to the dark history of Jesus's suffering. And I remember with the help of the little things.

and as for Drama?
Cake tastes really really good on Easter morning.

Happy Valentine's Day... plus a favorite sweet project

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!! I hope your day is sweet and filled with the love of God, friends and family!

Click Here for my post on how to make these super easy Valentine candy bars:

I did them again this year. Pics to come of our Valentine's Candy Bars, and how we celebrated our Valentine's Day.

And join me in reading and studying Beth Moore's new book "So Long Insecurity." Click Here for all of the info!!

Twas the Lights before Christmas

Every year we gather up the family, don pajamas, make hot drinks, and pile into the family vehicle to celebrate one of our favorite family traditions:

Drive around town looking for the most garish Christmas Lights.

Here we are before this year's trek:

We ooh.

and we aaah.

and we LAUGH!!!!

For more about our Christmas traditions, including this one, check out this post.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of my blog friends! May your Christmas be filled with Joy and Blessings!!!

A Special Christmas Fragrance: Dried Grapefruit How-To

You can't imagine how wonderful the fragrance is on those two days....

Pine needles and grapefruit linger in the air for two days each year:

Tree Weekend.

On Tree weekend, we get our tree, put it up, decorate it, have reserved family time {!!!!}, and...

We Dry Our Grapefruits.

And the Smell is Divine.

Dried Citrus Ornament, How-To:

1. Start with fresh, blemish free citrus fruits of your choice
2. Slice fruits so that you have many round disks of fruit {see photo below}. Discard the ends of fruit that do not reveal full flesh {or toss 'em in your sparkling water glass}.
3. Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil {the citrus can ruin your cookie sheets}.
4. Place citrus rounds on the cookie sheets.
5. In a low heat oven {approx 150 F. Ours will only go down to 170 F}, bake the citrus rounds for most of the day, and maybe even some the next day. Flip the fruit from time to time as you see the top side get dry. Fruit is finished when it is no longer moist to the touch.
6. Hook metal ornament hooks into the top of the rind and hang on your tree.
7. Fruits look beautiful positioned in front of your tree lights.

Imagine a small Williamburg-inspired citrus Christmas tree....

With Grapefruit, orange, lemon, and lime ornaments.

Complete with cranberry garland.

Good enough to eat! Hmm. maybe next year.

As for this year, you can check out the grapefruits on our tree, and many of our other Christmas decorations in the post below.