Decorating for Christmas!

My Hoosier Cabinet

I love Christmas!  I love the greenery, I love the shininess (is that a word?), I love the music, I love the giving, I LOVE the celebration and remembrance of the birth of Jesus! 

If you look around my house the week after Thanksgiving (yes, I hold off until AFTER!), you will see a LOT of snowmen appear!  And it's a good thing I have them for inside, because there sure isn't any snow for them outside yet in Indiana!  :/

My Dollar Tree Birdy

This year we got a smaller tree, and yes, we get fresh cut.  We go to a local farm where we can get on a wagon pulled by a team of horses.  They take us out to the fields and drop us off.  You and your family can wander the field looking for that perfect tree... 

And I think we found our FIRST perfect tree!  Why do I say that?  Well, because this is our first tree in 13 years of marriage that HASN'T FALLEN OVER!  All the rest we had to tie it to something, weigh down the base with a large rock, or just straight up lean it onto a wall!  NOT THIS YEAR!  Yay!!! 

The perfect tree at night

Ain't she a beaut? 

Now who else loves the decorations like I do?

Winter is Officially Here!

Hi Friends!  Today has been the first day that I haven't had a bunch of running to do during the day, so I am going to get some blogging in today!  And what a beautiful wintery day to stay in.... Well, kind of.  Of course, I need to go and get some chores done yet... which will be C-C-COOOOLLLLDD!  But it sure is pretty to look at.  I suppose I will enoy it when I get back into the house, standing in front of our corn burner...

So, all week here in Indiana, we have gotten snow!  Everyday it drops a little more.  And this weekend is supposed to be even more!  I love to look at the beautiful snow, and I even enjoy the snow at Christmas time.  But I am DEFINITELY not a cold weather person.  I am very much a warm weather gal.  So when I go out, I freeze quickly, and I take forever to thaw out!

But enough complaining!  I have been getting quite a bit done, for Christmas anyways.  There are still a few things I would like to accomplish before the big day, but am glad to have MOST gifts done, and planning getting done for get togethers...

I finally have some pictures today!  Here are 2 from putting our tree up:

Boys all ready to decorate the tree!

Koen, the little ham in the front, wanted HIS picture taken!

And here are some pics from our farm this week...

This was taken at the end of last week.  We got a bunch of rain! 

Our first BIG snow day Monday.  The animals weren't sure WHAT to do!

Turkey (yes, she is still around!) hiding out in the barn!

After Monday's snow, I broke out the cover-alls, and went to work doing my chores...

Our Jacob pair, Myst and Calvin, scarfing on some hay.

The sun coming up this morning, over a snowy farm.

Our finished tree this morning, with a beautiful backdrop!

In store for me today is running to the mill (one of Koen's favorite trips!), and staying home, making Christmas cookies and MAYBE some noodles.  I also need to catch up on some laundry, I started last night, but it NEVER seems to end!  Can I hear an AMEN!?

I also want to share with you all about our vacation that is coming up in about 7 weeks!  Yep, we are going somewhere warm!  I will share real soon!  Until then, have a beautiful day!  I need to go bundle up and get outside to do some chores!  See ya later!

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL and SAFE Christmas! We are all having fun here on our "days off". I will definitely be back on Monday, sharing the fun of our Christmas!

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

"I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Glory to God in the highest. Luke 2:10-12, 14

Are You Ready?

Well? ARE YOU?

I think I have like 2 more things to buy, and I am finished with my Christmas Shopping.

The presents are all wrapped. The decorations are all done. We will be completing some baking this week, with the help of 4 little boys...

The countdown is on.

I love this point of looking forward to our Christmas celebration. It is relaxing! It is a time that I am MOST thankful for. The excitement of children. The blessings are all around.

My Christmas tree, as I mentioned the other day, is a holder of all things of Christmas past, memories that I just love. Our manger scene is a reminder not only of my precious grandmother, and other who have gone on to be with the Lord, but a reminder of the night Jesus was born. What horrible conditions, but what great blessing!

As I look at the gifts under the tree, I think about how thankful I am for my husband's job. And that he is a man who takes care of his family. Not just so we can BUY those gifts, but so we can have heat, we can have food, we can have coats for our kids & boots. Plus much more.

The luxuries are few but MUCH to be thankful for!

I am also thankful for a few other things that I have used as tools to be able to assist my hubby's income to make it a little further. I thank God that I have learned how to meal plan & make grocery lists! And that we have coupons we can use! REALLY! Sounds silly, but if we didn't have those tools, I don't know where we would be. I'm also thankful for my Swagbucks! Again silly sounding, but SO true! I have saved a bunch of money on Christmas, getting things with my "Swag". I am already looking to next year! All of these tools have definitely blessed my family.

Now as there is a blanket of snow on the ground, and there are only a few days until Christmas day, I am sitting in my warm house, counting these blessings and giving all of the glory to the giver of each and every gift. Thank you Savior. Thank you for coming and going from creator of the universe to embryo to man and back to heaven, where now we can enter because of your wonderful gift.

Have you counted your blessings yet this season? In the "hustle and bustle" of this season, please stop and do this. If not for YOUR OWN SANITY, do it so our Savior knows how thankful you are of HIS gifts.

Christmas Memories...

Christmas.

For some, it is stress of buying the perfect gifts. For me, it's a day of Thankfulness and memories.

If Christmas, for me, gets to a point of stress, I know I am not in it for the right reasons. So, I work at getting things done ahead of time, then I can sit and reflect on memories and the wonderful gift given by Jesus...

Christmas cookies can be fun to make, especially with 4 little boys! Here, we were making Christmas cut-out cookies and homemade hot cocoa that we are giving as gifts, for teachers, mailman, etc. They LOVE to "help" in the kitchen. You can tell by the MESS!:

One of my favorite things about having a Christmas tree, is the memories on every bough... Here is an ornament we made one year. Austin was 3 and he made Buzz Lightyear:

To the right are some ornaments that I made for the boys. On the left is a sand dollar. This reminds me of the MANY Christmas's that I spent with my family in Florida at Christmas. There weren't many gifts those years, BUT we were together, we had TONS of fun, and made lots of memories that I will never forget:

Here is one item in our house that make the cold a little more tolerable! Our corn/ pellet burner. I love to plant myself right in the front of it, or in the big chair right next to it... I don't fall asleep very easily anywhere that is not my own bed, but I HAVE fallen asleep in this chair, by the fire:

This is one thing that I feel SO blessed to have. A manger. This is our first year with this. If you remember, in July, my mom and I went to Florida to move my grandpa's things home and to sell his place there. Well, this is one thing I got from their place down there. It was my grandma's. I loved my grandma and miss her so much. I remember Christmas's at her house. All the delicious food, grandpa's crabbing (yes, he's still a crabby old man!), grandma's love... I miss those days like CRAZY... I miss my grandma like crazy. But I just have to remember that she gets to celebrate Christmas with JESUS! How awesome...

What blessings. I hope to, for many more years, make the same great memories for my family.

Thank you Jesus, for humbling yourself, by being born into a human body on this Earth, in a manger. Thank you for being the ultimate sacrifice, so that we can spent eternity with you, if we choose to accept it! Thank you for the BEST GIFT EVER!

New Ideas, Make it Yourself!

It is getting closer and closer to the holidays, and I have found some MORE great ideas for homemade gifts! These 2 ideas come from a great little site I found, called "Sweet Cottage Dreams". Here are two ADORABLE ideas:

When my grandmother passed 2 years ago, she left behind many things that when you saw it, you thought of her right away... One of those things was shells. She LOVED shells and she left a lot behind. Cuz', you know they have plenty in heaven. I even got MORE this summer when my mom and I went to Florida to close down and try to sell their place down there. Well, there were TONS of shells. I think she always grabbed them when she walked the beach, which she also loved to do. So, I was thinking the other day, what am I going to do with all of these shells? Then I saw this perfect idea:

Shell wreaths. I think they are a perfect addition to summer or to a cottage... And a great way to keep all of those shells that my grandma thought would be nice in her home... Go HERE to see how this can be made... Very easy!!! And when ever I look at my pretty shell wreath, I will be able to think of my precious grandma...

Then check out this precious little gift:

Soooo cute and you could make these to add to the top of a gift or they are cute enough to have as a small gift alone... And best of all you could make them yourself! Go HERE to see more about them!

Remember, a handmade gift is one of the BEST gifts a person could receive, ESPECIALLY when made from the heart...

13 weeks Until Christmas!

Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you! But every year, I find that the more prepared I am, the less stress there is. And Christmas should NOT be a stressful time! It is a celebration for the One who came and gave us LIFE!!!

So, I will be starting to each week post some ideas for gift giving! I am a HUGE component of making your own gifts!!! They can be VERY FRUGAL (which I LOVE!!!), they can be fun, and they can be from the heart (made just for the receiver!). There is NO better gift. And you don't have to be as crafty as your sister or your best friend. You just have to find something that YOU enjoy doing, then explore the different ideas on the Internet. Do you like scrapbooking? Look for different ideas that you can use your scrapbooking skills! Do you like to do the "trash to treasure" thing? Give some of those new "treasures" as gifts!

This week, I have, so far found one very cute idea I would like to pass along, a manicure kit cover. Check it out:

Do you LOVE it? You can get all of the manicure accessories from the Dollar Store, and material will cost very little. If you love it, like I do, hop on over to "dhbuscher" and check out how to do it! Awesome gift for women (or men!) in your life!

If you have a great link that you would like to have included, please e-mail me! I love getting new ideas!!!

Christmas is Only 3 1/2 Monthes Away!

OK, now that I gave you a good shock to your system...

There is one resource that I used last year, and will be using again, to gear up for the holiday season. Call it "Fall Cleaning" if you will. I love it. It is by Organized Christmas... Yes, their site is actually called that. It actually started this week, with List Week. Ah, I love making lists... It goes week by week, and has a different room to clean, and different tasks to perform before you have a very well organized Christmas! It is filled with printables for each wee, or you can do what I did, and I took one of those $.05 notebooks from the school stash and started writing down each week what applied to me for that week. It worked better then to waste paper AND printer ink.

So, if you would like to participate on the side with me, I will post each week what I have done, and you can also leave comments and post what YOU have done also. It is just a very well planned way to help ring in the holidays, with less stress.

Because, the holidays should not be about stress at all. They are about the One who came and was born on this Earth, so that we could one day all be in Heaven. I accept that promise, and I want to avoid all un-needed stress. SO I go the List making way!

Join me!

This weeks cleaning project is the front porch. And we need to make gift lists, Christmas card lists, are you throwing any parties?, Make menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New year's, etc, list meals to freeze so you can pull out on those busy days! And a long-term shopping list, what kind of items will you be needed for your meals, watch for them to go on sale!

I am making my lists, and checking them twice... sorry, I had to do that. And my plan for today is to clean off my front porch, or if you are like me, you have 2 porches. I will be working on both of mine.

Are you willing to give this "organizing" thing a shot??? What do YOU need to do this week???

This Christmas

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! We did.

Here are some pictures of our boys on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Oh, the weather outside was frightful, but the fire was so delightful... Sorry. Cheese-y...

Anyways here are some pics!

Koen opening his first Christmas present...

He was VERY excited, as usual...

The boys got each other gifts at school this year, it was very cute.

Here they are Christmas Eve.



Here is Austin & Deklyn Christmas morning with new robes and "oatmeal" pants that I made them. They were SOOO excited. =)

Here's all of the boys and their gifts.

Here is Koen and his "oatmeal" pants.

Here is a g0-cart that we got the boys. It was a used fixer, but the boys had fun on the ice Christmas morning!

How was your Christmas??? I hope all was safe and happy!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

From our home, in snowy, icy, Indiana, to yours. We hope you have a wonderful and safe Christmas!!!

We will be enjoying the next few days celebrating with our families, and praising God for His indescribable gift of a babe in a manger over 2000 years ago. Thank you Jesus!

Have a Merry Christmas!!!

10 Days!!!

I LOVE Christmas.

I love the lights, the songs, the excitement... I love that over 2000 years ago, a baby was born. Given to us. So that we could be with God forever! It is not relevant whether or not it was the exact date of Christ's birth or not. What is relevant is whether we accept that gift or not.

Are we too busy to remember God's gift to us?

Slow down this season! I mean seriously. We have no extra money, and I am making things for my boys for Christmas! My husband's family challenge this year was to buy as much as you could for $5 for the adults and $10 for the kids. I have non-stressfully achieved this goal. It is non-stressful because I know it isn't about the gifts. It's the FEELING. Love. Family. Thankfulness. Grace.

Here are a few things that you need to make sure you do, in the 10 days to come to keep yourself sain, and joyful!

• Give yourself a hand and/or foot massage. Grab some nice smelling lotion, rub it in! Make sure to get into the fingers and toes! This is especially relaxing right before bed...
• Make sure you are getting plenty of water!!! I know this time or year I want to O.D. on coffee or hot cocoa, but I need to make sure I get enough water in my system!
• Get plenty of rest. For my husband, plenty of rest means 6-7 hours (sometimes less). For me, I need 8-10. Emphasis on the 10. So, get your rest. All that needs to be done will wait!
• Make a list. Check it twice! Make a list of all of the things you need/want to accomplish. Divide that into days. Make them realistic!!! Also prioritize. Which things need done first? Which things can be dropped if we just don't have time? Be willing to drop some things! Remember, this isn't a time for stressing!
• Stick to a schedule! I'm a schedule person anyways. I don't get things done if there isn't a schedule! Have it all clearly written so there is nothing to forget!
• Read. More specifically, read your Bible. I would suggest reading in Matthew or Luke! Spending time DAILY in God's Word helps remind us of why we are doing what we are doing!!!
• Pray. Obviously prayer is very important. But, we need the Lord's help and His provision, and it doesn't hurt to keep in communication with the One who controls all of that! Prayer and reading your Bible will help to quiet you heart, and your mind.

Boy, temps are dropping as I type.

I hope preparing for Christmas is a joy for all of you! How are your plans going? What are you doing?

Col 3:23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people. Remember that the Lord will give you as a reward what he has kept for his people. For Christ is the real Master you serve. "

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree...

As in rockers, like recliners...

Man, last night we enjoyed (finally) decorating our poor little tree, but we were all pooped from the busy work day. So we decorated and crashed, and enjoyed staring into the pretty lights on the tree.

I love a lit tree at night. Fire going. 1/2 Caff Coffee with lots of flavored creamer. Or Hot Cocoa. Mmmm. Oh yeah, and kids all in bed. Kick back with the hubby, and enjoy the sound of the pellets falling into the pellet stove. I guess I just enjoy this because I can hear it, after they go to bed!

So here are some pics of the happy little tree, with some happy little boys:

Here's Koen. He was "napping" while we decorated the tree. So we decided to take his picture in front of the tree. He was so excited. He would look at me, then look at the tree. He would get super excited about the tree, then look back at it again. Here's my baby:

Yeah!

Wow, that's a lot of lights...

Yeah!!! I love Christmas!

That is one fancy tree... I never saw anything like that in all my months...

I am so excited, I can't hardly STAND IT!

Dude, seriously, how did all of those lights get ON there???




I could scream, I am so happy about Christmas!

Oh yeah, here is a pic of us at the Christmas tree farm: