Christmas Gifts and Ideas/Recipes

So yesterday was Darby's last day of preschool and now we have a break for the holiday.  I put together some things to give her teachers and I am also sharing some with my neighbors.

For your taste buds:

White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn!  Click here for recipe.   There is another version at Our Best Bites but I did the white chocolate kind.

To kill germs: (not caused by the popcorn)

Last year I made these.  This year I made them simular but went with the monogram version here instead.  Love them. 

Some thoughts on Christmas

I think I have said before but Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday.  I love the colors, smells, decorations, shopping, family, food and etc...

Christmas with children is fun...and challenging.  Trying to capture the true meaning of Christmas is a hard thing in all of our hearts but especially in a child who LOVES the presents, the lights and the junk food and etc.  All of those things are fine and dandy but if they replace the true excitement over a Savior being born then they really are all meaningless little idols in our hearts.

What's annoying as a parent.  Christmas programs.  As Darby and I were watching one the other day I was just so disappointed, but not surprised. 

So here we go, seemingly against the grain to teach her:

the point of Christmas: Jesus' birth

the miracle of Christmas: God in the flesh (born of a virgin)!  come on ppl that is a big deal!

the "magic" of Christmas:  personally I don't care for the word but I would just refer to last statement

what to believe in: why Jesus is the son of God of course sent to save

I'm so confused...this program had not a single mention of Jesus but they taught that when something is wrong all you have to do is believe in the magic and miracles of Christmas.  It's so shallow and fluffy really.  I'd like to ask people who live this way,  what do they do when something goes wrong in January?

Another one we watched recently made it seem like the only way Christmas is "magical" is if you believe in Santa... oh me oh my

So now I feel like singing/praying some of the words to "Onward Christian Solider".

Just continuing in the faith and praying for God's mercy on me and my children and for the people around me.

And thankfully and joyfully with Jesus' cross before me.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ."  Colossians 2:8

My FREE Christmas Cards from Shutterfly!

Family Wall Red Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.



What are you going to do for yours???

I love Christmas!  Love it!

It is definitely my favorite holiday!  I love the decorations, the music, the longer hours for shopping bc the stores are open later, the smells, the colors, the food....  I love giving gifts.  The only reason we get to enjoy any of it is bc of the birth of our precious and much needed Savior Jesus Christ!  Glorious!

Naturally, at the first sign of lower temperatures I start sing Christmas music ; ). So this brings me to my question....What are you going to do for your holiday cards???  I've been researching for a couple weeks now.  I was going to make my own.  Then quickly I realized that I'm not that creative so......

In my search I came across Shutterfly .  They have a TON of choices! Plus- Bloggers!  You can receive 50 FREE Christmas Cards click Here to see how.

My person favorites are the photo cards.  I love to send updated pictures out of our family to our friends and family with a short holiday greeting!

Here are some of my favorite cards for this year!

You can visit http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards to look at all of the Holiday Card selections!

Or click here http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery to see the assortment of Holiday Photo Cards! 

A great idea for the grandparents gifts would be a 2011 Calendar.  What a joy to see new pictures of the babes each month!  I plan to do them for our family as well. 

My After Christmas Bargains

Almost all of the Christmas decorations that I use were hand me downs from my family. I've used the same decorations for 5 years now and this year I was just bored with them. So I made myself a swanky new wreath (as posted on a previous blog). I set out the day after Christmas in search of some fun new decor that would point us to the real meaning of Christmas during the holiday. So here is what I got: The Joy letters were the real steal of a deal because they are regularly $20 and I paid $3.75 at The Family Christian Store in the Mall. I also got the Kneeling Santa ornament (this reminds me of Chads grandfather who died just recently and also since we will somewhat do the santa tradition I wanted to incorporate Jesus even into that). I got it at the same store for $5.62 (they had a cheaper one but this was better quality) and it was originally $15. I got Darby the Saint Nicholas Veggie Tales DVD from that same store as well for $5.61 and it was origanlly $15. At that store I saved $34.99 on all three things and spent $16! Then I got the Angel table top decor at Belk. They had 75% off their Christmas stuff. I spent $16 on both of them and saved $46.50! What I didn't get at Belk but really really wanted was this tree decoration that coordinated with these angels. It was originally $110 so even at 75% off I would have spent what I did on all of these things for just that one thing. I loved it but I couldn't bring myself to do it. So my plan is to eventually collect my own set of Christmas decor after the holiday each year.

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was hard. It was exciting though because there wasn't too much to be distracted by so I got to really consider the Love that God has for us that he sent his Son for us. My girls were precious as always... Here are some pictures from yesterday morning. I actually decided to do "Santa" and that decision process is a whole blog in itself so I won't elaborate. On to the pictures....











Darby caught eating the chocolate!
I really think claire was hugging Carson cuz she kept doing this! It was sooo sweet!
Carson at the mic and my sweet baby niece Claire on keyboard
Me and the girls! Please excuse my no make-up just woke up ness!