Focusing on the Spirit of Christmas with Children

As we count down through the final days until Christmas, the children get increasingly excited.  I'm so glad they still have that enthusiasm and joyful anticipation for such a special day.  But while most of the media focuses on the sparkle, the presents, and a wish list for Santa Claus, we try here to keep our family focused on the true spirit of Christmas.  We begin the season by lighting the candles on our Advent wreath.  On the first Sunday evening of Advent, we say the following prayer right before we light the first purple candle:

"Lord God, let your blessing come upon us as we light the candles of this wreath.  May the wreath and its light be a sign of Christ's promise to bring us salvation.  May He come quickly and not delay.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen."

Along with the Advent wreath, we also purchase a new Advent calendar each year that hangs in our kitchen where even our youngest can reach it.  The children take turns opening a square each night and reading the corresponding verse of Scripture.  After showing each other what Christmas shape the chocolate is in, he/she gets to eat it.  Everyone knows they'll eventually get a turn, so there is no fighting over it.  

Our nativity set is still a plastic one purchased years ago when my house was full of toddlers and preschoolers.  Since our youngest is six, she still doesn't want me to replace it with something a little more elegant, but breakable.  For years, we positioned the shepherds, Mary and Joseph around the empty manger because the baby Jesus couldn't show up until Christmas morning when I would sneak him in before they awoke.  The Wise Men were placed farther away since they wouldn't make their appearance until later.  Each day, the children moved everyone a little closer to the stable as we all awaited the birth of Christ.

I know everyone is looking for ways to share good tidings with others this month.  Some of the things our family has done are caroling at nursing homes, helping to serve meals to the poor, wrapping up baskets of Christmas food for poor families, donating toys to needy children, ringing the Salvation Army bell outside stores, plus donating to charities.  This year our childrens' school is purchasing farm animals and other agricultural necessities for impoverished people in third world countries.  We, as a family, will find other ways to spread good cheer to others less fortunate as well.  With social media so prevalent today, it is easier than ever to find worthy causes that rely on our help.

Many years when the children were quite small and it was harder to donate my time out of the house, we simply baked big batches of cookies to share with our neighbors.  We still have a wonderful neighbor who brings us a beautifully decorated homemade treat every Christmas.  This year she delivered a cookie mix in a big Mason jar.  We can't wait to try those out.

Each year we attend at least one Christmas play or concert.  Now that four of our children are in school, they are often the ones performing.  Sometimes, however, we fit in another performance somewhere so they get to be in the audience.  Nothing puts us in the spirit of Christmas more than some great Christmas music or a theatrical production.

Last December my husband and I treated ourselves to a Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas concert.  We left the kiddos home for that one; although, I think they would all really enjoy it.

I have to admit that for a few very busy years, I stopped sending Christmas cards.  But I took up the task again this year and I'm so glad I did.  This reminds us of our connection to others and encourages us to spread good wishes of hope and joy and love.  As the Christmas cards come into our house, we hang them around the door between our kitchen and dining room where everyone can see.  By the time Christmas arrives, our door frame will be filled.  This year we are also sending a card and handmade drawings from my little ones to a little girl who lost her family in a fire.  She, too, is badly burned and has asked only for Christmas cards this year to fill her tree.  Her story and address can be found here: http://www.wcvb.com/news/girl-who-lost-family-in-fire-has-1-wish-christmas-cards/36855098.

Christmas is also a time for creating family memories.  My parents-in-law gave me the Christmas Memories book for our first Christmas together, and it makes its way to the coffee table in our living room every Advent.  It has space to place photographs, your Christmas card, recipes, and all kinds of traditions and rituals you'd like to remember.  It only covers five years though, so ours was filled quite a while ago.  My mother gave me the smaller Christmas photo album so I could fill it with photos of our children with Santa every year as we would attend an extended family Christmas dinner.  That tradition was started by my grandmother who hosted it every year until the family got so large that we had to rent out a building and have the meal catered.  For years and years I had the opportunity of seeing my many aunts and uncles and multitudes of cousins and their children at this function.  This year, sadly, it has been dropped as families are getting older and too busy to come together anymore.  I hope to keep the tradition alive in our own nuclear family as our children grow up, marry, and have children of their own.

I also enjoy finding books that convey the true spirit of Christmas.  This year I'll be reading these two stories aloud to my younger children as we snuggle under a plaid flannel throw.

While we have many classic Christmas movies that we enjoy watching during the weeks leading up to Christmas, I save The Nativity Story for Christmas Eve before we attend the evening Mass.  We used to watch it first at the beginning of Advent, but then I think it's too easy to forget about why we are really celebrating Christmas by the time December 25 gets here.

When Christmas morning finally arrives, after the baby Jesus has been placed in the manger, and I have poured myself a cup of much-needed coffee, we pray the following "Blessing of Christmas Gifts" before the unwrapping begins:

"Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift are from above.  They come down from you, dear Father of Light.  You give birth to us by your Word, so that we might be born of a new creation.  Bless now these presents that we give and receive in joy at the birth of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  Bless us and bless the whole world with thankfulness and peace, for you are the giver of all good gifts.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.   Amen."

That is my final attempt at keeping us focused on the true spirit of Christmas and not on getting new stuff.  My mother-in-law baked a birthday cake for Jesus for many years as well to keep little ones focused on the real reason we're celebrating on Christmas day.  I think maybe I'll try that this year after the dinner feast and place a birthday candle in my pumpkin cake roll as we all sing "Happy Birthday" to the One who brings us hope, joy, and peace with His birth. 

Christmas Favorites in the Fog

We have been literally living in a fog for a week now in the Allegheny mountains and valleys.  Last weekend we awoke to hoar frost that was so thick it looked like we had an ice storm.  The fog sat like this at our farm all day long and continued with a heavy frost each morning until mid-week when the night-time temperatures remained above freezing.  Now a week later, I am looking out my window into a thick fog but with record high temps that are to reach near 70 degrees this afternoon.  It's crazy weather and doesn't feel like Christmas.  However, I am doing my best to keep up with our Christmas traditions and spread Christmas cheer.

This weekend we made some glycerin Christmas soaps in some of my favorite fragrances.  The Christmas trees are peppermint, the snowmen are vanilla, and the Santas are cinnamon.  These will go into gift bags with candles and a few other small items for music teachers at the school.

I snuggled up on my big green chair with our six-year old and read one of my favorite Christmas stories by Frank McCourt.  This is a beautiful, touching, yet humorous story of a little girl who "steals" the baby Jesus from the parish nativity because she thinks he looks cold.  If you don't have this book around to read to young children, I highly recommend it.  I think I'll take it with me when I substitute in the elementary grades over the next two weeks.

I started our holiday baking yesterday by making our favorite Christmas cookie: peanut butter kiss cookies (aka. peanut blossoms).  The children contribute by unwrapping the Hershey's kisses for me while the cookies are baking.  The red plaid charger plates were a surprise for me from Hubby that he purchased at Michael's.

From Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve we watch the Christmas classics.  This weekend we settled in to watch The Santa Clause and A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I never grow tired of these.

While watching those Christmas movies, I spent some time in one of my favorite hobbies and finished cross-stitching this ornament that has now found a place on our Christmas tree.

In the mornings, I've been enjoying blueberry muffin flavored coffee by Dunkin' Donuts in my favorite Christmas mugs which belonged to my husband's grandparents.  Our weekdays start at 5:30 in the morning with most of us rushing to eat breakfast and get ready for school or work.  As I've been spending more time in the schools volunteering and substitute teaching, I'm not only helping get children ready this early, but myself as well.  Weekends have become luxurious respites as we relax and have leisurely time on Saturday and Sunday mornings until it's time to go to Mass.

After discovering Pentatonix sing "Mary, Did You Know?" last winter, that has become my absolute favorite Christmas song of all time.  I would play it on YouTube over and over again until I purchased the CD last evening as a Christmas gift to myself.  If you haven't yet heard/watched them perform this song, you must go to YouTube and type this in.  You won't be disappointed.

This weekend will wrap up with us lighting the third (pink) candle on our Advent wreath as we eat dinner together and enter the third week of this joyful season.  With decorating and shopping done, I hope to get Christmas cards sent out over the next few days.  I hesitate to do much more baking until the week of Christmas because I won't be able to resist sampling everything over and over again.  

We're all hoping that the fog finally lifts this week or Santa will surely need Rudolph to pull his sleigh again this Christmas Eve.

Meet Jarlsburg: Our New Big Man on Campus

I mentioned back in late September that we were contemplating purchasing a new buck for our small goat herd.  It has proven to be more challenging than I would have thought for there seems to be a shortage of registered, pedigreed, Nigerian Dwarf bucks that are reasonably priced right now.  After months of searching online and through word of mouth, my husband found this guy several states away.  His registered name is really El Diablo, but as a tradition, we name our goats after cheeses, so we have renamed him Jarlsburg.

Jarlsburg will be quite popular with our girls since we haven't had a buck here in over a year.  Right now, however, he is having to prove himself worthy of their attention, and he goes to great lengths to do so.  The more silly and foolish he appears to us humans, the more attractive and appealing he seems to be to the other goats.  He is disliked immensely, however, by our one ram who has enjoyed being the only male amongst our goats and sheep during that same time period.  We've had to separate the species so the two boys don't hurt each other in attempts to win over all the does and ewes here.  Anyone who thinks that all sheep are docile have not observed a ram who is unwilling to give up his position as the alpha male in a flock/herd.

Sometimes I question if it is really worth the hassle to bring in a male goat because there are definitely trials that come with doing so.  Billy goats can be very strong smelling, and if he so much as rubs against your clothing, you will smell like him all day.  They also seem to be masters at overcoming boundaries and find the most ingenious ways to leave their stalls and pastures.  They can be obnoxious and relentless in their pursuit of does during breeding season.  Finally, they can be quite aggressive toward other males (including humans at times) in order to establish and maintain their position as "top dog."  So why would we drive hours just to bring one of these guys home to our farm?

This is the main reason we bought goats five years ago.  Goat's milk is so creamy, rich, and nutritious, and if chilled immediately after milking, it has no goaty taste.  We have also successfully made yogurt, ice cream, whipped butter, and dabbled in farmer's cheese with our goats' milk.  There is satisfaction in being able to provide your own food for your family.  Knowing that these animals are raised out in the fields with fresh air, grass and hay not sprayed with any chemicals, and no antibiotics injected into them means that their milk is safe and healthy for our children.

We also cannot resist these adorable babies when they're born in the spring.  Our does give birth to one to four kids per year.  Twins seem to be the norm and are only two to four pounds at birth.  They are just so incredibly cute, frisky, and fun to watch and to hold.  This is definitely a high point at the end of winter here on our farm.  We have certainly missed having goat kids this year, and the sale of some of them once they're weaned is also an added perk.

Sometimes an especially small kid ends up in the house with us temporarily.  It is so hard to see a weak and tiny baby be left in the cold barn away from its mother, but it happens at times, usually if it is part of a large litter.  My husband and children take pity on it and bring it into the farmhouse.  We set it up in a bin next to the coalstove to keep warm and feed it milk with a bulb syringe.  I try not to do this because once a kid is inside, the rest of the herd tends to reject it, including the mother.  Then we're stuck with "bottle" feeding it until it's two or three months old.  Even then, when it is re-introduced to the other goats, it tends to be pushed around and not accepted its entire life.  Taking care of one around the clock is a learning experience for the children, however, and it can be fun to see it interact with other household pets.  Our cat Ollie actually used to sleep with this baby and kept it warm.

With any luck, we'll have new goat kids and fresh milk on our farm in May or June.  But first, Jarlsburg must establish his presence and impress the five does who reside here and convince them that he is worthy of their time.  I am fairly certain he'll win them over by Christmas.

A Primitive Preppy Christmas Farmhouse Tour

I still get excited during this time of year.  There is a feeling of anticipation and magic and joy from the beginning of Advent all the way through Christmas day.  I love every part of this season: the Christmas music, the decorations, the Advent wreath and calendar, the movies and stories, the food and the shopping, the wrapping of gifts and the giving of gifts.  I wear my Christmas tree earrings and Santa sweater during the day, and I slip into my flannel Christmas pajamas and snowflake slipper socks at night.  This year, inspired by Pinterest, I decided to add a touch of both preppy plaid and primitive burlap throughout the house.  We still put out our traditional ornaments and decorations, but there is also a bit of this new primitive preppy found in many parts of this old farmhouse.  And it's all still very kid-friendly.  Let's take a tour...

I would love to decorate with lights on the front porch, but alas, there is not a single electrical outlet on the outside of this old farmhouse.  We would have to run an extension cord through the house, which would mean we couldn't close the door all the way.  Not a good idea in December.  So I have to settle for decorating without the lights.  The little red chair in the top picture is part of a set with a children's table that my father built for our kiddos when they were all still small.  The boys have taken over the table with their Legos, but I confiscated one of the chairs.  Lo and behold, I found my husband's old ice skates in the attic (told you it's like a rummage sale up there,) and I added a plaid bow and old Santa hat.

This chalkboard has found its way into other blog posts, and I'll probably continue to use it through the different seasons.  I re-used a red bow from an old wreath and took the remainder of the cinnamon pinecones and attached them with a plaid flannel ribbon.  Some blue chalk was all I needed to create some snowflakes and a Christmas ball ornament down the center.

While shopping in my attic, I came across an old wreath and stripped it down to just its greenery, then attached a new plaid and gold bow from Target.  I wanted to keep it simple.

Kohl's had a bunch of Welcome mats on sale, including many that could sit out all winter.  It was hard to choose.

This is as lit up as my front porch gets, unfortunately.  I used extra pine boughs from our Christmas tree and attached them to the tops of our outdoor lantern lights with plaid flannel ribbon.

Moving into our kitchen, there is this slice of our tree trunk that I shared with you in the last post.  Painted with chalkboard paint and some pine and ribbon hot glued to the top, this is one of our countdowns to Christmas.

Although not plaid or burlap, I bought this painting last year at a small, local gift shop because it reminds me of our house.  The lamp post actually does light up and flicker, and my children love it.  It hangs in our kitchen all winter.

I finally took that ugly computer desk and all of our office supplies out of the corner of our kitchen.  I am still undecided about what will fill that space, but for now, we put up the children's Christmas tree.  When I was a girl, I thought it would be amazing to have two Christmas trees, so when our teenage son was little, we purchased a four foot artificial tree that used to sit in the middle of an electric train set.  We put up the traditional ornaments of the past, but I also added plaid flannel ribbon and some of those plaid/burlap balls and pinecones I described in my last blog post.  When my husband saw the plaid Santa hat at Joann Fabrics, he insisted we buy it since I'm on this plaid kick this year.  I don't look good in any kind of hat though, so it went to the top of the tree.  Around the bottom is an old plaid tablecloth that no longer fits any of the tables we have.  I found the burlap/plaid deer pillow at Joann Fabrics as well, and it gets moved all over the house.

The inside door of our foyer holds this straw wreath with plaid ribbons and a wooden bear, also found in my attic.  This is across from our staircase...

It's the same artificial evergreen garland I use every year with some new lights attached, but now plaid bows connect it to the stair railing.  Bows were handmade (not by me) and purchased at Michael's.

Believe it or not, this old farmhouse has a chimney, but no fireplace.  Therefore, the stockings get hung on the railing.  Come to think of it, we have so many people in our family that we'd be hard-pressed to fit everyone's stockings on a fireplace mantel, so it's just as well.  The wood/coal stove in the kitchen is what's actually attached to the chimney.  No stockings can be hung from that.

Along with older decorations and another soft plaid fleece throw on the leather sofa, this seven foot long plaid blanket and woody wagon pillow get thrown on my enormous rocker/recliner where I sit to read, grade papers, blog, and cross-stitch.  Every one of my children can fit on that chair with me---one at a time, that is.  Its size is probably out of proportion with everything else in that living room, but it is so comfy and it's positioned between two windows, so it gets the best light.

Each window downstairs has one of these cinnamon pinecones with plaid flannel bows at the top hanging from them.  Unfortunately, I ran out of pretty ribbon and jute twine, so I ended up using red twine that was used to wrap around one of our old Christmas trees years ago.  I found it stashed in the back of a bookshelf, just waiting for a moment like now, I suppose.  In a house like ours, one must be willing to improvise at all times.

Our live Christmas tree is across the foyer in the dining room, and you've seen many photos of that in another post.  Does anyone else notice it significantly leaning?

In the center of the dining room table is our Jesse tree.  I never saw one of these when I was growing up and wasn't quite sure what to do with it when we first got it years ago.  I have to admit that I've never placed items from the Old Testament on it like I think you're supposed to during Advent.  It usually sits bare in its burlap bag, but since it already had burlap on it, I decided to add a few more burlap bows and tie a plaid ribbon around the bottom.  I hope that's not sacrilegious.

My husband and I decided to do something a little different this Christmas and instead of buying each other gifts that we don't really need, we splurged and purchased a king-sized down comforter and a plaid flannel cover.  We saw these at Macy's weeks ago and fell in love with them, and so have our children.  I can't keep them off my bed now.  The comforter is Charter Club Home brand, and we got the Level 3 Vail Collection in medium warmth.  This thing is so incredibly soft and warm and luxurious.  The flannel comforter cover is Martha Stewart brand and is 100% cotton.  We love the idea of being able to take the covers off and wash them and change them throughout the year to match the seasons.  The only problem is that I didn't purchase pillow shams, and I have nothing that matches.  So the plaid deer pillow is thrown on them for now.  By the way, these comforters and covers were marked down dramatically at Macy's this weekend.

The last stop of this tour is in the bathroom...the ONE main bathroom that seven of us have to share.  I'm afraid this shower curtain isn't plaid or very rustic, but Kohl's has the cutest shower curtains, and I wanted something I could keep out for months and not just for Christmas.  Since we are outnumbered here by our children (greater than 2:1 ratio) I feel like the bathroom should have a fun, playful touch to it from time to time, so the snowmen were it.  I really liked the more woodsy curtains with bears, pinecones, and moose decorating them, but they probably fit our cabin better than our farmhouse, so I'll wait for those.

I do believe that at this point, my Christmas decorating is done.  Now it's time to tackle the Christmas shopping, card sending, and cookie baking as we begin the second week of Advent.  I hope you are enjoying every aspect of this holiday season as much as I am.

The Glue Sticks are Out of the Attic: Crafting for the Holidays

For several weeks now I have been saving pins on Pinterest, gathering materials, and pulling out my glue gun from a box in the attic where it has been since we moved over 9 years ago.  With the youngest four children in school, I feel like I finally have a wee bit of time to myself to actually do some crafting again.  Since I decided to have a "primitive preppy" Christmas throughout our farmhouse this year, I put together a number of ornaments and decorations that hopefully embody that theme.

It all started with a trip to Michael's back in early November where I purchased plaid and burlap balls, ribbons, pinecones, and more.

I was all prepared to make my own plaid balls with fabric and styrofoam, but Michael's carried these plaid balls with burlap ribbons around them.  All I had to do was attach twine or ribbon so I could hang them on our trees.  Fortunately, this old glue gun still works, and I even found a package of glue sticks in the attic as well.  It's like a rummage sale up there; I really need to shop in my attic more often.

About thirty minutes and two packages of plaid balls later, that craft was finished.

I started out using a bag of regular pinecones for some other tree ornaments.  The children thought I should use the ones in our yard that are free, but they just don't look as nice as the ones purchased at Michael's.  Then all I had to do was glue ribbon on the top and attach a plaid bow to each pinecone.

These would later be hung on our two Christmas trees along with the plaid balls.  I eventually purchased cinnamon pinecones too and attached plain red bows at the top and hung them from the windows downstairs.  The smell of cinnamon and fresh pine just can't be beat at Christmas.

Cross-stitching is a hobby I picked up when I was twenty, and the first piece I made was a Christmas decoration.  I haven't done much of it for many years, but I decided to stitch a new ornament this year.  For some reason, my children find it fascinating to watch me do this.  I think it would be like watching the hands move on a clock.  You'll notice that I did purchase a plaid fleece throw---actually two.  This one is seven feet long and has a special pocket at the bottom to keep your feet warm.  We found them at the BonTon and got a great deal during Community Days.  Sorry for the rather scary photo of me.  No makeup worn or hair styled that day.  Yikes!

I'm not quite finished with this yet, but almost.  I'm hoping the rabbit fits a sort of rustic, natural theme going on here.

If you read my last post, you'll remember I had my husband saw off a sliver of the Christmas tree trunk so I could try a Pinterest inspiration.

We happened to have a can of unused chalkboard paint in the basement (not like a rummage sale down there unless you're shopping for spiders.)  After sanding the one side as best I could, I painted the center of the wood with the black paint.  After drying, I glued a few small pine boughs from our Christmas tree to the top, along with a red bow.

We ended up with this sitting on our kitchen windowsill above the sink so we can count down the days till Christmas.  Since it's erasable, I can always draw a simple winter design on it once Christmas day has come and gone.  But I don't want to think about that yet because this is the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Holiday Crafting, Everyone!