We Survived!

What a busy month! We survived and the house is a mess. Christmas time is always so hectic and I do dread it, but once it hits the week of Christmas it's pretty calm and so am I! We enjoyed many things this year and I thought I would list the most important ones that really seemed to have made an impact on my family and me.

1. We read Jotham's Journey (actually still have a few pages to go). This is a great advent book that is a MUST read.
2. Phillip and I went caroling with our church and it was such a touching time. We visited several people that are very sick and some only have a short time to live. The thing that I noticed was the peace that these people have through Christ Jesus. I know that they have a relationship with the Lord. Even by them knowing that they are dying or have a family member in the home dying, you can see their joy is Jesus. Why wouldn't anybody want Christ as their Lord and Savior?
3. I was able to be in charge of our advent services for our church. I grew closer to Jesus during this time because I had to study and talk to God about what I needed to say to help someone.
4. I have been reminded by the Lord to make sure what I am doing is for the correct reasons. I want to make sure that I do things that please God and not do them because I feel obligated or that it is the thing to do.
5. Adventures in Odyssey is AWESOME! Great life lessons and the kids wanted to hear them over and over again.

It's A Sugar Cookie Making Day!

Today will be a short day of learning and then on to making and decorating sugar cookies! I was so happy to find out that I already had all the ingredients except for food coloring which we got last night. I will be using a different recipe this year. It comes from the Pioneer Woman Cooks blog. If you are interested in taking a peak, her link is on the side of my blog. Let the baking begin and in between maybe I can get the Christmas cards finished and mailed.

I'm Really Not A Scrooge!

It seems that I always dread this time of year. It comes way too fast and no matter how ahead I think I am, I'M NOT! Our church had two floats in a Christmas parade and won the trophy for first prize. The trophy made it to the front of the church for all to see. In order to light the advent candles, it was moved......to sit right in front of the manger scene with Santa on top of that big trophy waving. Now I know this act was not on purpose by no means, but it DID get me thinking.



For the most part, that is exactly how it really is. Santa waving, overpowering the most important part of the season, CHRIST. Oh, now don't get me wrong, I enjoy buying gifts, riding around to see the lights, putting up our tree and other decorations, and all the other things that we do this time of year. I also think too much emphasis is sometimes placed on all the extra things to do and the meaning behind them gets pushed aside, just like Baby Jesus being BEHIND Santa last Sunday morning. I have been reading a book that gives the meaning behind our Christmas traditions. It does help to know WHY we do the things we do. I think sometimes we do certain things at Christmas because it is expected of us. It gets so busy that I catch myself checking off my "to do" list and think, "NEXT." Somehow we need to slow down and REALLY dwell on the significance of Christmas. Let's not just read the Christmas story because it's tradition. Let's think about what it means and how the "characters" really must have felt. Let's not just have a play at church because that's what we've always done. Let's seek out from the Lord a way to minister to someone who needs something from the Savior. There's many things that you can do to bring the true meaning up and out right in FRONT of Santa. He can still be there and all the other things too, but let's see how we can bring more meaning and realization to what the Lord has done for us.



I thank the Lord that we home school. It gives us an opportunity and more time to teach the kids what this season is about. Yes, we have a tree and Santa does visit, there's laughter, picture taking, and lots of fun. Yet, there's always time for Jesus and hopefully he is out front where he should be. Maybe one day instead of Santa waving at the end of a parade, it will be Jesus.....now THAT would be something!

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A great thing

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