Harbinger of Christmas

When this bear in our pretty downtown area changes his outfit to Santa's, it's officially the Christmas season here...  a little early for me though.  :)

What's Your Favorite Patriotic Song?

Since it's the July 4th weekend, I was thinking of some of my fave American / patriotic songs.  I always get goosebumps when our National Anthem is sung at sports events and I usually need a tissue when I hear a patriotic concert or watch a patriotic movie.  Songs can move us like nothing else at times.   Here are some of my favorite patriotic songs.  

• America the Beautiful
• God Bless America
• Marine's Hymn
• Yankee Doodle Dandy
• Erie Canal
• William Tell Overture (from The Lone Ranger)  :)
• Battle Hymn of the Republic
• This Is My Country
• My Country 'Tis of Thee
• Stars and Stripes Forever (my dad was a drum major)
• Grand Old Flag
• Appalachian Spring
• This Land is Your Land
• The Star Spangled Banner
• God Bless the U.S.A.

What are some of your favorites?

Decorating for Christmas / Family Traditions

OUR DECORATING TRADITION:  Our family usually decorates for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving as we did this year.  Once we put everything up the week before Thanksgiving but the day after gives us (the kids and me) something fun to do while they are out of school.  To start the day, I bake  cinnamon rolls for breakfast and patterned sugar cookies for the decorating time (unlimited, of course)   and turn on Christmas music--this year it was the soundtrack from the Chronicles of Narnia / The Lion, The  Witch and The Wardrobe.   After listening to it, which we hadn't done in a long time, my husband and I  watched the movie on Saturday afternoon and one son wanted to re-read Voyage of the Dawn Treader before the new movie comes out.   We had all gone together to see the first movie when it first came out a few Christmases ago on Christmas night.  :)

This is the part where my husband participates...eating treats and getting everything down from the garage and attic.  :)  

I always give both sons a box of chocolate-covered cherries on Dec. 1 (a little early this year).

Last year I weeded through our decorations and threw away / gave away / donated a LOT of stuff that we haven't really used in years or that was falling apart.  When was the last time you did that?  I tell you, it made the decorating go SO much faster and non-stressful this year as there was a definite limit to what we could display.  We have literally 100+ more tree ornaments but we rotate them each year for our family room and living room trees.  Our sons have small trees in their rooms as well and there is a potted Norfolk Island pine in the front yard  on which I tie red bows.  I have saved many of the children's handmade items as well in storage bins.   Simplifying our lives is my continuing goal...


There are always  Christmas decor items that will never get thrown away and here are some of ours:

I cross-stitched this myself about 20 years ago from a sampler pattern I found in a Woman's Day magazine.

My sister-in-law quilted this for us when my husband and I were first married.  I've never quilted so it looks pretty complicated to me. The colors are so vivid.  Thank you, Susie.

My husband's family (mother's side) is Swedish, so we always hang this traditional Swedish piece each year. We don't have daughters so we have never carried out the Santa Lucia Scandinavian  tradition but I know some families who do and it's a very special event. What are your roots?

Our family of four always sits by the larger Christmas tree keeping watch over the gifts...the two sock monkeys belong to our sons.  Both were given to them by their great-grandmother (my grandmother) before she died. She sewed the one on the left while in her 90s. Mama Bear is the one with the lace hankie around her neck. :)

When I was pregnant with our older son, a friend sewed three matching stockings for us and left the name on his blank. I cross-stitched his name after he was born.  When our second son was born, I found the same fabric at Joanne's (they couldn't believe it either) and sewed the 4th stocking.  We've never put up a mantel but we still hang them over the fireplace. They go under the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and everyone sneaks around the house trying to stuff them when no one is watching.  One of our favorite parts of Christmas morning is opening these stockings.  They're average size but you can put quite a lot inside of each.  I love shopping for stocking stuffers. :)

Another first...a decorated paper plate made by my son when he was in kindergarten.  He played an angel in a school Christmas play that year. :)

Originally made to cut Christmas expenses, I continued sewing  cross-stitch / stuffed ornaments  several years in a row for our sons when they were younger--snowflakes, trees and a set of woodland animals.   I think there are about 7 in the set.

Even the backing holds a memory-- I used a piece of red tartan plaid from a pair of flannel footie pajamas that both my sons wore when they were babies.

I started a tradition of giving one ornament each year through age 18 to my nephews when they were born and have continued that with our sons as well.   They have small trees (1 1/2 ft.) in their bedrooms which they also decorate.   When they get married they will already have a starter set of ornaments.  Some couples have only boxed purchased ornaments when they start out, but it's nice to have some memory ones when newly married.   I was very touched when I saw some Christmas photos last year at one of my nephew's homes with his family and recognized some of the ornaments that I had bought and/or made for him when he was very young. :)

Everyone has memory ornaments.  I try to purchase one if we are on a special vacation or to commemorate an important event that year.  This one is from long ago when I traveled to Germany.  Try to pick up something during the year that your family will bring to mind special memories for your family.

We made these  felt / glitter / photo ornaments in 1998.

A friend surprised me with these wooden European elves in  an act of kindness that I have never forgotten.

I switch out some of our framed photos with pictures of Christmases past. 

A little bit of pretty fabric and a wired bow and voila...

I have a  small collection of snow globes. This one is on my piano. The others are under our 2nd smaller tree in the family room.

I was a leader in Bible Study Fellowship for many years when  I was in my 20s and early 30s, three of which I was the Children's Program Supervisor.  When I "retired", the other children's leaders gave me this Precious Moments nativity set.

Our kitchen table this year.  In my craftier days, I sewed napkins one year for relatives as Christmas gifts. This is one set that I kept for us.  Funny how I've never used them with this tablecloth before but they complement it pretty well.

Our two sons work as a team in setting up our two artificial trees.  They did a beautiful job, don't you think? One thing I personally enjoy about them decorating the trees is that they handle and look at every ornament, recalling certain events and memories from their young lives.    I can glance at the full tree and remember where most of the ornaments came from but when you touch and feel each one, it stirs something within the heart and draws your family closer.  :)

A few red and white flowers and a simple wreath for the front door...

By keeping it fairly simple, all this decorating took about 3 hours including eating treats and lunch and  putting all the bins away.   Now we have a little bit of Christmas in just about every room of our home.  Working together makes it go so much more quickly and is a pleasant time for everyone.   The house is clean and ready for family and friends and new Christmas memories.

Luke 2:19 

....Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 

Christmas Shopping / CHARITY Ebay Listing / Kenyan Arabica Coffee

Our church's youth group is selling 100% Arabica coffee to raise money to dig a well in Mrema, Kenya, Africa. $15/1-lb. bag, ground or whole beans. All proceeds go directly toward the digging of the well.  I have the listings posted on my Ebay store through the end of December 2010.  Coffee is available both in ground and whole bean form.

If you would like to purchase some, go to THIS LINK.

A little more detail about the significance of the label on this coffee--Esther's Well: 

Esther is from a Digo village deep within the mountainous heartland of Kenya. From a young age she dealt with the scourge of leprosy which plagued her skin, hands and feet until she was miraculously healed by the grace of God. This miracle led her to her faith in God, which was unacceptable to the people of her village because they practiced both Islam and forms of witchcraft, and she consequently was ostracized and excommunicated by her own people and even her own family. The neighboring village of Mrema graciously took her in as one of their own where she was treated with respect for her faith, and she lives there to this day telling her hopeful story.

We had a chance to visit this in the summer of '09 and personally met her, seeing with our own eyes the hands and feet that were marred by the leprosy. We also learned that the closest water source is a small dirty river over 10 kilometers away, and felt the call to raise money for the drilling of a well that will benefit not only the people of Mrema, but neighboring villages as well.

The coffee beans for sale are grown in Kenya and roasted locally in Orlando, Florida.  The proceeds from each bag of Esther's Well coffee will go directly to the well-drilling process, which will hopefully begin before the end of 2010, bringing water to thousands of Kenyans who would otherwise go thirsty.  

Here are some photos from the trip to Africa last summer:

Christmas Holidays, Seasonal Decorations

Where does the time go? I did not post on Friday, Nov. 27. Our older son arrived home early Thursday for Thanksgiving and was starting to get sick so I have been trying to get him well before he goes back to school tomorrow. It's been wonderful having him here with us for the last three days. I always miss him when he leaves. My sons and I (and a couple of their friends) also spent part of Friday putting up our Christmas decorations and baking cookies as we have each year. The three of us enjoy the process and try to make it an "event". My husband helps in getting the decoration storage bins down and putting them away. He also likes to eat the cookies and admire the decorating when it's done. :)

This year we finished in record time. One 8 foot tree in our living room, one 3 foot tree in our family room, kitchen table and dining room arrangements, entry table, Christmas linens out and ready to use, Christmas cards (bought at year-end sales) and wrapping paper are in the guest room ready to use... I put most of the decorations in the common living areas as mentioned although our sons have small (1 foot) trees in their rooms. Last night we put all the storage bins back in the garage. Today I'll get out the Christmas dishes from the china cabint and store the others for after the holidays. My son is uploading my Christmas CDs to my iTouch for me. :)

Last year I weeded out all my decorations and donated or threw away those that we don't use anymore. That felt so good. When I start putting decorations away I need to do that with the tree ornaments. Of course, some of the childhood handmade things won't ever get tossed. :) Having less to put up took so much stress out of the trimming. We have outdoor lights but have opted to not use them again this year. A simple wreath on the door is fine with jingle bells on the handle. If I find an inexpensive small lighted tree for the front door, I may purchase that, but nothing else.

Red sprinkled here and there really brightens up the home. I always wonder why I don't put more red in our house when the decorations come down in January.

Gotta run...vegetable soup (with turkey, of course) and fresh bread baking for lunch. Stay well and warm!