The Candy Cane Disaster

This past weekend we decided to attempt homemade candy canes. HA! Never again.

It all started quite simple. Mix the ingredient and let them reach a certain temperature.

All went well....

Then divide the mixture into two pots and add peppermint flavoring and red coloring to one pot.

Again...all good!

Let the mixtures cool until they are workable with your hands.

This never happened. Our red mixture worked beautifully! I was able to roll it into long ropes to hopefully braid with the white mixture.

But as you can see above, the white mixture never worked. Uuuugh! It was a huge sticky mess. In our hair, on our floor, on our clothes. Disaster!

Not to mention that I got a horrible burn blister from the whole
experience.

Never again!

Next year, we will buy candy canes or make candy cane cookies to read with our FABULOUS book:

S is for Savior

We've been learning letter S and Bloom Where You Are Planted reminded me of the most important word that starts with S-Savior!

One of the joys of Christmas is visiting my parents house. My parents have been collecting nativity scenes for as long as I can remember. In their travels (all over the world) they have collected nativity sets that are beautiful works of art. But most importantly they are beautiful reminders of what this season is all about.

In almost every room of their home you are treated to a unique nativity, the perfect reminder that Jesus really is the reason for the season!

I don't know the story behind every scene, but will share with you what I do know.

The above nativity is made of small pots and was a gift from my mother in law.

Another gift from my mother in law....this one is hand carved.

This one was hand painted by my mom.

The above nativity is made from the ash from Mt. St. Helens. I have it's twin, which was a gift to my grandmother and passed down to me when my grandfather passed away.

Aren't they all amazing?

This week I talked to the boys about why we give gifts this time of year. How Jesus was a gift to our world from our Heavenly Father. We talk about how it's more important to give than to get. Of course that is a hard concept when you are little, but it's also really amazing at how generous children can be! We've spent a lot of time this year as a family preparing gifts for our neighbors and delivering them together, purchasing food for food banks and having our boys actually participate in delivering the food, and also buying toys for Toys for Tots and having the boys pick out the toys. It's not a lot, but it's a start and I hope that these small steps help reinforce in them the real meaning of Christmas.

How do you keep the Christ in Christmas?

Letter S

This week we began letter S (and will finish it after Christmas). I love how there are so many Christmasy and Wintery things that start with S.

S is for Stamping

S is for Shapes.

S is for Stickers

S is for Snowflake.

Snowflakes!

Our Christmas crafts are coming to an end. Next week Brian has half of the week off and we have a play date with friends, which means that we probably will wrap up our crafts this week.

So we decided to make a snowflake ornament! (especially since Snowflake starts with S and we are learning letter S)

I took Popsicle sticks and glued them together the day before. Then the boys painted them white. Before the paint dried we sprinkled with glitter.

I will attach a red ribbon and then we can hang from our tree. I love kid made ornaments!

MTM-Once Upon a Holiday the Moon Fell Out of the Sky

This year one of our favorite Christmas stories is Once Upon a Holiday the Moon Fell Out of the Sky. It's very silly and has a sweet ending.

Because we enjoy the story so much we decided to use it as our theme for Muffin Tin Monday.

E's morning meal consisted of:

Bananas (Snowflakes)

Hard Boiled Egg (the Moon!)

Cream cheese on Homemade Bread (Christmas Tree)

Strawberries (Reindeer Noses)

Milk in a Santa Cup (Lily the Cow's Milk and of course Santa is Santa!)

Another Christmas Tradition

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is writing a letter to Santa. Our local mall has a really cute Santa Letter Station for kids to write and mail their letters.

Writing the Big Letter! Although when he sat down E suddenly had stage fright and said "Mama, what do I want for Christmas again?"

Don't Look! We were instructed that the last part of the letter was between E and Santa. He later informed me that he was asking Santa for a special gift for me-a Christmas Village to put on my piano. Don't I have the sweetest boy ever?

Mailing the letter.

Soooooo...........I'm wondering.........Do your kids believe in Santa? I had a friend at church tell me that I was lying to my children and that it wasn't right to teach them that lying is wrong and then tell them about Santa Claus. It really bothered me when she said that.....I think of Santa as just a fun story, not a lie. I grew up believing in Santa Claus and I'm not scarred by the experience. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to pass it along to my own children. So, I'm wondering how you all feel and how Santa Claus is handled in your home?

Angel Breakfast

Today was the Angel Breakfast. It's one of my favorite holiday traditions. This year only E and I were able to attend, but next year our whole family will go since K will also be old enough. (it's only for 3-5 year olds)

You can see E to the right. We are sitting with some friends from our Cubbie's class.

Enjoying breakfast!

There was a ventriloquist who told the Christmas story using a variety of puppets. He was great! And E laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair.

My boy and I!

E made an ornament that he came home and hung on our tree.

Only 13 days until Christmas!