New Traditions

This year our family started a new tradition. And apparently, it is somewhat common, but we had never heard of it. It is called the Jesse Tree.

This is how it works.

-You make an ornament every day leading up to Christmas

-Each day either before or after making the ornament you talk about what the picture symbolizes

-You read out of the bible

It is a wonderful time that really keeps the reason for the season in focus

Here is a link to where I got ours


And if your wondering where we found out about this great new tradition; it was from a great friend of mine Anna (and she has a blog too, check it out)

Traditions

Every year my mother and I get together and bake sweets for family and friends. It is a great time of talking, laughing, and mother-daughter time. We did truffles one year, then cookies another, etc.

This year me made brownies. Thankfully there was not a lot of baking because most had a cream cheese filling - but, the cutting felt like it was never going to end.

There was a total of.....

560 pieces and 12 bags of toffee (a must have every year)

All the brownie recipes came from Taste of Home's cookbook-Brownies & Bars Cookbook. The toffee recipe is from my mother.

Take The Time

A must read blog post on foster care.

ONE CHILD

Down It Came

So I somewhat naively thought that letting the children see the tree all lit up last night would keep them from touching it out of curiosity... well, you guessed it - Miss Eliana could not resist the snowman with all its bright colors.

From holding it, to mom saying not to, to her letting go completely; down it came - braking all over the floor.

So the crafty mother that I am, I came up with a solution. The snowman had not broke, only the bulb around it (thank goodness, it was a gift). So I super glued the snowman to the inside of a mason jar, poked a hole in the lid, pushed in the lights that make the different colors, twisted it on, and vwala...



Snowman back in business :) I did however make sure he was placed farther back in the tree this time - away from where Eliana can reach.

Lights, Camera, Christmas Tree

So I had this idea last night to wake up all of my 3 children so they could see the Christmas tree all lit up.

It was a hit, and they oohed and awed; then I remembered it was still bedtime :( I feared the battle of going back to bed - but amazingly they did... quietly :)

Now there was a point to this, and that was....

It is precious and worth going out of the ordinary occasionally to get a little special time with just mom and kids. Sorry dad, but you were at work.