2009 Reviewed

2009 was an amazing year full of some amazing adventures-here’s the run down. I’ll keep it quick, lest I bore you to tears. And I just have to say here-I’m so glad I’ve got so much recorded here on this blog. It’s way too easy to forget way too much.

I redid my bedroom on the cheap.

We took an amazing trip to Disneyland.

I made friends with some succulents and went crazy with spray paint.

I redid our kitchen cabinets.

We had lots of fun hiking adventures.

We made the decision to home school. And now we are constantly reevaluating and refocusing and learning. Lots of learning. We don’t regret it one bit, even when it’s tough.

We got cozy for for fall. And we got a dog. That was a big deal. (Don’t regret that one either!)

We got away to the coast and we got away to California for Thanksgiving. And then there was Christmas. Glorious Christmas full of neat projects and decorating and special traditions with family.

My favorite Christmas project was hands down my Starbucks inspired wreath. Love it, and can’t wait for it’s comeback next year.

And of course there was a lot of living and learning and fun packed into this year. Yes, we had some moments too. There were tough days and hard days and fights and days when God seemed distant and provision seemed slim. But through it all, and in it all we saw God’s goodness in many, many ways this year. Much more than can be recounted here. His constant love and abiding care always leaves me humbly quiet. 2009 was good, 2010 is full of possibility. More projects ahead, more learning and best of all, lots more living ahead of us.

The Christmas Rundown

No snow this year, but we did get loads of freezing fog that left everything white and beautiful.  Couple that with gray skies and we had a the next best thing to snow.  No shoveling required.
Christmas Eve at Grandma’s was filled with laughter and songs and the time honored tradition of a good silly string fight.  We’re pretty sure it wouldn’t be Christmas Eve without it.


 
Christmas morning found us lazing around; sipping coffee, eating orange rolls and watching an explosion of wrapping paper and ribbons.  
 
We topped it off with a beautiful dinner with the best company of family. 



And in keeping up with the traditions of fighting and stuff, an epic Nerf gun battle was staged.  We’re still finding darts here there and everywhere.  I’m pretty sure there’s more than a few lodged in the Christmas tree.
And in it we celebrated the great contrast.  In the amazing collision of heaven and earth we met a baby who was a king, a lion and a lamb, the Father and the Son.  And we can’t look at Christmas without looking forward to Easter and the greatest contrast of all, life from death.  When Christmas is over we don’t forget the greatest gift of all.  The gift of new life in Christ. 
The celebration doesn’t end here, it goes on.

Slowing Down at Christmastime

This past week we’ve been dressing up for Christmas parties.

We’ve also been adding the final touches to all the decorations.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to set the table, and making fudge with no success.  I’m making lists and trying to remember all the last minute things, like finishing the wrapping and baking.




The kids have been uncovering the magic every morning in our advent box.

And we are all slowing down, taking time to savor the season and reflect on it’s deep meaning. 
Christ came to earth, in that meeting of heaven and earth everything was changed. 
May you find peace and joy this Christmas, and in the coming New Year.

Christmas Peace

This week started out a bit rough, I can’t really put my finger on why but it was just rough.  There were a few long days and a few whiney kids, and then one pretty hormonal mom.  And all of those things are a really bad combination. 
In the midst of the roughness I kind of forgot Christmas, or maybe I was too busy and scattered to focus on the why of Christmas.  I got stuck in the trappings, and lost the point. 
As I was scurrying and hurrying this caught my eye in the kitchen.

My attention was directed to the real reason.  It reminded me of the words spoken about Jesus so very long ago. 
Words that said He would be our Wonderful Counselor, our Everlasting Father and our Prince of Peace .
I decided there and then to recapture that peace.  You see, something interesting happens this time of year for a lot of us.  We got a bit distracted from the reason for this time of year.  All of the extras take our attention away from Jesus, from his coming and from what his coming means to us.  We hear it all season long, on greeting cards and through countless Christmas hymns. 

Joy to the world, the Lord is come.

Come and behold him, born the king of angles.

Truly he taught us to love one another, his law is love and his gospel is peace.  Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease.  Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, with all our hearts we praise his holy name.  Christ is the Lord! 

The house was quiet as I pondered Christ’s coming and his promise of peace.  He came, and while he didn’t really promise us peace in every circumstance he does provide peace no matter the circumstance.  I love the words from the book of Isaiah, “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.”  As I thought about all this I made a choice to switch gears.  I put on some soft Christmas music, I made some amazing hot chocolate and I sat.  In the stillness I heard the quiet peace that can only come from him. 

Grateful for his gentle reminder I enjoyed a few moments of solitude.  I want the peace of Christ to mark not only this season, I want it to be the punctuation on every season I go through. 
That moment of peace has stayed with me, and I gotta say that I am not going to let that go. 
May each one of you be able to walk in peace this season.
I’m sharing with Melissa at the Inspired Room today.  Head over for all sorts of great holiday inspiration.

Christmas Tour of Homes

What fun, the Nester is hosting a Christmas Tour of homes!
Welcome to my home! You’ll be greeted at the front door by this wreath, but don’t stop there….come on in!



I love to search thrift stores for new nativities every year, this was a recent find. I’m in love with it’s imperfect handmadeness. (I know that’s not a word, but you know what I mean.)




Our Christmas Tree, imperfectly beautiful.

Our new kitchen table is a thrift store find, look how it matches our green wall! I love it, hate the chairs that came with it (not pictured). Makeover coming soon!

A vital reminder in the kitchen, next to our monthly menu.


And if you wander upstairs this is what you’ll find, our kid’s tree-decorated and repeatedly knocked over them. They love it!



Thanks for joining me! And be sure to check out everyone’s else’s homes over at The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes!

Party Ready in Minutes

This weekend, we had our now annual Christmas dessert with our neighbors. We love hosting this because it give us the chance to catch up with folks we normally only see in passing.
Now the problem with party planning is that it takes time, and with three kids it’s nearly impossible to keep things tidy and company ready.
Fortunately, I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve to make my home ready in just a few minutes. (Although I usually do a lot the day before so that I’m not crazy woman the day off.)
I ask everyone to bring something to share, and I simply provide drinks. I usually have nuts, chips, and other goodies on hand just in case. I’ve never had to pull these out, and we always have plenty of treats to enjoy and share later.
Dim the lights and light some candles. Everybody and everything looks better by candle light.

I’ve filled this rescued from the garbage thing with candles, snowflakes and ornaments. It looks great on the kitchen table.
Clear the clutter. Obviously, this isn’t company ready. Not even close. Here’s how I deal with this always messy spot. I clear everything off, even the jars filled with scrapbook embellishments.

Then I fill other jars that I’ve got stashed in the garage with ornaments, candy canes and other silver pretties that I grabbed at the dollar store. I also put out serving pieces for our guests to set their desserts on.

Here’s a closer look at the jars:

And finally, I do a very quick clean because I know that a house full of people will leave things messy when it’s all said and done. I make sure the bathroom is clean and the floors are clear of dog hair but that’s about it.
I provide simple drinks and don’t stress, because I’m pretty confident that my neighbors aren’t coming over to see my awesomely clean house or my amazing home made eggnog. If I even made amazing home made eggnog. The most important part is time together.
Our guests ended up staying late and talking lots, it was wonderful and such a fun time. Party planning doesn’t have to be a big deal, it can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it. The point for us was being together, extending ourselves to others around us. And for that reason, we can call it a great success.
What kind of parties do you host or attend this time of year?

I’m sharing with Kimba’s DIY day, head on over to A Soft Place to Land for some DIY inspiration.

Christmas is in Full Swing (and garlands made from old magazines)

Around here we are in full Christmas mode.  We’ve been smelling all the markers to make sure they’re alright.

Yep, they’re good.  They smell really good.

We’ve been fancying up chocolate covered Oreo’s.  This was an easy project for the kids to do themselves with gel frosting.

And we’ve made a garland from old magazines and catalogs.  Here’s the how to.

Gather up an old magazine and a pack of straws.  You’ll also need glue and some foam brushes, and I used glitter but you don’t have to.  But, it’s Christmas and nearly everything should be covered in glitter, right?

Cut magazine pages into strips about an inch wide.  Then coat a strip with glue and wrap the strip around the straw. 

Once the straw was covered put another coat of glue all over and sprinkle with glitter.  Let the straws dry and then cut them into little pieces (think large beads) and string.  Easy, and pretty doable for the kids too.

We strung ours on our Jesse tree.  They added just a bit of sparkle to the kids colored ornaments.

I’m sharing with Melissa today, head over to check some inspiring links.

What I learned from Charlie Brown

Or perhaps more accurately, what God spoke to me through Charlie Brown.

It all started when we set out to find our not so perfect, perfect Christmas tree.  Not so perfect because it was coming straight from the wooded wilderness,not a tree lot.  But perfect just the same because it would be our  tree.

We headed out of town and took the first forest road the map directed us to, and then we drove and craned our necks to search through the trees for any evidence that our tree was there.  After about ten minutes we spotted something.  We parked and began the walk; through the woods and in the snow, watching the sun bounce off the snowdrifts all along the way.

Finally we saw it, just up a head and we scampered over fallen logs to get there.  There it was, perfect in all it’s imperfectness.  And this is where things began to go horribly wrong.

(Along the way we found a little tree for the kids.) 

I noticed that top was a bit thing and scraggily.  Zac noticed that there was a nice point at the top, perfect for a star.  I mentioned something about just using the middle, which was the fullest.  Zac did not hear (although I was sure he did).  We did agree that this tree was the one.  I was thinking all along that the middle was going in our home; that I could cleverly disguise the fact that it was the middle with a barn star on the top and careful placement of ornaments.  Zac was very committed to the scraggily top.

And so down the tree came and home we went, full of hot chocolate to warm us up after a quick round of snow angels and snow ball throwing.

We got home and the disaster began, the disaster of my attitude anyway.  Zac promptly cut the top to the right height, stuck it in the stand and brought it inside.

“What do think?” He asked.

I could barely utter the things I was thinking in that moment.  They ran from wondering what happened, Charlie Brown’s tree looked better, how could our tree be any uglier, and no amount of lights and ornaments would hide the fact that the top of half of the tree was so sparse it was barely there.  Needless to say, Zac and I had endured a major communication breakdown over the tree. 

And while I was pouting and crying and carrying on like a spoiled brat over how perfectly awful the tree was my kids were watching A Charlie Brown Christmas.  In the middle of my fuming God stilled my heart just long enough so that I could hear the words about the true spirit of Christmas, peace on earth and goodwill toward all.  I remembered that Jesus didn’t come to the world as a baby so that I could have a perfect Christmas tree.  He came so I could know him, and in knowing him I could be perfected.

So I stopped my obsessing and controlling and fit throwing.  And I apologized, first to God and next to my ever patient husband.  I decided that we could in fact make this tree work, which is what my ever patient Zac had been saying all along.  He got out the drill and drilled some holes in the bare places, and stuck in extra boughs from the rest of the tree that was discarded to the front lawn.  He strung the lights and we hung the decorations and my heart settled down. 

Yeah this tree is anything but perfect, nothing on this earth is except God’s amazing love for us.  But it is perfectly imperfect, it is a work in progress.  Just like me.  And I’m so glad God’s heart towards is not like mine towards our tree.  He won’t give up and walk away because I haven’t matured enough, been good enough or lived a perfect life. 

Our tree reminds me of God’s perfect love for me, for us.  A perfect love that is expressed in a tiny baby who came to save our souls.