Christmas

Celebrating Christmas with the Focus on Christ

So the house is decorated and the stockings are hung! Lots of cookies were baked (and are still baking) and a little shopping was done! And might I add that hanging of the stockings has nothing to do with promoting Santa. They are more for decorative purposes than anything else. (In fact, I even hesitate to read books to our kids that talk all about Santa. I bought them a couple of Christmas books online and was a bit disappointed when some of them talked solely about Santa and nothing else. Sorry Santa fans)! Also, I’d like to think that here at our house we do not sell ourselves crazy for Christmas. Our immediately family is newly growing and our extended families are so scattered abroad that we rarely even celebrate Christmas together anymore. Even more so, sometimes we are forced to slow down for various reasons. Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on When Your Body Tells You to Slow Down. It describes how I overworked myself into the months leading to the holiday season and then literally crashed. Another reason I was forced to slow down is that for the past two weeks, the kids came down with cold/flu sicknesses. Basically, we were couch potatoes because all they really wanted to do, was cuddle up until they fell asleep for a while. And then the process began over again, especially with our little one who is almost two. Her body just was not feeling well (still recovering). I as a mom was forced to slow down and take care of her. Needless to say, I know my body probably needed some extra rest, too, because when she sat on me quietly and dozed away, I did the same (without intent).

All the same, we do enjoy all the sights and smells that come with the Christmas season and try to make it as special as we could or our family! And as some may say, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” But in the midst of all the hustle and the bustle of the season let us not forget why we actually celebrate the season. As for me, I want Christmas to be what it is meant to be – to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. After all, when I have a birthday or a family or friend has one, we keep the focus on whoever birthday it is. Don’t we? So I am not totally sure why we focus on our own selves when we are supposed to be focusing on Christ’s day. He came into this world to save us from our sins as was prophesied in the Bible. “. . . And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:18 – 21, KJV).

It is nice to decorate, bake, shop, get together with family and friends, give and receive presents and all the other fun stuff we do during Christmas time. In addition, it is great to keep some of our childhood traditions and to even pass some of them to our very own families. I remember when I was growing up, I always had a nice new pretty dress and well decked off hairstyles for Christmas Sunday church and I love doing the same for my little girls. BTW: We got our hair and nails done (at home) today in preparation for Church tomorrow. The girls are excited to dress in their pretty Christmas dresses:) But I do want my girls to start learning at very young ages why the season is here. In fact, I made some biblical worksheets, Pre-School Printable Activity Sheets for teaching the “Birth of Jesus” Story & The Birth of Jesus Christ – 25 Days of Christmas Printable for Pre-K, to teach them the real reason we celebrate Christmas. They may not completely understand it all now but at least, I believe, it is good to start teaching them early. Hopefully, one day they will get it!

But without getting into all kinds of biblical and theological stuff, December 25th is the day set apart to celebrate the birth of Christ. So let us remember Him and the reason He came – that He would one day grow up and pay the debt for our sins on the cross. The thought of someone paying the cost for a wrong we have done should be sobering to us that all we can do is be grateful to that person. This Christmas season, take some time to reflect on what why Christ came and why we actually celebrate Christmas:)

Here is a beautiful song that is often song at Christmas time that can help us focus on why Christ came.

O Holy Night Lyrics by Adolphe Adam , 1847

You can listen to the words by clicking on the song title.

O Holy Night
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
‘Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees O hear the angels voices.
O night divine O night when Christ was born
O night divine, O night, O night divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

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,
Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,
His power and glory evermore proclaim.
O night divine, O night, O night divine

And we do hope you have yourselves a fun-filled, Jesus remembering, Christmas time!

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Christmas

DIY Christmas Gift Tags

Two weeks ago, one of the ladies from our church invited a couple of us into her home to make Christmas gift tags. These are the tags I made.

It was a fun project to do and we all put our individual touch on our tags. However, we couldn’t finish the tags in that one setting because our kids were getting kind of agitated. So we needed to take them home.

I did use her shape cutters to cut the shapes then finished gluing, stamping, and adding ribbons at home. I made about 40 of them.

Here is a simple tutorial of how I made them (See the list of materials needed at the end of this post).

Gather some cardstock paper. I chose red, green, and brown. It goes along with my Christmas décor.

Cut out desired shapes, then glue if needed. I did two different styles and cut out a large and a small of each. Then I layered the smaller shape over the larger one and glued them together.

Create a hole with a puncher (I found this cute little Christmas tree design one at Joann Fabric & Craft Store for about $1).

Then I used a “to – from” stamp pad as seen in the following image. Later, our family will fill in the recipients and our names in our own hand-writing (makes it a little more personal).

Now tie strips of ribbon in the punched out holes as shown in the following steps.

And this is how they turned out.

I also did this kind. I really love the red and brown look.

Now it is time to attach them to gifts and mail or give them to whomever you wish to give a Christmas gift to!

Materials needed to make the tags:

Cardstock paper (colors of choice)
Craft shape cutters (or use scissors, pencil, traceable designs if you do not have shape cutters to trace out the shapes and cut them out (It will be a lot more time consuming, though)
A hole puncher
Strings for tying

Optional:

Glue if layering the tags like I did (one that will stick)
A stamp pad (or just use a pen for writing “to – from” and then the recipients and your names)

Sure, it is so much easier to buy gift tags from the store, especially from the $$$$Tree. But there is something about crafting and putting your own touch on things. It makes them more personal and sometimes could be so much fun to make!

I would love to know what you think about those tags. Do you make your own or do you just purchase from the store? I always used store bought except for this year.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Christmas

Our Christmas Home

Hi there my blogging friends! Today I am sharing with you our Christmas home décor!

But first of all, I will like to start of with the disclaimer that I am no “great” decorator when it comes to stuff like that. In fact, I struggle a lot with colors and often change things around. I decorated the home immediately after Thanksgiving, but changed things up a bit because since. The home is really not overly decorated and cluttered up with stuff. But the extra photos of minor details may make it seem like much stuff. Hopefully, you won’t get overwhelmed with all the photos:)

Let me add that most (if not all) of these photos were taken at night. My camera does not seem to work well or maybe I just do not know how to use the thing. My phone is another story (updated phone, but I never seem to be able to get the lighting correctly). So I used hubby’s ipad but could only catch him when he returns from work because he leaves so early in the morning. And with the winter time change out here in Chicago, it starts to get dark around 3:30pm. Hubby usually gets home around 7:30pm, so you know it is definitely dark!

Let’s begin with the outside….

The wreath I bought a couple years ago but I am not sure what store. I added some battery operated snowflake lights that change color. Very Pretty! The Poinsettias are fake ones I bought a few years ago, too. The white baskets are recent Thrift store finds – less than $5 for both.

Step inside to see what we’ve got!

The entryway from the living room shows a TV stand (no TV on there yet) so I decided to add some random décor.

My favorite item on this little table décor is the glittered reindeer. Reindeers are not cheap so I was happy to find this beautifully made one at Michaels for half off, last week ($24). It is of a decent size and nicely decorated. Michaels has all Christmas décor at half price now and will be having even more reduced prices after Christmas. The table runner matches my tree skirt (Walmart).

A shot of our living room from one angle. I scored those white faux fur pillows at K-Mart for 2 at $24, t00. And my hubby bought me the brown ones that read, “Bless This Home”. Red pillows were $5 a piece at Walmart (bought these to add to the décor). The other pillows were already part of my home décor with two other plain orange pillows (not shown here).

In addition, I added a little tree I had found at Jewel Osco ($5 I believe) a few years ago on the coffee table. Along with a couple of Magazines.

And now, let’s get to the tree!

There is nothing special about this tree. We usually just do a fake one and add décor. In fact, I cried a little and wanted to get rid of it altogether when I pulled it from storage. Hubby came and fluffed it out a little and I figured there was no point in spending more money on a tree. I decided keep with the red, brown, & gold look I did last year and added some more variety of décor to it. The tree skirt came from Walmart, too. I also added a few pieces of burlap as a garland. My gamily and everyone who come by seem to love the tree décor, after all!

Here are a couple of details I love on the tree in the following photos. They are self-explanatory.

And our kid’s salt dough handprint ornaments which we made last week. I love those cute little prints!

Excuse the ugly sofa in the following photo! But is helps to have it there by the tree for added décor. I had the thing sitting in the garage and decided to bring it back inside while I was decorating. My husband is amazed by how I move stuff around all the time.

I found the tall reindeer at Home Goods/TJ Max for $12. Our kids love moving the thing around and setting it’s mouth next to the Christmas tree branches for pretend eating!

Here is the girl’s tree in their room. I found a couple years ago at Walmart. You can find all of our DIY kids ornaments on our Seasonal/Winter page.

Ok. Are you tired of photos yet? We definitely cannot skip the family room décor!

So on the mantle here I have some DIY glittered candles. I saw some glittered candles at a store and figured I could just make my own with what I had on hand. My smaller candles are actually orange and I added glue and gold glitter to them.

Gift boxes are from the dollar store and then I added some cinnamon scented and DIY glittered pinecones I had from Thanksgiving.

This lighted Noel sign was found at Target on sale for $16 (normally around $20). I used a $10 Target gift card so only paid $6 out of pocket. The tall candles found at Walmart for .49 cents each. I already had the candle holders as part of my regular home décor.

Personally, I find the stockings add a little clutter to this area. Not sure if I am totally in love with it. But hubby likes them, so I guess they will stay there. The small tree was found at Walmart, last year I believe.

And here is my unashamed kids chalkboard/white board displayed. Hubby bought it for our 4 year old’s birthday in November and they love it so. I wanted to add some creative Christmas writing on it but I decided to let the kids do their own thing with their board.

Here is a semi-full shot from one angle.

And of course, we had to light the fireplace to get a lovely photo!!!

Hope you enjoyed looking at our World of Christmas photo décor!

By the way, I love looking at all the Christmas home tours around the blog-o-sphere! So if you have something to show, mantle, holiday shelf, home tour, etc…I would love for you to add your link below. I would love to see your beautiful images!!!

She looketh well to the ways of here household, and eateth not the bread if idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Salt Dough Handprint Ornaments for Kids

This is my first year making salt dough ornaments with the kids and I am totally loving how they are turning out! A few weeks ago, we did our salt dough ornaments with cookie cutter shapes and the kids are using them on their little Christmas tree in their bedroom. Then last week, they did some salt dough ornaments using their very own handprints. These are hanging on our larger family Christmas tree in the living room.

To make these, begin by using the recipe from our salt dough ornaments here. After making the dough, cut and roll out into two large circles or however many children you need prints for. The ingredients could always be doubled or lessened depending on how many children. Before baking, have the child or children print their hands on the dough. Don’t forget to punch a hole in the dough before baking to thread a string through later. Use a straw or any kind of object that will create a big enough hole for the width of string that will be used. When the dough has baked, hardened, and cooled, let the children paint them with their desired colors. Let dough dry. Then if using glitter, add some glue in the print section and sprinkle with glitter. When it is all dried out, thread and tie a string through the whole.

Variations: Instead of using glitter, the dough could simply be painted in two different colors, one for the handprint and another for the surrounding edges. Or maybe even just paint the handprint and leave the surrounding edges plain, or vice versa. Even more so, both the paint and the glitter could be skipped and the dough could be left just plain and natural. I think decorating the prints could be left up to the ones doing the decorating!

Note: I totally forgot to punch a hole in the dough before baking to thread the string. So I decided to create a hole with a hammer and a nail. The dough was so hard that it broke off at the top. I had to glue it together with tacky glue and then when it dried out and held together, paint the spot again to fix it. So glad I was able to fix it because our four year old was so disappointed that I ruined her stuff! (See the following image below how I fixed it. The paint is still slightly wet).

But then I did her sister’s own a little lower (closer to the print) using the same method and it did not break. So I decided to cover the entire hole (above photo) with paint and redo it in a lower spot. This time, it did not break when I used the hammer. I guess the first time, I hammered it way to close to the edge.

I wrote the kids names at the back of the ornament so we’ll remember which one belongs to who as they grow older. Also, I wrote in the year that we made these. As kids grow, their prints will get larger so they may have to make new ones again next time. They can even collect them throughout the years.

Here they are hanging on the tree. I think they are just lovely! The silver belongs to our soon to be two year old daughter and the gold belongs to our newly turned 4 year old daughter. In case you missed the post on what we did for her birthday, you can view it here.

If you have made these ornaments in the past, I would love to hear about your experience with them. Did you or your children collect them through the years? To see other Christmas crafts we have made both past and present, please visit our Seasonal/Winter page.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bead of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Glitter Egg Carton Jingle Bell Ornaments – Activity for Kids

I remember when I was a little girl, I always loved jingle bells during the Christmas time – just something about them brought an extra hint of “joy” throughout the season. But of course, those years are long gone by and I have already past this stage:) But I believe I came across the idea for this little craft while I was flipping through a toddler activity book I own to find some Christmas craft ideas for our kids. The bells are fun to make and shake around and look great on the kids little tree. The kids had fun hanging them up, too!

Here are all the materials needed to make this craft as seen in the photo below.

An egg carton; scissors, acrylic paint of one or more colors and brushes, glue, glitter, small bells with strings to tie (I did not find the smaller bells I had in mind, but these worked out well, too); and some news paper or other paper for covering the area when painting

To make: Cut out sections of the egg carton according to the amount of bells you have. Try and shape them up as best as you can. Next, paint the cut outs and allow them to dry on paper. If using glitter, add the glue and sprinkle with glitter. Allow to dry some more.

Note: Preschoolers and toddlers could paint, add glue, and glitter. They will need help with cutting and putting the other parts together. Older kids could pretty much do everything by themselves.

Now it is time to add the jingle bells to the craft.

Using the scissors or other sharp object, create two little holes in each painted egg carton cut-out. (See the following image). Then thread strings through the bells and then through the two little wholes in the carton. See steps 1 to 4 in the following image.

Pull the string and tie it up at the top. And there you have it – egg carton jingle bells.

We made 9 of various colors to create the extra Christmas sparkle!!!

Here they are hanging on the kids tree.

To see other Christmas crafts we have made both past and present, please visit our Seasonal/Winter page.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth no the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Christmas

Christmas Fudge Wreath: 12 Days (& beyond) of Christmas Sweets & Goodies

I originally found this recipe by watching the Rachael Ray TV show, last Christmas. I was thrilled by how easy the recipe was and how few main ingredients it took with just a couple add-ins. I have sort of adopted this easy fudge method and change it up to whatever flavor we like and according to the seasons. You may notice some of the flavor changes in the additional fudge links below.

My kids love this recipe but do not like the all the extra stuff so I usually skip the additional add-ins or just add M&Ms or something they like. (See the last photo below).

It does yield a lot of fudge so one batch stretches a long way. I usually freeze some and keep a few pieces out at a time (small family here).

I am sure this would make a lovely, easy Christmas gift for someone who really loves fudge!

And here is the kids version with just M&Ms added in.

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Birthdays & Parties

A 4th Birthday Playdate and Tea Party For A Little Princess

This past November, our first daughter turned 4. It was literally two days after Thanksgiving (November 29), so you know we were very busy that week. Here she is with her cute little self – enjoying her morning breakfast at home. Funny, she was so excited so she got up early and told me she wanted to take a bath (although she had one the night before she went to bed). So she swam in the tub while I made her breakfast! Way too cute!

We did not do anything large this year like we had done in the past. I probably did not start getting stuff together for this until the day before the party. In the past, I would start planning a huge party months in advance. But after last year’s combined party with only two families out of maybe 10 showing up, I felt that a large party this year was not necessary! People had to cancel for various reasons. The hardest part of this years activity/party (I even hesitate to call it a party) was finding the dress. I did not think of getting her one earlier because I thought for sure she would want a Frozen themed party since she loves them so much. And of course, those dresses are everywhere. But she decided she wanted to be Tiana from the Frog Prince this year (I don’t even think she has seen the movie)! After shopping through various stores at the last minute to find the dress, I finally spotted one in the midst of a bunch of princess costumes in Toys R Us. Silly me, should have thought of getting the dress before I got the other items for the tea, just incase we needed to change the theme. But we got it all!

I decided to do individual activities for our kids this year. For this playdate/party, we invited two of her friends to come over to play with her in the morning and then we took her out to one of her favorite places to play in the mall, later that day (Yu Kids Island)Seriously, this place never gets old for this child! By the end of the day, she was really worn out! Our other kid will be two just before Christmas and we may just do something with her as a family as she is not old enough to develop friends and so forth yet.

The kids really enjoyed playing and just having fun with each other at home. The moms stayed around and we talked and watched their little babies while the others played. Yea for mom time – well kind of because we still had to monitor and take care of all the kids. The kids played dress -up in princess dresses, they played with dolls and doll house, play kitchen, and whatever other kids stuff they found around the house. When it was time to go, one kid started crying. And maybe all the large parties I planned in the past – is more for show and to take photos rather than anything else. I really felt please with just keeping it simple this year!

But of course I had to have some kind of snack right? And my daughter wanted to have a tea party. She loves having tea parties at home – real or pretend. So we did tea, cupcakes, cookies, and pretzels. At first, I thought tea would be more fitting for a Sofia The First kind of party but she wanted tea with Tiana so we had tea! I did not even go the to the lengths of making the cupcakes; bought them from Jewel. Also, I bought a bag of sugar cookie mix to make the cookies. Yea, for less work! Oh and just as I was about to get frazzled, hubby reminded me that I was not planning anything big so do not stress it out! The kids really enjoyed drinking de-caffeinated tea out of those cute little tiny tea cups from a set I found at Ikea. They kept wanting more and more!

Here are some of the photos from the playdate/party. Hope you enjoy them.

They did a craft with photo frames as part of their goodie bags and I think the kids really are little artists! They painted the frames with their choice of acrylic color and when the paint was dried, they decorated it with some stickers. I could not find little frog stickers so we just used matching flowers with the theme.

Here the kids are just playing around and having fun!

b15 b17

And these two photos are from our kids playing at the mall.

And of course, the birthday girl wanted to play dress-up in her Frozen dress she got as one of her gifts (she totally loves all those little Disney Princess Characters)!

I hope you enjoyed those photos! Thanks to the two moms who were willing to bring their kids over to help our daughter have some birthday fun!

Other Birthday Parties for Our Kids

Shenice’s 1st Birthday

Shenice’s First Birthday Cake

Shenice’s 2nd Birthday

Shenice’s 3rd and Brianna’s 1st Birthdays Combined

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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When Your Body Tells You to Slow Down & A Husband’s Prayer

Are you already burned out with all the pressures of the holiday season? I mean from Thanksgiving to Christmas, these two seem like they just go back to back without a moment to breath in-between! Isn’t it that way in reality, though?

On Monday evening, when hubby came from work he immediately wanted to know how my day went. It was a little more than the casual, “so how was your day today?” Rather, it was more of a “really wanting to know” how the day went. He had called me earlier during the day to check on me but my phone was on silent. So of course, I missed him three times! Yep, I am so guilty of keeping that phone on silent.

You see, over the weekend, I had crashed. For the past few weeks or even what seemed like months, I knew I was stretching myself way too thin – more than I could handle. My body was telling me to slow down, but I did not listen. After all, I had to get “stuff” done, right? And the approaching holidays were not making it easier on me either. And of course, I did not need a planner or rather, did not keep up with the one I had. After all, I just could not have as much “stuff” to do like other larger, well organized, busier families. Right? Wrong!!!! I “had” to do the shopping, the baking, the cooking, the hosting, the decorating, the late night blogging, you name it! What is even worse, is that my family was not getting the best of me. My kids homeschooling and activities were neglected; my family’s mealtime was kind of whatever I could find, and our health was neglected. And boy was I cranky!!!!!!!! And as for God, don’t even ask! Making time to soak in His Word and call out to him was just not happening. Yes, there was the quick 1 minute prayers and the quick reading of a verse or two. But that was about it.

But when at 35 weeks expecting my body decided to crash, I had no choice but to give in and slow down. I kept on feeling nauseated in the early mornings and I knew I had already passed that stage. It was my body telling me that I was doing way too much! I had gone to a ladies Christmas breakfast outing over the weekend and when I got back home I was totally worn out! I knew it could not have been just the breakfast because I rode along with someone. It had to be all the non-resting days I had been allowing myself NOT to have previously. And boy was I really going that week. There was a previous birthday for one of our kids 2 days after Thanksgiving; there was the OB doctor’s appointments; we had hosted a church family get together the night before the breakfast, and another friend had come over for a few hours in the previous morning. And there is always the cleaning and preparing when folks are coming over – no matter how small a group.

But I was worn out. My hubby and kids needed me and I just could not move another muscle. I could tell that the kids needed my attention – but all I could say was, “mommy is tired and needs to rest a little”. Thankfully, hubby was willing to watch the kids some more while I got some rest (he had already watched them that morning while I was at the breakfast). When I went to the room to lay down, I could hear the little footsteps running down the hall. My kids were coming. Hubby came by and shut the door and took them back out to play in another room. But then the restless legs kicked in. And if you have ever suffered with restless legs syndrome during pregnancy, you definitely know how miserable you can feel. It can definitely keep you awake for hours and hours no matter how much you try to move your legs to relieve it. I even used some essential oils to help my legs relax. After about an hour or so of trying to sleep to no avail, I got up and went out to the living room. I crawled up under some cozy blankets on a couch. I decided I would just rest there a little and watch the kids play and just enjoy the Christmas lights on the tree and maybe even flip through a Christmas magazine. Needless to say, I fell asleep out there on the couch for about an hour and a half. Hubby had put the kids to nap too, so there were not all the extra running around and noise making in the house. Hubby even got us take away dinner that evening because I just could not keep up. The whole day, I was physically worn out.

I felt a “tad” better after I napped but felt tired and nauseated again when I went to church on Sunday. And what do you know, I still went to another friend’s home to make DIY Christmas gift tags on Monday morning! Yes, I did not take the day to stay home. I had considered whether I should cancel the outing because I knew how tired I had been over the weekend and did not want a repeat. But I also did not want to disappoint, either. And I thought it would be fun to go craft with other ladies.

But the thing is that I did not feel tired on Monday at all. It was as if my body had recuperated. Only to find out, that I had a loving hubby who cared enough to take time to pray for his over-tired wife. He went to work and knew how tired I was over the weekend, so he took some time to pray for me throughout the day. Hence his pressing need to really know how I did on Monday when he came from work. Praise the Lord for husbands who pray for their wives and praise the Lord for a God who answers prayers!

But what good would prayer be if we harden our hearts and not listen to that still quiet voice inside of us? The bible says that we should be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46:10).

So I decided that something had to give.

I had to decide that I was not going to run around shopping and driving myself insane for the season.
I had to decide against hosting blog parties and linkies that took way too much time to create.
I had to delete from many Facebook blogging groups that was just too much to keep up with.
I had to decide that I was not going to host guests over for a while (just makes me too tired although I love doing it).
I had to decide to settle down and take time to nurture my family.
I had to decide to take time for my very own health and unborn baby.
And more so, I had to decide to take time out for God.

Altogether, I hope I learned a lesson from this. Taking care of our bodies is more important than trying to keep up with the Joneses. A woman’s body when she is pregnant is no way near normal what her body is like when she is not. We go through so many changes and not to mention, the added baby weight that comes with it. It is just not wise to try to go over and above what our bodies tell us. God in His wisdom knows how much our body could handle. He is not going to punish me if I take time to rest in His care nor if my home is not magazine style decorated for the holidays. He has commanded us to take care of our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) which is very pleasing in His sight.

How are you this holiday season? Are you stressed with all the planning and the hustle and bustle that come with it? Is your body telling you to slow down but you are ignoring it like me. Remember, our bodies are God’s temple and He wants us to take care of what He has given to us. Slow down, my friends, and take non-selfish time to take care of your selves. If you need to, use a planner and other record keeping item to create “non-overwhelming” to do lists so you won’t get burned out! There are some great ones floating around the web at this time of the year or you can even create your own! I know this post was a little lengthy, but thanks for reading or skimming through it. And I hope you take time and don’t crash like I did!

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Easy Mason Jar Christmas Decor

I love Mason jars! They are just so very versatile and can practically be used in so many ways. I have a stock of new ones that I keep just in case I need them and two of them came in handy for this little project. This is a project that even little kids could help do – so easy!

What we used for this decor: I had all these items on hand so I did not need to go out and buy extras:)

2 Mason jars
Small red Christmas ornaments
green colored rocks
decorative ribbon
white glitter
water

What to do:

Place the rocks in the jar.
Add the ornaments.
Sprinkle a generous amount of glitter over the rocks and ornaments in the jar.
Fill the jar with water (leaving about 1 inch space at the top).
Cover the jar tightly, then tie with decorative ribbon.

As you may notice in the photos, the rocks will remain at the bottom of the jar because they are heavier in material. The lighter ornaments and glitter will float to the top. (Some of the glitter may even remain between the rocks). If the jar is shaken, then the glitter will rise and fall like snowflakes.

The jar can remain seated upright as a decorative object or if covered very tightly, they can be turned down (kind of like a snow globe). You may view my DIY snow globe from last year here.

I really loved how these turned out! So simple and the kids had fun adding the stuff to the jars and then shaking them around to see the glitter rise and fall like snowflakes!

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Christmas

Salt Dough Ornaments – Christmas Projects for Kids

This is our first year trying out the salt dough ornaments that float around the web at Christmas time. They are super easy to make and a are a great project to do with kids around the holidays. It seems like they will be able to last for a couple of years to, if stored away properly. We are using them on the kids small Christmas tree in their room. I am definitely loving how they turned out and my kiddos had fun making them!

What you need to make the ornaments: 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup salt; 1 cup warm water.
Additional items: Paint (I used acrylic paint colors); glue, glitter or other small decorative items, and a straw.
What to do: Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in water to make a play-dough type dough. You may not need to add the entire cup of water. So just use your judgement.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Roll out dough unto a lightly floured surface and cut into shapes (I used Christmas cookie cutters). Place the cut out shapes on an un-greased baking sheet. Before baking, use the straw to punch out holes to place the string in the ornaments later (see photo below). Bake the dough in the oven for 2 to 3 hours or until they are very hard. After they have cooled, paint them and allow them to dry. (We only painted the front side). Then if desired, paste with glue and add glitter or whatever other small objects you desire. If you use glitter, shake of the excess when the shapes have fully dried. Now, tie a string through the holes of the ornaments and hang them up on your Christmas tree!

My kiddos are still very young toddlers so after they painted these larger size bears, I helped them shape the letters of the beginning of their names with glue. Then they sprinkled the glitter on them. I also helped them form decorative edges around the bears. When the ornaments were dried, we shook of the excess glitter, and added the ribbons. They turned out beautiful!

Have you tried making any kind of Christmas ornaments before?

She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27, KJV).

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Home Matters Link Party #16

Thanks for linking up with us here at Home Matters Link party. We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!

A huge thanks to everyone who took time out of their busy week to link up with us. We maxed out to 101 links which is the most we have every had! On another note, two of your hosts, Bonnie and Zan, will be leaving the party. As we all know, family priorities come before blogging. Zan and her family are expecting their baby boy soon and cannot continue hosting the party.

As always, we look forward to seeing your matters of the home links such as: home decor tips and tricks, DIY, homesteading, homeschooling, child rearing, frugal living, sustainability, and organizational tips! Be sure to check out our simple rules before linking your posts!

1. Follow the hosts on at least one form of social media. You can tag that follow with #HomeMatters.

2. Link up to 3 posts per party. Please note that we (host & co-hosts) reserve the right to use any photo you have linked up to be featured at the next party, should it be chosen. All credits would be yours!

3. Please visit other links and share the love you seek.

Note: This is a family blog, so please be respectful when linking and commenting. Thanks!

We would love to connect with you on social media!

Kristen at The Road To Domestication:

Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/LinkedIn/Instagram/YouTube/Hometalk/Houzz

Zan (Flourishing At Home)

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Shirley at Intelligent Domestications:

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Bonnie at Our Second Hand House:

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You may grab our button here.

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The Birth of Jesus Christ: 25 Days of Christmas Printable for Pre-K; White Chocolate Peppermint Bites: 12 Days ( & Beyond) of Christmas Sweets & Goodies; Mint Chocolate Fudge: 12 Days (& Beyond) of Christmas Sweets & Goodies And now, onto this week’s featured links! Please check out all our features and show them some love by sharing or commenting on their post. You may review our “How to be Featured” tips here and grab the button below if you have been featured.

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Don’t forget to check out the other Hosts blogs to see the other features. Here are their individual links: The Road To Domestication; Intelligent Domestications; Our Second Hand House

3 Stress Less Holiday Tips from Woods Of Bell Tress

Coastal Dresser Redo from Redo It Yourself Inspirations

DIY Snowman Wreath from Meatloaf And Melodrama

And here are the most clicked of the Week. Both links received 18 clicks.

20 Thanksgiving Pie Recipes from More Than A Mom Of Three

Scrappy Jean Christmas Ornaments from 2 Crochet Hooks

Please Note: We have pinned your featured links unto our Home Matters Awesome Pins Board. You can follow along here: Home Matters Awesome Board on Pinterest

We hope everyone will take a moment to visit some of these featured links and share some love! And remember, after you link, please take a moment to visit a few other blogs and share the love you seek!

Thanks for coming to the party and have fun linking up!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Our Family’s Christmas 2013: Photos & Events!

These are some photos of our family events from last Christmas. I am just now getting to put them up on the blog. There are explanations of the events written on the photos. Enjoy!