Preparing For Christmas...


It's already December 4th, but still early enough to talk about preparing for Christmas!  Today's post isn't about decorating and gift buying...I will get to some of that in another post.  This one is about preparing myself for blessings during this season of advent and working on renewing my attitude of anticipation and joy for the second coming of Christ by reflecting on the events that led up to His first coming. How do I do that? I am intentional with my time and make it a priority to read the bible and pray each day. I also try to focus outward and think of others and I try to do things that bring joy to others.

I have quite a collection of advent calendars...this one is a favorite and I have used it both at home and at school back in my teaching days... For each day there is a book that tells the progression of the story of the "first Christmas."  It is very sweet and a great way to encourage young readers.  But any age can benefit from the simple message. This one I put out every year is probably 15 years old.  It must be popular because I saw one in Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago...or was it Books-A-Million (hmmmmm)!

 

 

While Nicole was in town for Thanksgiving we made an Advent Ring Calendar for Claire to use with her favorite story bible

 

 

We used chipboard cutouts of different Christmas shapes that were on a ring (2011 find at Michael's) .  We covered them with scrapbook paper, typed out the daily readings, printed them on stickers, and put one on each cut out!

 

 

Claire, Mommy, and Daddy have a special time each day to put aside the busyness of Christmas stuff and focus on the more important aspect of the season!

 

I decided to make myself an advent scripture ring after working on Claire's... cause you know how I love index cards and fabric!  There are lots of resources for advent daily scripture reading on the internet.  I used one that I found on  pinterest  and "tweaked" it with scripture from other advent calendars I already had!

 

I know I will enjoy this every year and the beauty of it is there are still blank cards that I can write on and add to my advent calendar in years to come!

 

I hope you have an advent tradition that you look forward to each year for opening your heart to the true gift of Christmas.  If you don't, use one of the ideas above...I promise you it will be a blessing beyond measure!!

 

 

Thanksgiving is our first holiday together as a family after the girls go back to school in the fall.  We always make trips to Vandy and now UGA and of course Birmingham to visit and go to football games; but nothing is better than being together under one roof!  We start the festivities with our annual Macy's Parade Breakfast.  This year we had fun with family and friends.  There was food and something for everyone...coloring, horse shoes, croquet, trivia...did I mention there was a parade??

 

  

Claire made a new friend, Noah, and the two were inseparable all morning!

 

 

Breakfast, the parade, and even the dog show are long over and it's time to transition to the big turkey dinner.  We have our extended family with us every year and feel very blessed to be together once again, come what may!

 

 

On Saturday morning we went to the Yacht Club for breakfast and to take pictures for our Christmas card.  This year we honored our colleges! We had fun and took some great pics...only there was a smudge on the lens (you might have mistaken it for a halo over David and Nicole's head in the picture below;)

 

 

Back home we discovered the smudge on nearly every photo...but that doesn't stop us we simply have a do-over!

 

 

I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving!  I am looking forward to

blogging about our Christmas this year so stay tuned!

 

Rainy Days ...Jack -0-Lanterns...Roasted Pumpkin Seeds...and Scrapbooks

Today is a rainy, stay-in-the-house-and-do-a-craft, kinda day.

 

It really doesn't take much for me to dig into a craft...

so this morning I decided to roast some pumpkin seeds

and do some scrap booking.

 

First up, the roasted pumpkin seeds...

It all began here at Girls Inc. Last week the teens did a

Reader's Theater version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

 

 

This week the teens and teachers carved pumpkins...

 

 

 

 

Talk about a lot of seeds!!

 

 

I followed this Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe from Pinterest and

did my pumpkin seeds in three batches.

 

 

I have to seal them up  in a jar...otherwise they will be gone before I get them to the girls next week :D

 While that was happening in the kitchen,  I was busy putting together pages for my Thanksgiving scrapbook.  These are the beginnings of pages from last year's fun making pies and the Macy's Parade breakfast...

 

 

Enjoy this rainy day... it is a gift from God!

Nashville

 

We are heading up to Nashville for Parent's Weekend with Kate.  We are staying downtown in an old train station which will be cool. After watching the first episode of...Nashville...

starring one of my favorite actresses, Connie Britton (now playing country music star Rayna James in this new show), I am definitely thinking that we need to check out the famous BlueBird Cafe...

 

Of course we will be doing the usual college weekend stuff too...cheering against the Gators at the football game on Saturday night, eating breakfast out someplace cool, maybe a little shopping...

 

 

If I spot any famous people anywhere up there I will get a picture and maybe even an autograph...

Kate was studying at the Frothy Monkey Coffee Shop in September.

Connie Britton came in with friends. She ordered coffee, set it down on the table right where Kate was sitting while she got a lid for her coffee, she then smiled at her, picked up her coffee and left.  She texted us the...You won't believe who is in line getting coffee text...when we all said picture proof was necessary she said she didn't want to bother her with picture taking and autographs...

 

Nicole told her that she lives in Nashville and she is never to leave the dorm without paper and a sharpie and one eye searching for stars...

 I am convinced that teaching our children is a lifelong thing :D

Katelyn's Fall Break = Food!!

 

Katelyn is home for fall break!!  That means cooking dinner at night and so far three grocery store trips in three days...what can I say, I am a little out of practice :D On Wednesday evening I made this great recipe find from Pinterest...Lasagna Soup

 

It is spicy from the  Italian sausage, fire roasted diced tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, and garlic.

It is cheesy...with a mixture of ricotta, shaved Parmesan, and mozzarella.

And it's SOUP...with 6 cups of chicken broth and all of those fusilli pasta noodles...YUMMY!  I was a tiny bit worried that lasagna as a soup would

not go over too well, especially with Rich...but it was a hit!

 

When deciding on dinner for last night I mentioned that I had the Martha Stewart Macaroni and Cheese recipe that I wanted to make for her and she decided that we should make buffalo turkey burgers too.  So back to the store

we went (after an afternoon of some shoe shopping ;)

 

 

If you are a mac and cheese fan...this one is a must try! Kate spent the

better part of 30 minutes grating white cheddar and Gruyere cheese.  Add to that whole milk, butter, freshly grated nutmeg and homemade breadcrumbs...divine!!

 

Now, I am not so much a die-hard fan of these...but if you like

buffalo wing sauce, blue cheese and spicy turkey burgers...these are

superb!

 

We also had a plan for the evening...it was Cold War movie night...yes, I am serious!  Kate's history class this fall is on the Cold War era.  So we netflixed

The Hunt for Red October and enjoyed our rich and spicy dinner along with some classic Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin!! 

 

With two days of her fall break left I am thinking I will easily gain 3-5 pounds...so I am glad that I am back into my morning walking routine!!

 

If you want to get the above recipes for lasagna soup and Martha's Mac and Cheese go to my pinterest lasagna soup (once you are looking at the pin, click on the web address in the upper right corner)and my pinterest mac and cheese (click on the web address in the upper right corner) and then plan a trip to the gym or a run or a hike or a very long walk!!!