Christmas Traditions

We have had many fun and memorable Christmas traditions in our home.  First, I loved (loved!) being classroom Mom for the class Christmas parties.  I would literally try to sign up for them when school started.  I loved it!  I always made some sort of treat bag/treat container that was filled with fun.  By fun I mean a handmade ornament for each student, candy, and fun activities or toys.  Here are a few treat bags I made for Christmas.  Also, most years I hand wrapped each handmade ornament so the kids had something to unwrap.

Classroom treats were also made.  One year I dipped large marshmallows into melted butterscotch chips on a stick.

Link to this on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot

I had so much fun coming up with creative treat holders.  The one above was made from a toilet paper roll (bottom piece), and the top was an ornament that sat into the top.

Link to this on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot

Long time blog followers already know that I have a passion for making homemade ornaments for my family every year.  Well, every year until I got some comments that they "had too many."  Then I stopped, but I am making one this year.  The above one was made with gumball machine capsules.

Link to this on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot

Link to this on my blog

Link to this on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot

I made so, so many ornaments over the years.  Many are on my S.C.R.A.P. blog, and if you search my blog here, I posted many photos of some.  Search handmade/homemade Christmas ornaments.  The posts should pop up for you.

Another tradition when the kids were younger - sugar cube castle building with frosting and candies.

We still have a tradition of gifting new and wrapped jammies on Christmas Eve.  We are now down to just the 4 of us, out of a family of 8.  This year I will gift everyone a few days earlier, so we can all wash them before wearing them.

I'm going to start a new one this year, just different from the idea of it all.  I will share when that happens.

Of course when the kiddos were young, they would leave cookies and milk out for Santa.  Making all sorts of cookies and candies was a family tradition, and saving some of them for New Year's Eve.

Over the years, trying a new cookie/candy recipe for the holidays became a tradition as well. One year we even tried an alcoholic breakfast beverage (adults).

Overnight breakfast casserole has been a long time tradition for us.  We only make it for Christmas morning.  I thought for sure I shared my recipe on my blog, but can't seem to find it.  I guess when I bake it this year, it'll get it's own post.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I can't believe November is already here.  I rolled in with a bang of cold weather.

Sunday, we were up super early due to the dogs on regular time and us on daylight savings. We could have used that extra our of sleep.  My husband and I started back up on purging the garage.  We got a lot done.  There is much to do yet, but it is much better now.

Rehomed the king box spring to our good friends, dog bed steps will go to humane society or Goodwill, sent photos of some wall lights to family to see if they could use them (new in boxes), threw stuff out until our bin was full (more to put in it after trash day).  Some will be burned.   Found tools we thought were lost, found a home for the horse feed bucket left behind by one daughter, found a brand new wheel for my garden cart, will be rehoming a child's rocker to our grand kids, toys my son left behind are going to my nephew...such a good feeling to get that much done in just half the day.  We were done by 1pm, as far as we could.  We'll resume another day.

We got snow about the time we delivered the box spring.  The cold returned for the day, and the sky turned dark.  I literally did dinner prep, put on jammies, and picked up the crochet hook.  Hubby turned on football.

Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

The weather outside is . . .

Woke up to 20 degrees, high of 47 today and low of 36 degrees.  We are to be up in the 70's by the weekend.

How I am feeling this morning. . .

Actually I feel rested.  Although the dogs got me up early yesterday, I went to bed early and got extra sleep.

On my mind. . .

Election day.  It's causing a lot of anxiety.  I think I will bake some cookies and deliver them to my Dad.  I have not seen him since the beginning of the plan-demic.  I will have to wait for someone to be off work to do that though.

On the breakfast plate . . .

Right now I am . .

Blanching organic spinach.

On today's to-do list . . .

-bake a breakfast for the next few days

-blanch/freeze spinach and chard

-make homemade garlic breadsticks

-sweep/mop kitchen

-wash bedding and any other laundry

-clean one shelf in my refrigerator

On the reading pile . . . 

Stay tuned.  Book has been ordered.

On my TV . . .

Football lately.

On the menu this week . . .

-homemade pizza with home canned sauce and veggies

-crockpot pork chops, mushroom sauce, green beans

-spaghetti with Kamut noodles, peas and homemade cheesy breadsticks

Steel cut oats with apples (breakfast)

Breakfast casserole

From the Camera . . .

New Christmas ornament!  It's not small, but cute.  I wanted to get at least one made, to see if they would be too big for a tree.   I just need a hanger.  I will be making more, after I finish some current projects.

Looking around the house . . .

We now have 2 Christmas trees up.  On daughter put hers up in a corner in the living room (one she used in her apt.).  It's cute, but I think the dogs will get to the ornaments.  I guess we'll see.  I'm not in a hurry to get ours up just yet.  

New recipe I want to try, or one we really enjoyed . . .

I have oodles of new recipes to try.  Stay tuned.  

 Something I want to share . . .

(from Learning Herbs)

On my prayer list . . .

America, our State, the election, Youngest, my Dad's upcoming surgery, our close friends, and any personal request.

Random Tidbits ~ New Christmas Tree Ornaments (Kitchen) ~ Scrap Fabric Cards

Has anyone else had problems with the font on their blog changing to a different size after you post it?  I sometimes catch it prior to posting, but I noticed it is happening again. I don't think they have all the "bugs" worked out of this new format.

I bought these new ornaments for our kitchen Christmas tree!  Aren't they adorable?  I love them!  And no, I have not put up anything else for Christmas.  I've been too busy ha ha!

Youngest had a day off work, so we carpooled to the "Big City" and I picked up some more items I needed.  I stocked up on dried fruits too, just in case our state gets shut down again.  I needed them for winter prep anyway.

Cold weather is here to stay I think.  Yesterday high of 77 degrees and today woke up to 42 with a high of 47 and now we dip to the 30's at night his coming week. Time to put porch furniture in storage and get back to splitting wood.

This and That

Sam I Am (at farmgirlSam blogspot) shared an ornament that reminded me of one I made for gift giving years ago.  The crocheted edging is different, but wanted to share.

I found wooden rings at the thrift store and used canning lids (old ones) for the backs.  The directions can be found on my S.C.R.A.P. Blogspot if you are interested.

I will be digging through my crafting supplies to see if I have more rings to make the ones she posted.  They are beautiful!

Not much going on at our homestead right now.  

I got a few organic celery cubes frozen for winter soups.  Speaking of soups, I will be bagging my corn off the cob into smaller bags more so than the 3 cup bags, so I can use it for soups (but in smaller amounts).

I made crock pot leftover ham/veggie soup yesterday.  I left out the corn and added white beans and a small amount of lentils (shockingly high in carbs), leftover green beans etc.  I did some reading, and couldn't believe corn has more carbs (starch) than white potatoes.  Yikes.

I got my brown paper bags stamped for "shopping" bags for my customers at the craft show.

I baked my first loaf of wheat bread using whole grain Einkorn flour - no eggs, no butter or other fats.  I was a bit iffy on this recipe.  I had to wait 2 hours to slice a piece to try (what the recipe said to do).

Results?  

Surprisingly good!  According to what I am reading on the package of the flour, it is about half the carbs you would get in other (white flour) breads, and just a hair more than coconut flour (which is a low carb flour).

I'm crocheting and knitting like a mad woman.  The upcoming craft show will be the only one I'll do this year, but will work quickly to prep for next year, so I can spend my time in the garden next summer.