Our Family Christmas

In keeping with tradition, our family celebrated Christmas early since we would be spending the actual day with extended family.

 

The day was pretty normal until evening. Daddy came home from work, and the festivities started!



We began with Christmas dinner!

We enjoyed cranberry chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, artichoke dip with crackers, and sparkling grape juice.

We had all manner of treats for dessert! There were Ritz cracker treats, no-bake cookies, toasted almond truffles, cracker brittle, Knick Knack Noels, York Peppermint brownies, Peanut Blossoms, pretzel treats, and cookies baked by our friend at church.

 

Once we finished eating, we commenced our celebration of advent with singing and Bible reading. Then it was time for gifts!



Our tree.

We kept our gift exchange to a minimum this year (intentionally) but that doesn’t mean it was any less fun! We are so grateful for the great gift God blessed us with: the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ! That is why we celebrate!

 

White Elephant Gift Exchange

Our last youth group activity at church was the annual White Elephant Gift Exchange! It got postponed a week due to the unexpected ice storm.



We had a lot of kids come during the Junior High Exchange! It got pretty loud at times. J



The funniest gift was probably the toilet brush that came wrapped in layers of duct tape! At least it was new, and practical!

The high school gift exchange was much quieter and organized. They even had time to play some fun games, including the one above where they had to try to draw a Christmas scene on a paper plate without looking at it.

It’ll be several weeks before youth group resumes again, but we hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, and we look forward to getting together again in the new year!

Emmanuel

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free

Thine own from Satan's tyranny

From depths of Hell Thy people save

And give them victory o'er the grave

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer

Our spirits by Thine advent here

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night

And death's dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

O come, Thou Key of David, come,

And open wide our heavenly home;

Make safe the way that leads on high,

And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,

Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,

In ancient times did'st give the Law,

In cloud, and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee, O Israel.

 

Recipe--Sherry and Curry Cheese Spread

This was another recipe our family tested out as part of our Colonial Williamsburg-themed Thanksgiving feast. This spread is quite elegant, and makes a great appetizer for a holiday party!

Sherry and Curry Cheese Spread

1 8-oz package cream cheese

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

3 Tablespoons dry sherry

¾ teaspoon curry powder

¼ teaspoon dry mustard

¼ teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons chopped chives

½ cup mango chutney (we substituted pear butter because that’s all we had)

Place the cream cheese, Cheddar, sherry, curry, mustard, and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Blend until well combined and smooth. Remove the cheese mixture from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap, shaping it into a ball. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When ready to serve roll the ball of cheese in the chopped chives. Spread the chutney on a serving platter. Place the cheese ball on top of the chutney. Serve with crackers. Serves 15-20.

Peace on Earth

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along the unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

And in despair I bowed my head:

"There is no peace on earth," I said,

"For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

 

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men."

 

Till, ringing singing, on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

Christmas for Our Home-Away-From-Home Students

Most of you have probably read about our Home-Away-From-Home Students. But for those of you who haven’t, our church has a ministry called “Home-Away-From-Home” for local college students. The students that participate in the ministry are those who are living away from their families on one of the local campuses. They are matched with families in our church who “adopt” them for the school year. Each family does it a little differently, but we’ve tried to incorporate our two students into our family life as much as possible.

They both were leaving town for Christmas, and we wanted to make sure we celebrated before they left. So we had them over for dinner one night!

They surprised us by bringing us these delicious snowmen!

We enjoyed taco soup and lots of laughter around the dinner table!

Then we gave them their Christmas gifts! We made little goody boxes for them, along with some gift cards.

We hope they both have a wonderful Christmas! We’re so thankful for them!

Unto Us

“For to us a child is born,

to us a Son is given,

and the government will be on His shoulders.

And He will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah 9:6

Merry Christmas!

Life Group Christmas Party

Earlier this month, Mom and Dad’s Life Group from church had their annual Christmas party (for those of you who don’t know, our church does home Bible studies called Life Groups instead of adult Sunday Schools.) It was pretty different than last year’s party, because the group is much smaller this year.

We had a delicious dinner of soups, salad, fruit, and cheese and crackers.

We had a great time talking together afterwards.

A lot of our conversation centered around the cookies. J The leader of the Life Group bakes 3,000 cookies every Christmas. There were about 120 on the plate above!

Even though there were no other kids, we all enjoyed visiting with the grown-ups. Our church family is such a blessing to us!

Christmas Service Projects

The past several years, our family has felt convicted about giving more at Christmas than we receive. This year, we did three big service projects to help accomplish that goal:

*Please know that we don’t share this to brag or show off in any way. These are just some ideas our family had that we wanted to share with you, and hopefully encourage you to do similar things for others!*

1.) One week, we prepared freezer meals, a hot dinner, and brought Christmas gifts to a single Mom in our church. Her health has been poor lately, and she was just released from a stay in the hospital. We wanted to bless her and her son by helping them with meals until she gets back on her feet!

2.) We felt inspired to bless our Associate Pastor and his family. They have three children under the age of 8, and she is pregnant with their fourth child. Mom prepared several meals for their freezer, Roma prepared a fun movie night gift basket for them with lots of gifts and treats, and Ben and I delivered everything. While we were there, we babysat their kids for free while they went on a much-needed date. Just seeing their joy when they came home after having a night alone together made it all so worth it!

3.) Our friend C works at the local ER, and mentioned in the past how much the staff appreciates a hot meal during a busy work day. So we decided to prepare a hot lunch for them as a bit of a Christmas Thank You for everything they do for us! After my graduation party this summer and the cobbler party this fall, cooking for 20 people felt so easy! J

Delivering lunch to the ER.

Photo Credit: Our friend, C.

These are just a few ways our family has tried to serve this Christmas and keep our heart focused on the real reason why we celebrate: because Christ was the greatest gift for us all!

What are some ways you give/serve at Christmas time? We’d love to hear about it in the comments! We’d love more ideas!

Mercy

I can't count the broken roads I've been down, but all I know

Something had to give, something had to give

'Cause living my life so wild and free, finally caught up

Oh it left me broken, left me hopeless

But that's where I met Jesus

 

In one moment everything changed

Who I was got washed away

When mercy found me

My Savior's arms were open wide

And I felt love for the very first time

When mercy found me

When mercy found me

 

All those days, all those doubts

They don't seem to matter now

His Grace is all I need

His Grace is all I need

And the chains that I was in before

They don't hold me anymore

His love has rescued me

His love has set me free

 

In one moment everything changed

Who I was got washed away

When mercy found me

My Savior's arms were open wide

And I felt love for the very first time

When mercy found me

 

My mind found peace

My soul found hope

My heart found a home

 

In one moment everything changed

Who I was got washed away

When mercy found me

My Savior's arms were open wide

And I felt love for the very first time

When mercy found me

When mercy found me

When mercy found me

When mercy found me

When mercy found me

When mercy found me

 

--“When Mercy Found Me” by the Rhett Walker Band

Recipe--Sweet Potato Casserole

I like a lot of foods. I would even say I love a lot of foods. But there are some foods that I *really* love, and this casserole is one of them! Some of you may be appalled at how sweet it is, but I love it! This falls somewhere between regular sweet potato casserole and sweet potato pie. It is truly one of my favorite holiday dishes!

Sweet Potato Casserole

2 40-oz cans sweet potatoes, drained

½ stick butter

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 Tablespoons flour

2 teaspoons vanilla

¾ cups sugar

Topping

½ cup flour

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup pecans

½ stick butter

Combine casserole ingredients, put in 9x13” pan. Mix topping; sprinkle on top. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350°F. Serves 8-12.

* We usually almost double the topping ingredients for this casserole.

Piano Lessons

~Posted by Roma

I’ve been enjoying my new piano teacher in TX., Mrs. M. Some neighbors told us about her when we first moved here a year ago, and Mom decided to call her.

I started lessons with her this past summer, and Bianca started a few weeks later. It was so nice to pick up again! And we love her! She is extremely challenging yet friendly. If I decide to keep on going for years, she could even teach me to memorize and compose music, and reach a fantastic performance level!

The Lord practically brought her right to us. I could ride my bike right over to her house, she’s that close by! Well, it would be a long bike ride anyway. J She’s extremely gifted. She has even toured Europe with an orchestra in the past.

Right now I’ve been busy practicing Christmas songs—since it’s almost here! J Mrs. M. is trying to teach me how to go from one song right to the other without stopping, and “modulation”—to change the tonic. (Those of you who are musicians! J J) I’m enjoying it so much, and just might consider studying music in college one day—whatever God’s will is for my life. I love lots of music.

This is just one of the blessings that God has brought on our family these days—one of many Texan blessings. Have a great day, folks!

Josiah's Belt Test

Last Friday night, Josiah had a belt test in Tae-Kwon-Do. This was his second one, but I had missed his first one (I was in Guatemala.) So it was a new experience for me!

The test ended up being 5 hours long! They tested all the belt levels for his studio. It was pretty incredible to watch. I was so proud of Josiah!

His teacher praised him several times for his fierce attitude during the test.

They did a lot of different things including board breaking, getting out of holds, etc. But the highlight of the evening for everyone was the sparring.

We had a great time talking together afterwards.

Receiving his paper and orange belt at the end!

Josiah has really enjoyed doing Tae-Kwon-Do this year, and it’s great as his sibling to see him doing so well! J We’re so proud of our not-so-little guy!

Texas Picture: December

This is so wrong for north Texas in December! As I’m sure most of you know, we had a shocking ice storm earlier this month that shut down our area for a solid week. I used to laugh at southerners and how just a little bit of snow or ice stopped them. I laugh no more. There are no snow plows, no salt trucks, *nothing* to treat it with! That’s why 2 inches of ice can shut a state down!

Thankfully, we didn’t lose power, and it really was beautiful! And fun to play in! J But we were admittedly very happy when it melted away. J

Family Photos

Earlier in December, we had family photos taken! We wanted to have a picture to send out with our Christmas letter, and also update our Blogger Profile picture. Since we now have a good photographer friend, we had C take our pictures instead of having me run in and out using a timer. He also has the Lightroom editing program, which is used by a lot of professionals. He did an awesome job on our portrait session!

C and I work pretty well together, because I do better at photo composition and he covers the technical camera details and the editing afterwards (which I hate doing.) These are the three best shots we got:

Down in our pecan grove.

In front of our new barn.

And by our front door!

*Which picture is your favorite?* Share in the comments!

College Plus Gathering (Sunday)

I used to laugh at southerners because of their reaction to what I thought of as a “little” snow and ice. Having been raised in Michigan, I knew what a serious blizzard looked like!

But I laugh no more. The reason behind southerners’ terror at a little bit of ice is that there is no way to deal with it! There are no snow plows, no salt trucks, nothing. That makes even a little bit of ice very scary!

We learned this firsthand. As you’ve probably already read, Mom and I got stranded at the College Plus retreat for an extra night. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun!

Sunday morning we all gathered in the dining hall for breakfast. Then we had to say goodbye to those heading towards the airport. Some of them still didn’t have flights, but they were going to hang out with the people at the hotel in Dallas until they finally got a flight out. About 9 of us were left that planned to drive. We waited until about noon to leave (we wanted the temperatures to be as warm as possible, so that hopefully the road conditions would improve.) While we waited, we had a wonderful time visiting as a more intimate group.

We had a guitar out and sang quite a few songs together, and just talked! We discussed everything from future CP gatherings, to deeper spiritual things, to the Andy Griffith show!

Finally the time came to brave the roads. We took it nice and slow. There was basically 2 solid inches of ice on the roads. There had been ice/sleet that had fallen, melted into slush, refrozen, and then got covered with another layer of ice. Yes, it was a mess!

Thankfully, the freeway was pretty clear for the most part. There was only one bridge we termed the “Going to Meet Jesus” bridge. J What should have been a 2-hour trip took us four hours, but we were just so thankful to make it safely home!

What our road looked like.

The only place we ever got stuck was our own driveway! J Thankfully Dad was there to help get us out.

Mom and I had a wonderful time at the conference! I can hardly describe what a blessing it was to be surrounded by so many like-minded young people. I am so very excited to build those relationships!