Advent Pockets

Several years ago {maybe four or five?} I stumbled across Jenny's blog and fell in love with her Advent pockets.  I adapted the colors to suit my decor and love them.  I'm ready to make a new set with updated colors and freshen things up a little although I'm uncertain what colors I'll use.

 In years past the pockets have held a new nativity set, one piece for each day so the nativity scene slowly unfolded, with Baby Jesus appearing last.

 This year I decided to join the trend of doing activities during Advent.  So each pouch holds a slip of paper with an activity and a chocolate.  There are gobs of lists of activities all over the Internet, I meshed several suggestions together and came up with what worked for our family.  I wanted a good mix of serving and blessing others along with fun, quiet at-home activities. 

Some of the activities are things we try to do every year anyways, like caroling, baking or driving around looking at lights.  This way it prevents the "when are we going to...." and also ensures we don't forget to do these favorite things.  It helps to keep a master list of what you put in each pouch so you're not caught off-guard and unprepared.

When an activity requires giving money, try to put the money in the pouch, that way the child feels more a part of it.

Here's some of our list.

~Put up & decorate Christmas tree, have our annual waffle & "rolly" sausage dinner

~Write letters to a few friends, mail them stickers & small treats
~Write a letter to Grandma & Grandpa telling them 10 reasons you love them
~Make paper snowflakes
~Tape $1 to a vending machine with a nice note

~Tape quarters to a bubble gum machine with a nice note
~Family board game night
~Ask a cashier what his/her favorite candy bar is then buy it for them
~Write letters to Grandma and your great-aunt
~Candlelight bubble bath (Grab every candle you have, place them in the bathroom and light, then turn off any electric lights.  If you don't feel comfortable leaving your children with lit candles, try a small string of Christmas lights in the bathroom.  I let them each have a bath on different nights)
~Go Christmas caroling
~Make cards for your Sunday School teachers
~Leave a treat and a nice note on top of the garbage can for the trash man
~Make & mail cards for our minister who lives out of town now
~Go out for dinner, leave a huge tip for the waitress, then drive around looking at Christmas lights
~Bake Christmas cookies
~Have a Hot Cocoa party

~Write a nice note and take a treat to each of the ministers
~Family Minute-to-Win-It party
~Have a pizza party in the living room while watching a Christmas movie
~Go to the donut shop, leave an extra $20 for the customers behind you

Ice Candle Part Deux

I know I've posted about my ice candle before but the directions were shabby at best and I thought to take pictures when I made it this last time.

Start with two containers, the larger one is about 2 gallons, if  I had to guess.  I think it was from GFS Marketplace and had potato salad or something similar.  The other container is about 48 ounces.  I have also used the metal insert from my ice cream maker as the middle.  If it is taller than your big container, that is fine...it just has to be smaller in diameter.

Start by filling your larger container with water.  Only fill it about 1/3-1/2 at first. 

 

 Put your smaller container in the middle and put something inside the small container to weight it down.  Your small container will probably shift off to the side if you don't weigh it down.  

You can see in this picture we chose to use a bag of split peas.  I should share with you that if you choose peas or beans of any sort and then accidentally drop your ice candle while it's in the freezer, there is a good chance your bag will crash and break and the bottom of your chest freezer will be covered in dried peas.  

Now you will need something to keep your middle container from popping up.  Mr. Steady used lots and lots of tape.  If your large container has a lid - that is the best.  After I made this I remembered I still had the lid.  Oops.

 

Now, just freeze until it's frozen solid.  When you're ready to use, add some warm water to the middle container to loosen it.  Add a candle in a container (I like to use a pillar candle in a canning jar) and set outside on your front porch.

If the weather is cold enough and your ice candle is still in good condition and pretty solid, you can bring it back inside each night and just refreeze.  I used this one four different times.  This really impressed my friend who saw it on several occasions but didn't realize I had taken it inside each time and stored it in the freezer between times :o) 

I am going to keep my eyes open for containers and maybe do a trio of smaller containers soon.

This is Just About To Get Weird

I think I slept through the entire month of December last year because I took all these pictures to post and then didn't.  Fail.  Would it help if I said I actually wrote this post in June and set it to auto-publish today?

I was searching Pinterest for tiny houses and came across this little gem. Is that not the cutest thing?

 

That definitely looked like too much work, but when the boys and I made gingerbread men, I decided to play around with the dough and cut a slit into this little guy.  Yes, he dipped a toe into the water to see how it felt prior to this picture.

 He enjoyed sitting on the edge of the cup but was noncommittal about actually getting in.

 

And then Mr. Steady got involved in the fun.  You can see where this is going, can't you?  He influences me in bad ways.  He suggested we make the hot cocoa into a hot tub.  This part of the post is not suitable for children {wink}.  This is our gingerbread likeness, enjoying the hot tub, except it wasn't until now I realized my doppelganger should be wearing a swimsuit.  Little hussy.  Oh well, at least she remembered to bring a dish rag beach towel.

No gingerbread men were injured in the making of this blog post.  Um, nevermind.

Crate-spiration

Last year when I read Monica's post about creating beauty I was instantly inspired.  She took an old Coca-Cola crate and filled it with items she had around her house.  As an aside - am I the only one whom, after reading The Help, wants to pronounce it Co-Cola?  Here is her original crate

The Homespun Heart

I immediately thought of a black obscure crate that I purchased for $5 at a garage sale some years ago.  I love this crate but it is so large and unwieldy that I never know what to do with it.  Nevertheless, I immediately got started on my own crate.

I am a shameless copy-cat and used dried green peas and cranberries as well.  Mr. Steady cut some pine boughs from the neighbor's tree overhanging our yard which I tucked in here and there.  I scoured the house for tin and galvanized containers and rounded up all my white tealights and votives.  I also gathered my gingerbread cookie cutters and choose the best gingerbread man I had just baked.

I popped three green apples into a spot on the middle and called it good.  

It was so pretty sitting in the middle of the table and it made me smile every time I saw it.  It had to get moved around a lot, most days we left it on the kitchen island/table to keep the dining room table free for....well, dining.

Thanks, Monica, for the inspiration!

A Gift To You

Thriving Family magazine, from Focus on the Family, has a 2012 Advent Calendar, a beautiful devotional for you to do with your family this December. 

While you are there, grab a FREE subscription to Thriving Family - it's full of fun stories, yummy recipes and helpful articles!

A Christmas Gift to Add to Your List

Christmas is less than 4 months away and I have the PERFECT gift for you to give away.  This gift is so perfect you will want to add one for every person on your list.  Children, parents, grandparents, teachers, the mailman, even your hairdresser!

All during the month of September, I am teaming up with Compassion in an attempt to get blog readers everywhere to sponsor 3, 108 children!  Our goal is to beat all of our previous September goals in Compassion's history!

For just $38 a month, you can provide food and clean water, medical care, educational opportunities, a Bible in your child's native language, and life-skills training.  But even more important than these, your sponsored child will hear the good news of Jesus Christ and be invited into a relationship with Him!

So pray about it with your family, I'll be sharing all kinds of wonderful things with you over the next month.  Jesus' gift to us wasn't meant to be wrapped in pretty paper and kept inside our homes, don't our children have enough toys and gadgets and doo-dads?  Let's encourage our children to give and sacrifice of themselves.  And while you're at it, look over your own wish list and see if there is something you can do without so a child can have the opportunity to know Jesus.

Check back soon for more!

P.S. If you are a blogger and want to join in sharing the work of Compassion, this is a great time to join the network of bloggers and get in on the blessing!

Christmas Begins Now

"When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with the flocks,
then the work of Christmas begins:
     to find the lost,
     to heal those broken in spirit,
     to feed the hungry,
     to release the oppressed,
     to rebuild the nations,
     to bring peace among all peoples,
     to make a little music with the heart…
And to radiate the Light of Christ,
every day, in every way, in all that we do and in all that we say.
Then the work of Christmas begins.
The message of the Feast of Epiphany announces to all people, everywhere:

Rise up in splendor…your light has come,
The Glory of the Lord shines upon you!

Let the work of Christmas begin, and let it begin with you."

~Howard Thurman (adapted)

Not Christmas Yet!

"The celebration of Advent is one of those places where the Church and the world  in which she abides are clearly at odds.  This becomes very apparent when you watch the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade and hear that the Christmas Season begins with the arrival of Santa Clause in New York City and then go to Church the following Sunday to witness a family lighting the first of four candles to commemorate the beginning of the Advent Season a time where we prepare for the Feast of the Incarnation of the Lord, Christmas.

We hear relentlessly how our economy is dependent on merchant’s ability to see enough goods during the “Holiday Shopping Season”.  Every where we go, the world is getting frantic, loud, and even at times chaotic, all in the name of Christmas.

Advent’s message comes from a very different place.  It comes from Isaiah calling the Jewish people back to a humble faithfulness.  It comes form John standing in the River Jordan reminding us that this world is passing and that we need to renew ourselves in its waters to become whole.  It comes from Mary, the young mother-to-be, quietly waiting to introduce Jesus to the world in a very real way.  Advent is a time that is fundamentally quiet, reflective, joyful, and hopeful.  It has very little to do with the commotion of shopping, the stress that comes with trying to make ends meet while generating new debts, and the  guilt that can be associated with not being able to buy enough for your kids or family.

Stop.  Be still and let God be God.  Prepare the way of the Lord.  Remember that Jesus came in the quiet of the night in a stable and was not born at Macy’s."

Flos Carmeli

Between the Already and the Not-Yet

"In Advent, we remember that we are living in the interval between the already - that Christ has come - and the not-yet - that He will come again. This is the period in history where He is calling His Church to Evangelization. We begin with ourselves, reflecting on our own life in Christ. We also think of the future hope that belongs to all who are in Christ and those yet who will come to Him." 

Randy Sly

Advent is not just for Catholics

"Some Protestants oppose observing Advent because it sounds “too Catholic.” I see where they get it, what with candles, colors, rituals, metaphor and all. But this misses the point, and it denies worshippers the opportunity to experience rich, fervent spiritual evidence of God’s active, redemptive presence in the world.


Ironically, some of the Christians who complain the loudest about the commercialization of Christmas and the secularization of the season miss out on an excellent opportunity to counter those forces when they decline to observe Advent.


That points to the reason we need Advent so desperately this year. It’s counter-cultural. Sure, pushing against commercialism and secularism is part of it. But those concepts, while obvious, are sidelights compared to the primary issue.


Advent tells us to wait. It reminds us we’re not in control; God is. Advent provides a structure for remembering that the world waited in lonely cosmic exile until the Messiah, Jesus, arrived to redeem us from our sins and the morass of our own making. And Advent suggests what was true 2,000 years ago remains true today. We do not set the agenda for our lives; God does.


We live in a society that hates to wait. That’s because we inherently believe we -- individually, each of us -- are most important. We want to microwave our lives so what we desire happens immediately. We want gratification now. This is a symptom of deep-set selfishness as old as Adam and Eve and as current as Washington gridlock, the latest financial scandal and the newest petulant media or sports superstar.
The one issue Americans seem to agree on is that our society is in decline. The skids have been greased by selfishness. The demand to get what I want and to get it now is but a symptom of epidemic egotism that refuses to consider the common good. So we need to be reminded we are not the center of the universe; God is. Waiting is a good discipline for learning that lesson.

Take a deep breath. Light an Advent candle.

And wait."

~Marv Knox

Christmas Could be Any Day

The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts.  Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected.  ~Samuel Johnson

Hush

“Let's approach Christmas with an expectant hush, rather than a last-minute rush.” Anonymous

We Are Waiting

“Sometimes it seems as though we spend our lives waiting. Daydreaming about an upcoming vacation, worrying over a medical test, preparing for the birth of grandchild-our days are filled with anticipation and anxiety over what the future holds. As Christians, we too spend our lives waiting. But we are waiting for something much bigger than a trip, bigger even than retirement or a wedding: We are waiting for the return of Jesus in glory. Advent heightens this sense of waiting, because it marks not only our anticipation of Jesus' final coming, but also our remembrance of his arrival into our world more than 2,000 years ago.” Anonymous

The Spirit of Expectancy

“Christmas has lost its meaning for us because we have lost the spirit of expectancy. We cannot prepare for an observance. We must prepare for an experience.” Handel Brown

Wise Men

“This Advent we look to the Wise Men to teach us where to focus our attention. We set our sights on things above, where God is. We draw closer to Jesus... When our Advent journey ends, and we reach the place where Jesus resides in Bethlehem, may we, like the Wise Men, fall on our knees and adore him as our true and only King.” Mark Zimmermann in Our Advent Journey

Jesus - Our Keyholder

"Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent: one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other - things that are really of no consequence - the door is shut, and can only be opened from the outside.” Letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Tegel prison, 1943

Christ is for Everyone

"Christ was born in the first century, yet he belongs to all centuries. He was born a Jew, yet He belongs to all races. He was born in Bethlehem, yet He belongs to all countries." George W. Truett

Affirmations of Christmas

I believe that Christmas is more than a time for parties and ornaments; it is a time for remembering Christ and the incarnation of God’s love in human flesh.

I believe there are gifts more important than the ones under the Christmas tree, the things we teach our children, the way we share ourselves with friends, and the industry with which we set about reshaping the world in our time.

I believe that the finest carols are often sung by the poorest voices; from hearts made warm by the wonder of the season.

I believe in the angel’s message that we should not be afraid—that the Child of Bethlehem is able to overcome all anxieties and insecurities.

I believe in prayer and quietness as a way of appropriating Christmas—that if I wait in silence I will experience the presence of the one born in the manger, for he lives today as surely as he lived then.

I believe in going away from Christmas as the wise men went: "another way." I want to be different when these days are past—more centered, more thoughtful, more caring.

And I believe God will help me. Amen

~Anonymous

1 Corinthians Christmas Version

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

 
Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

~Source Unknown

At Christmas

"A man is at his finest towards the finish of the year;
He is almost what he should be when the Christmas season is here;
Then he’s thinking more of others than he’s thought the months before,
And the laughter of his children is a joy worth toiling for.
He is less a selfish creature than at any other time;
When the Christmas spirit rules him he comes close to the sublime.


When it’s Christmas man is bigger and is better in his part;
He is keener for the service that is prompted by the heart.
All the petty thoughts and narrow seem to vanish for awhile
And the true reward he’s seeking is the glory of a smile.
Then for others he is toiling and somehow it seems to me
That at Christmas he is almost what God wanted him to be.


If I had to paint a picture of a man I think I’d wait
Till he’d fought his selfish battles and had put aside his hate.
I’d not catch him at his labors when his thoughts are all of pelf,
On the long days and the dreary when he’s striving for himself.
I’d not take him when he’s sneering, when he’s scornful or depressed,
But I’d look for him at Christmas when he’s shining at his best.


Man is ever in a struggle and he’s oft misunderstood;
There are days the worst that’s in him is the master of the good,
But at Christmas kindness rules him and he puts himself aside
And his petty hates are vanquished and his heart is opened wide.
Oh, I don’t know how to say it, but somehow it seems to me
That at Christmas man is almost what God sent him here to be."

~Edgar Guest

from Collected Verse of Edgar Guest
NY:Buccaneer Books, 1976, pg. 239