The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Twelve:
Read the story of Jesus' birth.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Eleven:
Pray for Soldiers who are away from their families this Christmas.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Ten:
Eat dinner by candlelight and sing Christmas carols around the tree.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Nine:
Give money to a Bell Ringer.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Eight:
Take a Christmas light drive.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Seven:
Make a Christmas Ornament.

SNOWMAN ORNAMENTS

Materials:

Clear glass ornaments
white acrylic paint
Infant or toddler socks (depending on the size of the ornaments)
black Sharpie marker
assorted small buttons
small jingle bells
ribbon
hot glue gun
scissors

Directions:

Remove gold hanger from top of ornaments. Put small amount of paint inside ornament. Cover hole and shake until completely covered inside. (You may need to add more paint for complete coverage. Allow to dry - this may take several days.

Replace gold hangers. Place socks onto ornaments to form the "hat". You want the hat lower in the back and higher over the "face." Hot glue hat into place. Tie ribbon over the sock where the gold hanger is (you can feel this through the sock). Include a jingle bell in your knot (or other small charm). This forms the top of the hat. Cut off 1-1.5" off the toe end of the sock. (Leave enough to form tassels). Make the tassels for the "hat" by cutting down the length of the sock. Cut the sock in half vertically, making sure you don't cut past the hanger. Then rotate and cut sock in half the other way, ending up with 4 large pieces. Cut each piece into equal strips, making the tassel. Don't cut the strips too thin or they will break.

Using the Sharpie, draw eyes and mouth, leaving enough room for your button nose. Attach button nose with a dot of hot glue.

REINDEER LIGHT BULB ORNAMENTS



Materials:

1 or 2 burnt out light bulbs
1 can brown spray paint (I used suede paint found at Canadian tire store)
1 cozy bottle of dark brown acrylic paint
1 2oz bottle red paint
1 2oz bottle white paint
1 2oz bottle black paint
1 black permanent marker (Found at any business supply store or department stores)
2 plastic spoons-for ears
1 piece of your choice colour home spun material
1 piece of your choice colour fleece.
glue and glue gun
Paint brush (all paints, paint brushes and material can be found at your local craft store or department store )
Pencil
Paper towel
Arleens fake snow (Wal-Mart)
Thread for hanging ornament
Sealer... I get mine at Wal-Mart. Joanne's sealer is great but you could use Modpog too.

Directions:

First thing to do is to make sure light bulbs are clean. Soap and water and a quick scrub. Dry thoroughly.

Next, spray paint the light bulbs. Take these outside or do in a WELL VENTILATED room. Do one coat let dry (follow instructions on can for drying) and do one more coat again, let dry.

Next, draw on eyes and nose and mouth with a pencil. (You can refer to my picture for placement.) Paint eyes with black paint and let dry. Next paint on nose in a oval shape. Let dry. Draw on mouth with permanent marker. Now add a circle of brown paint to the middle of the eye area. Let dry.

Next add highlights with white paint to eyes and nose and a small line of white around mouth. (Refer to picture.) Now take the red paint and adding the smallest amount of paint ever to your bush and now brushing that paint off your brush onto a paper towel (you will see why soon, hehe) brush on your cheeks going in a circular motion. Do this until the desired affect is achieved. (This is called "Dry Brushing.) Your brush has paint on it but it should be dry to the touch and you keep working your brush in circular motion to get what you want the cheeks to look like. Sounds hard but really it isn't. Practice is the key. Now add white dots to the cheeks for high lights. Let dry.

When you have your deer done let dry for an hour or so and then seal with your sealer. I use 3 coats to be on the safe side. Please remember to let dry in between coats. Read label for drying instructions on your sealer can.

When all is painted and dry and sealed this is the time to get creative. Any kind of fleece can be used for the hat. Cut a piece of fleece that completely covers the top of the deer (the ribbed part of the light bulb.) A long pointed top almost in the shape of a triangle. Glue this with glue gun to the top of light bulb. Cut off any pieces to make it fit. Careful not to burn fingers with the hot glue!

Next cut a strip of fleece approx. 1-inch wide and runs the length of the rim of hat (make sure you leave room for the ears as well). This will be glued down to form hat rim. Before you glue this down cut your plastic spoons for ears. Position them where you think they should go (refer to photo) and then add rim and glue down. Now add the band of fleece around the rim and glue firmly into place.

I have used Arleen's fake snow on top of hat but you can use any decoration that comes to mind here. Holly, birds, snow, anything, let your imagination run wild. :o)

To hang ornament I just ran a piece of thread in the top of hat and hung on tree.

For sleeping (female deer) I tied a piece of homespun around top of bulb into a bow. Glue this down. I also gave her some hair at the top of her head. Using brown paint and highlights before adding ribbon.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Six:
Have your picture made with Santa Claus.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Five:
Make a Christmas Bird Feeder.

What you'll need:

• Pine cone
• Paper plate
• Butter knife
• Smooth peanut butter
• Birdseed
• Ribbon or yarn
• Scissors

How to make it:

1. Cut a long length of yarn or ribbon to hang the bird feeder.
2. Tie the ribbon in a knot around the pine cone near the top (about 3 sections down).
3. Tie a knot in the end of the ribbon.
4. Use the knife to get a large clump of peanut butter on the paper plate.
5. Use the knife to spread peanut butter inside the pine cone and around the edges.
6. Sprinkle the birdseed over the pine cone.
7. Roll the pine cone in the birdseed that is on the plate.
8. Hang the bird feeder on the tree.
9. Enjoy watching the birds eat their treat!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Four:

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Three:
Bake Christmas Cookies.


Snickerdoodles:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Stir in the eggs. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. In a small bowl, stir together the 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the cinnamon. Roll dough into walnut sized balls, then roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar. Place them onto an unprepared cookie sheet, two inches apart.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be slightly brown. Remove from sheets to cool on wire racks.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Two:
Make a Christmas Wish List.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

In honor of the Christmas Holiday I am sharing some activities to help you and your family get into the Christmas spirit. Found these cute ideas on a kid's calendar...please check back daily for fun and inspirational ideas.

Day One:
Make a paper chain of family blessings.


HOW TO:
Cut out 12 strips of construction paper in Christmas colors. To start, write something your family is thankful for on each strip. Staple or glue it into a loop. Each day, add one link to the chain. On Christmas day, review your family's blessings before opening presents.

My Favorite Things - Christmas Songs Edition

1. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee
2. White Christmas by Bing Crosby
3. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
4. It's a Marshmellow World by Dean Martin
5. My Favorite Things by Rod Stewart
6. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives
7. O Holy Night by Celine Dion
8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland
9. Let It Snow by Michael Buble
10. The Christmas Song by Mel Torme
11. I'll Be Home for Christmas by Frank Sinatra
12. Sleigh Ride by Johnny Mathis
13. Walking in a Winter Wonderland by Anyone
14. Please Come Home for Christmas by The Eagles
15. The Charlie Brown Christmas Song by Vincent Guaraldi

My Favorite Things - Christmas Movie Edition

Mickey's Christmas Carol

I also love to watch Beauty and the Beast and Little Women this time of year. They aren't technically Christmas movies, but they sure do feel like it to me.

Note: I am going to see Four Christmases this weekend and have a feeling it may be moving it's way onto this list.

Our Amazing God

Some of you may have noticed the prayer request we had listed for Ben's brother on the right column of our blog. I have been meaning to blog about this to fill everyone in once we got all the details. Below are a couple of emails from my me and my husband. The first one went out the day we got the bad news and the last one one went out today....they pretty much sum up the roller coaster we have been on the past week. Thank you so much for all your prayers!

Prayer request!!

11/24/08 at 3:28pm from Ben

I wanted to let you all know about a situation with my family. I found out on Friday that there is a chance that my brother, Steve, may have cancer. Steve has had a lump above his hip for some time. His family doctor has known about it and was not concerned. But recently his legs started falling asleep for no reason, so he went to see an orthopedist. The orthopedist was extremely concerned about the lump and rushed him into an oncologist. They are doing a procedure Tuesday (tomorrow - 11/25/08) to find out if it is cancer. The concern is very high and radiation and chemo are already being discussed. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be in prayer about this. We have been praying for Steve for several months as well, because he and my sister-in-law Anna are also in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. I know that God has huge plans for Steve and his family. Thanks in advance for all your prayers!!

Update on Steve
sent yesterday by Me

I wasn’t sure if my text came through to all of you or not. I wanted to let you all know we found out Wednesday that Steve does have cancer. He has a sarcoma in his lower abdomen that is the size of a soft ball. More than likely he will be traveling to MD Anderson in Houston for treatment. They specialize in this type of cancer. Thank you all for continuing to pray for our family. We know there is a rough road ahead but we are prepared to let God carry us through it.

ANSWERED PRAYERS!!
(Today at 10:01am from Ben)

Hey everyone,

First off, I need to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for my brother Steve. You can never know how much your prayers & concerns for him and the rest of our family has meant to us. And to see that our prayers have now been answered, now gives us even more cause to rejoice!!

My brother had an appointment this morning with his oncologist to go over the treatment plan, and course of options for the cancer they discovered last week. Steve said that he and Anna were in the doctors's office waiting when he came in with a giant smile on his face. The doctor told them that it was very rare that he got the opportunity to tell anyone in their position any type of good news, but that that was all he had for them. He told them that after a detailed diagnosis the mass they discovered is NOT CANCER!! The mass is instead a benign tumor that is attached to a nerve, known as a Schwannoma. And that while it will still require surgery to remove, there is no cancerous growth associated with it. They have told him that the tumor and its removal will likely mean that the minor pain he has been having in his left leg associated with the nerve damage may become a permanent issue, but that it is not in any way life-threatening.

This is such an answer to our prayers that I personally do not know how to respond, but to again say Thank You. We serve an awesome & powerful God, who cares for us & listens to us. I know that your prayers for Steve and God's unending love for us is what caused this. We prayed for a miracle & that is what God has given us. The doctor told Steve that the preliminary diagnosis they received is correct approximately 98% of the time. And that the cancer they thought this was, even with treatment, would likely have given him only 2 years to live. Today I am thankful that our God doesn't care about percents or possibilities, for IN HIM, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE. As you continue to pray, offer up Thanks from us.

GRIZ