Merry Christmas from Faith and Family Reviews!
Enjoy your family and all the festivities!
We are enjoying a quiet day at home as a family.
Tag Archive for Family Stuff
A FREE Nativity Booklet
If you are observing the birth of Jesus this Christmas, you may want to check out this free Nativity booklet from Answers in Genesis:
Merry Christmas!
The Crazy Things Boys Do
As you all know, we have four little boys. (well, two of them are not so little anymore!) These boys bring a lot of joy to our lives, but they also cause a lot of pain – inflicted on themselves and others, like their siblings.
Our boys seem to enjoy doing things that are dangerous. They are always wrestling and one of them inevitability ends up getting hurt. It’s unfortunate they never stop their antics. They just keep going and going and going and….you get the picture.
Our sons are currently obsessed with super heroes since allowing them to watch the animated versions of Iron Man and Spider-Man. The two older boys are both tweens and have grown out of the Thomas the Tank and Sesame Street stage (just in time for my little boys to grow into it them!) and are constantly asking to watch super hero cartoons. If they aren’t playing Spider-Man, Thor, and Hulk then they are trying to find a way to re-enact their favorite cartoons. Those re-enactments usually involve using whatever dangerous stunt their favorite super hero pulled.
Our wild boys are open to jumping on conveyors, climbing tall of trees, climbing out their bedroom window, making bows and arrows and shooting them at one another, and my personal favorite – sharpening sticks and hitting/poking one another with them, while I am saying, “Don’t do that someone is going to get hurt!”
Thankfully with all the pharmacy automation it’s easy to purchase the products that we need to fix up our sons from one of their latest escapades. When they get hurt we handle them with much care, much like you would handle a material handling system.
You’d think they’d learn…..I swear they have nine lives instead of just one. We do try to stop them from pulling these stunts. But some days they just do stuff without my knowledge and I find out after the fact from another siblings or when they come running asking for a bandage. You know that old saying…..boys will be boys…..is very true!
9 Christmas Traditions
Every family has their own traditions. Usually traditions come from the generation before, but families will often create new ones too. Our family shares family traditions from both sides of our families, even the traditions our grandparents shared with our parents but our parents did not necessarily carry on in the homes we grew up in. Plus we include the true Reason for the season.
This being Christmas weekend 2011, I thought I would share nine Christmas Traditions observed by our family. We either do these things each year or have done them in the past. These traditions are the ones our children often request and remember most. We love to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving, if at all possible. It just seems to make all the effort worth while when we get to enjoy the festive decor for a month and a half. Tear down is usually the first weekend in January.
1. Buying a real Christmas tree. This is something that my mom always did with my three sisters and I. My dad would come too sometimes, but tramping around in the woods was difficult for him with a bum leg from having polio as a 1 year old. The first two years of our marriage we had a real tree and then I succumbed to the artificial tree bug after working two years retail and decorating them as part of my job during the holidays. Last year was the first year we took the children to buy a real tree and they loved the experience!
2. Decorate tree and home with Christmas decorations. We love to decorate our home and tree while playing Christmas music and snacking on Christmas cookies! We put up our Navitity scene and other holiday decor around the house. Sometimes this includes outside lights or our outside Nativity scene. Just depends on how many lights are working or how much time and effort we want to spend any given year.
3. Read the Christmas story. Not Up on the Housetop (although it is a great rhyme to share!), but the Nativity story of Christ’s birth in the bible in Luke 2. As born again Christians, acknowledging and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ is the most important aspect of our holiday season.
4. Sing Christmas Carols. We actually sing the first verses of Hark the Herald and Joy to the World all year round as they are requested every night at bedtime by 5 of our 8 children we still put to bed! Well, baby doesn’t request it but we still sing it to him and include him in the numbers.
5. Observe four weeks of Advent. For several years we observed four weeks of Advent with an Advent wreath: lighting candles, reading a corresponding devotional to prepare for the coming celebration of our Saviour’s birth. But alas, our advent wreath has seen better days and I have yet to replace it so we have not observed it in a couple of years. Those evenings are very special memories though.
6. Christmas baking. Christmas is not Christmas at our home if there is no Christmas baking. The aromas, the fun of cutting out cookies, making up treat plates and savoring the delicious goodies are a huge part of our holiday traditions.
7. Watching Christmas movies. We start this right after Thanksgiving too. There are so many wonderful movies about this wonderful festive season.
8. Hospitality. Our home doesn’t quite seem like Christmas when we do not have extended family over for Christmas dinner. Now that the cousins have become older and have more places to go, there is something missing from our festivities when they need to be somewhere else or are sick. We would love to have other people over and have even considered those who are less fortunate but have not quite figured out how we could start implementing this new idea. It’s a bit tricky when we have young children to invite complete strangers into our home. Guess that’s why there’s shelters and soup kitchens, but what about really embracing people in need into our homes? Just something always in my mind but not ready to risk my family’s safety.
9. Gifts. We do give gifts as it is representative of how God gave the greatest gift in sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin in a lowly stable for our sins. This goes for family gifts and usually to at least one charity as well.
Our children love to go through Gospel for Asia’s Christmas Catalog or World of Vision’s to see what things we can give to a family in another country. We give to our local food pantry a few times a year as well. Last year our two older boys and my husband gave their time volunteering to ring the bell for Salvation Army.
For family gifts, we give a few small gifts and maybe a larger gift. It was such a blessing to hear our oldest daughter the other day say how she always thought they got a lot at Christmas and how she wanted to do the same thing as we have done. All our children love to give gifts too!
Share some of your family traditions, we’d love to hear about them!
A Special Trip Down Memory Lane: Our Engagement Story
The anniversary of when my husband asked me to marry him is coming up very soon. It’s ironic because the date he asked me to marry him and our oldest daughter’s birth date is within a day of each other. Neat, eh? My husband can be very romantic and the way he asked me to marry him proves that very much.
My husband and I had a long distance relationship for two years. So nearly 18 years ago my husband was visiting from Chicago in my hometown. We had not seen each other over Christmas that year so this was our holiday visit. We had looked at rings on my previous trip to see him, so thinking like a female I wondered if he was going to pop the question on this visit. On the night before he was to return home, which was a chilly winter evening, my husband (or love interest then) asked me if I would like to take a walk, I, of course, said yes! 
I lived in a small town with very little traffic and there were street lights for most of our walk through town, up and down a few little hills and across an arched bridge. After the bridge it was pretty much pitch black, except for the millions of stars shining down on us. I looped my arm through his and that is when I discovered the answer to my “wondering” for I felt a little square box in his pocket! I was pretty much over the moon at that moment, as I anticipated the question. We walked up what is called the “hospital hill” leaned against the guard rail under a starry sky snuggling close and he asked, “Theresa (and my last name), will you marry me?” I said yes and we kissed! 😉
My ring is a beautiful solitaire. Too bad I don’t have a camera that takes decent up close photos or I would take a picture of it….soon the camera situation will change though and yes we did find our camera….on a shelf in our walk-in-closet!?
We had to wait until our next visit when I traveled to Chicago to purchase wedding bands. If the internet had of been as big as it is now, shopping at Men’s Tungsten Online might have been an option for us, but alas neither of us even had a computer back then! My engagement ring was part of a set, so we really only had to get my rings sized and purchase his wedding band, a simple band with a comfort fit. Much like the look of the curved sides of these tungsten bands, only in gold. (P.S. MensTungstenOnline.com has some pretty neat looking stuff!)
It was fun looking at rings and having that purchase checked off our “to do” list.
I am grateful that my husband gave us such a wonderful memory of our engagement. What a special trip down memory lane!
Roofers!?
This picture says it all and makes a statement of how our week is starting out. And no this was NOT part of their roofing project. They stood on this little dormer roof and it fell off.
My husband is just heading over there to “deal” with it. Honestly, what next? 🙁
Down Time
Yesterday was basically down time. My second oldest daughter and I were out from 9:30am to 11:30pm on Wednesday. We did have one hour at home for dinner and to quickly nurse baby before heading back out again. We had two classes to attend and help “work”.
Then we had friends stop over for lunch yesterday and to do a Zyto Compass Scan, which is a service I offer for our essential oils business. But other than that it was down time.
Today was rather mellow too. Friends from our barn stopped by after dropping off our girls, as she has offered to take them to the barn as our schedules allow. Nice on days when I don’t have a vehicle.
Why is it after being busy I just want to zone out? Would it have anything to do with driving five hours on Wednesday and just being flat out busy for nearly a week? I don’t know I haven’t figured it out yet. But zoning is what I am doing! 😉
Update on Oven
The oven part actually came on Wednesday, but do you think we can find the repair man’s card? So no chance of getting it fixed earlier if we cannot call them to reschedule the appointment! Arrghhhh! That’s what I get for leaving an itty bitty business card on the counter and going out all day so it gets lost!
Update on Vehicle
Still no vehicle. Not sure when that will happen. My husband looked at a used one last night and decided it was not for us. I think he plans to go out tomorrow to a local dealer who has some sale going on, plus following up with our car sales man friend.
Quiet Weekend
I am looking forward to a quiet weekend at home. I could have worked but I actually said, “NO”. We could have gone out to another event but I said, “NO”. The girls and I are planning to complete some sewing projects as they all need new skirts. Thankfully we were given some fabric, plus we bought some very inexpensively from someone getting rid of fabric out of her stash. We are going to play Christmas music and just enjoy being together while we create!
I am looking forward to baking up a storm next week! We miss baking. And a huge part of our Christmas traditions is baking. The aroma of baked goods filling the house, the music playing and munching on homemade snacks as we deck the halls and everywhere else brings us much cheer this time of year!
Enjoy your weekend!
Non-Oven Meals
Ok, unless I get grocery shopping on Thursday, my non-oven recipe supply is drying out fast after two weeks without an oven. Tammy’s comment made me wonder how on earth I would go a year without an oven when I rely on it to toast bread, bagels, English muffins etc. since we do not have a toaster. We haven’t since ours broke. We can fit more in the oven anyways as we had no room for a commercial size toaster at the townhouse or budget for it either. And no my oven is not as clean as the photo to above left!
We usually do not buy packaged baked goods, we bake them ourselves or got them at the food co-op we participated in, which we no longer have. So we have been satisfying our sweet tooth with hot cocoa. I mix my own hot cocoa mix by using dry cocoa from Aldi and organic cane sugar so we do not have to eat any extra additives, preservatives or chemicals.
We have had beans and rice many times over this past week. I have made baked beans, lentils and pinto beans in the crock pot as I only have one pot to cook with on the stove besides my cast iron pans. Long story short: in our townhouse we had limited cupboard space so I learned to cook with just one pot, plus any casserole dishes that would fit in the oven. Now we have more storage space and I have two crock pots, with plans of buying more pots in the future!
I have not used the crock pot much for cooking meats like chicken, beef or the like, but that’s idea for the chicken in my freezer and something I can use to prepare a few new meals.
I avoid using the microwave for cooking, but will use it to heat up water, tea and a few other things. Yes, I am paranoid and trying to avoid any extra radiation exposure and changes a microwave can make to our food.
We do not buy a lot of boxed cereals, but depend on hot breakfasts like oatmeal (I soak regular organic rolled oats overnight and cook it in the morning). We make muffins, banana and apple breads etc., which all require the oven. We can still have eggs and toast, thankfully!
We even usually bake our family French toast in the oven. At least we haven’t forgotten how to fry it in a pan! Ha!
Thinking pancakes are fast and easy for tomorrow night’s supper since I have to be out and tonight’s dinner planned: Kale Potato Soup. No homemade bread though, will have to ask my husband to stop and get some on his way home from work.
So all that to say that I would love some fresh non-oven meal ideas that are healthy! Gotta run and get the soup on…..
Whew! Made it Through!
Business
It was a busy four days and I only ended up working 3 of those 4 days due to my compassionate husband working the holiday craft fair for me yesterday! It was in my favor that he knew our 15 month old was really missing me too.
There was a Chicago Bears game yesterday so let’s just say the fair was not as busy as Friday or Saturday. I had as relaxing a day as I could with five children under nine (insert rolling eyes here ;-))
The business networking event and the weekend proved to be very beneficial and we met some interesting people. We are excited and grateful for the opportunities presented.
Appliance Woes Almost Fixed
We are still without an oven, at least for another week the repair man said, as he has to order the part. Hopefully it will arrive early and they can fit in an appointment earlier. How can I host a Cookie Exchange if I can’t bake cookies? I can’t, I know.
Christmas!
We are getting into the Christmas spirit around here and eager to decorate and get our tree! Just not sure how we are going to accomplish that since my mil’s car will not accommodate a tree. We took the children to cut down a live tree last year and it was such a memory making day that everyone is gung-ho to do it again this year. It was a neat family tree farm that offered fun activities for the children: candle making, wood carving, hot chocolate and more.
A Vehicle
A friend found a vehicle, we just have to decide if it is what we are looking for….beggars can’t be choosers but it is hard for us. Take on a car payment or not to take on a car payment? Buy an older car and have lots of repairs? Ugh….decisions like these are just not easy. Besides we have not even contacted our insurance to see what insurance will cost on the type of vehicle we are interested in getting. Everything costs money….
Home Life
Other than that same old same old. We cleaned the house today and did school. I worked. The girls and I are gearing up for a sewing spree hopefully starting on Friday. I have to wrap up some weekend stuff and have a couple of meetings this week before we can really get going on making some new skirts for the four girls.
Oh and if you are the praying kind, pray we find our camera. Odd request, I know but we think some little hands got a hold of it and left it in some obscure place in the house…hopefully still in tact. We need that for blogging and capturing every day moments of life so the children can look back in wonder and perhaps a little embarrassment too…..I can’t believe how many photos my oldest is embarrassed about when I was simply capturing a “moment”. Ah well, it was not my original intent to embarrass her, nor is it my intent with the rest either.
The Weekend is Here & A Rip Off!
Yes, the weekend is here but it won’t be our normal relax and do whatever kind of weekend. This weekend is a working weekend. From Thursday to Sunday we have events for one of our home businesses and some long days. Thursday will be fun as it will be with people we know and only a few hours. However, 11am-9pm on Friday! Oy! 9am-6pm Saturday and we are working all day on the Sabbath 10am-5pm. (Insert squeaky “Please don’t judge us!” voice) Can you say I think I am getting too old for this? Not really, I mean every mother works 24/7, right? I am truly thankful for the opportunity to work this event with my older daughters. I am grateful to a supportive husband who stays home to watch our younger crew. I am indebted to my husband’s boss who allows him to maintain a flexible schedule for family’s needs. We are blessed.
We only have a few events left for this year and then my girls and I are planning a sewing fest, which is always fun!
All that to say that I may not have much time to post or if I do it may be short and sweet for the next few days.
A Rip Off
Oh and back to weekend events, last weekend we had an awful experience. We had signed up and paid for a holiday craft fair only to arrive to ZERO cars in the parking lot! We did discover two employee cars after we drove around the buildings and neared the front of the grounds. What a rip off! It was so disappointing and we have yet to hear from the state’s attorney about whether they’ll help us recoup our vendor costs….because of course the promotion company isn’t returning our calls!
On the bright side we commiserated over Subway sandwiches and enjoyed the weekend at home.
Hacked!
Another thing that happened to me in November is my email was hacked! Lost everything. Couldn’t believe it. I am surviving though.
How about you any rip offs, scams or happy weekend memories to share?
This was written Wednesday night, just so you know! 😉
