Prepare Your Heart

All of my carefully chosen and created gifts are wrapped.  There's a treasured family recipe cheesecake in the oven baking for Christmas dessert.  The tree has been decked.  Christmas crafts have been done: 2 varieties of homemade ornaments which will be treasured in years to come, a gingerbread house, and a plethora of paintings depicting trees, snowmen, and Our Lady with the infant Jesus.  The cards and boxes have gone out.  The house is almost clean, and would be finished if it weren't for that pesky stomach flu I had for a few days there before we took a little trip up to enjoy God's creation in the beautiful Rocky Mountains.  I finally admitted to myself that I am not super-mom/super-wife/super-woman and that as long as I have only small children, I will not be able to do Christmas baking.  The cranberries and popcorn are at the ready for last minute stringing before the big day.  The music proclaiming the holy night to come is piping through the house.  The fridge and pantry are stocked for festivity: hams, fresh herbs, crisp veggies, cheeses, hearty potatoes, sweet breads and all sorts of special treats.  The playroom has been purged.  The Advent candles are burned to stumps.

I'd say...we're just about ready here at our house.

I'm still preparing my heart though.  Will it ever be ready for Him?  

Notice anything different?!

My big girls got their ears pierced today!!!!  They were so brave!  Gabrielle has been telling me for weeks now that she wasn't going to cry.  And she didn't.  I was so surprised!!!  Felicity cried a little bit, but I expected that because she's my child who can't handle getting her hair in a ponytail.  Felicity also got her first hair cut today!  I was getting sort of tired of the Motley Crew look, so I took her in and had the sides cut so that she wouldn't have a mullet and took off about an inch and a half off the back.  She looks lovely!
It was a very exciting day!

Please Pray

Update: Here is a link to a news article concerning the accident: http://www.ketv.com/news/18266526/detail.html

I have heard that Ashley's head injury isn't as bad as we thought, but she has a neck laceration that she might be in surgery for because they couldn't stop the bleeding.  The other 4 are stable, but about to have CAT scans to find out the extent of their injuries.

All of the women missionaries on the FOCUS team at University of Nebraska Lincoln were in a major car accident this morning.  Here is the information I received:

They were in a terrible car accident (all
five of them).  Three are taken in an ambulance, and two in a helicopter.
We are guessing they were going somewhere for the break and maybe the roads were
icy.  The emergency crews used the jaws to get them out...we are praying
now and so is FOCUS HQ.

We have since heard that 4 of them are conscious, but 1 is currently in surgery for a head injury.  Her name is Ashley.  Please pray for these young women!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

Overheard

4 year old: "Let's put both our heads under this sheet and run!"

3 year old: complies

Me: laughing

Moment's later....CRASH!

Saw that coming.

New Favorite Word

She has many words.  But, now she has a new favorite.

Christmas Cookie Swap

Over at Faith & Family Live! there is an "online cookie swap" going on with ladies sharing recipes to their favorite Christmas cookies and treats!

I'd like to include one that I have only actually made once (and was a great success!), but that I did grow up looking forward to.

Aunt C's Cherry Mash Candy

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
5 oz. evaporated milk (2/3 cup)
dash of salt
12 big marshmallows
1 6 oz. bag of cherry chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 oz. bag of chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter
12 oz. crushed peanuts

Cook the sugar, butter, salt, evaporated milk, and marshmallows over medium heat and bring it to a rolling boil.  Cook for 5 more minutes, keep it boiling, and stir constantly.  Remove mixture from the heat and add cherry chips and vanilla.  Mix until smooth.  Pour the cherry mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish that is lined with wax paper.  Place in the freezer.  Melt chocolate chips, add peanut butter, and peanuts.  Spread 1/2 of the chocolate mixture over the cherry mixture and freeze until firm.  Flip over the whole dish onto a new piece of wax paper and repeat by adding the other 1/2 of the chocolate mixture on top of the cherry mixture and freeze until firm.

Cut the candy into little bite sized pieces and enjoy!  This is very rich, you don't want to cut it into bars or large squares.

Christmas Crafts/Handmade Gifts Pt. 1

Today we handmade some gifts for Christmas!  A long time ago, I remember making salt ornaments with my Aunt and it was so much fun that I have been waiting with wild anticipation to share this craft with my children.  I was afraid they'd be a little too young, but they actually surprised me and did a great job with minimal intervention on my part!

We made salt ornaments with cinnamon so that they would smell sweet - the house is bursting with cinnamon-y aroma!

Here's what we did:

1/3 cup salt
1/4 cup cinnamon
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup of water, plus additional as needed

We mixed all of our ingredients together in the mixer, and then finished by hand.  I ended up using an additional 3 T.

Next, we patted the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut shapes with cookie cutters.  After cutting out the shape, we just used a straw to cut out a little hole for stringing the finished ornament.

Once we had cut out all these sweet smelling ornaments (and I convinced the girls NOT to try eating them), we baked them in the oven at 225* for 30-45 minutes.  Our larger/thicker ornaments took about a full hour.

Finally, we decorated the ornaments by painting them with glue and putting on gold and silver glitter.  This could be more intricate depending on the age and ability of the artist, but I decided to keep it simple with such little ones.

Here is one of Felicity's finished ornaments hanging on our tree.  She loved the stars because the star lead the wise men to Jesus' side!  If you make these, be sure to mark on the back who made it and what year!!

Tiny Dancers

I was being sneaky the other day during ballet class and trying to get some pictures of the girls in action!  They are so cute! 

I wish I could be a ballerina!

Internet Browsing....

I was browsing around on Faith and Family Live today and there was a post about stocking stuffer ideas.  One of the links appealed to me and it was the company On This Day Designs, a Catholic family business that handcrafts beautiful Catholic jewelry.  You have to check it out!  As lovely as a simple miraculous medal on a delicate chain is, I do love the flavor they add to this jewelry!  I just fell head over heels for this beautiful necklace made of pearls (my favorite!) that depicts Our Lady of the Snows (an awesome story if you don't know it!).  If this weren't so far outside my price range AND it wouldn't be just utterly selfish to purchase something for myself during this season, I would snatch it up!  Go check out the wonderful jewelry they are making!!!

 

Then He smiled...

What is your favorite Christmas carol?

One has to admit that one of the greatest aspects of Advent and Christmas is the music.  You can't help but enjoy singing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Jingle Bell Rock."  But, I sincerely give thanks to God for all the years that I spent as a choir girl for the mere fact that some of the most beautiful music has entered my repertoire and lifted my heart Heavenward, leaving me, years later, better equipped to contemplate our Lord's second coming and the mystery of His birth.

Have you listened to Vivaldi's Gloria?  Or the entirety of Handel's Messiah?  How about the sweet songs about Mary, Lo How a Rose E're Blooming and There is No Rose of Such Virtue?  In Dulci Jubilo...Coventry Carol...and so on and so forth.  You can't forget the ever-present tune of Advent, Veni Veni Emmanuel as it ushers us into Christmas with the "O" Antiphons.

I love the classics, those we all know the words to.  Joy to the World, Silent Night, Little Town of Bethlehem, and my second favorite Christmas song ever, O Holy Night.  Fall on your knees, indeed!

My favorite Christmas song though is Little Drummer Boy.  I suppose that seems sort of simplistic given all the choices above.  However, I think the song has such a lovely and powerful message.  I identify with the little boy, I have nothing that seems worthwhile to offer our Lord, especially compared to what others who are holy and faithful have to offer Him.  It makes me think of St. Therese's "little way."  All he can do is play his drum for the Child, and I like to think of my life like that.  I can show my love through obedience to the vocation He has given me, the gifts and talents He has given me, and through prayer.  It's a humble offering, but in the song, "Mary nodded" and "then He smiled!"

My favorite version is the one that MercyMe does.  I'm not a huge fan of the group, but I love love love their harmonies and the style they use.  Look it up on iTunes!!

What is your favorite Christmas song?  And why?

Sweet Home

Well, my post below was absolutely riddled with typos and misspellings!  I hope you can forgive my terrible writing, as I wrote the post from Charlie's iPhone while we were in Texas.

We had such a nice visit in Texas with our families.  I felt it was short and I was sad that we were unable to visit some dear friends (you know who you are!), but a visit in January is 100% for sure.  We'll be able to stay longer, and see more friends, generous donors, and family.  We look forward to it! 

We spent the first half of the week with my family and we enjoyed starting a new private family blog, drinking sangria, and spending time around the table talking about music, faith, holidays, and family memories.  I felt really blessed to be able to spend such good quality time with my parents, who are so generous and loving.  It was also very nice to see my brother (the only sibling close to my age) and for my girls to have my sisters to play with.

Later, we drove South to the Houston area where Charlie grew up and where we lived the first four years of our marriage.  We have such fond memories there.  The thing that struck me was my intolerance to the humidity after being gone such a short time!  Here in Colorado, my curly hair behaves well and I am able to wear it long and down with out much of a problem.  Once we hit Huntsville on I-45, I could feel my hair getting big and my face getting shiny!  We stayed at my in law's house, who were so kind in allowing us to stay with them along with Charlie's brother, and two sisters and their children.  The kids totaled 10 between the four siblings, so it was crazy but fun.  My girls are blessed with very well behaved and kind cousins.  :-)  We spent Thanksgiving there and then headed back to stay a night with my parents before heading home.

We only got home yesterday afternoon, and immediately purchased a Christmas tree and decked the halls in our home, as we were hosting the final FOCUS team dinner of the semester which included a white elephant and regular gift exchange.  I won an air freshener that used to be in the room of one of our female missionaries in the white elephant, which cracked me up.  It has found a perfect home near Juliette the Hamster's cage.  Even better, Charlie won a glitter brush; one of those things that looks like a giant blush brush that has glitter in the handle which is released with the push of a button, should we want to get all glittered up.  Everyone brought over their childhood pictures to share, it was so fun!

I am all unpacked now and ready to fully embrace the beauty of Advent.  The timing of Advent is so impressive to me in terms of the Liturgical Year.  Starting off with All Saints/All Souls in November, and then spending the month of November in prayer for those who have passed before us while contemplating our own short earthly lives is the perfect way to usher in a time of preparation for the Second Coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ!  I am glad to be home and preparing my heart and the hearts of my family for Emmanuel, God with us.