Advent - Thy Kingdom Come

I've been thinking about Advent lately. 

This season that we are in leading up to Christmas focuses on the anticipation of Christ's coming, both to his second coming and to the celebration of His first arrival, as a baby at Christmas time.  We light candles of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love on each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas, and then the Christ candle on Christmas Eve. 

It's these four words that have been playing over in my mind.

Hope.  Peace.  Joy.  Love.

These are all things I long for and strive for in my life.  Not just during Advent, but every day.  They resonate with me because I need them.  I need to practice them.  I need to learn how to better treat others, coming from a place where these are real in my life.

And that makes me think of this:

Wouldn't the world be so much better if we all lived with these Advent themes as realities in our lives?  It would be like His Kingdom coming.  A glimpse into Heaven here and now. 

So we hope for God's best and trust and have faith.  We look for joy and find it and hold onto it.  We crave and create peace in our homes and in our relationships.  And we love.  We treat others as more important than ourselves.  Give of ourselves.  Care.  Be kind. 

And pray for His Kingdom to come.

Homemade Gifts for Christmas

It's the time of year when I start looking around for ideas of gifts I can make for Christmas.  I like to make things myself to give as gifts - I have a large-ish family and not a huge budget, so when I can make things that I'm proud to give that cost a reasonable amount, then I'm happy.  Last year I started panicking in October, I think, so it seems like I'm doing a better job managing the stress of it this time round.  I may regret not starting sooner... or I may not even think of gifts till after my sales at the end of November.  I'm sure I can get it done in December...!?! 

As I was thinking about starting to think about getting started, I thought I would do a round up for you in case you might be in the same place as I am, wondering what to make...  Here are some of the different homemade gifts I've given over the years, a few gifts I have thought about making to give, some gifts I have received, and some gifts I would kind of like to receive.

Soap - I did this one year - it's the kind of gift that you invest in the basic supplies, make a few varieties, and that's what everyone gets that year.

Wheat Bags & Handwarmers - Yes, I sell these in my shop, but they started as Christmas gifts for my family (everyone got one!) more than a decade ago.  Simple to make, and if you use rice, easy to find all you need.

CD of piano playing or singing - sometimes it would be nice to hear someone who's far away. 

CD or you reading a story aloud, along with the book - grandparents, this one is for you!  This would rock bedtime.  *Cheaper version - snag a few of the favourites they already own and record yourself.

Pencil Cases - Find a tutorial and make this up for your favourite pen addict... I can't be the only one out there.

Popcorn Seasonings - this is one we were given and I am still enjoying them on every batch of popcorn.  We almost need some more, though...

Homemade Notebooks - I like paper, and playing with paper, and sewing... Sometimes the paper gets sewn and is awesome.

Fairy Garden - I've never made one, but saw lots of fun ideas this summer.  Maybe an awesome gift would be some supplies to build one and the promise of a spring date to do it together?

Magnets - use clip art or words between flat marbles and magnets - personalize for the recipient.  I made some as teacher gifts and some with the Fruit of the Spirit on them (Galatians 5:22 & 23).

Playdough - fun for little ones.

Sock Monkey or Stuffed Animal - my boy has a monkey and an elephant made by his Aunts - treasures, for sure.  Meaningful for the parent as well as the child.

Doll Clothes - I still remember the Christmas when we were small and we got a load of Barbie clothes sewn by Mom and knitted by the Grandma & Granny, and then later making them for our Cabbage Patch Dolls.  If you know a girl with a doll in her life, this one might be a win for you.

Aprons - I've made a few of these over the years, including some fun matching parent / child ones.  My secret is to use one I like the shape of as the pattern.

Fire Starters - We made these for camping this summer - they might be nice for the camping enthusiast in the family.

Cookies in a Jar - Always a good idea.

Christmas Gifts from Alice&Victor

My sales are over, and my shop is mostly updated; all the things I was making for the sales are now finally showing up online!  After a day of many shops yesterday, we actually have our Christmas gifts almost all purchased.  Feeling pretty relaxed.  :)

The shots above are a fun little thing Etsy has set up this year - I finally got around to trying it out.  And now I have to go wrap a wheat bag for Nolan's teacher before I go pick him up from his last class of the year!

If you were interested in purchasing Christmas gifts from my shop, TODAY is the deadline for shipping within Canada!  After today, or if you live outside Canada, convo me for priority rates.  Of course, if you are local, you can pick up goodies from my home until the 24th.  :)

It was a Merry Christmas

Our December:

  

We are done with Christmas concerts and recitals with Madeline and haven't started them yet with Nolan, so this was one attempt at making the month festive - a gingerbread train.  We all worked on it together, and Nolan was surprisingly tidy with his icing and candy placing!

Christmas Day was in Winnipeg this year - Sean and Nolan put together his sled before everyone else came over.

 

For the other side, we all went out to Circle Square Ranch yesterday.  What a great way to spend family time together - lots of space for the kids, and lots to do.  We'd all love to do it again.

Nolan went for his first little sled ride & did great!

I hope your holidays were full of love, joy, peace & hope, and that your new year holds many good things.

The Tree & The Lights & The Boy

Our Nolan is wonder-filled at 'Mis-mas' as he calls it - the trees, the houses with lights on... It's been awesome to watch him take in the decorations of the season, and to explain all brand new what it's all about.  Here are a bunch of photos so you can enjoy, too.

This one was when Sean was getting the outside lights ready to put up.  (That was in October, but they didn't get turned on until this past weekend.)

Sean and I set up the tree Sunday night after the kids were in bed.  We wanted to do it all together Sunday, but with nap time and a friend's Christmas party, it didn't happen.  These are from Monday morning when Nolan first saw it.

And Monday morning we ran out to get a second strand of new blue and white lights, so this is Nolan enjoying the lights on the tree after his nap.  (And meet Rabbit, Brownie, and Blankie - he's not attached like some kids I know, but they are his bedtime friends and help him move from Mom to bed!)

Wednesday night was the next chance we had to be home all together - basketball and soccer take up lots of Madeline's time!  So the boxes got brought up and the tree got decorated.  Not many 'in-process' photos, but a few posed ones will do.  You'll notice Nolan was all dressed for a photo shoot...

And this morning...

In this first week of Advent we think about Hope (Madeline and I did the reading at church this past Sunday); may you be filled with hope as you head into this Christmas season, and may you, like Nolan, experience just a touch of the wonder of it all.

Homemade Christmas

Thought I'd share some of the gifts I made for Christmas and where I found the ideas... maybe you'll get inspired for next year!

I already mentioned Flubber...

For some of the nephews I also made Reindeer Food

Reindeer Food

6 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips - couldn't find, used white chocolate 

1/3 cup coarsely chopped peppermint candy canes (14 miniatures)

1 - Crush candy canes in large ziplock bag

2 - Melt chips (plus 1/2 tsp oil) in microwave

3 - Stir all together

...and printed out some Paper Star Wars Characters for them to cut out, tape, and play with.  (Found here.)

I made my brother's kids this tent (following the instructions I found here):

I made some stuff in the kitchen for the siblings - cookies in a jar and popcorn seasoning.

Cheese Lovers Popcorn Seasoning

1/4 cup cheddar cheese powder

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

Indian Popcorn Seasoning

1 tbsp curry powder

2 1/4 tsp ground tumeric

2 1/4 tsp ground ginger

tiny pinch cayenne pepper

Pizza Popcorn Seasoning

3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

3 tsp ground dried oregano

1 1/2 dried tomato powder

(The tomato powder is hard to find - I used a Knorr tomato vegetable soup mix and strained out the bits.)

I also made some family dinner conversation starter packages.  I found questions in a couple of different places, put them in a word doc that I'll send you if you're interested, then cut them into little cards and put them in decorated old coffee and tea tins.  I hope they have fun with those.

I also had fun making ornaments. I didn't take pictures of mine, but the inspiration came from these (all found on pinterest):

Another printable I sent to a couple of nieces was one to make this nativity set.  You can find the downloads here for both the colored and color-yourself versions.

I think that's all I made - oh, except for an awesome photo book for Sean about his race car.  That was a winner.  All in all a very satisfactory gift giving Christmas!