THE ROOST

Wrapping Up December

I hope your Christmas was bigger and better than you dreamed it could be...

And your ready to start a brand New Year!

From my House to Yours

Have a Very Merry Christmas!

The Real Gifts of Christmas

I hope and pray you are enjoying the things dear to your heart this Christmas...

and thanking Christ for each and everyone.

The Legend of the Candy Cane

A candy cane is a very special Christmas candy.  Legend has it that a candy maker wanted to create a candy that would be a witness to Jesus Christ.  First, he used a hard candy to represent Christ, the rock of ages.  It looks like the letter "J" for Jesus and also like a shepherd's staff reminding us of the shepherds who first heard the good news of Jesus birth and went to worship Him and of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who watches over us.  He added stripes on the candy to represent the stripes of the whip on the back of Jesus as the Romans led him to the cross.  It also reminds us that it is by His stripes that we are healed.  The color red represents the shedding of His blood to wash away our sins which makes us white as snow the other color of the candy cane.

Not Even Santa Claus

Guess who has been to see Santa Claus?

Don't get me wrong, I like the old man and everything but Mr. Perfect needs to be reminded that Grammy is way more important than some ole man in a red suit. 

So I am packin the "Grammy to the Rescue Bag" & heading down there to sort this all out.......

Plus I have to see how cute he looks in the little outfit I bought for him to wear at Christmas!

And to see if he is having fun in the car Grammy got him at Thanksgiving.

And see the Christmas tree that his mom put in his room.

And give him a kiss or two or three.....

You just try and top that one......

 

you jolly old man!

Christmas Luncheon

Yesterday I told you about the luncheon our bible study group was having at my house to celebrate the end of our study together.  One word to sum it up.....BLAST!

These are seven of the fabulous chicks that were in the study.

We were missing one member and I really hate it to because she always makes us laugh!

Before we ate we all shared something we enjoy doing during the holidays.  I thought you would like to know about these great ideas.

This creative chick showed us how to make a fresh arrangement for our table for practically nothing.  

 We all left feeling very confident that we could make a fresh arrangement now.....  Well one girl was questionable but I won't name names!  ;)

Then this chick told us how she has baked home make sugar cookies with her girls since they were small.  They really decorate them up and she takes a picture of them with their creations each year to look back on.  Then they give many of them away....hint, hint if you are reading this! 

 

Next we learned how this chick makes home made ornaments for the birds!  Isn't that great!  

She and her boys use cookie cutters, bread, peanut butter & bird seed to make these darling things and they hang them on a tree in their yard!

I can't wait to try this idea.

Hearing how this chick and her daughter do a ginger bread house together really made me wish my girls were little again.  She made it sound so fun!

I will have to try it with Mr. Perfect in a few years.

When this chick shared about the holiday music that plays in her home and the fun puzzles she puts out during the holidays for her family to work we all got excited at the thought of the festive feel it would bring to our homes.  She also keeps Christmas treats around the house for her family to enjoy in cute little tins.

Then we got two really good lessons.....

She talked about how easy it is to do a Christmas scrap book on line.

I really think I might could do it after she explained it so well!

Last but not least we were challenged to stay on our Christmas Budget by doing a cool spread sheet on line.  It was also a way to keep up with the purchases we had made and to know what we had bought and spent in the years past....

She also threw in a couple of really good recipes that are family favorites and only made at Christmas...... in case we didn't like the budget idea. ;)   If she looks familiar she is a famous blogger.... but I won't mention her name. 

Last but not least we enjoyed a wonderful meal together of soup, salad, bread......

 & yummy dessert!  

All & All it was a perfect end to a wonderful semester of some serious bible study......and we can't wait to start back in January! 

Christmas Cheer

I thought Lisa's daughter, at Take 90 West, said the sweetest thing about her mom decorating their house for Christmas..."On Friday my daughter told me that every day this week she couldn't wait to get home from school to see what I had done to the house! That made me feel so good". 

Sometimes we forget how happy and proud it makes our family feel when we dress-up the house for Christmas.  I have to admit it lifts my spirits too when I come in and see the extra trimmings around my home.

  

I like to start with a warm welcome the moment you step up on the porch.

I wanted to do something different on my door this year.

This bench sits by the front door.

A few of my favorite things inside the house that have special meaning...

These aren't just any ole felt ornaments.  They are the ones my mother and I got at a church bazaar a million years ago when I was little.

And Rudoolph was my hubby's a billion years ago when he was a kid.

Christmas would not be complete without this ornament.

I think Fontanini makes the most beautiful nativity set...... I have collected the pieces through the years.  When the girls were little they would play with it since it is not breakable.  I wanted them to be able to handle the nativity & for it to look nice and hold up through the years....I think it has done just that.

The actual manager was my hubby's when he was a kid as well as the angel hanging behind baby Jesus.  

The ornament with the 3 angels on it is very special, reminding me of my three daughters.  It has hung on our tree since they were very small.  They weren't always angels but we will pretend they were. ;)

These are two new ornaments that I added to my tree this year.

Greenery, ribbon & large red Christmas balls adorn the stair banister.  

 A closer look at the table by the stairs.

I filled this iron bowl with pine cone ornaments making a nest for the little bird.

Fresh cut cedar and berries filled this pitcher just perfect.

It smelled so good I added another small bouquet. 

Santa is standing proudly by the fireplace.

No decorated home is complete without the people that we love dropping by for lots and lots of visits!

Even if they are in to everything.........Grammie doesn't mind at all!

Christmas In The Past

Now that all my girls have flown the nest I have been thinking........about Christmas when they were little.......old folks Grammy's tend to do things like this.......You will too one day just wait and see! ;)

So I decided to ask them.....what they enjoyed about Christmas at our house when they were little.....I wanted to see what things stood out in there minds.

These were the favorites.

• Our  youngest daughter  told me she loved the night that we would go look at Christmas lights. It was always a surprise night. This is how we did it......A week or so before Christmas we would do our regular bed time routine with the girls.  But instead of putting them in bed after prayers we would all load up in the car and ride around town looking at all the Christmas lights in our P.J.'s.....playing Christmas music with lots of stuffed animals and their pillows in the car.  When we got home I gave them a special snack before they went to bed.      
•  One of the things my oldest daughter loved and is doing with "Mr. Perfect", is decorating the bedroom door.  I would take the girls to the store to pick out a roll of wrapping paper .......this trip was taken very serious and they changed their minds several times, like all good women do before choosing the perfect one.  Then I would cover the outside of the door to their room in the paper and put a huge bow on it.  Next I would make a gift tag out of construction paper that would have their name on it and under their name it would say.."Gods Gift To Our Family", I taped it under the bow.  It was a cheap but very effective way to bring Christmas cheer to their room and to let them know that they truly are a gift to us from God.          
• Advent was another thing that had made an impression on them.  I know many of you have posted about it much better than I could describe it.  There are many different ways to do it too.  We took the 3 Sunday nights before Christmas to have a special devotion concerning the birth of Christ.  The corresponding candle on the advent wreath would be lit for the devotion time. Our wreath holds 4 candles.  Then on Christmas Eve we lit the last candle, The Christ candle, & had our final devotion before we opened our Christmas eve gifts.                              

  Don't you ask yourself at times "does any of this really matter"?  All this fixing up the house, baking cookies, advent, special things you do as a family.  Well I sure wondered....... & I can tell you it did my heart good to hear the girls quickly rattle off a few things that were special to them.

There are so many fun and meaningful things your family can do at Christmas.  Pick a few things that fit your family & that send the messages that you want to stick with them years later.....  It will take work, effort & time.  But it will be SO worth it when you see them caring these same traditions on with their families or just knowing that they have some sweet memories that they can reflect upon in the years to come.

Let It Snow

Our snow fall has ended outside and actually it has almost melted except for a few little traces here and there ......

But on the inside it is just beginning!

Mr. Frosty has found his spot on my buffet in the dinning room.

I love his fat little belly and happy face!

Do you recognize the lighted gift boxes that I got on my little trip this fall?

The large frosted candies help carry the theme of the wintery wonderland I was trying to create.

I  hung snowballs in the dining room window.....

They have etched snowflakes on them, it is a little hard to see in the picture.

The greenery on top of the hutch is also snowy and has ice crystals hanging from the limbs.

The Santa mugs hold bunches of berries in them.

Even the berry tree is iced over...

All this talk about ice & snow is making me cold!  It is a good time for some hot spiced cider!

1 gallon apple cider

1 cup brown sugar 

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ginger

1 T. whole cloves

3 or 4 cinnamon sticks

5 to 6 lemon slices

Heat all ingredients almost to a boil.  Simmer.

Pour a cup and warm up!

Big Honor

I don't know about you but I will be tuning in to this on Thursday....

Not only do I love the Macy's Day Parade but our high school band was one of the 6 high school bands to be chosen to march in the parade.  There were over 300 applicants too.  Isn't that cool!  Go Bulldog Marching Band!

Enjoy your day tomorrow in every way possible!