ornament exchange

I belong to an on-line homeschool group. It is really a fun group and I gain alot of insight from them. Every Christmas, there is an ornament exchange for those that want to participate. My kids and I get a kick out of figuring out on a map where the ornament I am sending off is heading. And they just love it when the package arrives in the mail. I think they enjoy it as much as I do.

My ornament arrived recently and it is gorgeous! It is from Katrina - thank you Katrina. We love it. Below is a picture of the ornament.

Christmas - Candy Cane legend

I posted about the Candy Cane legend - with two books to read. A blog friend of mine has a wonderful craft and a treat to make.

Check it out - Lamp Unto My Feet blog.

more Christmas favorites for kids

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

This is a different story than the one I posted about before. This one a new man moves into town and they aren't sure what type of business he is setting up. Turns out, to the delight of the children, it is a candy store. One of the candies he sells is the candy cane and he tells the significance of the candy cane to the girl helping him unpack. The illustrations are wonderful.

The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Rick Osborne

This one is really a favorite. In the story, Dad is upset by all the commercialization of the Christmas holiday. They end up at a Christmas tree farm where there are 3 trees already set up at the entrance. The man in charge tells the significance of the trees and why it all ties in to the birth of Christ. Neat to use a tree as a way to tell the story of Christ. It is really a nice book. He also has one called The Legend of the Christmas Stocking. I just ordered that one from the library. We haven't read that one yet.

Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo

This story is the legend of tinsel. It is a very cute story. The setting of the story is in Germany. After reading this story, many years ago, I find I still walk around and say, "it's time to make Christmas" when I make Christmas cookies.

Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant

This is an Appalachian Christmas story. It is about giving back. And has a great message about God fulfilling our needs at just the right time we need them fulfilled. God is not specifically mentioned and given the credit but it is an easy tie in to talk about with your child.

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco

This one is about a pastor's family. They move to a new location which is in Detroit. The church needs to be revived and he is the pastor to do it. The son is upset about leaving their home and sees nothing good about their new location especially the church itself - it is rundown. A leak in the roof causes damage to the wall. The son is devastated. Then, they are to go pick up Christmas decorations that the mom ordered and the car doesn't start. The father and son take the bus. It is due to the journey - and who they meet along the way that a wonderful story unfolds. In the end, they realize it was all part of God's plan - that all the pieces were beautifully woven into a tapestry and each part of daily life was a thread in that tapestry that when woven together made a beautiful picture. Really a very wonderful story.

Advent book - The Candymaker's Gift

by David and Helen Haidle

The Meaning of the Candy Cane - (this is from a card that I got - this attaches to an actual candy cane so that you can pass the meaning on to others).

"Many years ago a candy maker wanted to make a candy that would symbolize the true meaning of Christmas - Jesus.

The hard candy was shaped like a "J" to represent that Jesus is our rock of all ages. The candy was made of white to stand for the pureness of Jesus. The red represents the blood that Jesus shed to save us from our sins.

So the next time you see a candy cane take a minute to remember the real meaning of Christmas."

This book tells the story of the candy maker wanting to come up with a candy that would explain about Christmas to the children in the village whom he loved so much. He prayed to God for a solution and as he talked to his Granddaughter the idea came to him. It is a wonderful book and at the end the author lists the meaning of the candy cane with bible verses to go along with the meanings.

Here are a few of them -

Hard Candy

This reminds us that Jesus is like a "rock," strong and dependable.

Read Psalm 31:3

Peppermint Flavor:

This reminds us of the gift of spices from the wise men.

Read Matthew 2:11

Cane:

This reminds us of a staff used by shepherds in caring for sheep. Jesus is our "Good Shepherd."

Read John 10:1-18, 27-30.

This is really a great book to talk about the meaning of Christmas - Jesus.

Wonderful book. Enjoyable story and there is a recipe for Candy Cane Cookies at the end. This would be a fun project to do.

Tree of thanksgiving (or Thankful Tree)

We read this book which was just delightful. Then we read Psalms 92 and talked about that. Then we made a thankful tree.

Here JJ is hard at work writing "Give thanks to the Lord" on his thankful tree.

He is 'thankful' (and excited!) he is done!

We then hung up the tree. JJ came up with things he was thankful for and we wrote them on leaves and taped the leaves to the tree. Throughout the coming week we will continue to add things we are thankful for. As I thought about it our tree is the opposite of what happens in fall. In fall the leaves fall off - ours the colorful leaves keep adding to the tree! It is a neat, visual reminder that we have much to thank God for each and every day.

Waiting for Christmas - Advent story for kids

Waiting for Christmas

A Story about the Advent Calendar

by Kathleen Long Bostrom

There is an author's note at the start of this book explaining how and when the first Advent calendars came into being. Very neat information. The story told in the book is based on the tradition of how the first Advent calendars started. It is a very cute story. A wonderful read. Aimed more at younger children.

At the end of the book are five suggestions for creating your own Advent calendar, chains, and pictures of art wall. Great ideas. I recommend getting this book now so that you can utilize the ideas and be ready for the coming Advent season. Great suggestions. One I will share here because my youngest wants me to do this for him. All my children love the Advent calendars that have the chocolate candies in them but my youngest is allergic to dairy. He can't eat that chocolate. He is such a good sport - he asks if he can be the opener and they can be the eaters. Isn't that the sweetest thing. Children who live with allergies, I find are so used to not being able to eat certain things that it just become accepted to them. It has just always been that way for my youngest and he just knows that is how life is. I do try to do things just for him (to the point where the others actually comment on why is it all about what he can eat! Moms can never win!)

Anyway, the one idea from the book for an Advent calendar is to make a treat calendar. Tie twenty-four pieces of candy or cookies onto a piece of cardboard that has been decorated for Christmas. Remove one treat each day! Since we would make this ourself we could ensure that only things JJ can eat would be on it. I am thinking of doing this one this year! I will take a picture if I get it done. We first have to do our Thanksgiving Tree. More on that in a day or two!

Fun book for Thanksgiving

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

What a fun book! My 7 year old and I read the book and then we made Pumpkin Pie Bites (basically bite size pies --- so they could swallow a pie too!)

Don't they look delicious!

This was such a fun book and a fun activity --- but (don't laugh) the child I did this with is actually allergic to dairy. So he couldn't eat the pumpkin bites. I made the pie crust from scratch instead (the recipe called for refrigerator ready to roll pies). Since I made it myself I knew there was no dairy in the crust - so I made extra. Then I let JJ roll it out, cut it into strips. He put cinnamon and sugar on them --- and baked. Mmmmmm Mmmmm good! That was JJ's treat and he was very happy with it.

Putting the cinnamon and sugar on is quite the process and totally fun when you are 7!

Recipe for Pumpkin Pie Bites

I made my own pie crust dough.

8 oz. cream cheese, room temp.

1/2 sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Use a cookie cutter to cut out 24 round shapes from each pie crust. Make sure the dough is rolled very thin.

Press dough into mini muffin tray. It is recommended that you use a 24 cup mini muffin tray - make 12 at a time, alternating cups to make sure pie crusts don't overlap each other. I only had a 12 cup mini muffin tray and just decided to go for it. I made all 12 at once.

Apply egg whites from one egg to the top edge of each pie.

Mix cream cheese, sugar, canned pumpkin, remaining 2 eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice together until thoroughly combined.

Spoon mixture into each pumpkin-shaped pie crust.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes --- I don't know what was up on this --- but mine took closer to 30 minutes each.

Remove pies to cool and repeat. Place muffin tray in the freezer to cool it quickly for re-use. (I didn't do this. I actually washed and dried the tray - then re-used. Maybe a bit of anal-retentiveness there but hey!)

This is the site I got the recipe from - click here

One of the best things about making fun treats is sharing!

JJ is all set - he took some of the wonderful treats plus Whipped Cream to our dear, sweet, wonderful neighbor. We hope they enjoyed them.

Let us not forget