Advent Conspiracy

I just joined the Advent Conspiracy. Maybe you'll wish to, also. Watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0o3C5yH77A

I mean Christmas is my favorite holiday! I always want to create the tone of a homey, old fashioned Christmas for my family! What better way than to focus more on the advent and worship of our precious Lord, Jesus Christ!
Even if we cut back just a little and give more of ourselves, talents, love, we can make a huge difference in our home and community!
Click on the title to go to the AC website.

First Week of Advent

Advent" is a Latin word meaning "the coming." Christians celebrate as they prepare for the celebration of the coming of the Lord into the world through the birth of his Son Jesus Christ. Advent is a time to celebrate light in the midst of darkness.
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appears

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel

Shall come to thee O Israel

Jeremiah 33:14-16
14 " 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
15 " 'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'

Romans 13:11-14

11And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

Isaiah 60:19-22

19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
21 Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot I have planted, the work of my hands, for the display of my splendor.
22 The least of you will become a thousand, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly."

John 1:1-9
John 1
The Word Became Flesh

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

Decking the Halls

This has been a great day for decking the halls! Just enough drear and cold outside to make one wonder if there'll be a White Christmas! It was also wonderful to hear the Hokies beat the Cavs as was decorating the tree!First of all, we had to move a bit of furniture around to find a place to put the tree. Then, of course, umpteen cleaning jobs reveal themselvs when furniture is moved, like cleaning baseboards, dusting, polishing, and rearranging things in other rooms to make room for new pieces. Goodness, it becomes a huge task!
Finally, the tree is up, light bulbs are replaced and the decorating begins! I love prelit trees. They go together in a snap and once the burned out bulbs are replaced it seems a cinch to have gotten together!


I reworked the Chrismons tree and now it looks like this:


So now if you were stopping in for hot cocoa, this is what you'd see as you stepped into the great hall!

My Own Show and Tell

There is no regular Friday show and tell this week, but I wanted to share my Christmas craft and new decorations I made this week. I love Chrismons ornaments! When I found this site, that showed how easy they are to make, I got all excited and started right to work. I used sparkly felt, reduced and copied the patterns and set about cutting and decorating them with a silver glue pen.

Then I painted on a coat of Modge Podge to set them and give them a more substantial structure. Then sewed on and tied string hangers and hung them on my tree!

Pink Saturday

For more Pink Saturday check out Beverly's site!

I just ran across this beautiful Pink plate by Johnson Brothers.

These are available at Replacements.com. I was actually looking for a replacement for a tea cup I broke this year, the Royal Albert Old Country Rose with a green border as seen here.

Merry Christmas to me!

Friday's Favorite Family Foto

Check out Deborah's site for more fotos today

I love to capture shots of Amanda with my parents, especially as Amanda and Josh plan to leave the area soon. Yesterday we all got to spend some quality time together.

Thanksgiving Memories 2008

Yesterday dawned clear the promise of a mild day hung in the air. Stoves across the valley were turning out delicious corn pudding, dressing, gravy, savory carrots, and mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce to tote up the mountain to combine with the delicious fare being prepared at Amanda's house. And then we were on our way!

The mountain vistas were beautiful on this Thanksgiving Day was we sang "Over the River and Through the Woods to Amanda's home we go!!
Finally we were driving right past Lane Stadium, and we knew we were nearly there. The aromas permeating the car plus the rich savories we encountered upon entering their home more and told us we were ready to partake of another feast.
How precious to see Amanda share God's Word before the prayer as she read Psalm 100.

Joshua prayed the prayer of Thanksgiving and then he started carving the bird!


Oh my, no room for turkey.
Amanda is such a fabulous cook. She researched all about it and brined her turkey! She prepared a delectable baked squash and leek side dish along with Alton Brown's Best Green Bean Casserole Ever made completely from scratch with fresh beans and mushrooms. She topped off the feast with delicious homemade pumpkin pie! YUMYUM!!
PS: For those who follow who know and love Amanda, she did this following 3 hours of sleep as she took a break from finishing her master's thesis. But I do believe as of this moment (9:15 Friday morning) it is finished and in her prof's email inbox as I type! Praise God!!!

I'm It! I Was tagged!

Marian, The Princess in Pink, my friend from the Netherlands has tagged me!
I have to tell 6 things about myself. I've decided to get right personal on this Thanksgiving Eve:
1) I have a perpetual song in my heart that is forevermore seeking to blend with the music that I keep playing all the day long.
2) I have a poem of Thanksgiving written on my heart that keeps me ever turning my face to God.
3) I have a huge desire for this life to be accounted as righteousness because of a great belief in God and what He can do through me.
4) My greatest hope yet to be fulfilled is to someday sojourn in Scotland for a substantial time. If I don't get there this side of heaven, I believe God could honor my request in glory. I can imagine a millenia there.
5) Everyone knows I am the musician, Dougie McLean's, greatest fan but I am fast becoming a huge fan of Josh Groban, and all the music of The Secret Garden.
6) I am so very thankful for my newfound friends at my new church, Dottie, Gerri, and my prayer team sisters, Lynne, Colleen, Isabel, Karen, and Lois. Their friendship means the world to me. I hadn't had any galpals in such a long time. After my best friend, Pam, died in 1997, I immersed myself in motherhood. Now that Amanda is preparing to move 1000 miles away, you cannot know how thankful I am God put me in this particular circle of wonderful women!

Now I'm off to tag 6 others!

Word Filled Wednesday

Hurry over to Amy Deanne's for more celebration of God's Word!

Tempt My Tummy, Tuesday

Lisa, at Blessed with Grace hosts this theme every week. Check out her site.
I have joined Weight Watchers just in time for the holidays!:)
I am doing the Core plan because I hate counting points. I have been assigned to bring the cranberry sauce to our Thanksgiving dinner so I found this Core friendly recipe for Cranberry Salad.

Cranberry Salad

12 servings

Cook one pkg cranberries in 1 cup water and juice from pineapple until they pop.

Dissolve 2 sm pkgs sugar-free strawberry jello into cranberries.

Pour into 9x13 pan.

Add:

1 large can crushed pineapple

2 mashed bananas

2 finely chopped apples

Sweetener to equal 1 cup sugar

Dash salt

1 can diet strawberry soda

(can substitute diet strawberry 7-UP)

Chill until ready to serve.

And here is a Cranberry Orange Relish

Ingredients
12 oz cranberries, fresh
1 medium orange(s), navel, washed, peeled,and cut into chunks

2T. Orange zest
1 cup Splenda

1 piece(s) ginger root, fresh, peeled, about 1-inch, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Put cranberries, orange, sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Scrape into a serving bowl (or a plastic container if making ahead). Cover and refrigerate until serving. Yields about 1/3 cup per serving.
You can make this relish up to 5 days ahead.
This recipe is great as a spread for leftover turkey sandwiches or as an accompaniment to roast pork or chicken.

The Simple Woman Daybook

FOR TODAY~November 24, 2008

Outside my window...a fiery sun rise is peeking over the treetops. A lovely day is dawning at 27 degrees this morning at 7:30 am.

I am thinking...I hope I can get a lot of Christmas decorating done this week. December is nearly here, and therein begins a very hectic funfilled month of activity!

I am thankful for...how God is always at work behind the scenes working out the details in our lives. How He has kept my parents well this long and how He is helping Amanda and Joshua in their endeavors to complete their post graduate degrees in time for us all to be able to enjoy the holidays and for them to be able to make their move to Boston.

From the kitchen...a bag of dry cereal is calling my name. I am happy to announce I have lost 6 pounds and I am not thinking about baking today!

I am wearing...My warm winter white trousers and my purple and white striped blouse with purple pullover.

I am creating...a set of Chrismons ornaments. I need to apply a coat of modgepodge today and then attach silver string hangers.

I am going...to take dad to the doctor this morning for bloodwork.

I am reading...In His Face, by Bob Sorge!

I am hoping...for some snow for Christmas. It just makes it so much better all around!!!

I am hearing... My neighbor out hammering on his garage~He has completely torn down his old one and rebuilt a triple twostory garage in its place. He is trying to get it under roof. He has done a marvelous job all by himself!

Around the house...I am putting up the tree and decorating the living room today.

One of my favorite things...is anything by Thomas KinKade. I love this painter of light! I particularly love his English cottages, but I am ordering the Garden of Prayer for our church prayer room.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Monday: Take dad to the doctor then visit a while with mom.

Return home and finish the ornaments and put up the Christmas tree. read in my Priscilla Shirer Bible study manual, Can We Talk!

Tuesday: Morning Bible study, go down to Graphics, Inc to purchase a medallion from P.Buckley Moss with a friend. Hopefully get coffee out somewhere. wednesday night church functions have changed to tonight due to the holiday.

Wednesday: Work on decorating the house somemore.

Thursday: Enjoy the morning with Lynn- let him fix me breakfast, then bake my individual corn puddings and cranberry sauce to take to Amandas later. Pick up mom and dad and travel to Blacksburg for Thanksgiving with the kids and the Wangs'. Try to stay on my diet!

Friday: Allergy shot, breakfast out, and do some last minute Black Friday activities- finish off that shopping list.

Here is picture thought I am sharing..

Last week we met that the Ronald mcDonald House for our P Buckley Moss meeting and they had it decorated so beautifully. This wreath hung over the mantel. I love the plaque incorporated in it that represents our fair city.

Be sure to stop in at The Simple Woman for all the other Daybooks today!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Pink Saturday

Beverly, at How Sweet the Sound, hosts this celebration of PINK each week! I was thinking about 1973 when we lived in Germany, in a small village named Lampertheim.It was right outside the city of Mannheim. We lived at the foot of the Odenwald Mountain range which was dotted with feudal castles.I could look out my front window and see Auerbacher Schloss reflecting the setting sun like a rosy jewel. The stone of Auerbacher has a lot of iron mixed in it and it casts a rosy hue in the light.

This photo shows the view looking back down the valley toward our house. You can see the red in the stone.

This was of course the first castle we visited there. It also housed a nice cafe which made for a jolly good place of respite on our Saturday jaunts.

I wish I could find a photo that shows just how wonderfully pink it looked in the setting sun. It was truly a fairytale castle to me!

Show and Tell, Friday

You will want to stop by Kelli's for more Show and Tell!

I collect little houses. I used to receive them as Christmas gifts from my students. I have those up over the doors in several rooms which I'll share next time. But today I wish to share my newest collection I found in my favorite consignment shop. I love these!

I love these Victorian homes and buildings, especially the schoolhouse!

These look quite charming in my sunroom windows. I see my church there intermingling with Williamsburg. Oh, my! Someone doesnt know their geography!

My Husband Rocks, Friday

KatyLin, of The Great Adventure hosts this theme each Friday! I am going to try to catch Lynn in the act! SH!!! Here he comes! Snap!

Like clockwork every morning! He brings me my first cup of coffee! I think that is so sweet!!!

Favorite Family Foto, Friday

Deborah, at Pictures, Pots, Pens, hosts this fun theme each Friday.

Today

I want to share a cute foto of Amanda when she was four. We had just moved into this house the year before so the dining room is quite different. Here she is with one of my younger cousins, Jenny, who adopted Amanda as her little sister! She was attended college at the time!They are still very close!

Come Along and Deck the Halls Christmas Fair

Karen, of Scrapbook of Inspiration is hosting this theme! So let's go to theFair!

Here is the Christmas elf who will be our singing guide through the Fair today!



Haul out the holly;

Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.

Fill up the stocking,I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,

Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.

Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute. It hasn't snowed a single flurry,

But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry;

So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.

Slice up the fruitcake;

It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.

For I've grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older,

And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder,

Need a little Christmas now.