Christmas Began

Christmas began in the heart of God.

It is not complete until it

reaches the heart of man.

CHRISTMAS COOKIE RULES

I like these Cookie rules, how about you?

Christmas Cookie Rules...

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you're making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend. Because your friend's first cookie is calories free, rule #1 is yours also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five - one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!

7. Cookies eaten while watching "Miracle on 34th Street" have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one's personal fuel.

8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It's a rule!

Hand-made Christmas Stockings!

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

I love Christmas stockings. I've already shared mine with you in a previous blog. I think I've also mentioned that I am also a wanna-be crafter. I try, but not much turns out well. Ever hopeful, I never give up. I have many stories about such 'crafts'...from blue pickles, to moldy christmas dough ornaments, and we won't even get into gingerbread houses! Well, maybe I will share the gingerbread house story with you another day in December!

One year I decided to make Christmas stockings for my family. Why should I be the only one with a special stocking? For some reason I had a sewing machine (shocking and that's a whole other story). So off I went to a fabric store (shudder) and found some cute material and trim. I was so excited!

I had no pattern of course; how hard could this be? I just drew the patterns and cut! Easy enough...looked great. Sewed the material and boom, they were finished. All I had to do was decorate with rick rack, buttons and fringe. Three darling stockings. I was so proud.

Then I turned them right-side out to begin the decorating. WHOOPS! I had not allowed the inches necessary to have a nice wide stocking, thus I ended up with stockings that were about 3 inches wide!!!! I didn't buy extra material so I was stuck. I went ahead and decorated them (wish I had a picture now) and they turned out so adorable...except for the width, of course.

Let's just say, no orange ever fit into one of them. We had a lot of laughs because each and every year I put in a banana.

Unique, that's it!

The home-made stockings were adorable and unique!

We can spin anything to a positive!!!!!

Come on In!

WELCOME!

THE PORCH IS DONE AND DECORATIONS INSIDE TOO!

IT'S ALL SIMPLE!

MELISSA AT The Inspired Room

HAS EVERYONE POSTING THEIR DECORATIONS

DROP ON BY AND SEE HOW CREATIVE THEY ALL ARE!

A bit of potpourri. The apple-cinnamon smells so good. I put it in a low vase and plopped it into an old candy dish of my Mother's.










Amazing what a bit of free greenery from Home Depot can do!
Smells good too!







The Santas take the best seats!
















Joseph must have wandered off.....








This is my most favorite of all time decoration. This handblown glass set was a gift from my friend Patti. She brought it to me from Norway over eleven years ago.

EMMANUEL!

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,

and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Matthew 1:23

OK I DID IT!

I can't believe it! I actually took down my fall harvest decorations and put up Christmas. Now nicely packed away for the move are all the orange, browns and bronze colors and out comes the red, green and white making way for a shinier and brighter motif bringing forth the LIGHT of the World.

My favorite thing to unpack and hang is my Christmas Stocking. Its a knitted stocking in red, white and green stripes with my name knitted in there. It was a gift from my Godmother for my first Christmas ever! I am astounded that I haven't misplaced that all these long 65 years! Then a nativity set that was my mothers...Joseph got lost though.

I'm keeping it simple this year...no tree, no elaborate lights and just using what I have kept over the years (and I got rid of a ton of that while packing...off to Goodwill it went). I just saved some of my favorite things -- I think no more than 10. I did dress up the geese on the porch though..so cute.

I am learning simple. I am beginning to appreciate it so much. It's a much easier and peaceful way to live. As I've sorted though everything and I mean everything in the past couple of months, discarding the unnecssary, keeping only what I cherish or need, shredding til I'm shredding in my sleep all the papers of years gone by of my life and Jeff's, eating on a schedule, going to bed early and sleeping all night, becoming organized in all areas of my life I feel as though the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders.(And 40 lbs off my body) :)

Sure, the 'situations' still exist that cannot be reconciled quite yet, the lack of money, the tribulations of the world in just being alive in 2008 are extraordinary and yet I feel peace and joy, deep within. Thank you Christ Jesus. You came into the world in the most simple way. Let me learn from that.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27 KJV)

But to His disciples He said, "My peace, I leave that with you; that is My legacy. My joy, I give that to you."