Family Traditions

Oh my gosh I'm so excited! Today's Christmas EVE! Tomorrow is the day we've all been anticipating!

I love hearing about Christmas traditions, I thought I'd share some of mine with you and then I want to hear some of yours.

We get to open one present tonight, as goes one of my favorite family traditions, then we open all the rest on Christmas morning. My sisters and I wait in the kitchen, staring at the oven clock, because my parents say we can't wake them until 7:30am. As soon as it clicks from :29 to :30, we are off, shooting towards my parents' bedroom, jumping on the bed exclaiming that they need to wake up, as if the presents are going to get up and walk themselves out the front door if they don't hurry and get out of bed. We then all dash into the living room, sit down in front of the tree, and go around in a circle, opening all our presents one by one. We have never been allowed to just "rip" into them, because my parents enjoy seeing our reactions to the gifts they painstakingly picked out for us.

My other favorite Christmas tradition, is making cookies for our family and friends. We actually did that yesterday. I made the HORRIBLE mistake of wearing black sweatpants while rolling our sugar cookie dough. Of course, when you roll out sugar cookie dough, you have to put flour on the rolling pin. Let's just say I looked like it had snowed in my house. It was crazy. We used cookie cutters and made a bunch of sugar cookies, and then made regular double chocolate chunk, oatmeal chip, peanut butter, and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. The peanut butter and peanut butter chocolate chip were from this gluten-free recipe we found since we discovered recently that my momma is sensitive to gluten.

We also made tacos :)

These two pictures, above and below, are dedicated to my bestie, M. I wish I could send you these taco cookies but sadly, I eated them :((

Ok see the cookie above and below? We named him Barfalito. Don't ask why we decided he was Italian.. My genius sister rolled the cookie dough in sprinkles, turning the dough this lovely shade of puke green. Thus born, Barfalito. Let's just say my sisters and I are insane at times ;)

Anyways, now that I've bombarded you with a bunch of pictures, what are some Christmas traditions that your family does?

~Peace, love, raindrops~

Wordless Wednesday (Christmas Verison part 3)

~ :P ~

(P.S. 4 days until Christmas. *squeals and sings Christmas songs while running about the house rampantly*)
(P.P.S. Those above were not words. They are just figments of your imagination. Maybe you need to go see a doctor or something.)

History of the Candy Cane

One of my favorite sweet treats of this time of year, are candy canes. The way that the sweet, sticky, peppermint taste just floods your whole mouth when you nibble on the cane just makes me feel like I'm on Cloud Nine. However, the real thing that the candy cane represents has been lost, and now is only recognized as a Christmas decoration. I am here to help prevent that.

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the church, and firmness of the promises of God.

The candymaker made the candy in the form of a “J” to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our savior. It also represents the staff of the “Good Shepherd” with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candymaker stained it with red stripes. He used the tree small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Jesus on the Cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life, if only we put our faith and trust in Him.

Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there for those who “have eyes to see and ears to hear”.

{source}

Hopefully, next time you delight in a candy cane, it will taste a bit sweeter knowing that everything about it represents and points back to our Savior. The real reason we celebrate this time of year. :)

~Peace, love, toe socks~

Perfect Gift Idea

We've all got that one person. The person we've been through thick-and-thin with. And you have no idea what to get them for Christmas to show that you really care about them. Well I have the perfect idea, something to hold their cell phone when not in use!

How about one of these bad boys?

Its a moose. Basically its awesome because of that.

Okay I think I'm done :)

~Peace, love, hot chocolate with extra marshmallows~

Reminder

[Since I will be gone tomorrow, this post doubles as my Wordless Wednesday Christmas version part 2]

The Christmas season for me is filled with lots of things. Memories. Bright lights. Daydreams in front of the Christmas tree. Having fun with my siblings. Getting into a fake-fight over whether "huger" is a word with my little sister, and then somehow the two of us start fake-arguing in British accents. Baking cookies. Decorating cookies. These are all my essentials to making this time of year grand.

But in the mist of all the gift wrap and tinsel, we seem to forget what Christmas is all about.

Over 2,000 years ago, a little baby was born in a manger. The Lord sent His only son to save us from our sins, since we could not save ourselves. You nor I had the power to save us, only He does.

So please, its alright to be excited because there is a giant box under your tree with your name on it. Its okay to put up all the Christmas decorations and be excited to see all the lights turn on. Its perfectly fine to want to go out Christmas shopping. Just please don't get so caught up that you forget what this time of year really is celebrated for.

~Peace, love and shooting stars~

To leave you with...

Last night was the opening night for a local church's Walk to Bethlehem. Being one of the only girls around the right age, I played Mary. It was a blast, like always, so I am happy :) I will be volunteering for as many nights as I can (or how many times my momma wants to drive the family over there). Either way, I'm spreading the gospel and I get volunteer hours for high school credit. Double bonus! (Although, of course, the first reason is better in the long run)

Well, I'm off to spend the night at my grandpa's house, but I just wanted to leave y'all with this:

Did you guys think I'd leave you with something serious to think about?? You have much to learn, young grasshoppers.

~Peace, love and spaghetti o's~

Wordless Wednesday (Christmas verison)

~ :) ~

New design

So last night, my dad had his Christmas work party at his boss' house. No pictures, sadly because I was busy having fun :) All the adults were calling me the "Baby Whisperer" because I had almost all the little kids trailing me during the entire party. Don't get me wrong, I was loving every moment. I absolutely adore little kids :)

By the way, you guys have probably noticed something different by now...how are you guys liking the new design and layout? The sweet Miss Jocee from Cupcake Dictionary gets all the credit ♥ I normally like more colorful blogs, but I actually enjoy the white. It reminds me of snow, perfect for the winter season

~Peace, love, ingredients for homemade chocolate chip cookies~

P.S. Countdown to Christmas: 21 days *does a "3 weeks to go happy dance"*

Life of late (and La Creativite Photo Contest)

Goodness I love this time of year. The bright lights, the brisk air, the fuzzy socks. Its all so lovely.

Well yesterday, my sisters, my mom and I went ATVing for the last time this year with our favorite 4-H person ever. We rode around, all dressed in jeans, long sleeved shirts, gloves, and helmets of course, and absolutely had a blast. Something about the way the cool air whips at your face just sends me into an ecstatic bliss.

But, of course, being the dork that I am, I just had to hurt myself. We had this small-ish hill that we liked to jump over. I lost my concentration, the handle bars moved while I was in the air, and when I landed, my right hand was bent between the bar and the hand brake. It now hurts like crazy. My dad, aka the physical therapist, says that I sprained it. Our conversations for the past couple of hours have been:

*Me* So wait, I sprained it?

*Dad* Yes

*Me* Does that mean I get to wear one of those funky-hand-thingies?

*Dad* You mean a brace?

So yeah, that's been my life of late.

Oh and I'm going to enter this:

In a photo contest over yonder this way

Sorry for such the short post but there are things to be done today (like dishes. Bleh. )

~Peace, love and composition notebooks(so spiffy)~