A Homemade Christmas-Jesse Tree & Christmas Morning Treat Posted on December 25th, 2008
This year we used a Jesse Tree devotional and used the ornaments that were included in the devotional. While my husband read to us each night from the scriptures, he used the devotional only as a reference for the scripture reading. It was a special treat to read through scripture with the focus on the coming birth of our Savior. Here is a picture of our little tree that we used to put the Jesse Tree ornaments on.
The artwork that came with the devotion was very pretty. We just printed it out on cardstock.
There seems to be a lot of resources for the Jesse Tree devotions and ornaments to go along with it. I think for next year we will research this a little more and perhaps even make our own ornaments.
On Christmas morning each year I make Monkey Bread (aka pluckett). It makes the house smell all wonderful and warm. These are made with store bought biscuits, everything doesn’t have to be completely homemade, right?
Monkey Bread
3 cans buttermilk biscuits
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. brown sugar
1 stick butter
Cut each biscuit in quarters. Shake biscuits in bag with sugar and cinnamon. Layer biscuits in a greased bundt cake pan. You can sprinkle nuts in between layers if you like.
In a small pan melt brown sugar and butter together and boil for minute. Pour over biscuits and bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and invert on plate. To serve, just pinch off and eat with fingers. Or for a more civilized serving, cut and serve on plates and eat with forks.
I have really enjoyed this series on A Homemade Christmas. Simply Vintagegirl (my little girl) has done a wonderful job hosting this. Next week, Jan 1st, will be the last in this series. I hope you can join in then and maybe post some of those items that you had to keep a secret. 
Here is the picture that we sent out in our Christmas cards this year.
Emily Rose, Bently Scribbles and Breezy Tulip.
We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Vanilla-Butter Sugar Cookies Posted on December 24th, 2008
One of our Christmas traditions is making cut-out sugar cookies. Every Christmas eve we make the cookies and then we all sit and decorate them together. We have them baked and ready to be iced. These are so full of butter, we don’t dare make them but once a year!
You can get the recipe here.
We are going to ice our cookies, have supper, and then go over the last of our Jesse Tree devotions.
We have never done a Jesse Tree before so this has been an extra treat this year. It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the coming birth of Christ and help keep our focus on Him.
I will post more about it tomorrow on my Homemade Christmas post.
I hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas celebration!
A Homemade Christmas- Goodies from the Kitchen Posted on December 18th, 2008
I didn’t post last week about a Homemade Christmas so I will double up here and give several recipes from our kitchen.
Kathy’s Wonderful Banana Punch
1 12 oz. frozen lemonade, slightly thawed
2 12 oz. frozen orange juice, slightly thawed
1 46 oz. canned pineapple juice
2 cups sugar
6 cups water
5-6 smashed bananas
1 2L. Sprite or Sierra Mist
Mix first six ingredients in large freezable container, like an ice cream tub. Freeze overnight.
Put frozen punch in punch bowl an hour or two before serving, so it will start thawing. Pour Sprite over punch and let set for about 15 minutes. Take large knife (be careful) and begin to break apart frozen punch and mix it all together so that it is all slushy.
This can also just be made all at once and not frozen, like in the above photo.
This punch is from my friend, Kathy, she serves it to her family every Christmas and so we decided to do that, too. I serve this at my mother’s on Christmas Day, it’s a Big Hit! This picture is from a Christmas Tea Party that we had at our church last Sunday afternoon.
White Chocolate Covered Ritz Bits
1 pkg. white Almond Bark
1 box Peanut Butter Ritz Bits
Melt almond bark (white chocolate) according to directions on package. Dip Ritz Bits in melted chocolate and place on wax paper till set. Try not to eat them all so that you can share – that is the hardest part.
Oreo Truffles aka Beluga Babies
1 pkg. Oreos, crushed
1 8 oz. pkg. light cream cheese, softened
1 pkg. white Almond Bark
You will need a cookie sheet that will fit in your freezer.
Mix the crushed Oreos and softened cream cheese. Shape into walnut sized balls, place on wax paper that is on a cookie sheet. Place the balls on the cookie sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes. Melt almond bark according to directions on package. Dip the Oreo balls in melted almond bark and let set till hard. You can take some extra melted almond bark and put into a plastic baggie, cut a tiny bit of the corner off and drizzle a little decorative line on top of the truffles. These can be frozen. Store in refrigerator.
Lemon Poppy Seed Bread
1 box lemon cake mix
1 small box instant lemon pudding mix
4 eggs
1 c. water
1/2 c. oil
1 -2 tsp. poppy seed
Mix first 5 ingredients together. Stir in poppy seeds. Pour into two greased* loaf pans. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool in pans 10 minutes.
*I usually cut a piece of wax paper the same size as the bottom of the pan and put in before pouring in the batter. That way the bottom of the bread always comes out of the pan. Just peel off the paper after removing from the pan.
For more Homemade Christmas ideas visit Simply Vintagegirl.
Motivate Me Monday- Being a Woman of Prayer Posted on December 8th, 2008
I want to be a woman of prayer. I want to stand in the gap and pray for my husband, my daughters, our family & friends, those suffering and needy, the lost, our nation, etc. I don’t always succeed at this… being a woman of prayer. Actually, one of my prayers is that the Lord would help me to become a strong woman of prayer.
My prayer life has seen a lot of different seasons. I have had strong seasons of faithfully praying and others where I fall of the wagon, praying little snippets here and there and thinking that is good enough, or that I will pray more later. How this must grieve the Lord. He gave us this privilege to pray and yet I don’t always treat it as the treasure that it is. I have really been convicted of my laziness in this area.
A couple of weeks ago I began reading again The Power of a Praying Parent and The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. I had read both of these books several years ago and now going through them again I see that God has answered so many of my prayers for my family. How many more answers to prayers would I see if I had been more faithful in this area?
Do you struggle in this area? Are you wanting to spend more time with the Lord in prayer? Maybe you have been a strong woman of prayer and have some great advice…..care to share?
Here are links to some more resources on praying and using God’s Word in prayer.
The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian
The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian
The next three are free pdf files.
31 Days of Praying for Your Husband
31 Biblical Virtues for Praying for Your Children
15 Ways to Make Prayer a Part of Your Everyday Family Life
These next two are articles by John Piper.
The Sovereignty of God and Prayer
A Conversation between Prayerful and Prayerless
Thank you Lindsay at Passionate Homekeeping for posting some of these links on your blog.
You can read more about Motivate Me Monday at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee.
A Homemade Christmas- Snuggly Wrap Posted on December 4th, 2008
This week I am sharing the EASIEST gift you could make!!!!! It took longer to stand at the cutting line at the store and pay for this than it did to make.
This is a warm, snuggly wrap. We had to think of the best name for this- shawl, cape, cloak or wrap. After reading the following definition of wrap we decided it was a wrap. You can decide which definition best suits here.
wrap:
Directions:
Take a length of Blizzard fleece (this kind is so soft) folded in half, selvage to selvage and measure it from the tip of the nose to the floor of who you are making this for. If it is a surprise just measure it against yourself.
Mark where it touched the ground and then cut straight across.
Fold the still folded fleece in half length wise and cut along the folded edge up to the middle point. Make sure you are just cutting one layer just to the middle. If you opened it flat it would look like the above detailed illustration on the left. 
And if getting ready to be put on it would look like the detailed illustration on the right.
Cut off the selvage edges so that it has a nice straight edge on both sides.
Visit Simply Vintagegirl to read more Homemade Christmas ideas.
thanks to Breezy Tulip for my detailed illustrations. and thanks to Emily Rose for being my lovely model.
Earnestly and Early- The 5 AM Club Posted on December 1st, 2008
O God, thou art my God early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee,
my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.
Psalm 63:1 KJV
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
In a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Psalm 63:1 NAS
These are different versions of the same verse. The Hebrew word shachar translated into early in King James and earnestly in the New American Standard.
I have been rising extra early for the past few weeks, desiring to spend time alone with my Lord in the quiet morning hours. Sometimes I have company and sometimes not, after all I don’t want to be stingy with those quiet morning hours.
I have made it a habit over the years to read my bible and pray first thing in the morning after I rise. When the girls were little I would get up extra early so that I could have my quiet time with the Lord without interruptions. I would almost always take a little catnap in the afternoon when the girls would nap, but as time when on I just got up a with everyone else and then had my quiet time. Still first thing, but more likely to be interrupted or cut short.
After reading on Sarah Mae’s blog about rising early and reading her link to Carloyn Mahaney’s post about rising early, I decided to do the same. My commitment is to rise early, read & study my bible and pray. While it may not always be 5 AM it will be the first thing that I do.
Does it have to be first thing? No, but when you do something earnestly do you usually put it off till you have time or do you make every effort to do it right away?
Does it have to be 5 AM? No, this is just what I am choosing to do now.
Will it make a difference in my life? Yes, I believe it will.