What's In My Teapot?

First of all, if you wish to be sane, don't do as I did! In other words, don't get married on December 9, have baby number one on December 22 and baby number 3 on January 2!!! Those three events on a pile would be a lot without cookie bakes and gift exchanges and Christmas caroling and family gatherings and family letters (oh, wait, that didn't happen this year!) and lot's of extra food and Christmas programs and pork and sauerkraut! With them, it's exciting at best...stressful at worst!!! I don't think we're extravagant with our giving, but we have chosen to celebrate birthdays and Christmas with a few gifts. So...right about now I am trying to organize and buy birthday gifts for two and Christmas gifts for many!!! It can get a little confusing, as in " wait a minute...did I get this for Parker's Christmas or am I saving it for his birthday?"  It can also get a little expensive, although a few of the gifts this year did come from thrif...

I have a hot cup of  tea beside me, two boys in bed above me, the majority of supper preparations behind me and a ladies night out with some friends before me. What more do I need to chase away the gloom of a chilly day when the very fingers of winter are scratching at my window panes? A good book to review, perhaps? Elasa has been listening to More All-Of-A-Kind Family on CD and since the book is about a Jewish family (and one I would highly recommend!!!) it talks about the Jewish holidays. When it talks about Hanukkah, also called Festival of Lights , it says that it is " the happy holiday right in the midst of December's bleakness." Well, that's how I feel about Christmas. It is a time of cheer and festivity in the midst of some pretty depressing weather and days in which we see the least amount of daylight. A little digital weather monitor that we have says that today we only have 9 hours and 34 minutes of daylight. I am no mathematician, and yet even I ca...

Advent    [ad′vent′] noun In religion, the term advent is defined as the celebration of the coming of Christ. An example of advent is the four week period of time leading up to Christmas, the birth of Christ. Advent is defined as the beginning or arrival of something. An example of advent is the start of a new season. I have been  intrigued   with the idea of celebrating the Advent season leading up to Christmas for several years now. I think it began with those beautiful wooden Advent Calendars. You know, the ones with little wooden doors to open each day and with beautiful pictures on the front. The expensive ones. Wesley & I saw some exquisite ones at the Christkindlmarkt   last year on our anniversary trip and confirmed them out of our price range. This year I determined to make my own Advent calendar and thereby start a new tradition of incorporating some traditional scriptures and carol...