A Busy Month of Christmas

I feel like I've been in a whirl wind of activity these past few weeks. We have had much to be Thankful for in the last month. We started a Gratitude Tree at Church. The leaves are notes of Thanks to everyone in the congregation for their hard work and dedication.

There have since been many more leaves placed on the tree and it is quite full.

When the holiday season is done, the leaves will be distributed to their intended recipients.
A small thanks but heartfelt too.

Tae has been studying Bible Stories as part of his homeschool.
After the holidays, we will move on to World Religions.

These aren't in order of Day of Creations but I love the pictures he draws.

Cute People.

At least we have necks now.

On Day 4 God created the Moon, Stars and Sun....and lollipops sticking out of the Sun.

and flowers growing out of the oceans.....

Happy drawings.

Tae worked on some language arts.

He's reading like a champ and tells the best stories.

Chubby hands at work.

Did I mention he loves language arts?

He read this story and then announced that in the spring we would be making a worm farm. I have no doubt that he won't let me forget this on the first warm day of Spring.

Patrick left his Math unattended to go snack as teenagers do.

Harley took advantage of the warm spot.

He looks less impressed with the Algebra however.

And promptly started to eat the notebook and pencil.

The kids and I worked on some Christmas crafts.

It's amazing what you can find when you clean out your craft cabinet.
We found lots of parafin wax.

We also found some chunks of beeswax and colored tarts.

The kids collected pinecones and we decided to make fire starters for our fireplace.
Yes, I let my kids play with hot items.

If they are taught safety around soap and melting wax, there really is no reason not to let your kids do these things. All of my kids cook meals on the stove too and use the oven.

The firestarter pinecones came out beautiful and made the whole house smell so good.

I made some soap this week too.

This one came out very purply looking but really had no scent.

It was made with Chamomile tea so will be very soothing to the skin.

I also made some Goat's Milk Honey Almond soap, Grapefruit scented and

Sage and Citrus.

Sage and Citrus is my favorite.
I like it in candles too.

On to our Christmas decorating.

Let me present to you our Christmas Stockings.

Larry's mom made these thru the years for all of us.

In her early years the stocking were the right shape.
Larry's stocking is over 40 years old so it's still in pretty good shape.

Patrick's stocking is looking pretty good too.

Mom started to lose her eyesight and had arthritis in her later years.

Morgan's stocking is 3 times larger than anyone elses.....and doesn't really have a heel.

And I am not sure that Tae's stocking has a toe or heel on it.

But we love these stockings and cherish them even more since Mom passed away.

They are a reminder to us of her loving hands, her imperfections and her giving heart.

This garland hangs over my sliders to my deck. It is many of the handmade ornaments that the kids have created thru the years. I love this.

Patrick collects nutcrackers and we have to hang our stockings upstairs because they are too large and hang down in front of the fireplace to hang them there.

My two favorite nutcrackers.

I love that the one on the left is cooking hotdogs....or

maybe it's supposed to be German sausage.

My mom went to ceramics class for many years. These two large candle holder angels sit on my dining room table. Handcrafted with love, they don't match anything else I have and don't care. My mother loved these and so do I.

The kids put the snowman collection in the bathroom.

This is the garland on my banister and the tree by the front door has my Noah's Ark Collection of ornaments. The angel on top of the tree was my mom's. She had it on our family tree for as long as I can remember.

One of my collectible Santas.

More Santas on top of my piano.

The Santa on the bottom is made from brown paper bags.

This kids made this one year.

Patrick worked on a fabulous Santa sculpture.

Love the fur details.

And a holly leaf in his hat.

Bad lighting in this picture but once Patrick completed the Santa he posed it in front of a ceramic church that my mom painted many years ago. The church has stained glass windows and lights up. I cherish it very much.

Santa!

Love the hat!

And the buttons and suspenders.

Santa's suit is very old.

It's about time that he patched his elbows!

Isn't he glorious!

Patrick wasn't quite finished with him and he now sits in a chimney.

Santa goes to church.

My mom's church. It reminds me of the Congregational Church that Larry and I were married in. The bulbs on the trees light up too.

What decorations bring back cherished memories for you?