In The Refiner's Fire

 From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! See you in 2021! Lea

Gift #1: Updated Earrings Our Christmas budget is tight this year - tighter than it has been in a long time.  That means I needed to get myself in gear and make some things for Christmas.  I started making one gift per week starting in September.  I also had several larger gifts that I worked on in bits and pieces as time allowed.   Hopefully, this series will give you some ideas and spark your imagination in your own gift-giving endeavors. Gift #1 is a pair of updated earrings for our daughter.  These were placed in the box shown and then tucked into her stocking.  We open stockings on Christmas morning before attending Worship and then open larger gifts after our Christmas dinner, which happens about 3pm. This gift cost me nothing out of pocket since I had all the pieces to make it. Our daughter has been very enthralled with the fringe style earrings that are currently in stores and does not own a pair.   I decided to make ...

  Gift #1 2017: Teacher Christmas Gifts   This was our teacher gifts for 2017 at Christmastime.   Our children are in Middle School now (6th grade), so they have a lot of teachers!   This year, it's as follows:   Homeroom/Language Arts Science/Industrial Arts Math/Faith Formation Physical Education/Computers Band General Music/Choir Before/After Care 3 confirmation guides    If you're counting that's 10 teachers!   That's a lot of gifts!   We had a budget of $20 for all these gifts.  So here's what we gave:   A mug, cocoa mix, peppermint stirring sticks, and a Christmas tree ornament.     We made the ornaments using Popsicle sticks, ribbon, pompoms, glue and embroidery floss that we had.  We also made the cocoa mix from items we had in the pantry and I packaged them in freezer canning jars that I've had for years but haven't used.  I used stick-on name t...

Another spectacular sunrise - we were so very spoiled by these this year!  I enjoyed every one of them! Nothing like completely forgetting I had a blog for month, right?  I didn't forget about everyone - I promise.   December ended up being ridiculously busy and very spare moment was spent with family and friends and on grading, as the term ended not that long ago.    My parents were visiting for 3 weeks (they returned home to sunny and slightly warmer Texas yesterday) and the children had their Sunday school program, their school Christmas program, and a school fun-day to end the term and John had 3 funerals and two graveside burials.  Then there's always the rush of Christmas and all the services that comes with being a Pastor's family.  I am very, very ready for a quiet start to the new year! I have some New Year's posts already planned and partially written, so look for those next week.  In the meantime, here are som...

  Joy to the World! Test: Isaac Watts Tune: George F. Handel, adapted     Joy to the World! The Lord has come! Let earth receive her King; Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room And heav'n and nature sing, And heav'n and nature sing, and heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.   Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns! Let all their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.   No more let sin and sorrow grow Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse if found.   He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love.       Merry Christmas to you and yours!...

Oh, come, oh, come Emmanuel Text: Psalteriolum Cantoinum Catholicarum Translated: John M. Neale Tune: French Processional, 15th Century   Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel And rasom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, oh, come great Lord of might, Who to your tribes on Sinai's height In ancient times once gave the law In cloud and majesty and awe.   Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, strong Branch of Jesse, Free Your own from Satan's tyranny; From depths of hell your people save And give them vict'ry o'er the grave.   Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O, Israel!   Oh, come, blest Dayspring, come and cheer Our spirits by your advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death's dark shadows put to flight.   Rejoice...

  Joy to the World by Isaac Watts     Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Let earth receive it's King; Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room And heav'n and nature sing, And heav'n and nature sing, And heav'n and heav'n and nature sing.   Joy to the earth, the Savoir reigns! Let all their songs employ, While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains, Repeat the sounds joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.   No more let sin and sorrow grow Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the course is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as the curse is found.   He rules the world with truth and grace And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love.     MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

    It's really hard for me to believe we're already here....     But I guess we are .....       The krumkaka has been made....     So is the lefse....     We put up the decorations....     Decorated the tree....   Put up the Nativity....      Now we wait....   And the waiting is nearly over...     Wishing you a Merry Christmas filled with joy and love and family.  ~ Lea 

So, one of the things we're trying harder to do this year is to celebrate the church year in our home.  The church year starts either late October or early November with Advent, then travels through Christmas, Epiphany, and on through the rest of the church year.  We started with Advent, giving us some time to get into the school year and all it entails before jumping into "additional" things. Christmas officially starts on December 25th and continues through 12 days until Epiphany. Since the tree and all of our other decorations stay up until Epiphany (January 6) we thought a good way to "end" Christmas would be to have a 12 Days of Christmas Party. I read here about 12 Days of Christmas Dinner/Party and thought it sounded  like a really fun idea to try.  My parents were here and our good friends wanted to make sure they got to see them while they were here, so the four of them plus our family got to be our guinea pigs, so to speak. After it wa...