12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Christmas Morning

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

Wow---we're on our 12th tradition! I did plan it so that I'd end my series on Christmas morning. This is also a tradition we've done every year of our marriage. After we open our stockings, we eat breakfast and take time to have Bass read us the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2.
It's a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas. It's not about the presents, the lights, the music, or anything else... it's about God sending us His Son. it's about God's Son, Jesus, choosing to come to earth. Not just to be born as baby but to live a sinless life, die on a wooden cross bearing the punishment for my sin, and then rising again after 3 days!
That's why we celebrate.
Merry Christmas!

Luke 2 (ESV)

The Birth of Jesus Christ

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town. ⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. ⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. ¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. ¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. ¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Christmas Eve Service

 

One of our most meaningful traditions is to attend a Christmas Eve evening service every year. We have gone to a service every year we've been married except one year when Christmas was on a Sunday so our church held their Christmas service on the morning of Christmas Eve.

We've gone to a midnight candle-lighting, a children's service, and a few 'regular' services. At our last church I was able to be part of the service. One year we did a 'family' theme and pulled a fireplace mantel, sofa, coffee table, and tree onto the stage. We had a story time where one of our lovely, older church ladies read the Christmas story to all the children, we sang, and in general had a relaxed homey service.

The next year we went a lot bigger. We did a Victorian Christmas theme complete with Dickensian lampposts, full costumes, and Victorian traditions. It was lovely.

A cappella caroling before the service

 

The following year I put together the service with a 'Colors of Christmas' theme. We had four monochromatic trees on the stage and four of us dressed in black with either a solid colored scarf or tie in one of the four colors (red, green, white, and gold). We did readings about how the colors are represented in Christmas and sang songs that went along with them.

We're no longer at that church so we've been just attending candle-lighting services at various churches the past few years since our home church doesn't have one. No matter where we choose to attend, it's always a time to pause and reflect on what Christmas is really about.

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Three Gifts Under the Tree

 

I already wrote about our stocking gift tradition. We also keep our under the tree gifts to a minimum. When Tenor was an infant, I read about a family's three gift tradition. I'm not sure where I found it but it stuck with us, and we liked it so much that we implemented it for our family.

The general idea is that baby Jesus was given three gifts by the wise men, so we will also receive three gifts.

 

Each gift has a special meaning.
Gold is something that you really want or is something valuable
Frankincense is something that can be done with the family (a game, a craft, an experience)
and Myrrh is something that you need.
This tradition has focused our gift-giving, and I think made what we choose for each other even more special.

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Four Stocking Gifts

The stockings were hung...
While we don't do Santa in our house, we do hang stockings each year. The younglings know that mom and dad are the ones that fill them. They also like to tuck little surprises in there for us and for each other. 

 

Over the years, I made personalized stockings for each of us. Bass has moose because he's from New England; Mine has bells because of the whole music thing.

 

Tenor has sheep because his baby nursery was sheep; Soprano has snowflakes because she's unique.

 

Minding the budget as well as keeping Christmas from getting out of control (or having to load up stockings with a bunch of junky trinkets without any value), we limit stocking gifts to four things. We follow this sweet Victorian poem that I found years ago.

 

Do you do stockings? Do you load them up or keep things simple?


Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Pizzelles

Another yummy tradition, we like to have each Christmas are Italian cookies called Pizzelles. My mom usually makes these each year but I thought it was time I put my Pizzelle iron to use. It's been sitting in my appliance graveyard for about 7 years.

Just doing my part to keep the family recipes alive.
Want to make your own? Here's how:
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup margarine (cooled and melted)
1 1/2 tsp anise
scant Tbsp vanilla
   *My mom uses a tbsp of anise and a tbsp of vanilla. You can also make them without the anise if you don't like that flavor. They're not quite the same though.

Mix in:
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder

Directions:
Oil iron to start.
Batter will sticky enough to drop by spoon; drop a scant tsp on hot iron for 30 seconds.
Clip iron for thinner cookies.
    *You can let them cool flat or while they're warm you can roll them (like a cannoli shell). They taste great sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Makes approximately 60 cookies. Enjoy!

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Ornament Tree

Our tree of choice is an ornament tree with white lights! I love, love, love the look of fancy theme trees, and I have 2 in our house--a snowflake theme tree in the kitchen and a rustic lodge woodland themed tree in our family room. The living room however is our family tree. We have gotten a new ornament each year of our marriage and given the younglings an ornament each year too. I usually try to pick something that represents our year: an event, an accomplishment, a trip, whatever. My mom also does the same so we have quite the ornament collection.

 

We have so many we probably need to get a tree with more tips. Right now, they're triple hung. But we love the memories that are evoked by every single one.

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 
 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: A Special Nativity Scene

We love to decorate at Christmas and one of our most treasured items is our nativity scene. Bass gave it to me for our first Christmas. It's an olive wood set, hand carved and sold in Jerusalem. A simple reminder of the true reason for Christmas even more special because it's from the Holy Lands.

It holds a place of honor on our fireplace mantel each year.

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

School Summary - Byzantine Empire and Islam

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!
A Summary of November 18 - December 6

We've hit the holidays for sure. The younglings are barely containing their excitement for Christmas which is following closely on the heels of a nice family Thanksgiving day with my family and then a Christmas get-together with my side of the family in early December. We're trying to stay faithful with our school work though. We took a whole week off for Thanksgiving (part of our Sabbath schooling schedule), but we split it over two weeks so the younglings could spend some days with Gram and Pop-pop.

Here's what we did over these three weeks:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Tenor has kept on track (for the most part with some heavy prompting from the teacher, ahem, me) with his writing. We've finished up IEW's Ancient-History Based Writing Lessons and began their Medieval-History Based Writing Lessons. I worked out plans for the rest of year lining up the IEW lessons with our MFW history.

Soprano also started a writing curriculum. I found a pay-what-you-want deal via currclick.com for Creative and Crafty Writing. It features lessons based on different types of writing (fable, newspaper article, short story, etc) broken down into well explained steps. Along with each of the 12 lessons, there is a journal assignment and a corresponding craft or art project to do as well. She'll work on these lessons for the remainder of the year.

Soprano's Pop-Up Fable Book (The pop-up part is a bit of a fail.)

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, Civics, and PA History for both.

I can't wait until next year when we'll start studying American history. Not only do I love early American history but I won't need to do separate Civics or PA History. I'm canning Geography too. Woo-hoo!

Tenor had Greek and learned another Greek letter and took his first quiz. Soprano had Home Ec where reviewed how to use a rolling pin. We made sugar cookies. Yum.

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation-

With our Thanksgiving break, we only did 2 weeks of schoolwork over 3 calendar weeks. Now that Ancient Rome is behind us, we started into the Middle Ages (weeks 14-15), including the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of Islam.

Bible: We are going back in time to go a little more in-depth on Jesus' earthly life and ministry. We jumped over it earlier so that it would match up with the history we were studying. As we started looking at how Islam started, we also spent time praying specifically for Muslims around the world.

Tenor's notebooking about Mohammad

Science: These two weeks we did several lessons from the AIG Human Body book. We learned about the circulatory system, the heart, blood, and the respiratory system. To emphasize what we learned, we did an activity where we tested our pulse rates after various points of inactivity or activity. We made some sample blood, and while I was away for a girls' weekend, Bass and Tenor dissected a sheep heart. (They were so excited, they forgot to take pictures. I think I'm okay with that.) :)

Our blood sample with red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in a gooey mix of plasma

The flow of blood to and from the heart

History: We started into the Byzantine Empire with Justinian and Theodora (very cool story) and then spent a week on the beginnings of Islam. It's interesting how from the very beginning Islam was not a 'peaceful' religion but rather it was often more of a political entity using warfare to expand it's geographical borders.

This year, I'm also incorporating Story of the World Volume 1 as well as Mystery of History Volume 1 and 2. 

For week 14, I used Mystery of History 2 p128-131 on Day 2 instead of Streams of Civ. I also skipped Streams of Civ. on Day 4.

For week 15, I eliminated Streams of Civilization on Day 2 and 3 and added MOH 2 p160-164 on Day 2 and p166-169 on Day 3.

I'm finding though that I really prefer Story of the World to Mystery of History. I might just stick with the SOC readings and not bother with MOH for the rest of the year since there's so much overlap. 

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to a few more Mozart pieces and kept up with listening at lunch most days. Christmas music has started to interfere with Mozart though.

Art: We made mosaics (drawn in the art books), drew circles, and worked on color charts.

Extras:

Web:

The Byzantines

Gettin' Byzzy With It

Empress Theodora

History of St. Nick

Kid Science - Balloon Lung

How the Body Works: Breathing

3D View of the Diaphragm

Respiratory System 3D

Respiratory System

The Conquest of Spain

King Clovis

Videos:
no extra videos this week

Favorite Books: 

Hear Your Heart by Paul Showers
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp by Carol Carrick
How You Talk by Paul Showers
Inside the Heart by Karin Halvorsen
Ramadan by Suhaib Hamid Ghazi
The Circulatory Story by Mary Corcoran
Arabian Nights by Jim Weiss (CD)

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Homemade Caramels

This is definitely our 'sweetest' tradition... homemade caramels. (See what I did there?)
My dad's side of the family made these every year all my growing up. Vanilla and chocolate, melt-in-your-mouth, best thing ever caramels. I got the secret family recipe one year from my grandfather and promptly made the worst batch in the history of ever.
The secret recipe involved a certain kind of cast iron pan, a certain kind of molasses, and a whole lot of work. I gave up for a few years.
But then after not having them in a super long time, I decided to try again. I found a recipe on-line and tweaked it a bit so that they taste exactly like my childhood memories. Since this recipe isn't a secret, I'll share it with you!

Caramels
1 cup butter (no substitutes)
2 1/4 Cups packed light brown sugar
dash salt
1 cup light colored corn syrup
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional -- I don't use them)
For Chocolate Caramels: 2 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate (I don't usually make the chocolate ones)

Butter a 9x9x2 pan (don't overbutter. I usually just spray with cooking spray)
Melt butter over medium heat (add chocolate if desired)
Stir in brown sugar and salt.
Stir in corn syrup.
Slowly pour in milk, stirring constantly until combined.
DO NOT let it boil until all ingredients are combined.
Using a candy thermometer, cook to 248 degrees (soft ball stage; takes about 25 minutes; It will get very bubbly like this:)

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts.
Immediately pour into pan.
Let candy cool completely before cutting into 1" squares.

Makes about 2 lbs. or 64 pieces. Wrap pieces in non-stick candy foil squares. Enjoy!

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Christmas Music

How could one possibly celebrate the season without music? Maybe that's my musical self talking but it seems like almost everyone loves to sing the classic holiday songs at this time of year.
I have way more Christmas music than I can possibly ever listen to in one year but I sure like to try.

Here are a few of my favorites:
Vocal:
Christmas is All in the Heart by Steven Curtis Chapman
Dream a Dream by Charlotte Church
Noel by Josh Groban
On This Winter's Night by Lady Antebellum
Christmas by Michael Buble
Peace on Earth by Casting Crowns
The Majesty and Glory of Christmas by Tom Fetke
God with Us by various artists
Christmas Album by Michael W. Smith

Instrumental:
Angels Heard on High by Windham Hill
An Angel's Noel by the Ware-Patterson Duo
Christmas Classics for Guitar by Stevan Pasero
Christmas Eve and Other Stories by Trans-Siberian Orchestra


Of course, we don't switch over the Christmas playlist on the iPod until the day AFTER Thanksgiving. Anything else would be sacrilege. :)

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Christmas Books and DVDs

This tradition started to help the younglings wait just one more 'sleep' until Christmas. They were always so good and so patient about waiting for Christmas morning to open their gifts but you could tell that they were barely holding it together. We decided to allow them to open just one thing to take the edge off. It evolved into getting a new Christmas book or DVD for the family each year to add to our collections.

All our Christmas books sit in this huge basket on our living room fireplace hearth. The younglings read through all the kids' books each year and I enjoy looking through the decorating books myself.
Some of our favorites are:
The Christmas Story According to Luke
The Crippled Lamb
The First Christmas
When Christmas Came

The Sweet Smell of Christmas
Christmas in the Manger
The Legend of the Candy Cane

Stories of Christmas Carols
Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas
Simply SenseSational Christmas
Christmas Comfort and Joy

We also enjoy watching Christmas movies together throughout the season. I didn't take pics because our DVDs are all organized into Ikea Kassett boxes.
Our 'must see' flicks include:
Elf
Veggie Tales: The Star of Christmas; The Little Drummer Boy, St. Nicholas, It's a Meaningful Life, and The Toy That Saved Christmas (Veggie Tales Christmas Collection)

Barbie in the Nutcracker
Barbie in A Christmas Carol

White Christmas
A HolidayAffair
Borrowed Hearts
Holiday in Handcuffs
The Christmas List
Snowglobe
Snow and Snow 2: Brain Freeze
Mrs. Miracle
Christmas Lodge
Christmas Child
The Santa Clause (1, 2, and 3)
The Nativity Story

It's fun to pull out books and movies that are special to this time of year. It seems like we have a lot to choose from too!

Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Advent Calendar

One of the best things about Christmas is the anticipation! The younglings love the annual countdown. I knew after Tenor was old enough (maybe 3 years old) that I wanted an advent calendar that we could use each year. I found this one on eBay years ago and it was exactly what I was looking for. Each of the pockets hold a person or animal from the story of Jesus' birth. I put them in so that we end on Christmas Eve with baby Jesus' piece being put on. The younglings take turns adding to the nativity scene each day.

Super cute, right? We love it!



Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

12 Days of Christmas Traditions: Christmas Cards

This year, I thought it would be fun to write a series of posts to highlight the family traditions that we do during each Christmas season. We have a lot of things we do to celebrate the fun and wonder of the holiday, and I'd love to share them with you. Perhaps you'll find a new tradition for your family!

The first thing that we do is to send Christmas cards to family and friends. I Used to be a stamp demo so I probably have enough Christmas themed stamps to last me for the rest of my Christmases. Yet somehow it's a challenge every year to find which one I want to use.
This year I found a couple of ideas on Pinterest that inspired my card designs. (Card 1, Card 2)

Card #1: Believe

My first card (which ended up being my favorite) features patterned paper from the My Minds Eye 'Lost & Found Christmas' 6x6 paper pad. I cut the image base and scalloped circle using Nestabilities; stamped the 3-step image; stamped and cut out the bow; and then added a button, threaded with a baker's twine bow. To add a frosty effect, I inked the edges of the card base with Palette New Canvas ink (white). The sentiment on the front was stamped with Versamark.  

Card #2: Merry Ornaments

My second card gave me a tough time. I loved the card I saw on Pinterest but I just could not figure out those swirls. I tried every possible combination with the flourish stamps I owned and still just didn't really like my end result. I love the paper so much though; it totally makes up for the wonky swirls. I also cut out a strip of paper and punched the edge for the bottom of the card.

The best part of sending out Christmas cards is getting so many in return. We display them in our living room on this old ladder.

Details (card 1):
cardstock: Color Mates (dark glorious green); Unknown (cream); Canvas Home Basics (card bases)
patterned paper: My Mind's Eye 'Lost & Found Christmas'
embellishments: Queen & Co. baker's twine; Foofala buttons
color: Palette inks: New Canvas, Burnt Umber, Moulin Rouge, Jardin Moss; Versamark
tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (scallop circle and regular circle die cuts)
stamps: TAC: Mini Wreath, Be Authentic (believe), Homespun Holiday (bow) Spring Time (bird)

Details (card 2):
cardstock: Canvas Home Basics (card bases)
patterned paper: My Mind's Eye 'Lost & Found Christmas'; metallic gold (unknown)

color: Palette inks: New Canvas, Burnt Umber; Versamark
tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (regular circle die cuts); Fiskars (edge punch)
stamps: TAC: Curls and Swirls; Stampin Up! Tree Trimmings (ornament hooks), Short and Sweet (sentiment)


Check out all our family Christmas traditions:
Christmas Cards
Advent Calendar
Christmas Books and DVDs
Christmas Music
Caramels
A Special Nativity Scene
Ornament Tree
Pizzelles
4 Stocking Gifts
3 Under the Tree Gifts
Christmas Eve Church Service
Christmas Morning - Luke 2 

Make a Card Monday - Anniversary Love

I had a lot of my scrap bases left-over from last year's Christmas cards. Just enough left-over actually to make all of my anniversary cards for next year. I stamped the image and sentiment on a scalloped oval and then matted it with black cardstock. It's hard to see in the pictures but I added Stickles to the hearts in the image and sentiment and a tiny little pearl to the flower on the top heart.  

Details:
cardstock: DCWV textured cardstock base and mat, Georgia Pacific (white)
patterned paper: unknown scraps

embellishments: Stickles (fruit punch),  Recollections (pearl)
color: Palette Noir ink, Prismacolor colored pencils
tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (scallop oval die cuts)
stamps: Stampin Up! Time Well Spent