My Peacefully Chaotic Life

Well, I promised a friend I would blog about our Christmas traditions. It isn't anything fancy but here goes. Worshiping Christ/ Loving Others Obviously we want our children to understand exactly what Christmas is all about. So leading up to Christmas much of our Bible reading centers on His birth and the surrounding events. It is nice to center our homeschool time around it, too. There is always a program at church that we take part in so that gives the opportunity to talk about and reinforce spreading the gospel. For weeks prior to Christmas the children make special things (this year it was fans) and pack goodie baskets up. We go caroling to shut-ins or people that just need some encouragement and leave them a basket. We also carol at the nursing home. When we can find an Angel tree we also like to pick children's names that are the same ages as our children and get them presents. Christmas Tree: Long, long ago in a distant land: When we were first married we had a (used) 6 ...

I have had such a busy day! I had an organization bug hit me... I literally worked all day in the girls' room and I am not done. I pulled everything out of their closet and their chest-of-drawers and made a big pile in the middle of the room (which happens to be their bed!). Then I went through all of their clothes and all of their toys, discarding, sorting, finding better ways to store them. It was a true challenge not only because of the sheer magnitude of the job but because I had all 3 of the little ones here to help! I think they are coming off of a Christmas high because they have been grouchy today! Something about all those sweets and presents and twinkling lights. Reality is setting back in! We even had the dreaded " She looked at me!" shriek today. (Ha, I just had this vision of what it would be like in Wal-Mart if all the adult shoppers acted like that...can you imagine the scene? the tug of wars over loaves of bread, chasing each other with the brooms, throw...

This is a great creation I came up with that really stretches your meat. I have used leftover turkey, chicken, or canned chicken in it. I have not tried it with ham (Tiffany, you and I both found good deals on those spiral hams! :o) but I think it would probably be good. I also think it would be good with ground beef. So here it is. Give it a try and let me know what you think! Soft flour burrito shells 1 can cream of chicken soup 1 can cream of mushroom soup Shredded cheese of your choice Chopped meat of your choice Mix soups and heat. Add cheese and meat. Lay one burrito shell in the bottom of a round casserole dish so that it creates a bowl shape. You want it to stick up a bit larger than your dish so that it crisps up nicely. Spread a little of your mixture across the bottom of the shell. Then continue to stack, alternating burrito shells and the cheesy meat mixture. End with a burrito shell and sprinkle some cheese across the top. Bake at 350 or so until bubbly and edges are bro...

What a wonderful Christmas we had! Christmas Eve we traveled to my sister-in-law's house. Our whole family does not fit in one vehicle and of course the children wanted to ride with their big brother in his. So mama went with them and daddy got "alone time " in our car which translates to "it's too quiet time!" I really enjoyed spending time with my all-grown-up son. You know, you love your children but it is a true blessing to like them as a person. He is like his daddy in that he knows how to just crack me up! We laughed like crazy, he shared music with me and we talked serious stuff as well. It was nice to spend the day with my sister-in-law and her (grown) children. The time always seems too short when we go back which is not often enough. We got home late that evening. Unfortunately the children slept all the way home and were ready to rock and roll when we got here. So by the time they all went to bed and I got presents wrapped it was after one in th...

I had a wonderful day finding peaceful moments throughout the chaos. How about you? I had to run to the store to get the items we needed for Christmas dinner. As we went through the store my girls and I held hands and sang Christmas carols. Now that might sound corny to some but it was actually a lot of fun "bein' carolers" as my Flowerchild put it. There was something very precious and innocent in that moment that made me just want to hang onto their childhood and never let go. Shoppers turned to look (because it was after all, a very joyful noise! a very, loud joyful noise!) and the only thing my dear children paid attention to was Mama. And I have to say the only thing that stood out to me were the sweet smiles on their faces as we belted out We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Silent Night. So it got me to thinking, we all have some kind of chaos in our lives. For some, it is juggling work or school with family. Others care...

I can not believe Christmas is this week! I have been thinking about what to cook for our Christmas feast. Thanksgiving is our really big meal but I also like to have special meals at other holidays as well. So here is what I have in mind: Baked ham Sweet potato dumplins (this is a new recipe I haven't tried yet) Butterbeans Cornbread and Yeast Rolls Maybe Three Meat Stuffing (another new recipe but has a lot of ingredients so we'll check $$) If not the stuffing then maybe Macaroni and Cheese and probably pear salad, pickled peaches, and/or cranberry relish on the side And for dessert: Edward's Lemon Meringue Pie Maybe some homemade goodies, we'll see We will have to see how our grocery budget runs this week to determine exactly what all we can have. We won't go hungry!

I had great plans for today. I had visions of getting up early to get going for the aforementioned trip. That way we would be home by lunch. After lunch I thought I would give haircuts to the menfolk and my mother. Then the children and I would bake cookies. I would have time to clean the house, vacuum, scrub the bathroom, get the laundry done and put away, and have a nice supper. (Alright, I understand there was no way I could have gotten all that done in an afternoon but I like to dream big!) Well, we did get going fairly early but my bubble burst after that. Town was a madhouse and everything took forever. And folks were so grumpy! Say "Merry Christmas" and they looked at you like you had sprouted two heads! We finally got home around 3:30. Haircuts...out the window. I was tired and Smiley needed to nurse. Cookies? Yes, and they were yummy! Cleaned the house? Ummm...well, for the things I did manage to put away it looks as if other stuff just replaced it. Vacuum? No. Scrub...