How Many Kings Would Do This?

A couple of our brothers in the Lord sang this song at our Christmas Eve meeting, accompanied only by acoustic guitar.  I think I prefer their version to the original, but the words really struck me.  How many kings would do all this... for me?

  Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords

1 Timothy 6.15

Merry Christmas

Come, Thou long expected Jesus

Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s Strength and Consolation,

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear Desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,

Born a child and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever,

Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit,

Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

-Charles Wesley

Do You Hear What I Hear?

I was rather alarmed to overhear my daughter tell one of her little friends on Sunday that we don't celebrate Christmas at our house.  My jaw just about hit the floor!  She then followed that tidbit with "We celebrate Christmas at Nana's house."

Nana's house is where the Christmas tree, piles of presents, and the Christmas dinner is.

Is that what my kids think "celebrating Christmas" is all about?  I was almost ready to cry.

We exchange presents at Thanksgiving within our own family.  We started doing this a few years ago when the "Christmas craziness" got overwhelming.  So, we don't give each other presents at Christmas, but we still give gifts to people outside our immediate family.  We send out cards, mainly because that is the only time we have contact with some of those people on our Christmas card list.  I put up a few decorations at home, mostly snow themed, and I don't take them down until we get tired of winter!  I do special crafts with my kids and we try to think of a few fun things to do outside the house as well.

It rather grieves me that my daughter seems to think we don't celebrate Christmas because we don't do the same things as other people.  We remember that Christ came into this world.  He didn't come to be a cute little baby in a manger, as many people like to picture Him this time of year.  Christ came to suffer and die to purchase our salvation.  We remember his death every Lord's Day when we gather for the Breaking of Bread.  My husband made an interesting point the other night in a message - Christ only spoke once of His own birth (John 18.37), but many times of His death.

When we remember the Lord's death, we sit in a large circle around a small table on which is the bread  and the cup.  It is simple yet meaningful.  Why can we not remember His birth in a simple way as well?

  Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 

2 Corinthians 9.15

Waterless Snow Globes

This is a really easy craft I first saw on Salt Tree blog.  Go check out her photos for her step by step directions.  I did this craft with a group of 4 kids aged 3-7 and they loved it.

I had to tweak the directions slightly because I couldn't find the exact supplies she used, but here is what I did:

1. Take a small Mason canning jar and take the ring apart.  Glue your miniature (I used little trees like you would put in a Christmas village) to the metal side of the lid with hot glue.
2. Hot glue cotton balls around the base of the miniature (this is your snow).  Set this aside to fully dry.
3. Take your jar and add some large flake glitter (either silver or gold) to it, enough to cover the bottom of the jar well.  Then add as much fine or super fine glitter as you want for added colour and sparkle.  We used gold, silver, red, royal blue, green, purple, pink, and light blue (everyone picked whatever colours they fancied).
4.   Take your lid and insert the miniature into the jar UPSIDE DOWN.  Then put the ring back on the jar and tighten securely.  You may want to glue it shut if there is a possibility someone might get it open ;)
5. Turn over, shake and enjoy!

You can see the glitter a little better in this photo.

Thanks for visiting!

Buried in Cards

I have made a lot of cards recently (over 60!), so I thought I would show you one of the designs I have created.

These were made using a French postcard image from The Graphics Fairy (the one on the bottom is the one I used on this project).  These were very simple cards to make - ivory card base, a piece of diagonal plaid paper, postcard, postage stamp, stamped sentiment (details will be below this post).

And yes, those are real postage stamps.  My husband collects stamps as a hobby and he gives me all the damaged or extra stamps to use in crafting.  In the first individual photo, the stamp is of our dear King George VI (from the 1940's I believe).  The second card uses an old French stamp and the third uses a stamp of our present Queen, Elizabeth II.

Thanks for visiting today!

Card Details:

Card bases - ivory, Recollections (Michaels)

Postcard image - The Graphics Fairy

Patterned paper - diagonal red, black, and cream plaid  (?)

Vintage postage stamps - kindness of Robbie

Merry Christmas sentiment - clear acrylic stamp set from Michaels $1.50 bin

Ink - black pigment ink from Michaels $1.50 bin

It's a Special Day!

It's hard to believe our little boy is 5 today!  It doesn't seem possible.

Happy birthday, Laddie!

Remembering Mum

Carolyn Ann Downes Hardcastle

5 December 1951- 3 October 2003

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
In His cross my trust shall be;
Till, with clearer, brighter vision,
Face to face my Lord I see.
-Fanny J Crosby