Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas!

I hope YOU are having a blessed Christmas celebrating Jesus birth.

Do your kids believe in Satan...whoops I mean Santa?!

Have you ever noticed
how the names
Santa and Satan
are just a few
letters mixed around?



Coincidence?



I think NOT.



We don't believe in
Santa here.



And before you start
judging me and
think that I am
scarring our kids
for life.



Think again.



Sure, I think
Santa is the
devil in many
homes across
our country.



Why on earth
do I think he is
the devil?



He is all some
kids know and think
about at Christmas
time and to me that is
sad.



Very sad.





He is an idol to many.



The Coca Cola Company created how
Santa is portrayed
in western culture
today. And that is
how he became ever
so popular. In a scheme
to make the company
sell more soda.



But you already knew
that, right!?



And you're fine with that!?



Santa getting all the credit...





For every one of those gifts under the Christmas tree.



Heck if I'm
giving Santa the
credit for all
those handmade
gifts that took
me hours to make!



I'm taking the credit.



:)







Has he become an idol
in your home?





Jesus is the TRUE meaning
of Christmas here at our
house and I'm very
proud of that fact.




We do give gifts
(although, there
are times I've
thought of doing
away with them)
each Christmas.
I love to give gifts
and it is a great way
to tell our children
the story of Jesus'
birth and how the
three wise men
walked miles
following the star
to Bethlehem to
give gold,
frankincense,
and myrrh
to help celebrate
and honor the
birth of Christ.



As a child, we never
believed in Santa.



I do remember writing
and sending a Christmas
(want) letter to Santa
as a kid at the local
grocery store one year.



So maybe I believed in
him for a minute,
but I was brought back
to reality because I
did know my parents
were the ones that
gave us the gifts.


My mom wanted the credit too. ;)



The only reason
we sat on Santa's lap
each year in his
little shack was
to get a sucker
or a candy cane.



And to tell you the
truth...I still
have memories of
being kind of
creeped out
sitting on
Santa's lap.



Do we get the
traditional
photo with our
kids sitting on
Santa's lap
each year?



Nope.



Will they be
scarred from
it.



Nope.



Will my kids know
the true meaning
of Christmas?



Yup.



Am I proud of that fact?



Yup.



Merry Christmas to YOU!



Santa, I don't trust you one bit!

YouTube is my T.V.

I don't watch T.V.
I do watch YouTube.



Fun... :)





Hope the Christmas wrapping session
is going well for you, if you
are a procrastinator like me that is.



I did get some wrapped today.
Need to wrap a few more tomorrow.






is so close to
a second well!!





Get over there
and get in on
the last
super duper
AWESOME
giveaway while
helping provide
clean water
to those
in need.



Thank YOU! :)

Merry Fruitcake, You'll Be Nuts After This Post! A Bit Loooong...

Christmas is only
one week away!



Today I worked
on some more Christmas
crafts with the kids.



If I had my new camera
I would show you.



Finally ordered it.
Should be here
in time for
Christmas. :)



Have officially
been without a digital
camera for over a month now.
It has been really hard for
this photo taking fool!



I have taken a few photos
with my old 35mm camera,
but I haven't gotten
the film developed.



But back to the handmade
crafts subject.



I'm proud that we have
made so many of our
gifts this Christmas.


I love gifts with meaning.



I think most of the
new gifts
we did buy
are helping those
that need clean water.


That makes me very
happy to think about.



Here is a great video.







Only a few more hours to pick a winner here!



Go now! And give the gift of life this Christmas.







Forget about going shopping
last minute this weekend.
It will be stressful
anyhow.



Donate a gift in someone's
honor and e-mail or print one of these awesome cards !



It will make your loved ones
smile.



And if it doesn't.



Then they probably
really deserved
fruitcake.



Oh, they like fruitcake better!?
Then they are of the small percent
that actually do like fruitcake.



Word Geek is one of them too.



Do I have proof that most people don't like fruitcake ???



Nope.



But anyhow...

Freely Giving. Giving Freely.

Ok, it has been kind of a crazy day here.

Trying to finish up things for Christmas.



Making handmade gifts.
Ordering a few last minute things.
Baking.
Wrapping.
Mailing Packages.
Birthday Gifts.



My best gal pal's birthday is TODAY!

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Found out she is expecting their 5th little one! :)







My Best (and ONLY btw) Sister’s Birthday is Friday!

Happy Birthday K!









Gave a bit more to Project 320 today.




Freely Giving.


Giving Freely.




Not expecting.

Anything.

At all.

Except to help build a well .



And find not even five minutes later, that I’m a winner !?

Thank you. :)






Feeling the meaning of Christmas more than ever.

Giving.
Giving.
Giving.


It is such an awesome feeling.


All the joy in my heart because of it.


Feeling that I am receiving so much from the gifts I have been giving.


I love giving.



More than receiving.

Seriously.

Always have.

Always will.





Love remembering Jesus is the Reason for the Season more than ever.





Feeling.
Joy.
Love.
Contentment.
Hope.





The Generosity of people.




Over $5000.

Amazing.



We built a well!


250+ People’s lives.
Changed FOREVER.

For the better.





Because of us.
Because of you.
Because of Jesus.





Amazing.



Thank YOU!

What Would Jesus Buy?

Have you ever thought about what Jesus would buy?




I first watched What Would Jesus Buy? around Christmas last year. I highly recommend this film to EVERYONE, watch it with the kids.

The meaning of Christmas seems to get lost amongst stuff.

Very sad, but very true.



Remember JESUS is the true reason for the season.




This Christmas give a gift to save a life, or two, or ten!

You will be so happy you did. :)

Blue Monday-Merry CHRISTmas!

Ah, Christmas is only three days away!!! We are busy, busy, busy with Christmas preparations. I still have more wrapping and baking to do and Word Geek is on vacation, so we’ve been spending more time as a family lately. But, I am enjoying the preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birthday and keeping the true meaning of CHRISTmas close to my heart.

I love when the sky is blue and so you will probably see more blue sky photos here on Monday with a little something else in the photo/s, including today!





I’m off to go buy some more ink cartridges for my printer…I still would like to print a few more photos for family. Have a great day!

Happy Blue Monday and Merry Christmas to YOU!


Now, head on over to Smiling Sally and check out the other wonderful Blue Monday participant’s blogs! Thanks Sally for hosting Blue Monday!

Pink Saturday - Christmas & the Vintage Pink Christmas Swap Questionnaire

Happy Pink Saturday!

Halloween is less then a week away now and Christmas is only a few weeks away! It has definitely gotten me thinking about finishing up my Christmas shopping. What do you give for Christmas gifts? Are they store bought, handmade, baked goods, or candy? I’m going to try to finish my Christmas shopping soon, but my Christmas shopping involves making more projects for the ones I love this year. So anything store bought is to help finish up handmade projects for my Christmas gifts. Here are some pink packaged candy canes that have gotten me thinking more about how I want to give handmade Christmas gifts this year.


I am also getting things ready for a couple of the swaps I’m doing this fall and the Vintage Pink Christmas Swap had a fun little questionnaire….

1. What is your favorite Christmas decoration?
Handmade Christmas ornaments are my favorite! I especially enjoy the ones we made as kids and I’m helping to add to my children’s collection by adding ones we make together each year.

2. What colors/themes do you decorate for Christmas?
I love color! I love to decorate with the traditional greens and reds. And I love to add non-traditional colors in groupings together around our home…pinks together, purples together, and blues and whites together. I love silver too and add that in places more often then gold. I love color, and lots of it!

3. What Christmas item would you like to have?
That is a hard question to answer. I like about everything, I don’t think that I’m a picky person…the one thing that I’m NOT a big fan of are Santa’s. About everything else I like!!

4. Favorite goodie & hot drink?
I love cookies around the holidays probably the most. Eggnog is not a hot, well I suppose it could be, but I like it cold, it is probably one of my favorite winter holiday drinks.

5. Are you a crafter? If so what crafts do you do?
I love to be creative with everything! I love to make things and try new things. I love paper and doing different projects with it. I have recently become a fabric lover too. I love collage and adding all sorts of items to my projects.

6. What is your favorite pink item in your home?
Probably either my pink Pyrex bowl or my pink cookie jar.

7. What do you collect?
I especially love handmade items I have. I also love dishes, vases, cake stands, jars, and Pyrex, all the breakable stuff that is no fun to ship. I love things made out of wire, rusty colored items are attracting me more and more, wire baskets are one of my favorites. I love vintage tins too, vintage tablecloths, vintage aprons, vintage linens, and anything quilted. I also love the vintage fisher price little people toys and have fun playing with my little ones with them. When I was a child we played with all the sets around Christmas time that my mom collected, it was a fun tradition. I love pretty much anything vintage, the older the better! ;) I have so many things I like and love!

8. Do you have special family traditions for the holidays?
Every Christmas we spend with my family! We start our Christmas Day by checking out the stockings…then we go to church remembering the true meaning behind Christmas…”Jesus is the Reason for the Season”…then we cook Christmas dinner and eat it, yummy!...then we open gifts youngest to oldest…and then we relax because we are usually worn out by then!!

We have our family (the hubby & our two children’s) Christmas on New Year’s Day and lay the gifts unwrapped in front of the tree for the kids to find in the morning on New Year’s Eve. That is the way my parent’s did it, it is cheaper, “greener”, and just less work for this mama!! ;)

Go on over to Beverly’s and check out all the other Pink Saturday participant's blogs!

And look for more Christmas items in My Etsy Shop this week!

More Swaps!

Now that I finished my first swap, Very Vintage Halloween Swap, I have signed up for four more swaps!!! I already mentioned two of them in my previous post here and here are the other two:

Vintage Pink Christmas Swap!


This one sounds like so much fun! I love vintage, pink, and Christmas; all put together = all the more fun! Jennifer at Rosey Little Things is hosting this great swap. And there is still time to sign up, until October 15th!

Ever since my little girl was born in 2007 I’ve loved the color pink more then ever. Sometimes it even beats out my favorite color of purple!? My sister’s favorite color is pink too, so now we have one more thing in common!! My hubby says he doesn’t have a favorite color and I’m starting to believe that I don’t either. My favorite color IS color!

And that brings us to the next swap….

Aqua ‘N Red Fall Swap!


I love these two colors and I’m finding them making their way into our home more and more. They are so retro together, and retro = fun to me!

Sorry this swap is already closed ladies. Selena aka. Apron Thrift Girl and Sara are hosting this swap. I’m a big fan of Apron Thrift Girl’s blog, she is a great writer; so check out her blog! I’ve just been introduced to Sara’s blog, Peas and Bees through Apron Thrift Girl, so I’ll be checking it out more often!

I'm so glad that I get to be a part of all these swaps! Thanks hostesses if you are reading my blog! :)