Holiday Tour of Homes

Welcome to our home! It has been below zero for the past several days and *windy*.

Our front door (hope the wreath doesn't blow away!)

In the entry way is our little church where we place our Christmas cards. We haven't received many yet, but I haven't sent ours out, so I guess I can't complain!

In the dining room...

The children decorated a gingerbread house again this year. The candies are slowly falling off as time goes by :).

I brought out my Christmas "quilt" square made of paper to decorate in the kitchen.

On top of the kitchen hutch.

A wreath for the kitchen. I took two rather anemic wreaths I had used in the past and gussied them up this year using the left-over ribbon from the wreath on the front door.

The mantle decorated a la "The Nester". After seeing all of the wonderful garlands from the "Garland Party", I added more berries, the candles on the mantle and moved the nativity to the center of the mantle.

I love the soft colors of this nativity set.

We have a little tree this year. (Story behind our mold problems and why most of our Christmas decorations remain in storage *here* and *here*.)We made gingerbread ornaments and a few with family pictures to add to our Precious Moments ornaments.

Awaiting Christmas morning.

On top of the piano.

Our family's traditional Christmas candy. This year our flavors were grape, strawberry, orange, and other fruit flavors. We usually make mint flavors, but we thought we'd try something different this year.
*Here* are the instructions (and pictures of us making it) for how to make your own.

Thanks for stopping by! Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Due to mold issues in our basement, we decided not to use the Christmas decorations stored down there this winter. This year, then, has been a time for doing things differently than in the past.


We had always hung our stockings on our mantle, but I think the highlight of our decorating this year has been our garland made following "The Nester's" suggestions.

At night we light the candles, turn on the Christmas music, and enjoy the lights from the tree and mantle.

It has been so good to hear my children say how much they are enjoying our Christmastime- even though at first they were skeptical that Christmas could be any fun without our special things.

And the starfish? We had to put one in- just because "The Nester" had one in hers!

*Update on Hannah*

Hannah mentioned last night that she thinks her hearing in both her ears are back to normal! She is still hearing a lot of popping sounds (due to the ruptured eardrum?) but the hearing is back.

We are very grateful! Thank you for your prayers!

He Took Me Seriously

"Hey, Jacob- you've lost so many teeth this past month, you could make them into Christmas ornaments..."

Making a Snowman...

Is much more fun than thinking about mold...

And here we thought fixing the basement was a fun project to do in winter.

This is what the outside of my living room looks like right now. A storm is moving in and the wind makes strange sounds against the Tyvek as it blows against it.

Underneath the Tyvek is the side of our house where we had a big water leak- the builders did not do a good job of caulking the siding and we are just now seeing the results of eight years of leaks. We still remain hopeful (ignorant, hiding our heads in the sand?) that this is isolated to the side of the house. Although we know of one other place on the front of the house that will need fixing.

These are the helpful books that have given me nightmares recently (!). After reading these, I think I see dust mites and mold everywhere... It is a good thing I never went to medical school.

Brian spent 7-8 hours working on the basement crawl space this weekend. He thinks that part is done and all that is left to do is to finish vacuuming and seal the walls. The floors (I think) have been sealed although the cracks still need to be caulked.

Christmas Decorating

Since we are still in the process of making the basement safe for us mold-sensitive people, we made the decision to not use any of the Christmas decorations that have been stored in the basement for this year. We plan to take them out in the summer to clean/air them for next year.

Thankfully, not all of our Christmas things are stored in the basement! Brian's mom sent us the "Willow Tree" nativity set this year. We have it in the family room and have been enjoying it since fall (!). I love how in this set Mary is holding Jesus instead of looking at Him in the manger. If I were Mary, that's what I would be doing, too.

We bought a little artificial tree and put on our Precious Moments decorations. We hope to make gingerbread ornaments this week.

Flocked wrapping paper? Be still my heart!

We decorated the mantle following the wonderful advice of "The Nester".

On top of the piano.

A wreath for the back door.

Even though our Christmas decorating will be very simple this year, we are grateful that we have a few special items we can display. We are listening to Christmas music each night watching the lights on the (ever so little) tree, the mantle and the candles on the piano. I hope this year's more quiet celebration will bring fond memories in the years to come.

Thanksgiving

Abby and Mrs. L

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our "holiday family". We have been getting together for Thanksgiving and Easter for over ten years now. It is so fun to look back at pictures and see how the children have grown as the years have gone by. The "L" boys are SO tall whereas once they used to be little toddlers...and the H's boy has grown almost 5 inches this year. Of course the parents haven't changed a bit.

Brian in the "after dinner fog".


We tried a new recipe from the"Barefoot Contessa" cookbook- "Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Apples". Another hit (with us, at least).

Lots of good food.

Jacob loves to play with all of the toys!

Hannah played on the piano...

A few of Mrs. H's many quilts. Mrs. H is an a talented quilter and I always enjoy seeing what she has made each year.

I took pictures of some of her quilts for ideas for me in the future and because they are so pretty!

She entered this one in a quilt show this year.

Outside of the fact that I had a terrible cold and sneezed my way through the evening, we all had a lovely time and enjoyed getting caught up on everyone's happenings.

We are thankful that while Hannah's hearing is not 100 percent (she estimates it at around 90 percent in the affected ear), she is feeling much better. We continue to pray for that final 10 percent to be restored!

It is always sad to lose a loved one through illness or an accident, but it seems particularly hard to lose someone to suicide. You wonder if there was anything more one could have done to prevent it, why what *was* done wasn't enough.

When I was growing up, I was taught that suicide was "going to heaven uninvited". I have always struggled with the lack of grace and mercy behind that thought. While there are no doubt situations where people take their life to spite another or for some other evil motive, I believe that most people who end their life are deeply troubled. God knows how we are made and knows all our weaknesses and struggles. He understands the imbalances in our bodies and in our minds- and I believe that those who are so mentally ill that they do the unthinkable- they will be welcomed, find forgiveness and wholeness in heaven if they knew the Lord.

Rest in peace, dear cousin Ronny. Your family loves you and will miss you greatly.

Around the House

This was birthday week, with two children celebrating their birthdays just one day apart. They choose each year to open all gifts on one day, then have the cake the next.

One child requested pizza for their birthday dinner, the other requested macaroni and cheese. Today (Sunday) was the day for the mac and cheese and we tried a new (to us) recipe from the "Barefoot Contessa" cookbook. I am not a "foodie", but I must say that the cheese sauce for this is divine. I could have eaten it all with a spoon and not saved any for the noodles. The unexpected ingredient in the sauce is nutmeg- wow. I think we have all gone over our cheese quota for the year between this and the pizza!

The basement project is coming along. (Look! You can see the floor!) Dumpster out front, "keeper" stuff in the garage, "still to throw away" things on the side of the house, making our neighbors displeased, I'm sure.

While Daddy works, we take a walk...

I made this tree skirt the winter I had pneumonia (I was 13, I think). I remember those long hours latch-hooking away. It was so boring, but I was determined to finish it before Christmas. It needs to go into the trash, but I took this photo to remember it.

And truly, what could be more wonderful than the "Last Supper" plaque given by Grandma J. when I was first married? The sheer tackiness of it has always made me giggle. I struggle to know which pile to place this in- the "keeper" or the "trash".

Christmas Candy

Part of our family's Christmas tradition is to make hard candy. It is the recipe from the Lorann flavoring oils package- we have always made cinnamon, wintergreen (the kids say this tastes like toothpaste), peppermint, and spearmint in the past, but this year we thought we'd shake things up and go for the fruit flavors- grape, orange, watermelon, peach, strawberry and apple.

Getting the cookie sheets coated with powdered sugar ready while Daddy cooks the candy.

We make "tracks" in the sugar to keep the hot candy in lines- easier for cutting.

The more help, the better. Once the candy is ready to cut, you have to work fast before it gets too hard.

That sifter over by Abby?- you have to sift the candy after it's cut to get off the excess powdered sugar. The Lorann recipe says to pour the candy onto greased cookie sheets and to break the candy into pieces, but I think the way we do it works better - and gives you that extra dose of sugar we all need around the holidays...

The candy needs to reach 310 degrees before adding the food coloring and flavoring. This is the part that takes the longest. It's hard to wait until the first batch is ready.

Pouring the candy, dusting the top with more powdered sugar, then the cutting with scissors. The candy is VERY hot so we have to wait a few minutes until it is cool enough to handle.

First batch done! Repeat five more times. (Make that six- one batch burned).

Clean up (sigh).