Philippians 4:13
I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
My family started watching The Amazing Race this year. We didn't intend to watch it, it just so happened we saw the first episode of the season and the girls asked if we could set it up on the DVR. They wanted to see the race to the finish.
We (I) enjoyed it much more that I thought we (I) would as we celebrated wins and mourned losses.
This Christmas, we have two over-sized gifts for the girls that will be difficult to wrap. Both items are shared gifts and neither will belong to one child over the other. For a little Christmas morning fun, and as a way to present these gifts, I created a scavenger hunt for them in the style of The Amazing Race.
When they get up Christmas morning, they'll each unwrap the gifts they find under the tree. As they finish, they will discover one final gift, wrapped in yellow paper with a red ribbon that they must open together. Inside this package, they will find the first piece to the game, complete with my feeble attempt to rhyme.
The first clue will send them to another room where they must search for the next clue, which includes a little treat.
The new clue sends them to yet another room where they must search for the next clue, but instead they will find a Detour.
Inside those two packages, they will find small Lego Friends sets. The Detour requires them to each build the Lego Friends set, and when they have both completed the task correctly, they will receive the next clue.
That clue will send them to yet another room where they will find a clue that sends them to another room. And there they will find a Road Block.
This Road Block invites them to the fireplace where they will see what treasure can be found inside their stockings. When they have finished with their stockings, they will receive the next clue.
This final clue takes them back to the Christmas Tree where they will discover their final two "big" gifts.
I hope they enjoy their Amazing Christmas Race as much as I enjoyed putting it together, with fond memories of our Christmas fun for the rest of their lives.
Luke 2: 8-16
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Each year for Christmas, we make something to give as a gift for friends, family and teachers. Sometimes it's something we bake, sometimes an ornament we make. When I think about the clay ornaments we made this year, this is how I feel...
I guess they weren't all THAT bad, but they certainly didn't turn out as amazing as I had imagined. Really... my calling it a fail was simply because the result didn't meet my own personal expectations. We still gave the best ones as gifts, so it really wasn't a complete fail.
These are the clay ornaments we tried to make - click the link for instructions if this looks like something you'd like to try. They are just so plain and simple and I really loved them. Or I love hers. Hers look so perfectly round and perfectly stamped and perfect.
I have never really worked with this type of clay before (oven bake clay). My older daughter didn't like the feel of the clay in her hands, so she did not stick with the project. My younger daughter and my neighbor's granddaughter who happened to be over stuck with the project and helped roll, cut and stamp ornaments. They enjoyed it, so I guess that's the important part.
I was disappointed to discover that I ruined my pastry roller. If you decide to work with this type of clay, do not use utensils you want to continue to use for food. The blogger did not mention that in her post (and it was not mentioned on the clay packaging), but I noticed later that it was mentioned down in the comments, which I did not read until after we'd done it. Really... I'm not disappointed. I'm kinda mad. But it's just a pastry roller and not worth the effort of being mad.
So these are some of ours. Actually they're the worst of ours, because I have already given away the best of them. Some of them are very obviously not the same thickness around. Some of them have the stamp too light, or pushed in too heavy. I guess we didn't HAVE to bake all of them, because we could clearly see how they would turn out. Baking them didn't change how they looked. So I guess we could have scrapped some of them and started over. And in some cases we did.
I know... I'm being too hard on myself. And I wanted it to be a project the girls helped me with, not a project by myself simply so they could meet my personal level of perfection. But I did have quite a few that I didn't feel were okay to give as gifts.
However, these three were perhaps my favorite, so they ended up on my tree. We were running out of clay and instead of cutting perfect circles (for the two on the left), I just slapped a little clay on the table and stamped it. Strange how these imperfect ones became my favorite. Maybe we should have skipped the round cookie cutter and done them all that way.
The one on the right was a bigger circle with a larger stamp, and I thought it turned out pretty nice, too. These were the kind we gave away.
Merry Christmas!
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Ephesians 1:4-6
I admit. I listened to Christmas music all day today. And I admit it was not the first time I've had it on this season. I admit I enjoy looking at all the Christmas decorations as soon as they come out. And though our neighbors have already decorated their yard, much of it even before Halloween, I'm not ready to decorate my own house yet. And I decided I needed a Thanksgiving wreath for my front door.
I remember the Snowman Wreaths we made not long ago, and I thought it might be fun to make a Turkey Wreath for Thanksgiving.
To make our wreath, we purchased a small grapevine wreath and some feathers. The rest of the materials I had at home, some pipe cleaner, a brown sock, pom-pom, stuffing, felt and a pilgrim hat.
For the tail, we simply stuck orange, red and yellow feathers into the grapevine. I used a bit of hot glue to secure them.
For his head, we stuffed a brown sock. We attached it with a piece of pipe cleaner. I trimmed a yellow pom-pom into a beak shape and used red felt for the waddle. I intended to find a craft pilgrim hat, but I found a small box and used some pipe cleaner to build a hat.
We used more pipe cleaners to make feet.
And this is our final product. He turned out pretty cute and will make a great Thanksgiving addition to our front door until it's time to replace him with our Christmas Wreath (the snowman).
Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 106:1
