Schellville

Some builders in our area have created a child-sized Christmas village named Schellville. Each building is decked out for Christmas inside and out. The town has homes, a movie theater, diner, shops, and more. Children are able to go into each one to explore and play! Oh, and they've put in snow machines and an outdoor skating rink! It's completely darling!

Nibbles on the Second Day of Christmas

 The first breakfast after a fast ends is always so special.  I baked Greek Pascha bread yesterday for our Christmas dinner and it is delightful toasted with butter and a side of bacon.  

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Our friend, Cami, baked loads of Christmas cookies with her girls and our daughter on Christmas Eve.  Sugar Plum came home with a huge tray of assorted treats and these jammy cheesecake cookies are the absolute best with a mug of tea and knitting.

Bûche de Noel

 I decided to try my hand at baking a Bûche de Noel this Christmas Day.  Though it took a bit of time, it was not as difficult to create as I feared.  I really loved using the Betty Crocker recipe. It was delicious!  I decided to make meringue mushrooms, sugared cranberries, and coconut to decorate the cake. Though this confection took a bit of planning, it was well worth it.  I think that baking a Bûche de Noel will be a new Christmas tradition!

Christ is Born!

Christmas Eve

Dreamy Sheep

There are now sheep in a pasture that's on the way to my favorite grocery store! 👏👏👏

Carriage Ride

A bunch of church people went into town today to enjoy a free horse-drawn carriage ride together!  It was great fun and I am already looking forward to next year!

The Nativity Story

We put up our Christmas tree (our first faux one) just in time to have the church people come over to view The Nativity Story tonight! It was followed by a discussion on the differences between what was seen in the movie and Church Tradition.

Getting Ready for Christmas: Our Christmas Books

Join me as I share our favorite Christmas books with you!

Our Wee Outdoor Tree

Getting Ready for Christmas: Putting Out the Playroom Nativity Set

Join me as I set up our children's Nativity set!
3D Star tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT_aY...
Mary on a Donkey: http://thewoodenwagon.com/woodentoy/F...
 Joseph Walking: http://thewoodenwagon.com/woodentoy/F...
Evergreen Garland and Bottle Brush Trees: Hearth & Hand for Target Mini Nativity: http://thewoodenwagon.com/woodentoys/...
The Story of Christmas: https://www.amazon.com/Story-Christma...

Getting Ready for Christmas: The Playroom Nativity Set

Join me as I update you on the decorations in the living room and put out the playroom nativity set!

Sweet Baby Toes and Paper Stars

My husband's brother, sister-in-law, and our new nephew are here for a little weekend visit.  In between cuddling their sweet baby boy, I have been slowly putting up our Christmas decorations.  I adore all of these paper stars!

Trader Joe's

We stopped at Trader Joe's on our way home from the infusion clinic yesterday and bought these perfect mandarins (+ seeded eucalyptus, paperwhites, and dark chocolate sea salt almonds... you know, essentials).

Infusion No. 2

We are two weeks in to our little girl's diagnosis of Crohn's Disease.  She is starting to feel better and we aim to learn how to live well with Crohn's.  God Willing, this treatment will be successful and she will continue to do well.

Getting Ready for Christmas: The Living Room

Join me as I decorate a little for Christmas and tidy the living room. The garlands are from the Hearth and Hand line at Target and the deer throw pillowcases are several years old from Pottery Barn.

Eleven!

 

Happy birthday to our blue-eyed boy!  We love you so very much!

In the Stands

I brought some yarn with me to basketball today!

Getting Ready for Christmas: The Living Room

Join me as I decorate a little for Christmas and tidy the living room. The garlands are from the Hearth and Hand line at Target and the deer throw pillowcases are several years old from Pottery Barn.

The Waning Days of Autumn

Our paperwhite and amaryllis bulbs are emerging!

NYC

I was in NYC with my sister, Anna, and mother for an unexpected and brief visit to see my sweet grandparents.  My grandfather is not doing well, so I am grateful that I got a chance to see him...  even briefly.  I loved people watching from the passenger seat of my sister's car as we drove through the city.  We even got to stop at the Columbus Circle Christmas Market for a little while.  Unfortunately, I don't buy anything or even take any pictures, but it was wonderful to see the sights!

In Full Swing

Basketball had already been going on for about a week when we got out of the hospital, so we had to jump right in to our new schedule.  The boys go for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday and our daughter has basketball on Mondays and Wednesdays.  We've found that the bleachers are very handy places to get homework done!

A Very Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

 

Hymn to Saint Nicholas

O who love Nicholas the saintly,

O who serve Nicholas the saintly,

Him will Nicholas receive,

And give help in time of need:

Holy Father Nicholas!

He who dwells in God's holy mansions,

Is our help on the land and oceans,

He will guard us from all ills,

Keep us pure and free from sins

Holy Father Nicholas!

Holy Saint, hearken to our prayer,

Let not life drive us to despair,

All our efforts shall not wane,

Singing praises to your name:

Holy Father Nicholas!

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The Saint Nicholas Learning Basket can be found HERE.

Getting Ready for Saint NIcholas

Our Namesday Boy

In a time of fiery temptations for the Church of Russia, 

 you manifested Christ’s love to your flock through meekness and humility. 

As a good pastor you laid down your life for Him. 

 Pray for us, Hieromartyr Alexander, that our souls may be illumined! 

 

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 It's our son's namesday! I had a ton of fun wrapping his gifts yesterday! I really like buying wrapping paper from Home Goods and Marshalls because they always have good quality papers for low prices. This one was $2.99 for 30" x 12'. I like the gentlemanly combination of blue ticking stripes and brown ribbon.

I made my usual lenten cake for him (though this time he requested cupcakes)...  he really likes chocolate!  I baked, our daughter frosted the cupcakes, and the boys decorated them with mini Star Wars figures that we already had.  I love how they turned out!

Glory to God in the Highest

I realized today that the Lord preserved our child from much greater damage from Crohn's. We visited our GI doctor in mid-July (only one month before her symptoms began) for the first time. Our middle son had been having bouts of inexplicable vomiting for over a year, and our lackadaisical pediatrician finally agreed to give him a referral to a GI doctor at Johns Hopkins. We went and had some testing done, discovering that he likely has a condition called Cyclical Vomiting which is usually a precursor to migraines (something both my husband and I suffer from). After being blown off by our pediatrician regarding our daughter's worrisome symptoms for two months, I took the bull by the horns and made an appointment with the GI doctor for the beginning of November. Thank God she saw us, agreed that there was something wrong, and ordered testing. If we had not already been patients, we may not have been able to get in so quickly. If we had waited, our poor girl would be in much worse shape!

Pretty Paper Stars

I folded some pretty paper stars today while watching Chariots of Fire with my family! There's a YouTube video entitled "How to Make Simple 3D Paper Stars" by Oziy Design, if you prefer. I used a book of scrapbook paper that I found at Michaels a few weeks ago. It's full of pretty papers reminiscent of Rifle Paper Co.

Dried Oranges and Grapefruits

I think our dried orange and grapefruit slices came out the best they ever have this year!! I set the oven on 150 degrees Fahrenheit and placed them directly on the oven rack rather than a cookie sheet. I flipped them a few times over the course of three or four hours.