Merry CHRISTmas!

It is that time of year when I run around like a chicken with it's head cut off (not that I've ever seen such a thing). I seem to overbuy for one person's stocking while being a bit short on the next one. I promise myself that I will finish these projects and then avoid them by doing other things. I am frazzled!

So, we try to take the focus off the busyness of Christmas every year (I don't always succeed) and focus on the reason we are celebrating. This year we are reading Tabitha's Travels for our Advent story. This is one of three Advent stories by Arnold Ytreeide. Almost every night there is a cliff-hanger, making children eager to hear more in these action packed stories. Each evening, though, the wrap up of the story points back to Jesus in some way (even though we don't see Him until Christmas).

What a way to celebrate! Make everything focus on Jesus. Whether or not he was born on December 25, it is the one day we set aside to remember His miraculous birth and what a difference He has made in our lives. If He hadn't been born to die, I would still be stuck in my sin, separated from God forever.

Hallelujah! Glory to God in the Highest! For Unto Us A Child Is Born!

My White Christmas dream has come true because the Lamb of God has washed me whiter than snow :)

May your Christmas be blessed with His Love!

Yes, that is our tree, complete with a tipsy quilted angel on top. The children decorated it one afternoon while The Army Guy and I were doing other things.

Exclusive Showing....at Midnight

We were the only people to show up for the 12:01 am showing of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this morning. We had a great time and enjoyed the movie A LOT! The children should remember this as a very happy family memory (and not just mandatory fun).



They got Eustace Scrubb right :) Caspian is the right age :) And the ending was right, too. It looked just like I imagined it from the first time I read the book (almost 40 years ago!).

No, it is not a visual of the book. They do veer a bit from the story by adding an element that is their vehicle for tie-ing the story together in the short time of a movie. There were also a couple of telling/not showing instances...again, I think this was so that the movie could move along. They also got some things out of order in the book's time-line, but that really didn't detract from the movie, IMO. While there were a few things *I* might have done differently, I think this was a great adaptation of the story as they kept the important elements.

It would be one we would like to see again (and would even pay to go see) and we will definitely be adding it to our home library when it is released :)

When are you going to see it?

VOTE!

Go on over to the Quilting Gallery and vote for your favorite Star Quilt. I'm hoping you will choose my quilt...

The Stars Sing :)

Long break...

I have not been doing much quilting. My quilting machine needs some TLC that only a shop can provide and I had a craft show to prepare for as well as a trip to MI to visit with family over Thanksgiving.

 At the craft show in McBain, I sold lots of soap and a bunch of these Story Starter Cube sets. This is the only set that I had left. I have two sets to make up for Christmas orders. Both sets ordered were not the Fairytale set (shown here) so I'll have some work to do, getting the pictures on the blocks, sewing up bags and laminating the instruction cards :)

I drew up all the pictures for the blocks and we came up with four different sets; Fairytale, Sci-Fi, Adventure and Everyday. All of my children think they are great and have been thinking up new ideas for the cubes...I think they want to have their own sets!

 While in MI, The Army Guy had a family Christmas Party.One of the highlights of the party was the Dodge Ball Game. At least most of the guys and a lot of the kids thought so!

 

 They also had cookie decorating available and Princess Sunshine took part.

My guys (The Army Guy and The Boybarian) got into the Christmas Spirit by adhering NOEL confetti on their foreheads. Thankfully, they fell off in the Dodge Ball Game :)