Advent Plans and Decorations

Thanks to a spaghetti pie in the freezer and some no-knead focaccia bread, dinner is taken care of so I have a few minutes to spare. Here is what's going on as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Our Savior.

Our Jesse Tree hangs bare waiting to begin on the 1st!
I'm curious... do your Jesse Trees begin on December 1st or on the first day of Advent?

I picked up a pillar candle for our Christ Candle and we are planning on decorating it for the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Probably just something simple that involves using an old Christmas card.

Our Advent basket is heavy, full of books just waiting to be (re)discovered. One each night. Old and new, mingling together in quiet anticipation.

Goodbye Fall Mantle! Hello Advent!Our watch word for Advent is "patience".

We save our Patience letters for Advent every year and the Pray letters for Lent, but this year, we were also inspired by Michelle's "family phrase". You can't see the sparkles, but these chipboard letters are purple and pink glitter.

I do believe that while Advent can be a "mini-Lent", the Church does not call us to fast the way Orthodox Christians do. While we do not deny ourselves all the comforts of the season in anticipation of the celebration of Our Lord's birth, we do try to focus our efforts of waiting and preparing. To help us focus on this season of preparation, I wanted to focus on the Holy Family's preparations so I made a silhouette of the journey to Bethlehem and put lights behind to highlight both at night.
(a close up shot)

We have some special saints to celebrate this season but other than that, we are keeping things calm and quiet. If you find this place more quiet than usual, that is probably the reason why. Blessings to you all!

Manic Monday

Too much to say, no time to talk.
Anyone else feel that way after a "holiday" weekend?

Thanksgiving, small and simple. (Husband had to work.)

Proof that turkeys can't fly! Splat!
(Actually it was spatchcocked and quite tasty!)

We have plans to decorate a Christ candle on the 8th and replace it with the white taper you see there. Note to self: pick of a white pillar candle.
Happy Advent to you all!

Tiny Prayer Request

Popping in quickly to ask for prayers. I have strained a muscle in my neck and it is impacting my ability to move around and get stuff done. I know it's silly, but would you mind saying a prayer for quick healing and my sanity in the meantime? Thanks!

UPDATE:
I definitely have more mobility but I'm still a little stiff. Thank you so much for your prayers!

Taking a break

...to gear up for the upcoming Advent season. Whether your celebration be big or small, I hope you all have a joyous day of wishing our good Lord thanks for His abundant blessings.

PSA: Advent Wreath

Most of you who really know me know that I am a realist and being a realist means I am compelled too "keep it real". Well, here is my "keeping it real" post for the week...

Have you seen this beautiful Advent wreath popping up on different Catholic websites?
Yeah, I did too. And since I was in the market for a different Advent wreath, I noticed it. I liked that you could use regular tealights instead of colored candles. I liked the idea of chimneys to protect little hands grabbing at pretty flames. I liked the multi-layered look and the open scroll work that I could decorate with greenery if I so chose. So when I saw one on the Advent table of our local Catholic bookstore for a reasonable price (and no shipping fees or damages to worry about) I bought one and brought it home. The one I purchased came with electric tealights which I replaced with real tealights. Aside from a few minor points, I was mostly pleased with it.

Fortuitously, a conversation over at the 4 Real Forum discussing this wreath came up and prompted Suzanne to ask a very important question:

Do you see how those violet/rose glass covers go straight up....as opposed to tapering OUT a bit, like regular votive holders do????

Do you think they'd get black and stained easily??? Thus requiring a bit more scrubbing than I'd like, and eventual permanent staining?

So I tested mine. And... Suzanne is right. After only one burning, there was noticeable soot on the top of the chimneys when wiped with a paper towel although it was not visible on the glass. But that was only one burn for about an hour which is about how long our candles stay lighted every night during Advent (give or take). Also, the chimneys got really hot. So hot that I couldn't lift them to blow the candles out and had to extinguish the flames from the top which produced more smoke that probably contributed significantly to the soot on the paper towel.

So, while I am a little disappointed that I spent the money on something that isn't going to be usable, I have also been re-inspired to go back to our suspended wreath. I do plan on letting the kids use it with the electric tealights. The bookstore is owned by the local Catholic parish so the money was basically a donation anyway.

Just felt like this needed to be said. And now, back to my regularly scheduled mommy blogging.

An Orange Veggie a Day

UPDATE...don't miss these from the combox:
Katherine comments on Gingered Carrots and Butternut Squash Soup
Elizabeth offers her recipe for Stuffed Butternut Squash
April has a few suggestions for sweet potatoes including roasting them along with your chicken
Maurisa offers her method for making Sweet Potato Hash Browns


With the illness we have been enduring prior to and after Shortcake's birthday celebration, (but thankfully, not on!) I took note when Elizabeth mentioned her attempt to feed her family one serving of an orange vegetable a day. She even linked to some delicious looking possibilities. I've read about increasing orange vegetable consumption to stave off illness during the winter months before. It got me thinking about the recipes we love that call for orange veggies and noticing how limited they were. How many times can a kid eat pumpkin bread before they turn into a pumpkin? I would have also asked about raw carrots, but The Professor has proved to me that he could eat almost an entire bag of baby carrots and not get sick of them!

So, I'm looking for more of your tried and true orange recipe favorites. Feel free to post the recipe in the combox or link me to a blog post. Here are the favorites I am sharing for anyone who wants them:

Butternut Squash Mashed Potatoes
1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled and cubed
5 pounds of potatoes, peeled and cubed
butter
milk or cream
salt & pepper to taste

Okay, this really isn't a recipe. Just add butternut squash to your favorite mashed potato recipe. I like to use one medium-large squash per 5 pounds of potatoes. Peel the squash, cube it and cook it right along with the potatoes (in the same pot!). Mash them or whip them all together with butter, milk, cream, salt, pepper, whatever you like. I personally prefer garlic salt instead of regular salt for these deliciously orange potatoes. My kids love them!


Un-Pasty Pumpkins
Make your favorite pumpkin pie recipe, but cook it in individual, greased ramekin cups. No crust! Just bake up the pumpkin pie in the cups and add a scoop of whipped cream on top. Sometimes we make these in the summer and serve them chilled.

This one IS an actual recipe from Kitchenaid but you can make it using a regular electric mixer. We usually make it with reduced sugar and no topping.

Sweet Potato Puff
2 med. sweet potatoes; peeled and cooked (I like to steam them.)
1/2 C. milk
3/4 C. sugar (1/2 C.)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/3 C. butter or marg.; melted
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a mixer, whip potatoes for 30 sec. on power level 2. Add everything else and whip for another 1-2 minutes or until smooth; no big lumps. Pour into a greased 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Spoon optional topping over puff and bake another 10 minutes. (Without topping just bake for 30 minutes total.)

You can double this recipe. Place in a 9x13 casserole dish and bake for about 45 minutes – 1 hour or until center is set.

Optional topping:
1/3 C. butter or marg.; melted
3/4 C. corn flakes; coarsely crushed
1/2 C. nuts; pecans
1/2 C. brown sugar

Mix together with fork.


And one more that I'm looking forward to trying someday from Allrecipes (oooooh, or maybe this one)...

Apple-Stuffed Acorn Squash

• 1 medium acorn squash
• 1 cup chopped, peeled apple
• 4 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons butter
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cut squash in half; discard seeds. Place squash cut side up in a 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pan. Fill centers with apple. Cover and bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the honey and butter. Cover and microwave on high for 15-20 seconds or until butter is melted. Drizzle over squash. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake, uncovered, 25-30 minutes longer or until tender.


Other ideas:
Sweet potato fries (homemade or store bought)
Pineapple Carrot Salad
Roasted Squash Medley

Famous last words

Bigboy is feeling much better and the germs haven't spread to the big kids yet. Hooray for small miracles!

Hah! Sniffle, snort, cough, hack... at least we made it through the birthday!

Shortcake's Puppy Party

~The Decorations~

Yes, I went a little crazy at Party City when I found out that they had a puppy theme in stock but remember, we are working on healing a heart and...Husband said I could! BTW...the best free printable party hats can be found here! (scroll down on the right)

~The Gifts~
I love cut-and-sew aprons especially for little girls and I know this one will feel well loved come the end of this holiday season. Scottie dogs on Christmas plaid. She loves it! Also, that tall fuzzy guy behind her in the hat. He's new. And he doesn't bite! See...
~The Craft~
Whoops. Forgot to take pictures. Will update later.

~The Favors~

Giant dog biscuits and puppy pencils for our friends who will stop by later when everyone is healthy.

~The Cake~
When she first mentioned that she wanted a puppy themed party, I assumed she wanted a cute, puppy cake. Nope. My tenderhearted little girl couldn't stand the thought of hacking into a sweet little mutt's face. So we came up with the idea for a dog bowl cake with dog biscuits inside. This was partly due to the fact that it was her job to help get Beegee's food ready in the morning. Even after the great greyhound disaster, she still wanted a dog bowl cake. This cake is a delicious Chocolate Mocha Pound (Puppy) Cake and the biscuits are Chocolate Cut-Out Sugar cookies. Recipes later if you want them. The figure on top is an LPS greyhound. I had it saved for today even before the dog came to live with us. Shortcake named it "B.G.". She is incredibly forgiving!

~Turn out the lights, the party's over...~

Happy Birthday, sweet girl! You are our big-hearted, peace-making, friend-to-all, spunky girl and we are so blessed to have you in our lives! We love you!!!

Coloring Page Reminder

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us! Enjoy the coloring page. I'll be back with birthday pictures later!

One way to hang an Advent Wreath

A conversation over at the 4Real forum prompted me to try to type out a description of how we have suspended our Advent wreath in the past but I just couldn't do it. I'm too visual, but I suspect a lot of you are too.

My MIL was the first one to introduce me to a suspended wreath and they are breathtaking! There are so many different ways to do it... this is just the one that worked best for us.

I started with an acrylic platter from the local party store and drilled holes in a cross shape. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can see that the two on the sides are a little off.
Next, take one ribbon and pass it through the top of one hole, under the platter and out through the bottom of the opposite hole.
Do the same for the other two holes. I used two different colored ribbons to demonstrate better.
Here is where the method to my madness comes in. Go ahead and draw the ribbon ends up and tie them in a sturdy knot. I have always used a small hook that blends into the ceiling to hang it from. You will see that there is a chance your platter will hang lopsided. That's OK.
Slide the platter along the ribbons until you get it even. Then you can secure it on the bottom with clear packing tape.
Place the candles in between the ribbons and you won't have to worry about anything catching on fire although you should never leave it unattended. I think you could also do it with a wire framed wreath and no platter, but I haven't tried that myself. We have always just set the wreath on the platter and usually it's fullness disguises the green below. Just don't tie the ribbons to the frame so that you can slide it to get it balanced.

UPDATE:
I found this picture in an older post that shows the wreath on the suspended platter. You can also see our completed one for this year here.

Hope that helps!

Martinmas Lanterns

The amazing and talented AussieAnnie has been sharing some ideas for Martinmas lanterns so I thought I would share ours for anyone looking for a quick, last minute idea. We used colorful gift bags (.59 cents each), some ribbon from the ribbon box, a hole puncher and a few sheets of clear vellum paper (which you can buy individually in the scrapbooking section of any craft store if you don't need a whole pack). Electric tea lights are the only option for these lanterns. Don't even think about real candles!I printed images of St. Martin on the vellum for the boys but the girls wanted to color their own so I printed a copy of my St. Martin coloring page in a smaller size also on vellum for them to color in later. Then I cut a hole in both sides of the bag using a craft knife and punched two holes in the top for the ribbon tie.I taped the pictures on the inside and placed two electric tea lights in the bag before tying the ribbon. The girls will probably want to decorate the outside of the bag, but I imagine the boys will keep theirs simple.Our traditional horseshoe cookies will be perfect for H week this week. Bigboy is feeling much better and the germs haven't spread to the big kids yet. Hooray for small miracles!

Fall

What did you do this weekend?

BigBoy Sickisms

H Week has been put on hold because BigBoy has been down with a cold. In the meantime, we have discovered that he is super cute when in a febrile state.

Today was the worst day ever! First the big kids were interrupting me and then making fun of me and now comes the meanness!

We need to have a baby right now so that I can be taller than someone!

I don't need any lunch, I still have my breakfast right here. (Dry cereal. Some one really didn't feel good.)

Artist Trading Cards

Have you heard of these? The children were introduced to ATCs at their art lessons this year. They are 2.5 x 3.5 inch (same size as baseball cards) works of art that you trade with other artists for fun, not profit. They are wonderful little ways of experimenting with different artistic techniques without committing to a large project. You can purchase pre-cut Bristol board cards or cut your own out of cardstock. I like to glue two layers of cardstock together to make them a little stiffer. You can even cut up old cereal boxes and glue white paper on top. Anything goes...collage, paint, marker, stamps. You must remember to write your name and the date on the back. And don't forget to give your piece a title!We printed off some samples from the internet to decorate our notebook with. They provide inspiration for new ideas. Baseball trading card sheet protectors hold and organize your cards to trade and cards to keep perfectly!

The girls and I have been having some fun with watercolors. Here are some others to give you some ideas.