Does your family have traditions? I am becoming more keenly aware that we have traditions that my husband I didn’t even know we had! Last summer, as we were headed to a local lake (more like a pond) to swim, and after everyone was packed in the van, the dialog went something like this:

“Oh! Where’s the ‘Second Chapter of Acts’ tape? We have to listen to it when we go to Lake Elmo!” My response? “We do???” Everyone piped in, “Yes! Don’t your remember? We always listen to it when we go to Lake Elmo.”

Another instance: While butchering our deer this year, our son ran to the computer to put on “Dad’s music play list on his Real Player….because, apparently, it is tradition. We also learned that when we cut up deer, pizza has been the normal fare, so pizza it was. We are making memories as we do these things together.

We have never been a family with a lot of tradition. Oh, we bake cookies and enjoy certain foods on particular days, but the kids have clung to things that we had not considered. Honestly, it really does make things special.

Years ago, my husband laid down the “rule” that there was not to be any Christmas music listened to, played, or sung until December 1st. The idea behind this was to keep Thanksgiving and Christmas special, respectively. Consequently, the kids now have created the tradition that whoever can stay awake long enough, turns on Christmas music at the strike of midnight. This year was rather humorous: At the strike of 12, I awoke to alarms of music going off all over the house playing different Yule greetings. When I got up at 5:30, I heard the softest, most welcoming Celtic Christmas music. It was so sweet and it reminded me of how these little things mean so much.

As I think about what the kids grow up remembering most about this holiday season, their father’s and my prayer is that they remember foremost why we even celebrate. What is this all about? Just to make warm memories that will fade away? We celebrate not an infant and His birth, but rather, we celebrate with thanksgiving and praise that our awesome God loved us lowly sinners so much that He made Himself into a man to be the ultimate sacrifice for us! Where would we be without His love for us? What joy we should all have for this glorious thing! We should celebrate Resurrection Sunday with such vigor!

May this season, however you celebrate it, leave you and your children with fond memories of a great Savior and His unfathomable love and sacrifice for us.

Tags: Add new tag, Family

I thought I’d share a few of the things that my mother in law has written down in her book that are cute things my kids have said over the years. They are both cute and funny. I hope they are a delight for you, as well.

Ben (4 1/2)
He held his hand out and asked, “Is this my right hand?” His mother said, “yes”.
He asked, “Is this my right foot?” Mother said it was.

He ran out to play. A little while later, Joe (3 1/2) ran in from playing and held up his hand and asked his mother, “Is this my wrong hand?”

Eric (1 1/2)
His mom pointed out the different vegetables she had growing in the garden.
He told her she should plant meat.

Bethy (3)
Someone at church gave Bethy a drink of water. She told her mother later, “I didn’t like that water very much. It was too wet.”

Twins, Emily and Katie(4)
Anne (13) was fixing sandwiches for the twins (4) when she asked them if they wanted a half or whole sandwich. Katie said she wanted a whole. Emily said, “I want lots of halves.”

Ben (3)
While being kissed goodnight and during goodnight prayers, Ben asked his dad to pray for Jesus’ Birthday. When questioned why, he responded that he liked cake. His daddy said his Birthday was coming up, so Ben said, “Let’s pray for yours!”

Anne (5)
She was telling Gramma all about TillTill, her mother’s cat, and how old she was – she was so old, she was turning brown. She looked up at me and said, “Gramma, you’re turning brown, too!.”

Dennis and Ruth took the (then) 4 kids on a trip to Sacramento, California. It was their first experience of seeing palm trees. They said, “Look! Giant pineapples!”

Eric (2 1/2)
(You have to understand, Eric is a very compliant child) Eric was supposed to be cleaning something up with the other boys and he wasn’t doing his part. Ruth asked him if a spanking would help him do it. he replied, “Uh..uh..uh..uh..NO!” Ruth asked, “What would help?” He answered, “Pop!”

Tags: Anne, Ben, Bethy, Emily, Eric, Family, just fun

Tags: Photos

Tags: just fun, winter

Last week was our baking week for CHRISTmas.  Below are photos of most and recipes:

Aunt Barbara’s Mexican Wedding Cakes. See recipe here.

These are light but taste similar to shortbread

Dipped Pretzel Sticks

These are easy for even the smallest child.

Super easy and super good, creamy fudge. See recipe here.

Anne

Anne

Peanut Butter Cookies With Kisses. See recipe here.

Peanut Butter Cookies With Kisses

We also made:

• Molasses Cookies (See recipe here)
• Peppermint Bark (See recipe here)
• Martha Washington’s Bon Bon’s (See recipe here)

All the cookies laid out for the neighbors

After the plates were wrapped, we drove around town caroling and handing out these lovelies to our dear friends and neighbors. We had a couple neighbors gone, so those will probably be distributed tonight.

Tags: Anne, Emily, Family, Food, hospitality, Jay, kitchen cares, Photos, recipes, winter