Joyfilled

Happy, happy birthday, Dee!!

Oh, my goodness!!! Yes, I do believe you did. 🏆 Not one I want to be in competition for, that's for sure!! I'm sorry for all of this....but thankful you're around to tell the story. Any of those scenarios could have ended very differently. Will be praying for you for wisdom as to what to do next, and of course, you and your family's health!! ❤️

Just what hubby and I were saying earlier today. Seems so common now, just in the last couple of years. So sad.

Hold your loved ones close. *sigh* One of the girls in the Bible Study I lead texted me this morning to say that she and her family wouldn't be at church this morning as planned, because her aunt died unexpectedly last night. As in while or just after the cookie exchange. She and her grandma were at the cookie exchange last night, so the lady that died would have been her daughter. She was only 48 years old. Blood clots, they said. *sigh* I cried with and for them this morning. And for the little old lady that can barely make it to church anymore, but was there to see the children's Christmas program. Her SIL died last Monday. Blood clots, too, I believe, but it doesn't really matter at this point, he's gone. I cried with her, too. *sigh* Hold your loved ones close. Enjoy the season, go to cookie exchanges and children's Christmas programs, ride around in the car, block after block looking at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music and enjoying hot chocolate. But keep your accounts clear, first with God, then with others....and hold your loved ones close.

Thank you, Mother. My other daughters were there as well....but I only have group photos of them, and I'm not sure if the other ladies would appreciate me posting their pictures. I have much to be thankful, though, all in their own ways. I need to get better at taking intentional pictures with them!! ❤️

Thanks, Jeepers!! I really enjoy doing these style events. Someone once told me I could do it for a living....but then I would have to do what other people want me to do, and we can't have that! That's my middle daughter....she's sweet, and stood next to the hot chocolate bar, willing and ready to serve anyone their hot chocolate. That girl stumps me. Sweet as can be with a servant's heart, but fiercely competitive and hates to loose. Very creative, too! She helped me a lot making the party look "fancy." Come on over. The amount of cookies we walked away with is ridiculous. Good thing we have plans to give most away!!

Here are some pictures!

Well....I did it. I'm SO tired....but we had a good time. Only about 15 of us, but a good time was had by all. We got a ton of cookies! We will be giving some away to the garbage man, mail lady, neighbors, etc....and of course, for Christmas!

We're heating exclusively with it now....and it's a beautiful heat!! It takes a bit to get going, but once it dies, it's very nice. 🥰

Thanks for all the tips everyone!!

Be sure to share....I need to learn more!!

We'll be having leftover lentils today (I always make enough for two meals, or try to), I'll see if I can make the rice on the stove, too! 😬🙈👍🏻👍🏻

So....my goal is to go off grid with this. I can use it on my wood stove, but not the microwave (or instapot). What do you use when you do it on the stove?

So....you start it on the stove top and finish it in the oven....interesting. I could give that a try. And yes, no boiling over!!

Hi! I made curry lentils today on the wood stove and served them with rice. I was pretty pleased with myself that I had everything I needed in storage and cooked it without electricity!! But...the rice was done in the instapot. Rice is a big part of our preps and we realized that we most likely won't use the insta pot to cook it, and are afraid of scorching the rice cooking it on the wood stove. We thought of a stovetop rice steamer. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Overwhelmed sounds like what you should be! A lot going on! But man....making your presents....that's awesome!! When I grow up I wanna be like you. 😁🥰

I would love to see your candles (and anything else you make)....I'll be making some for Christmas gifts, and am hoping they turn out okay!

Wonderful!! So glad I you got to make them! 😊

Thank you for your input, ladies! From what I know, it's not in our area at all, so we're very thankful!!

Thank you, Mother. I have been finding that I ask my oldest DD questions about things that she's passionate about, and am looking forward to what my other kids will be passionate about that they can teach me! Soon my youngest DD's and I are going to be making candles and chapstick for Christmas gifts. Should be fun!!

This is good advice, MtRider. I'm younger than some, older than others....but there are things (a lot of things) that I wish were easy for me to do today, instead of just learning. I wish I was confident in my bread-making. I had just gotten confident in my yeast bread making, and then we decided to switch to sourdough. So many other things I want to learn and do....and teach my young ones!!

Hi everyone! Wondering what your Christmas traditions are? We do several things with the kids, some we designate as winter traditions, and others Christmas ones. We try to keep the two apart, so our kids know that Christmas can be celebrated every year, under any circumstances, in any place. For us, Christmas is celebrating that God CAME. We do a few things that help us remember and teach this to our kids: We set up a tree. We talk about how the tree represents the Christian, from Psalm 1. We decorate it with lights (as we ought to be Christ's light), and with decorations (like the way God gives us abilities). We give gifts, generously. We wrap them simply, often with plain brown paper, but pretty bows. God gave generously, and He came wrapped plainly, too. On Christmas day, we eat a large breakfast, clean up the table and kitchen, and then head into the living room. My husband reads from Luke 2 (my Dad did it while I was growing up, and his Dad before him, when he was growing up), right after my Dad reads the prophesy of the Messiah, from Isaiah. Then we sing a few Christmas carols, and then my husband prays (all of this is how we celebrated when I was young, and my Dad, too). THEN we open presents. It's a free for all. The kids hand out the gifts and we all open at the same time. It's a fun, messy, chaotic time, filled with loudness and love. Then we play with our new toys, watch a Christmas movie (this year will be from The Chosen), and eat snacks. We spend all day in pajamas, by the way. Then we have a ham dinner, nothing too fancy. There are a bunch of other things that I would say are winter related, that have nothing to do with the actual celebration. We go look at lights while drinking some hot chocolate, we play special games that we only do this time of the year, like Journey to Bethlehem, we watch Polar Express (with, you guessed it, hot chocolate!) and The Grinch (with green popcorn), make ginger bread homes, etc. All these we make sure they know are winter events. If they happen or not, it doesn't change Christmas. Again, we're trying to teach them that we are celebrating the coming of our Savior, so most everything can be stripped away. Anyway...I'm always on the look out for new to us Christmas or winter traditions. What are yours??

Would love to hear how they turn out!!

I know what you mean! We use ours in the morning and the evening, but it would be nice to actually have it going all day. Maybe this week!