PEFC's Old Fashioned Christmas 2009

Last Saturday night was our annual "Old Fashioned Christmas, at church. Several couples host tables, decorating them and inviting guests to join them. This year, we decided to do a table again, sort of at the last minute, because there were more church members that wanted to attend, then there was room at the tables for. I'm glad we did. It was a very nice evening.
This was our table. I used the lighted village I got from Molly and Christian last year, for Christmas. We had to set up near an outlet, so we could plug in, of course, but it worked out quite well.

This is our table lit up with candles. I found the cute little stockings the night before, for just 50 cents apiece and took them home and wrote names on them, and then filled them with candy. At that point, we only had 5 guests coming, so with the two of us, there were seven...but it was a good thing that I'd set the table for 8, (just in case) and bought an extra stocking. While I was doing them, we got a call from the coordinators, saying that one of the couples at our table was bringing the foreign exchange student that was staying at their house. Cool! Our table would be filled...and it was very nice to meet this young woman from Brazil, and she seemed thrilled to have a stocking with her own name on it. Try writing "Carolina" with glitter glue on a miniature stocking sometime! It's a good thing I have lots of practice writing with icing...it's kinda the same.

This is a close-up of my centerpiece. I thought it turned out pretty cute:

I was going to use a round piece of white felt to put the houses on, and was trying to think of what I could use to trace around...when I thought of my wedding cake base...and then I thought, why not use it to PUT the centerpiece on? That was one of my better ideas...

Before we had planned on doing our own table, we'd been invited to join some friends at their two tables. I think this is the third year that my friends, Jody and Lisa have gotten together with their husbands to do two tables...one for the girls, and one for the guys. I hated backing out on them at the last minute, but I figured if there were that many people that needed a place to sit, they could easily replace us. Well, it wasn't as easy as I hoped, but in the end...they filled out their tables too. Unfortunately, AGAIN this year, Jody's husband Dan was called out of town on business and wasn't able to attend.

Here's the ladies table. Lisa used her expert cake decorating abilities to make this gorgeous cake for her centerpiece. She's got a lot more patience than I do. She ended up making hundreds of snowflakes out of royal icing, to get enough unbroken ones to put on her cake. The cake itself was made of styrofoam, but the icing was real. The table turned out to be very beautiful and elegant.

Below, is a picture of it in the dark, with the candles lit, and an LED light inside of the bowlful of ornaments:

Meanwhile, their "better" halves were busy working on an interesting table of their own. Donnie and Dan had cut pieces of metal plating to serve as a table cloth, and fashioned a Christmas tree out of welded chains for their centerpiece. There were nuts and bolts all over the place, as well as tools and work gloves, all to give it that masculine feel. This table got a LOT of attention! Good job guys!

Hopefully, next year Dan will be able to actually attend the event and sit at the table he is hosting! Below, is a picture of the table lit up...and I do mean LIT UP! There table was right in our line of sight to the stage...and thankfully, Lisa saw to it that the tree lights were turned off, so as not to blind us! Thanks, Lisa!

Here are a few more of my favorite tables...

This one, done by Dave and Lori F. was very cute. They had dishes covered with berries, and an adorable bear nativity scene in the center. Below is a close-up of the centerpiece:

The sign says "Have a Beary, Berry Merry Christmas!" Clever!

This gold table, was decorated by the coordinators of the whole event. I love how it turned out!

Their table was very rich and elegant looking. Above it is pictured with the room lights on, and it was very pretty, but below, it was even prettier by candle light.

The table below, was decorated by our friends, John and Julie F. with a kind of a horse theme. Julie loves horses and has one of her own. There is an old fashioned lantern in the center of the table..

...and if you look inside the lantern, you'll see a figurine of baby Jesus, which confused me for just a moment...and then it hit me...

Jesus IS the LIGHT! Duh.

This is the Hobo table. We were thinking they should have started those beans a few hours earlier though...it's a good thing we had chicken, potatoes, salad and dessert served to us, those beans were taking forever!

Here are the head hobos themselves, John and Jackie B.

For entertainment this year, The Kingery Family performed. They are a local group from Minnesota, who play and sing bluegrass music. I've never seen so much talent in one family in my entire life! I was very impressed with their musical abilities and their awesome voices!

They have six daughters, and two little sons...and they are all very, very gifted musicians!


The Girls' harmonizing was amazing!

And then the little boys got into the act. The older of the two actually had to climb up on a chair to play his dad's bass! The little one played the harmonica. The family had recently been featured on Jason Davis's "On the Road" program, and the dad said that Jason Davis kept calling it a "harmonicker." I'll have to watch for that episode to be on again.

I'm already trying to think of what to use for a centerpiece next year. If you're in the area, and would like to attend as one of our guests, let me know...and I'll be sure to invite you next year...

"God Gave Us..." Books by Lisa T. Bergren ~ A Review

Recently, I had the opportunity to review two awesome children's books by Lisa T. Bergren. She's written other "God Gave Us" books, like "God Gave Us You," "God Gave Us Two," and "God Gave Us Heaven." You may be familiar with them. If not, and you have young children (or grandchildren like me), you should really check these books out! They are wonderfully written and also beautifully illustrated by Laura J. Bryant. Since I often work in our church nursery, I brought them along with me on Sunday, to share with the little ones there.

I love the way the author has Mama Bear explains to her daughter, Little Cub, that God is so much more important than Santa...and that God gave us Christmas by sending His son to us...which of course, is the greatest gift ever given. She doesn't say there is no Santa, or put the tradition of him down in any way...she just points out that God is the one we should be seeking, instead of the jolly old elf, himself. That's a good reminder to all of us, this Christmas season. If you would like to read more about this book, you can check it out at RandomHouse.com.

The latest book in Lisa's "God Gave Us" series is, "God Gave Us Love." Again, this is a very heartwarming story with a biblical principal that we could all use a reminder of from time to time. In this book, Grampa Bear illustrates to Little Cub, how we all need to love others, even when they're not being very lovable...like those pesky otters who keep scaring the fish away while they're fishing...and even Little Cub's baby twin siblings at home, who can also be rather pesky and annoying at times. My grandson and the children I read these books to at church, really loved them. Do you have a young child or two on your Christmas list? I would highly recommend both books, and they would make excellent gifts for any child on your list. God Gave Us Love can be purchased from RandomHouse.com for $10.99.

These books were provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

In God Gave Us Love, Little Cub and Grampa Bear’s fishing adventure is interrupted by mischievous otters, and the young polar bear begins to ask questions like why must we love others . . . even the seemingly unlovable? Why is it easier to love those we like? Where does love come from? And why does God love her so much? Grampa Bear patiently addresses each one of Little Cub’s curiosities by explaining the different kinds of love we can share: the love between friends, the love between families, the love between moms and dads, and the love for God.


He also assured Little Cub that because of the love God has given her through his Son, there’s nothing she can do to make God love her any more or any less. Through Grampa Bear’s encouraging Little Cub to love others with a “God-sized love,” children will be inspired to love others and to be patient, gentle and kind, so that in every way, they too can demonstrate God’s love.

In God Gave Us Christmas, as Little Cub and her family prepare to celebrate the most special day of the year, the curious young polar bear has something on her mind: “Who 'vented Christmas?” she asks. “Is God more important than Santa?”
Her questions reflect the confusion of so many children during the holiday season. And this heartwarming story takes them on a wonderful journey of discovery—right to the heart of Christmas. Through Mama’s gentle guidance, Little Cub learns that God loves her and everyone— polar bear, moose, or human—so much that he gave us Jesus, the very best gift of all.

Lisa Tawn Bergren is the award-winning author of nearly thirty titles, totaling more than 1.5 million books in print. She writes in a broad range of genres, from adult fiction to devotional. God Gave us Love follows in Lisa's classic tradition of the best-selling "God Gave Us You." She lives in Colorado with her husband Tim and their children, Olivia, Emma and Jack.

Holly and Hal Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure!

Yesterday, a couple of blogger friends and I had an awesome opportunity! We got to go to a sneak preview of "Hal and Holly Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure," at the Mall of America theaters. We were each allowed to bring one special guest. My friends each brought one of their preschool age children, and I brought my grandson CJ, who lives with me at the moment.

BURBANK, Calif. (Oct. 15, 2009) – ABC Family and Build-A-Bear Workshop® are coming together to create a little holiday “hoofla” this season as the network debuts an animated special that marks the first time in the retailer’s 12-year history that its plush animals are brought to life on television.

"Holly and Hal MooseTM: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure,” a one-hour feature movie, makes its nationwide premiere on ABC Family on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7:00 PM ET/PT (with an encore presentation on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 10 AM ET/PT). The television special is based on a book and series of webisodes that introduced Holly and Hal Moose last year and captured their holiday antics, powerful imaginations and love of adventure.

We arrived at the Mall and had to find our way to the movie theater. When we got there, we were surprised to find Holly and Hal there (in person) to greet us, before the movie!

Here's Sassyfrazz's little girl, giving Holly a big hug.

Here's the movie stars, Hal and Holly.

They were super excited to be starring in their very first film!

I even got a couple of pics of the movie itself. The kids really enjoyed the show. The story was mostly about following your dreams, (Hal has always dreamed of flying with Santa's reindeer),

But there are other good elements to this tale as well, for example, when Holly, (the older sibling) is asked to watch her younger brother after school, she's forced to make the tough choice between going to her friend's party and doing as her mother as her mother asked...you'll have to tune into the movie on Tuesday to find out what she chose...but of course, just as every good children's Christmas story goes...our heroes, Hal and Holly ultimately end up saving the day, when "the storm of the century" threatens to cancel Christmas!

Don't forget to tune in to ABC Family, Tuesday 11/24 at 7pm Eastern, 6pm Central. There will also be an encore presentation on Saturday, 11/28 at 10am. For those of you who do not have access to ABC Family (we don't), this cute new holiday movie will also be available on DVD, starting on Wednesday, 11/25. I'm sure we'll have to go pick up a copy. CJ just came in and told me he wants to watch it again!

Here's my grandson, CJ and me.

And below, is Lisa (QTPies) and Sarah (Sassyfrazz) with their little ones. Did you know that Holly Moose actually has her own blog as well? You can go to Holly's blog to get more info and previews of this fun adventure!

The movie was a very fun treat...but wait...there's more! Courtesy of Build-A-Bear Workshops, we were also invited to their store after the show, to make our own Hal and Holly Moose pair to take home! They provided the animals, as compensation for our reviews, but any clothing or added items, like sounds or accessories were extra.

Our experience at Build-A-Bear Workshop was awesome! This nice lady led our group through the entire process. First, we had to bring our mooses (meese?) to the stuffing machine.

Each of the children took their turn stepping on a foot pump to make the machine work. Below, is Maddie stuffing her "Holly" while CJ and Sam look on.

CJ's turn to stuff his Hal.

Next, our helper tightens up the pre-sewn threads at the back of each moose. Just before this happened, we were all instructed to pick out a heart for each animal, because after all...everyone needs to have a heart, right? Also, if you choose to put a sound into your creation...this is the time to put that in, as well. I chose to put the song, "Jingle Bell Rock" in Molly's Holly.


The next step, is "fluffing" our new little buddies...CJ seemed to take this job quite seriously.

There is another foot pump here, which causes air to blow on the animal, while it is being brushed. Next, we picked out clothes for them. We all decided to dress them in their signature outfits from the movie, but they have quite a large selection of clothing available for purchase.

At the movie premiere, we had each received a Build-A-Bear backpack too, (gotta love swag)...so we put our new little buddies in the backpacks for the kiddos to carry around, it was so cute!

Here's our little threesome in front of Build-A-Bear Workshop.

I love this picture of one of the huge trees at the MOA, with the three little ones looking waaay up to the top. The tree was humongous, it was at least 3 stories tall!

We had to stop and take a picture of Nickelodeon Universe, on our way to the food court for lunch. Shortly after lunch, we had a bit of a scare. As Lisa was throwing our garbage away, 3 year-old Sam wandered off...in a very crowded MOA food court at lunch time! This is an experience that many of us mothers/grandmas have had before, and we tried not to panic...but I think we all earned another gray hair or two at that moment. Thankfully, in probably less than a minute or two, mother and child were reunited! Whew!!

Here's CJ and his pal, Hal on the way home.

Molly was very excited to meet "Holly" and CJ has been carrying "Hal" around everywhere, ever since his good friend was made! He even attended church with us this morning. Thank you, thank you, Build-A-Bear!!

"Wrapping Up" Christmas 2008

This past Saturday afternoon, we celebrated Christmas with our kids, or at least the ones that live in MN that were able to make it. Of course, Jessica and Christian are living here with us now, and Sarah and Brad came down from "up north". Ruth and Dan drove up from the twin cities area, but my son Joel said he was having trouble with the battery in his Jeep, and was afraid to try to drive it this far. His gifts are still under the tree. If he doesn't come to get them...I guess we'll be forced to use/spend them ourselves, and eat the contents of the basket from G & G, (including the much-sought-after "grandma buns" that are waiting for him in the freezer).
CJ got a really cool tool set from Sarah and Brad. He loves it, and has been "fixing" things and people ever since. He says he is a "workerstruction", which I believe means construction worker in Fouryearold. Here he is, sitting on the couch between Ruth's husband, Dan and Sarah's husband, Brad.

Molly received a messenger bag kit that you decorate yourself, with iron-ons and fabric paint. She really seemed to like that, and had it completely finished by Sunday afternoon.

Molly had been telling everyone that she wanted earrings for Christmas. She got earrings from us, and some from Jess on Christmas Eve, and more earrings from Sarah and even more from Ruth on Saturday. She should be set in the earring department for awhile!!

The other gift that CJ got from Uncle Brad and Auntie Sarah, was a Minnesota Wild sweatshirt. It's a bit big, so when he tried it on later, he told his mom that he didn't want to come down and show it to us, because he was afraid we would all laugh at him! She told us not to, so we tried our best not to snicker. He'll grow into it...eventually. (I'm not really sure what Ruth is pointing at here).

I ended up getting a few of the things that were on my list too. Sarah and Brad brought me a Shark cordless floor and carpet cleaner. It was not the exact one I had pictured here, but it works just great! I had also asked for the two Narnia dvd's. I got them. In fact, I got 2 copies of "Prince Caspian", (one from Jess and one from Ruth and Dan), and 3 copies of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe"! Jessica, Sarah and Ruth each gave us one of those!! Apparently, they didn't compare notes to see what each other was getting, after they had all read my blog. That's okay, I had already opened the ones from Jess, so I may donate that one to church library or something. The one from Sarah and Brad is a 2 disc collector's set, so I'll probably keep that one. I took the two dvd's from Ruth and Dan back today, and got 2 more karaoke discs to add to our collection instead! They'll come in really handy on Tuesday night for the Youth Group's "Pre-New Year's Eve Party" at church.

After we finished exchanging gifts, we put the extra leaves in the table, and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, red and green Jello, and scalloped corn. Sarah brought some yummy cookies for dessert too! So much for Weight Watcher's this week!

My daughter Jessica's corgi, "Bart", has been sleeping in his crate in the laundry room every night since they came to live with us. Sarah and Brad brought their lab/springer mix, "Buster" with them too, so we stacked the crates and made bunk beds for them. Here they are:

It was a real "three dog night", when you add to them our dog, "Jake", who is also a lab/springer mix. He thinks he's a people though, so he sleeps upstairs in Molly's bed with her. Here they are:

Ruth and Dan only came up for the day, so they didn't bring their 2 dogs. That was probably a good thing. I suppose we could have found room in the laundry room for a couple more crates, but their two pups are quite young, and may not have liked being away from their humans all night.

We all had a great Christmas here on the farm! Even if it did seem a bit like the place had "gone to the dogs"! Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008 ~ So Far...

After a very nice Christmas Eve candlelight service at church, we made a quick stop at home and were back out the door to head to my family's celebration at the home of my parents, which is a little over an hour away from us now.

There was no need for dreaming of a white Christmas this year, there's quite a bit of that white stuff all over outside. However, inside Mom and Dad's garage on Christmas Eve, it looked much more like a red and black Christmas! The tablecloths were red, and almost everyone was wearing some combination of red and black.

There wasn't much green to be seen anywhere this year...except for the Christmas tree and the carpeting. Well, of course we had a tree and carpet in the garage! Doesn't everyone? For the past few years, my family has been converting Mom and Dad's garage into a cozy family room just for a few hours on Christmas Eve. It's a little weird I guess, but no one has a big enough living room to hold us all anymore. So it works.

This is what CJ got from one of my nephews that had picked his name. CJ LOVES Spidey! After the kids opened their presents, we had a little excitement, thanks to my 5 year old niece, Shelby. We were all out in the garage, when she ran away from her mother, into the house and locked the door! Unfortunately, all the other doors to the house were locked, and Shelby was hiding inside the house somewhere, because she knew she'd done something wrong. After a few minutes, someone had the brilliant idea to climb through the wood storage door that leads to the basement from the garage, and they got back into the house that way. Whew! Never a dull moment with Shelby around! I found that out last summer when I babysat her for a weekend.

Here's Jessica looking lovely as usual, in her Santa hat, next to my hubby, Ray who is sampling some of the delicious treats brought by everyone. We "kids" all chipped in on Mom and Dad's gifts, but unfortunatley, didn't get Mom's ordered in time to receive it by Christmas.

Here's Mom, looking a bit perplexed, as she takes this little bicycle bell out of a gift bag. Notice the green tissue paper on the table. In it, there is a photo of what we ordered for her.

We had to explain to her that there actually WAS something in the tissue paper. Here she is looking at the picture below, of her shiny new red Schwinn bicycle! She can't wait to get it!

Next, it was Dad's turn:

He got a GPS, so he'll never have to stop and ask directions, which is something I'm pretty sure he's never done in his life anyway...Well, maybe once or twice. He was pretty excited too, and played with his new toy the rest of the night.

Wee Three Kings? Well, not really, but I thought these guys were so cute, I had to get a picture of them all together. The two to the left and right of CJ are my sister Kathy's little guys, Tiegen and Grayson. Age-wise, CJ is right in the middle of them too, but it looks like Gray has passed him up in height. CJ just happened to be the only GREAT grandchild there this year.

Next, it was time for the adult gift exchange. The women each bring a gift for another woman, and the men each bring one for another guy. Ladies first, of course. We each draw a card, and the ace card chooses first and opens a gift. The next person can either choose a new gift to open, or "steal" a gift from someone who has already opened one. My sister Kathy opened 3 in a row, because they kept getting stolen from her.

I really lucked out this year. I had the highest number, so I was able to choose from all the gifts that were already opened, or open the last remaining one on the table. If I opened the last one, the game was over, so I opted to steal from my niece. I got 2 wonderful over-sized, very soft, fleece throw blankets! I had to have them! They'll come in really handy in this drafty old farmhouse. In fact, I'm snuggled up in one right now.

Now, on to Christmas morning here at home:

Here's Molly helping Bart eat his "lollipop" that he got in his stocking while Jake looks on very enviously. CJ got all kinds of neat things, like a V-motion video game, the Animal Scramble game that I won from MomCentral and various other games and toys.

He was absolutely delighted to find that Santa had left him the one thing he had asked him for. Eve! He had gotten a Wall-e robot for his birthday, and just had to have an "Eve" one, to go with it. Now they can interact and talk to each other and make all kinds of weird noises all over the house. Yay!

Here's Miss Molly, thrilled to have just opened a brand new digital camera. She was even more excited when she got it out of the box and saw that it was PINK! Now, as long as she doesn't overload the computer with pictures of herself and the two dogs...we'll be fine. Jessica got her a really nice jacket and snow pants too...you can see them to the lefthand side of her, on the couch. They'll come in handy for her trip to Deep Portage with her sixth grade class in January.

I got an apple cookie jar from Ray, along with a dozen roses that he brought home on Christmas Eve, and the two Narnia movies I wanted from Jessica, Molly and CJ. Woohoo. We watched The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" tonight. Maybe Prince Caspian tomorrow night? After a few hours of playing with all of our new stuff, I walked in the livingroom to find Ray asleep on the loveseat in his usual place....

And one little Christmased-out grandson, lying sprawled on the floor in front of the Christmas tree. I covered him up with one of my new blankets, and he slept right there for about 3 hours I think.

On Saturday, Sarah and Brad will come down from "up north" and Ruth and Dan will come up from the cities. Hopefully, Joel will make the drive east to visit us too, and we'll have ourselves a nice Christmas dinner and exchange a few more gifts. That should be fun!

Friday though, I have to go to my cousin's funeral. That doesn't sound like fun at all. They had a service for him out in Utah where he lived, and then flew him here, so the service is tomorrow.