HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

"We will open the book.

Its pages are blank.

We are going to put words on them ourselves.

The book is called

Opportunity and its

first chapter is

New Year's Day."

~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Once Upon A Christmas

Once upon a Christmas, Far away in Bethlehem. Mary, being great with child, Had no place to lie down. So Joseph found a stable in which Mary had her child.

Once upon a Christmas, was the birth of Jesus Christ. Once upon a Christmas, in a manger far away, a King was born, his palace was a manger filled with hay. His royal robes were swaddling cloths, a halo was His crown.

Once upon a Christmas, away in Bethlehem. Once upon a Christmas, from the Far East, wise men came, with gold, and myrrh, and frankinsence, to praise the newborn King. Shepherds left their flocks and came to see and worship Him.

Once upon a Christmas, away in Bethlehem. And all the world rejoiced because the King was born, at last. A Savior had been promised, now it had come to pass. And the joyful news that He was born spread quickly far and wide, Once upon a Christmas, was the birth of Jesus Christ.


Once Upon A Christmas by Selah

Strickland Candy House

This is our second year to put together this type of house. Thanks to the teachings and wisdom from our great aunt Anne. She has been making these houses for years! I have to say, we enjoy making these so much better than the gingerbread houses.

We'd like to share with you how to make these houses.
At Halloween, start saving your candy and buying a little at a time all the way up to Christmas. Also start gathering these supplies.

Lots of card board boxes
Box cutter knife
Clear Packing Tape
Graham Crackers
Pretzel sticks
Lots of Candy
Confectioners Sugar
Meringue powder
Cream of Tarter

*Start cutting your house out. You can make all kinds of houses. This year, our daddy made a replica of THE STRICKLAND HOUSE. Take together the edges and corners for stability. When the house is taped together, tape it to a cardboard base.

Make up your icing.
2 Pounds powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons of meringue powder
1 Teaspoon Cream of Tarter
1/2 cup water
In large beater bowl, mix meringue powder with water. Beat until it peaks. Add the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy, adding up to 1/2 cup more for desired stiffness.

*Once the house put together and on a base, start covering the house with icing, then placing graham crackers over the icing. Place the pretzel sticks in between the crackers. This gives it an overall gingerbread look. We cut the crackers in shapes to fit in corners and such.






*Once you have the house covered, brainstorm how you want to decorate the house. Get all your candy out on a dish. Then start decorating away!!













We enjoy making snowmen,















trees,
















windows, bushes, walkways, doors, wreaths, etc.















We also use the last of our icing to make snow on the roof and do make any signs. This year our house says MERRY CHRISTMAS!











Its always the highlight to put a Santa and Reindeer to put on top of the roof too.














We will keep the house on display until we meet up with family. We will then start picking and eating off it. Not only fun- but delicious!!

Christmas Choir Concert

The girls had their Christmas Choir concert this last week. The girls were gorgeous, and the choir was beautiful and sounded amazing!




























Sidenote- the boys actually sat in the entire time, they are learning to sit still and be good boys during these sophisticated events! ;)

Oh Christmas tree....

We LOVE having our Christmas tree up this time of year!

It's not only the blinking lights and shiny-ness that enchants us, or even the yummyness of the candy canes or the delight of whats choo-chooing around it at the bottom.

What captivates us the most about our tree is the heritage and the symbolism that it all stands for. .

The tree is a beautiful reminder of why Jesus was born in the fisrt place- to die for you and me. (1 Peter 2:24) We can recieve the eternal life represented by the evergreen boughs of a Christmas tree.

On top of that great illustration, the tree also reveals God's GRACE in our personal lives.

See these two precious faces in these ornaments? It's a testimony of His goodness that somehow these two were brought together.













And out of that love and commitment came more sweet faces.

































These handmade ornaments refelect the ages and stages of our kiddos and our lives as a family over the years. They bring back the memories of the good seasons and the trials we shared.










As we reflect on these things, we are overwhelmed and filled with wonder. To see His hand in our lives from the very beginning. He has prospered us and given us a hope and a future.

Christmasey

We have had some joyous moments so far this holiday season.

We are learning about Christmas traditions around the world. We started off with Sweden. We learned alot of new things like the Swedes celebrate St. Lucias day on Dec13th. Read more about St. Lucia's Day by clicking here. We made crowns to wear around. We will move onto France next week!

Joel was blessed by a new bike for Christmas. Its a Cannondale. He is a loved man! It was an early gift of course, cause it needed to be enjoyed asap! He has already wiped out on the trails! Boys will be boys!

Also, it snowed today. A rare occurrence for sure. Long enough to get some pictures!

Here is a pic of the boys in front of the tree yesterday. They are so cute!


GOD IS GOOD!
And its so wonderful to be under His grace!