I SOOO wish I could claim this recipe as my own…but I can’t, so I won’t.  Got to give credit where credit is due, so thanks a million to my friend Heidi, who I met on an airplane and liked so much we’ve kept in touch.  She made this MOST amazing pimento cheese recipe to bring to our Christmas party, and I was so so excited when there was some leftover…until I ate the rest… and had to make more today.

It’s ridiculously easy, it’s amazing, and for those of you who don’t do pimento cheese…well, give it another shot.  This recipe redeems all pimento cheese you’ve ever had that could have scared you away.  Promise.

Pimento Cheese

• 1 lb  very sharp white cheddar (cabot is great!), grated
• 1/3  cup small diced vidalia onion
• 3-4 jalapenos, seeded & diced
• 2 small or 1 large jar diced pimentos, drained well
• 1/3-1/2 cup mayonnaise (definitely start with less– the veggies will juice a little after a while)
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

The great thing about Pimento Cheese is that it’s awesome all year too.  As an appetizer, on a sandwich, try it on a burger as well….possibilities are endless.

Also, I’m gonna take a little bloggy break for a few days to celebrate Christmas with my family.  I’ll be back next week for sure though.  If I get a chance, I might try to post a few more pictures of our holiday decorating before I have to take it all down again.

My friend said something to me the other day that’s caused me some real pause…in a super-awesome way.  We were talking about Christmas, and also then later about how I was freaking out a bit over my own audacity to get a big honking tattoo, and she said to me….”You know what’s totally audacious?  God…coming to earth…as a baby.”

Yes indeed!  Thank you Kristin!  And I, for one, am so thankful to spend the next few days particularly in celebration of such a totally audacious God!

Hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Mystery of the Christmas Star - by Digistar

I don’t know much about astronomy.  I can find the big and little dippers, and Orion in a clear night sky, but that’s about it.  Beyond that, I don’t much know what I’m looking at aside from a dark blanket of twinkling beauty.

This morning, I found myself wanting to read through the Christmas story again.  I’ve read the story a lot over the years, but today for some reason something really stood out to me in  the story in Matthew more than ever before.

In Chapter 2, the magi appear to King Herod and ask if he knows “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”  It then goes on to say that “Herod was troubled about this”…and he then basically goes on a rampage to find the baby Jesus and goes so far as to exterminate all of the baby boys in and around Bethlehem.  Something was really bothering this guy.

I’ve always thought that Herod was troubled just by the idea of being replaced as king.  How many other times I wonder did anyone ever come to him with a conjecture about the arrival of the Messiah?  How many times in his reign did he keep an eye on a general in his army who was especially hard-core or could pose a threat some day to his throne?  How many times were there people in his lands that he had to take out because they may have been getting too powerful?  I mean, if you’re gonna protect your throne to the degree that you wipe out all infants in an entire region…I’m guessing that your pattern of self-protection didn’t just begin with a couple of fancy kings suggesting the possibility of a “new” king to you.  Possibilities can be threatening…but there was something bigger than just a potential threat going on with this baby.

But then this morning I noticed that in verse 7, Herod takes great pains to find out more about what was going on with this star…the star of the King.  “We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”  And I find myself wondering….

What was so special about this star that they knew it was the one prophesied from way back in the Old Testament?

What was it that made this star so evidentially the one of the Messiah?

Why was it that Herod went to great effort to find out more about this star?

And I wanted to find out more about this star too.  So I’ve done some digging around and found the following interesting astronomical information.  This star WAS way bigger and brighter than normal.  And there are some thoughts as to what actually occurred to create such a bright and beautifully threatening twinkle in the sky.

Some scholars believe that what may have happened is called a “greatest conjunction,” and I found some interesting information about it that I thought I’d share with you.

A Greatest conjunction is a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn at or near their opposition to the Sun. In this scenario, Jupiter and Saturn will occupy the same position in right ascension on three separate occasions over a period of a few months.  The “Star of Bethlehem” is theorized to be a greatest conjunction.

I didn’t know what planets “in opposition” meant, so I looked that up too.  (Remember, I’m just a 3 constellation kind of gal.)

A planet is said to be “in opposition” when it is in opposition to the Sun, as seen from the Earth. When a planet is like this,

• it is visible almost all night, rising around sunset, culminating around midnight and setting around sunrise;
• at this point of its orbit it is roughlyclosest to the Earth, making it appear bigger and brighter.
• the half of the planet visible from Earth is then completely illuminated (“full planet”)
• the opposition effect increases the reflected light from bodies with unobscured rough surfaces.

Interesting huh?  I love that God is THAT creative.  And I love that it’s called “Greatest” conjunction.  The very best coming-together of even the heavens.  That all of heaven aligned perfectly to point with great light down to the baby King lying in a feed trough in a little redneck town called Bethlehem.   The stars and the planets aligned….and a shaky king on a usurped throne knew it…and was really afraid.

Luke 2:10, But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; ¹¹ for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

The stars aligned, the heavens rejoiced, and love came down.

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen.

REFRAIN:
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.

My dear friend Wikipedia taught me that the old English wassail song refers to ‘wassailing‘, or singing carols door to door wishing good health.  And according to Readers Digest; “the Christmas spirit often made the rich a little more generous than usual, and bands of beggars and orphans used to dance their way through the snowy streets of England, offering to sing good cheer and to tell good fortune if the householder would give them a drink from his wassail bowl or a penny or a pork pie or, let them stand for a few minutes beside the warmth of his hearth. The wassail bowl itself was a hearty combination of hot ale or beer, apples, spices and mead, just alcoholic enough to warm tingling toes and fingers of the singers”

Anyhow, one thing that always reminds me of holiday fare is hot Wassail Punch.  It’s perhaps one of my most favorite hot things to drink (next to a good cup of coffee you know,) but because it has several ingredients, it’s not really one that you whip up just a cup of for yourself.  It makes your entire house smell AMAZING, and it’s just cozy and good.  It pretty much dominates basic hot cider in the flavor department, and well….it’s just worth making ya’ll!

My wassail doesn’t have toast on top (something they used to do to sop up every last bit,) and while it’s good with a little spike or wine as a base too, this time I’m making it non-alcoholic.  So, I thought I’d share this fun Yuletide drink that is great to serve up to your family, or friends, or whomever.

Holiday Wassail….

Image from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 quarts apple cider
• 1-1/2 cups orange juice
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)
• Dash ground cinnamon
• Dash ground cloves

Directions

• In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Discard cinnamon sticks. Serve hot in mugs. Yield: 10-12 servings (2-1/2 quarts).

That’s it!  It does keep for a little while after you make it, so if you do want to make a pot, put the rest in the fridge and then you CAN have a cup at your leisure!  And while you’re at it…call a friend to enjoy a cup with you!

That song at the beginning is totally one that I knew, but I never realized what it was about.  When I looked it up to make sure I got the lyrics right for this post, I came across several more verses of it and thought that I’d share.

We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door;
But we are neighbours’ children,
Whom you have seen before.

Bring us out a table
And spread it with a cloth;
Bring us out a mouldy cheese,
And some of your Christmas loaf.

God bless the master of this house
Likewise the mistress too,
And all the little children
That round the table go.

Good master and good mistress,
While you’re sitting by the fire,
Pray think of us poor children
Who are wandering in the mire.

Tis the season for giving…so as you make your wassail this year, and share it with a friend….remember the people who would love just a cup of something warm to drink… and think about what you can do to make a difference in their lives….

My little sister is having her first baby in February.

I am SO excited!

I’m throwing a shower for her with some other girls, and since she’s my sister, and since I think that an invitation sets the tone for well, anything… I wanted to do them. You all know enough about me by now to guess that I just had to make them.  After all…it is for my sister.

I have to tell you though, these things were crazy labor intensive.  I worked on them here and there…a little each day for about a week.  I’d say all total each invitation takes about 8 minutes to make…and I made 30 of them.  Of course, I could have cut out lots of the steps and they’d still have been really pretty…but like I said…it IS my sister (and thankfully she just needed to send 30…otherwise I’m sure I’d have been cutting steps out for sure.)

So, today I thought I’d tell you how I made these invitations.

First of all, I decided how big I wanted them to be based upon the envelope size I wanted to use.  I bought scrapbook paper and used a paper-cutter to cut each sheet so that the outside dimensions of the invitations were about 5 3/4 inches by 8 inches (because the envelope I bought was like 6×8 1/2 or something close to that.)  The inner dimension of the cream part of the invitation is 5×7.  Might I suggest if you don’t want to spend this much time…buy precut cards in the size you want for the inner invite part and cut just the outer piece.

To make these you’ll need…

• paper for both the inner part of the invitation and the outer layer
• envelopes
• a coordinating paper for the circle
• a stamp that suits your event (could be for Christmas, or a wedding…whatever you want.)
• 12×12 sheet of super cool scrapbook paper to create a ribbon effect around the middle (you’re going to cut this into 1 inch strips)
• ribbon (I ended up needing about 22 inches per invitation)
• a stamp pad (I used a walnut colored distressing ink pad)
• a circle hole punch (mine is almost 2 inches I think)

First, cut out all of your paper.  I have a corner rounder too, so I did that on both the green sheet for the outer layer, and the cream inner layer….I just like the look of rounded corners.

I designed the invitation using Microsoft Publisher, but you could use any publishing program or even a Word or Open Office type program.  Just find a cool font…neat fonts make all the difference in the world.  There are loads of great free ones out there for download too.  One of my favorite sites is UrbanFonts.com,  For this invitation I used a font called “Little Lord Fontleroy” for all of the main wording and information, and then for my sister’s name, I used a font called “Cursif” and plugged it into a part of Publisher that will add outlines, and drop shadows and stuff to it.  I’d measured the circle I was cutting out first, and then figured about where I’d want it to stick on each invitation and that helped me determine the margins for the type.  Once you format your invitation, I suggest doing a couple of trial prints on plain paper cut to size just to make sure it’s printing in the area that you want.  When I got them how I wanted, I then printed the cream portion of the invitations and set them aside.

Next I used my circle cutter to cut out all of the circles I used for the stamped portion of the invitation.  Once I cut those out, I stamped each one with the vintage pram stamp using the walnut colored stamp pad.  I happen to have supplies for embossing from way-back-when, so I actually embossed the stamp as well….but have mercy…don’t go out and buy that stuff if you don’t have it.  It looks nice, but if you don’t already own it all, it’s not worth the extra expense unless you plan on doing this sort of thing ALL THE TIME.

Once you’ve stamped all of your circles, keep out your stamp pad.  I then held the stamp pad at about a 45 degree angle and brushed it along the edges of all of the circles, the cream layer, and the green layer of the invitations… to add a bit more dimension, as well as an aged feel.

Once you’ve done all of this, use a glue stick to adhere all of the layers together.  Glue the circle to the invitation, and then glue the invitation to the backing.

My next step involved sewing around the edge of the cream layer.  Yes…I actually ran these invitations through my sewing machine using a thread that complimented the rest of the invitation colors (which were chosen from my sister’s nursery bedding by the way.)  Once you finish sewing around the edges, use a seam ripper or a needle to pull the thread sticking out of the front, to the back of the card.  I then gathered all of the loose ends of thread and secured them on the back with a small piece of clear tape.

The final part was to make the pretty ribbon around the invitation.  I bought 3 sheets of sparkly, dotted 12×12 scrapbook paper and cut it into 1 inch x 12 inch strips.  I centered the strip where I wanted it on the invitation and folded the sides of the strip around to the back of the card.  Next, I tied a piece of satin ribbon around the strip and made a bow at the front.  I positioned it so that my sister’s name would still be visible when the invitation is opened, but this part slides right off to reveal more details.

I put them into cream envelopes, used the vintage pram stamp again on the back of each envelope at the flap for another little touch, and they’re finally going into the mail tomorrow!

I’ve loved making them, but I have to be honest and say that I’m glad to be done too!  So here they are….in all of their glory!  I hope my sis likes them!

(Please note that they do look better in person…since they actually contain all of the necessary information!  It looks a little funny on here to have it all removed, but you get the general idea!)

I am woefully behind on all of the things I have to get done in the next couple of days.  Thankfully tomorrow is Saturday and I’ll have my Hubs around to help.  Laundry is still not caught up, my bedroom is an absolute mess, I’m not done with my sister’s baby shower invitations, and then our Christmas cards arrived in the mail yesterday (they turned out so great, I’m tickled to send them,) and that means that I have a gagillion to now stamp and address.

Today is my annual day of Christmas baking with my dear friend and soul sister of years, Emily.  Back in 2000 we met and became fast friends.  One of those friendships where it all falls into place literally in the first 5 minutes you’re talking… and here we are almost 12 years, a husband each, and 5 kids between us later…still doing our baking together annually.  We’ve gotten it down to a science now, which is a good thing because with lots of kids running around underfoot, we have to be on the ball.  Last year we make 40 gift boxes of goodies between us to give to friends and neighbors, and this year, we’re hoping to increase that number.  We’ll see how it goes!

Anyhow…that means that my chance of catching up on laundry and cleaning today is not highly likely.  It also means, that I’m not ready to show you my sister’s baby shower invitations.  What can I say…real life once again trumping my ideas for a great blog post when I want it.  We’ll get there eventually!

So, since I’m obviously behind on a few things…I thought I’d go ahead and show you some zoomed out pictures of a couple of rooms in my house.  The kitchen is a mess right now, and you know about the current state of my bedroom.  If you want to see my baby’s room, you can go HERE, and I did a post on my bedroom awhile back, so if you’re curious about that, you can go HERE.  Tid Bit’s room is probably going to have to be a future post too, but for now it has some extra stuff accumulating in there to have made room in the den for our Christmas tree.  See…real life.

But here’s our den…the room with the funky mantel.

I’ll do my best to get another picture facing the direction of the polkadot sofa, but for now, this side of the room has more decorations going on.

Here’s the top of my funky tree on the left…with mismatched lights and ornaments from my childhood, our travels, ones my kids have made…you know…all the good life stuff!

My living room tree on the right is much prettier…in a more subdued sort of way.  Between the two though, my favorite is the funky one.  It holds all of the memories.

And here’s a zoomed out picture of my living room.  It’s the room that generally always is in order.  It’s the place I go sit when grown-ups come over without kids…the place I go curl up to read when it’s quiet in my house.  It feels good to me.  And there isn’t a single toy in that room either…typically.

My dining room is a really neat color called Begonia.  It doesn’t translate well in pictures, but it’s really exactly that color…begonia.  Sort of pinkish with a tinge of salmon…it’s bright…it’s happy…and I like it.

You can see on the table some of the additional fun I had with the hymnals…I used spray glue and stuck overlapping sheets onto a runner that I made from brown craft paper.  I did the same thing on my buffet and sideboard, and I LOVE the way it turned out.  I’m not done messing with the centerpiece of the table yet…so excuse the unfinishedness of it.

You like the huge green power strip on the right?  I knew you would! 🙂

Ok peeps…I have to get going on this day.  I’m already pushing it to get out the door in time for school!  I PROMISE I’ll show you my sister’s baby shower invitation and how to make one like it yourself on Monday!

Much love and have an awesome weekend!

(I’m linking up to Women Living Well Wednesdays below too!  Check out all the fun projects other people in blogland have got goin!)

I realized as I’ve been editing all of the pictures of my home decorated for Christmas that I am gonna have to break it all down into parts because there are SO many things to show you.  Today, I noticed that some other blogs I enjoy are hosting mantel  decor parties, and since my mantels are probably among my favorite things to decorate for Christmas…I figured we’d start there!

I have 2 fireplaces in my home and this year I’ve had a really good time decorating both of them in completely different styles.  My den is the more funky room by far…with a pink recliner and a polka-dotted sofa…so for that mantel, I have a good time with non traditional colors.  So here’s what’s going on in there….

I saw stockings really similar to these in the Land of Nod catalogue a couple of years ago…for like $30 each.  I figured we could make a craft project out of them one day and that’s just what we did.  I actually like the way mine turned out better because  I added a cuff at the top with some leftover fabric I had that’s used on a chair in the den.  We cut circles and then glued them on with fabric glue and then did the same with the ric rack…it was SO easy and occupied a couple of afternoons for Tid Bit.  I sewed them together one night and that’s it.  I LOVE the way they turned out.  I used white flannel for the main part and felt for all of the circles.  Aren’t they so cute?!

I’m always keeping an eye out for fun ribbon…and this one is PERFECT for my den.  I think it was like $20 for a roll of maybe 30 feet or so (which is a bit steep) but I just fold it nicely and re-use it each year…so for me, it’s been worth the investment.  My mom bought me 6 ft of that garland with fun colored balls on it, and it’s made it SO much easier to just mix that in with a fake greenery garland and some real greenery for a full look.  I’m always sticking other random stuff I happen to find in my Christmas boxes in there too.

These branches are kinda sparkly wacky, but I love them.  This year I stuck them in a couple of large glass jugs that I had and wrapped them up in this iridescent fabric I had leftover from last year and tied them with a short length of my fancy ribbon.

I’ll show you a more complete picture of the whole room later this week.

For my living room, I’ve been wildly inspired by the wreath I made of old hymnals recently.  I also made some flowers out of the hymnals as well as some ornaments…so those things helped me determine the direction I wanted to go.  I wanted it to feel more traditional but still with a little bit of glam.  The best thing I did was to put an old door that I had in the garage over the mantel and I love it so much…i believe it has found a more permanent home there.

The taller plants on the sides are just some $3 peace lilies that I bought and stuck a couple of sparkly branches into.  I found some containers I had that were the size I wanted, but didn’t match…so I just covered them in burlap to add some uniformity.  The tissue paper flowers are like the ones I made for our Easter party, but this time I used a natural colored tissue paper.  The small hymnal flowers are made the same way, I just don’t cut the edges because I love the natural yellowed part.  It also makes the flower look more like a peony than a dahlia to leave the edges raw.  Check out the tissue flower tutorial and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

The small balls you can see are just some cheap non-breakable ones that I found at Hobby Lobby.  We tore the hymnals into smaller pieces and decoupaged the ornaments with the pieces using mod podge.  Once the ornaments were covered, we sprinkled some iridescent glitter over them.  This was so easy that once I showed my 5-year-old how to do it, he made almost 2 dozen of them.  A great craft project for him, and it gave me loads more fun stuff to decorate with!  He’s particularly proud as well that I’m using his project to decorate all over the house.

I think that’s it pretty much.  I’ll zoom out the camera on Friday and show you what the actual rooms housing these mantels look like.

Happy hump day!

PS. For other inspiring mantel ideas, check out these holiday decorating linky parties that are going on right now at Southern Hospitality, Home Stories A to Z, and The Lettered Cottage.  Also check out my friend Myra’s adorable vintage inspired mantel!

I woke up really early this morning kinda stressed over the Christmas party I’ve been planning.  When I originally planned it, in my mind I was having it on a Friday night.  When I sent the invitations, I was in such a tizzy to get it done amidst the other million things I’ve had on my plate lately, I sent the invitation dated for Saturday.  And right after I sent it, I realized what I’d done.  But I am from the South, and it’s kinda tacky to go about changing that sort of thing….especially once people have said that they can come.  But as the responses have come rolling in, an overwhelming number of people have been super bummed to have conflicts that they are committed to for Saturday night.  And so you know what….I did the unthinkable….I changed the date!

photo credit Warner Brothers

Yep…Logan Griswold here.

Bringing about tacky just in time for Christmas.

And you know what I decided.  We’re throwing a party for other people to be able to come…and if the date is a big fat conflict for pretty much everyone who has responded thus far, well then….It’s my party, and I’ll change if I want to.

Truly though, I know it’s not that big of a deal to change.  But, I REALLY hope that the 6 couples who had responded already that they could come to the Saturday night party aren’t now disqualified because of the change.  If so…well, I owe you guys another party…so pick a reason to have one and we’ll do it.

By the way, looking at this picture above and seeing Ellen’s fabulous hair reminds me that I completely forgot to show you a picture of my fabulous hair when the Hubs and I recently went to a 1970’s themed Murder Mystery party.

Yes ladies and gentlemen….that would be my husband….dressed as his yuppie, tennis playing, alter-ego who we decided to name Gary P Knight III for the event.  And just like my husband and I agree we would probably not have much liked one another had we met in our early college years when I partied too much and he had that awful long haircut that was shaved halfway underneath, our characters for the party would have probably not ended up together either…me a stylish feminist and him a tennis-playing yuppy.  All’s well that ends well though…we both reverted to our normal selves who DO really like one another at the end of the evening.

And interestingly enough for this part…I didn’t have to buy a single thing.  Thankfully fringed boots and graphic, kimono styled one-armed dresses are in again.

And while I’m on the topic of random things…I did a really cute craft with my kids yesterday that I thought I’d share with you.  I don’t recommend doing this with almost-2-year-olds though because it does result in an unusually high number of candy cane casualties.  My 5 year old loved it and we made 20 of them to give to his class at school for Christmas.

To make 1 of these cute Candy Cane Reindeer you’ll need:

• 2 candy canes
• 1 red pom pom
• 2 googly eyes
• 1 tiny bell
• 4 brown pipe cleaners
• 1 green pipe cleaner

I found it easiest to go ahead and twist the 4 brown pipe cleaners together prior to wrapping the candy canes.  I did this long twisting step and began the wrapping process like you see above, and my son did the rest.  It was easy, fun, and pretty cheap to do.  Wrap the candy canes with the brown pipe cleaners, then thread the bell onto the green pipe cleaner to wrap for the belt.  Glue on the eyes and nose and voila…easy peasy.  If you have older kids though, I found that hot glue holds the stuff on better than Elmers….obviously.  So if it were me just feeling the need to make loads of these guys by myself….I’d be hot gluing the heck out of them.

Well, I’m headed to the Biltmore House again today.  Taking Tid Bit out of school and all going to see it decorated for Christmas.  If you live close enough to go to Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC…I HIGHLY recommend it.  Money well spent, and for just a total of $50 more for 1 couple, you can upgrade your daily pass to a season pass.  We’ve LOVED having the opportunity to explore the grounds this year, see the small farm there, walk through the gardens, and enjoy the house.  Time and money well spent for sure.

Ya’ll have a good weekend!  I’ll show you pictures of my house all decorated this coming week!

I have a confession.  I think I’ve been kind of a jerk.  And, well…in my heart I’ve been a total jerk several times lately.

The Lord pricked my heart on something this morning that I think is a great thing to consider particularly during the Holiday season…

Hospitality….to our families

You all know I love a good party.  Whether it’s hosting one like I did for Lily Pottery the other night, having a small group of friends over for dinner, or throwing a huge bash…I love hospitality and entertaining.  And for the most part, I think that I do both of them well.  I’ve spent a lot of time studying hospitality over the past few months, and awhile back I read something that said that hospitality is about relationship, and entertaining is about well…entertaining.

The holidays always bring about lots of opportunities for both, and I have to say that in my efforts to be hospitable and entertain lately…there are a couple of people who have really gotten the short end of the stick as my efforts have been focused elsewhere.  They’re among the people who really should be getting the first fruits of my efforts to serve others too….my kids.

Yep…I’ve been kind of a jerk a good bit lately to my kids.  Man.  That feels pretty sucky to say out loud.

And here’s why I am saying it out loud…to put it in front of my face, and to hopefully put it in front of yours too in an effort to encourage you away from making the same mistake.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been busting my tail to get my house cleaned and decorated for Christmas…you know, the holiday where we celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world into a regular old family.  Where we focus on God coming to earth….as a BABY.  Yeah…that holiday….the one about great gifts to mankind, and about God as a child.  That one.  That’s the holiday I’ve been getting ready for… and being pretty much a total ass to my own children at least once a day in my efforts to “entertain” and prepare to serve others.

See…here’s the problem I’ve had.  It’s called an agenda.  A “to-do list.”  And my kids have quite frankly interrupted my efficiency to get those things done.  Sure I’ve included them along the way.  We’ve made ornaments together, decorated a tree together, done some baking together….but including them takes time, and sometimes I just want to get things done and be done with those things too.  To check things off of my list….and when that efficiency goes out the door, I begin to see my selfishness creep right in.

This morning I have spent some time really thinking about how “the holidays,”  more than any other time of the year, present loads of opportunities to serve others.  Whether you serve a special meal to the needy on Thanksgiving, or host a bunch of people at a festive party, get together with family more, spend time with friends more….whatever it is, our schedules get busy with giving and going, and at the end of the day for most of us and our families….that pace isn’t sustainable.

I don’t want “the busy” to become “the business” of my time or of my life.  I want to remember to serve my own family before I even serve others….because that’s my mission… my job… my calling.  If I busy myself with always serving others, but forget to serve my own family in the process, I’m just cultivating hearts in my children that resent hospitality and serving.  And if I do that, then all I’m doing is making yet another contribution to an already selfish society…teaching them that our own agenda to “serve” is really more about entertaining than about relationship.  And I don’t want to do that.  I want my message to them to be to serve because we love….not to just entertain…to be about relationship, not presentations.

I just read something from a lady named Dorothy Patterson based on Isaiah 40:28-31 that said “Gods strength is for what He plans for you to do….not stamina for everything you might want to do.”  Proverbs reminds us, lest we forget, that our children are a gift from the Lord (even in the moments where they make us feel crazy.)  And I’m just gonna be honest and say that my “gifts” have frustrated me lately as they interrupt my agenda of what “I might want to do” sometimes.  During this season, we all get so easily wrapped up in our own agendas, and someone, somewhere often pays the price.  Who’s it gonna be?

So…here I am.  December 1st….saying that the next 25 days counting down to celebrate the birth of a child will be much different than the past week of preparing to celebrate.  I want to show hospitality to my family first…and out of that heart, overflow the fruits of hospitality onto others.