Elfie the elf of the shelf that is NOT a spy for Santa

A few days a go, the elf on the shelf appeared in our house just like in thousands of other home.  But unlike in thousands of other homes this elf is not a spy for Santa.

Millions of children get the threat of you better be good or Santa won't come.  I've done it.  But it doesn't do anything to improve behavior.  It is just another empty threat, because let's get real,  I'm not going to give my kids nothing but coal for Christmas.

And if Santa was real, he wouldn't either, because he, like Jesus, has harnessed the power of forgiveness.

Our elf is a bit mischievous but not terribly so. Our elf is here to learn to be good and to teach forgiveness.  The girls have to forgive Elfie for being wild and a bit naughty.

The girls can play with Elfie and enjoy her.  I would be silly to get them a new toy and tell them to never touch it.  I want to set them up for success, not failure. 

There is no naughty and nice list.  We have nice girls in this house and only nice girls. Sometimes they make mistakes but so do I and no one threatens to take my Christmas presents away. Jesus has forgiven me and Jesus has forgiven them.

And so has Santa.

Santa sent a letter carefully explaining that the naughty and nice list is just something people do for fun.  I didn't want to make 98% of the world out to be liars! But that Santa is also friends with Jesus and they know all about grace and forgiveness.

And seriously how can your elf be naughty and then it reports back to Santa about your children's naughtiness? Just doesn't make sense!


If you liked this post then please consider subscribing to my blog for more posts you will love, or leave a comment!

Santa beard Christmas countdown

The girls are so excited for Christmas.  I had to make a way for them to countdown so they wouldn't have to ask me every 15 minutes how much longer til Christmas.  Best idea ever.  Now they only ask me 5 times a day.  And that's a number I can live with.

 

Cheyenne's is on the left and Harlee's is on the right.

I wish I could take credit for that awesome Santa but I can't, get yours here.

If you liked this post then please consider subscribing to my blog for more posts you will love, or leave a comment!

Pickle ornament

Ahhh Christmas.  How I love thee.

I love decorating and eating and giving presents(especially homemade Christmas gifts!)   Christmas is seeped with traditions.  My favorite tradition AND my favorite Christmas ornament is a pickle.

When I was a kid my mom would hide the pickle on our tree and my brother and I would spend hours searching for it.  Whoever found the pickle got the pickle present. 

This year my mom hid the pickle for my kids (twice since they are so young) and then again for my brother and me and our spouses...we are still kids at heart.  I have been looking for the pickle for so long it would be weird to not!!

This year my mom bought a mini pickle.  My brother and I were searching away for the 'regular' pickle. We had no chance, thanks Mom!

No matter who finds the pickle it's always fun.  I hope my kids love the looking for the pickle as much as I have.

Harlee and Cheyenne pickle searching.

Harlee with her pickle find.

Cheyenner Nanners so happy she found the pickle. 

These next two pictures are from last year's pickle hunt but I love them so.  It was the first year Harlee got really into it. 

Here is the mini pickle it's about 1.5 inches long.

Homemade Christmas

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year...well except for all the shopping and spending and hustle and bustle and all the buy buy buying.  In our family makes everyone makes Christmas gifts for each other.  I super love it.

Is it more work? Yes, it a lot of work! That is what makes it so amazing.  When you get a gift you know that person worked hard on it, they took time out of their busy day(or days) and made something just for you because they love you. 

It says I love you exactly 1 million and 2 times more than just buying something, no matter how much you spend.

I remember the first year we did it.  It was abysmal the gifts I made.  I remember making my mom a blob of blue wax candle.  It didn't have any scent, it had an unraveled string for the wick.  I don't even think it had a ability to burn. Even though it was horrid, it was made out of love. (Mom if you still have this please throw it away!)

Every year it gets a little better and a little better.  Now we are professionals.  There has even been some chatter about not buying gifts at all anymore. 

Most years we are all working overtime to finish everything in December.  Every year I say I'm going to make it different and get things made ahead of time but so far I'm not doing so hot.  This year is my year to rock out though.  It might only be January but I'm already scouring Pinterest and making a list.  I've even started buying supplies.

This year will be even busier than ever before as far as making gifts goes.  I'll have mine to do and both of my kids will be making gifts this year as well.  All I can say is thank you Pinterest for making secret boards.  It's annoying when you pin something to make for someone and then they repin it!!

12 Days of Christmas For My Love

I seen this super idea on pinterest of course.  I HAD to do it for my husband.  He does so much for me all the time to let me know I'm special to him and I have been way behind in doing nice things for him.  Here were my gifts:

Day 1 ~ 1 Bottle of Crown
Day 2 ~ Pair of really warm socks
Day 3 ~ 3 Love letters(this one was hard! I'm not a mushy person so coming up with enough material for 3 mushy love letters felt like a stretch.  I wrote one about the kind of person my husband is and one about the kind of father my husband is and the last one on all the good things my husband does.)
Day 4 ~ 4 V neck T-shirts
Day 5 ~ 5 Thirty Minute Back massages(now I'm just afraid he is going to cash them all in at once!!)
Day 6 ~ 6 Candy bars
Day 7 ~ 7 Amps
Day 8 ~ 8 Razor blades
Day 9 ~ 9 $1 Scratch Off Tickets
Day 10 ~ 10 Fishing Lures
Day 11 ~Long Underwear (hey! he works outside all winter!)
Day 12 ~ Chap Sticks

I had planned to give my gifts on December 13th - 24th.  But he was working out of town quite a bit so I started the day after Thanksgiving and gave him gifts when he was home. I even had to finish after Christmas. But that doesn't matter.  The point is that I wanted to make him feel important and loved. Every time I gave him a gift I sang my corny little bit of song ''on the ___ day of Christmas your true love gives to you".  I'm certainly not a good singer and my husband  will likely never admit it but I think he liked me singing it to him.  I caught him more than once pausing the TV just to hear me sing it to him. 

With each passing day of gifts I was rewarded with a big smile and a giant kiss.  For a man that speaks volumes.

Mission accomplished.

Bead ornament

Harlee made these whale ornaments as a Christmas present this year.  I seen the idea on pinterest but the instructions where in dutch and there was quite a bit that was lost in the translation so I made it up mostly by looking at the pictures.  First we picked out a couple of cookie cutters, set them on parchment paper and Harlee very meticulously added the beads.  Then I poured oil in the cookie cutters.  Then I baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  You could bake it for a less time to keep it looking more like beads or bake it longer to make it more smooth. As soon as they where cool enough to touch we popped em out.  I drilled a small hole in the big one for the tree hanger but the little one had a small hole in it from the beads not spreading out 100%.  This was a fun thing for Harlee to make and with millions of cookie cutters and bead colors out there I'm seeing a lot more melted bead ornaments in our future.                                     

Make ahead stuffing recipe

OK this recipe isn't mine.  It's my Mom's so of course it is the best.

Here is what you need.

3 loaves of bread
1 celery stalk
4 medium onions



Kitchen Helper

8 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
6 tablespoons Poultry Seasoning
2 tablespoons Sage
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons pepper
4 cubes beef bullion

At our house, we don't like to eat the heels of the bread.  So I save those all year long(in the freezer of course!!).  I also save all our hamburger and hot dog buns leftover form birthday parties and BBQs.  I like using buns better than bread, they are easier to crumble.  Bread you have to tediously tear apart.  Buns are for lazy efficient people.  So I just pile all my heels and buns up til it looks like 3 loaves worth. 




Crumble all your bread.  Chop onions and celery in a food processor until it is very fine. Add all the Poultry Seasoning, sage, salt, pepper and beef bullion to 4 cups of hot water and dissolve.  Pour it over your bread/onion/celery mix. Add the eggs and melted butter. Get your hands all up in it and mix it up....way easier and funner than using a spoon. Add 2-4 MORE cups of water.  It should be juicy.  Pour into greased loaf pans.  Double wrap with foil.  Pop those babies in the freezer.  The night before you wanna cook them unwrap one layer of foil and them in the fridge.  Bake for 3-4 hours at whatever temperature you cook your turkey.  Whalaa  easy as pie.

Remember stuffing is easy.  It's forgiving.  Only have 7 eggs? No problem!  Wanna use a whole cup of butter? Knock yourself out!




Now I have all my stuffing done for Thanksgiving AND Christmas.  Score!  After that color some turkeys.  Turkey Coloring Sheet 1 and Turkey Coloring Sheet 2

Harlee can't get enough projects so I had to come up with one more. I seen this on pinterest and we gave it a go.  I thought it was more of a pintrosity than anything.  But Harlee said it was "super duper cool".  And for that I am thankful.