12 Days of Christmas

Three years ago, the girls and I started a new family tradition. Each year at Christmas we come up with 12 things we can do to show kindness to other people. Then we set about completing them in the 12 days before Christmas. We do this to take the focus off of ourselves - off of what we're going to get and what we want and to put it on other people and addressing their needs.

Here is our first year: Year One
And our Second Year: Year Two

We were inspired by this song and made it our prayer:



And this verse:

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it. -Proverbs 3:27

The things you do don't have to be monumental or expensive. Sometimes it's the small, quiet acts of kindness that mean the most. In the process of showing kindness to other people, you'll show kindness to yourself.

Here's our list for this year:

Shovel Someone's Walk Anonymously
Bake Treats for Neighbor & Ding Dong Ditch Them
Give Blood (heidi)
Collect all the change in the house and put it in a Salvation Army red bucket
Buy and give flowers to a random person
Make a Wreath and Leave it on Someones Door Anonymously
Deliver Dinner Anonymously to a Neighbor
Give Hot Drinks to People Holding Signs
Buy a Toy for Toys for Tots
Deliver Stuffed Animals to Domestic Abuse Shelter
Buy Groceries for a Family at Church that needs them & Ding Dong Ditch them
Christmas Party for Neighborhood Kids

Since we're going out of town for Christmas, we've had to modify it a bit. Instead of doing this for the 12 days leading up to Christmas, we're doing them throughout the month of December but before Christmas. The premise and results are still the same. :-)

We invite you to join us! Start a new tradition in your family. Spread some love. Resonate Kindness. Feel free to snag the button and post it. If you need a list of ideas - here's some we came up with a few years ago.

Merry Christmas!!

Yummalicious x 2

Made this for dinner last night and it was a HIT! Oh, um, my mushrooms were slimy so we didn't use them and, uh, no one really likes green or peppers so we didn't use those, either. And my family mostly picked out the chicken so next time I won't even waste the time or money. HA! But, yk, overall a hit! I didn't get to have any because it's full of dairy and nuts and stuff I can't have, but it looked yummy. Corban, my picky eater, had FIVE helpings!

Chicken al Diavlo Penne



Serves 4-5

2-3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 green or red pepper, sliced (or half of each...it looks really pretty that way)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 lb penne
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 jar Alfredo
2 heaping tbsp pesto

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Add pasta when boiling.

In a frying pan over medium high heat, heat 1 tbsp oil and saute chicken for about 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add mushrooms and chili flakes and continue to fry a few more minutes until no longer pink. Add sliced peppers and saute for about 4-5 minutes (this still leaves them with a bit of crunch which is how my husband loves it...if you like them softer, add them with the mushrooms). Once all the veggies and chicken is sauteed, add the jar of alfredo and pesto. Stir and turn down heat to low. Simmer for a couple minutes until the pasta is done.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce.

I got it from Meal Planning 101 - the picture is hers, too. I would've taken a picture but by the time I get dinner ready there are people screaming to eat like they haven't eaten in a year.

Another? Ok. I made Whoopie Pies for our after school snack yesterday. The kids made mmmmmm-ing noises the whole time they ate them and asked for another. I'm mean and I said no because, yk, there's enough sugar in ONE of those puppies for a week. Oh - I baked them for more like 8-10 minutes and make sure you don't make them too big or they'll not cook right. The spread a bit during cooking so watch for that and make SURE you grease your sheets! (Cookie sheets. If you wanna grease your bed sheets that's between you and your lov-uh.) {(Makin' Whoopie...greased sheets...oh, the double entendres are KILLING me!)

Whoopie Pies



* 1 egg
* 1/3 c. vegetable oil
* 1 c. sugar
* 2 c. unsifted all-purpose flour
* 1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 3/4 c. milk
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* Filling (recipe follows)


Heat oven to 350 F. Grease two large cookie sheets and set aside. In a large bowl with mixer at medium speed beat egg and vegetable oil. Gradually beat in sugar and continue beating until pale yellow in color. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a measuring cup combine milk and vanilla. Add flour and milk mixtures alternately to eggs and sugar, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet. These will spread a lot, so make 6 cakes per sheet at a time. Bake about 5 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched with finger. Remove to wire racks to cool. When cool, use filling and two cakes to make sandwiches. Makes 15.

Filling:

* 1/2 c. butter or margarine
* 1 c. confectioners' sugar
* 1 c. Marshmallow Fluff (about 1/2 of a 7 1/2-oz. jar)
* 1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat butter and remaining ingredients until light and fluffy.

Recipe from here.

Both recipes were supremely easy to make. :-) I have a bunch more from the Meal Planning 101 site on my menu that I'm excited about making! She has some yummy looking stuff over there!

Captain Make-Do!

I've decided what my superhero name is going to be. I thought long and hard - well, ok I thought for like 3 minutes about it but it was a long, hard 3 minutes! I want to be known as Captain Make-Do. Oh, I forgot the fan fare....DUH-DUH-DUUUUH!!! CAPTAIN MAKE-DO!!! No, I know - you're wondering why not Super Mommy or Wonder Wife, right? Sure, I get it. I gotta tell ya, those are just played out. Super is just over used and completely common. How many people do you see walking around with 'Supergirl' written on some piece of clothing? Exactly. Every Tonya, Deloris and Hannah. And Wonder Woman? Puh-lease. I already have a hard enough time getting Rob to keep his paws off of me - can you imagine if I started running around looking like Wonder Woman? I'd never get the dishes done. Captain is just under used and, frankly, under appreciated. What about some of these great Captains?







Right?! And the Supreme Captain of superheroes...



So I'd be in great company. I'll be Captain Make-Do and my motto will be 'You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!'

What? You need 7 eggs and you only have 4? MAKE DO! (Find a recipe with 4 eggs!)

You have two socks but they don't match? MAKE DO! (Who sees your feet anyway?!)

Your husband's car broke down and you've got to reconfigure everyone's schedule to fit with ONE vehicle? MAKE DO! (Change Plans!)

You're losing income this month because 1 kid is moving? MAKE DO! (Eat more beans!)

You can't drink because you're nursing? MAKE DO! (Eat Potato Chips!)

What do you tell your 4 year old when he's sitting on the toilet in Target asking 50 thousand million billion questions? MAKE DO DAMNIT! (No, truly - make do and let's move on already!)

See? FUN!

I promise not to wear spandex. Outside my clothing, anyway. You can't tell me not to wear it underneath my clothes. Because we all know that if you take the D and E out of spandex, you have Spanx. Think of it as my superhero costume. And my diaper bag is like my tool belt. Duh-Duh-Duuuh!!!

Captain Make Do at your service!!

One Thing Leads to Another

I love the Internet. I don't know how we ever lived without it. I love having all t his information at my fingertips. I love being able to sit down to check my email and get up 3 hours later, unsure of where the time went or what, exactly, I was doing. HA!

I just wasted an inordinate amount of time on YouTube. Have you ever gone looking for a song and then just started clicking on the links in the suggestion sidebar after listening to the song? FUN! I just took a trip back through long hair and awesome music.

It all started with "December" by Collective Soul. The lyric .."turn your head baby and spit me out"...popped in my head and I had to go find out what the song was. That lead me to "Lightning Crashes" by Live. Which lead me back to Collective Soul and "Shine" and then on to "Cumbersome" by Seven Mary Three. From there I totally rocked out to "Inside Out" by Eve 6. I LOVE Eve 6! Blink 182, Goo Goo Dolls, Everclear, Sum 41...and suddenly it's been an hour and I have done NOTHING.

But at least I listened to some awesome music. And now I've wasted 10 more minutes blogging about it. I'm awesome. Well, huh, you just wasted 3 minutes reading about it so I guess that makes you the bigger time waster, eh? ;-)

Happy Monday!!

I would swallow my pride, I would choke on the rind but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside, swallow my doubt turn it inside out, find nothing but faith in nothing.

Wanna to put my tender heart in a blender, watch it spin around to a beautiful oblivion. Rendezvous then I'm through...now I'm through...with you. THROUGH WITH YOU!

Round Table Discussion

My kitchen table is getting too small. I have 5 kids that I have to feed - well, one of them doesn't quite eat at the table yet - HA! So I have 4 kids that eat at the table plus 1 husband (no brother husbands, here). Add to that the multitude of kids that drop by at various times for food - after school for snack and homework I usually have at least 4 extra kids and dinner I can count on at least one extra kid 5 days a week. Right now we're all crowded around 1 little table and it's just not working for us. I've been checking out some new tables and I really like the drop leaf tables that I've been seeing.

Our dining room isn't formal, by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm no decorating diva so I'm not looking for anything formal or fancy.

I'd love something nice and long like this:


Photo courtesy of Dining Rooms Direct.

I think the kitchen/dining room table is one of the most important places in the house. Eating together as a family is something I insist on daily. I like hearing about the kids day. I like sitting together after dinner and talking. I love playing around with them while we have our special dessert after family worship on Friday nights. Playing cards with Rob. Lingering over a glass of wine while talking. Laughing so hard milk comes shooting out of your nose. A lot of good, happy memories happen at the family table...

...even if we are all sitting on each other's laps. :-)