3 Gifts of Christmas...TAGS

This is a tradition that really has personal meaning for me. My husband and I heard about this a few years ago but last year was the first year that we started it in our own family thanks to our first child being born and these tags I made. Christmas has a more spiritual meaning for us then spending money and time in malls. Three gifts were given to the Christ child when he was born, hence the meaning behind our three gifts of Christmas. Each person receives three gifts at Christmas. Plus a stocking. Each different gift is pictured below. This tradition not only takes the craziness out of the holiday but it helps us to remember the true meaning of Christmas and that is of giving and thoughtfulness towards others. This teaches your children that it is not in how much they get but in what they give and the meaning behind it.

Let us remember the Reason of this Season!

The gift of Wonder: something from Santa can be given for this gift, possibilities are endless here.

The gift of Usefulness: give something like tools for a husband, sewing supplies for a wife or clothes for a child.

The Gift of Meaning: (my personal favorite).....something handmade or something that would have personal meaning for both people.
I made my tags out of circle chip boards (found at any scrapbook store), covered them with scrapbook paper, I punched a large whole at the top and added an eyelet, then punched small holes around the circle. I printed out on paper sack paper from my computer the Three gifts of Christmas and glued it on top the scrapbook paper. Added a few buttons. I then mod podged the front, let dry and I then sewed embroidery floss around the edges for extra detail. Tie a piece of rick rack to the top and there you have it, tags that can be reused every year as part of this wonderful tradition.
*A great thing to do with your kids would be is to have them make there own tags that can be used year after year.
May we enjoy the real spirit of Christmas!

Missing for a good reason...

Hello Everyone! WOW! what a few weeks it has been around here. Thanks so much for being patient and for still checking in to see if I was still alive. I am....barely! haha We just got the Internet back up and running so now I have a way to communicate.

Besides being extremely pregnancy sick and having the most terrible sinus infection that decided to revisit after already staying 3 previous long weeks.......the move still went well. Thanks to family and friends. Now I just need to find everything. And I have to admit I have been trying to take it much easier lately. Have you ever tried to pack up and move after being put on a firm no lifting guideline?? Not as easy as it sounds!

Thank goodness it's Friday again!

Have a great Weekend everyone!

Anytime Beef Stew

Stew is just not for Sundays anymore. In your roasting pan you want to add the following:
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken
2 tbs of soy sauce, A1 steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce,
1 pkg of brown gravy mix
1/2 pkg of Lipton onion soup mix
2 soup cans of water
seasoning salt, garlic powder, basil and parsley, salt and pepper
**mix this all together then add your veggies

10 - 15 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
6-8 carrots, peeled and diced
1 lb of round steak, cut into cubes

Mix this all together. Cover and place in a 250* oven. Cook for about 5 hours. Serve with rolls.

Vegetarian substitute: Add 2 cans of cream of Mushroom soup and instead of stew meat use whole mushrooms.

Nut free Banana Bread and muffins

What do you do when your counter starts producing really black and smelly banana's????

You make Banana Bread and muffins!! Why, because the more ripe the banana the better the bread!

This recipe is for 4 small loaves, 1 large loaf or for 60+ mini muffins

(I make several batches of each and then freeze them......works great!)

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp nutmeg

1 cup mashed banana's

mix wet together, mix dry together in separate bowl then mix together. Make sure to grease your cake pans or muffin tins well before cooking. For loaves cook on 350* 40-45 minutes. For muffins cook on 350* for 10-12 minutes. Use a toothpick to make sure either is done.

Once the loaves are done, take them out of the oven and let them cool on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before you remove them from the pan. If you try to remove the bread when it's hot it will crumble instead of coming right out. Happy baking!!