For beautiful additions to your holiday buffet tables, create a wreath using food. Here are four of my favorites: Grape Wreath: Place green grapes, cut in clusters in a circle on a large serving tray. Dot with a few cherries and place a big red bow …
Christ-Centered Traditions
* List attributes of Christ that your family is grateful for on a poster, or made into ornaments on the Christmas tree, or where they can be easily seen. Write, “Jesus is special because…” This could be answered as, “He knows my needs and meets …
Favorite Family Christmas Book
Molly Evert Counter Cultural Mom My family loves books and one of our all-time favorites is Jack and Kathy Stockman’s gorgeously illustrated The Advent Book. This book is out of print now, but still available online and well worth pursuing. We read one new page …
Creating Advent Books
Creating Advent Books Sheri Armendariz On the first day of December each of my children received a “homemade” book. I made each book a different color with construction paper (cover) and white office paper (inside). After folding and stapling the paper to form the book, …
Advent Calendars
How many days until Christmas? We like to use Advent calendars to help our young children get a sense of the passage of time. Advent calendars also help build anticipation for our nightly devotions. The chocolate advent calendar certainly helps build excitement. The kids come …
Preparing a Jesse Tree
The Jesse tree is a way to help our children see the continuity between the Old and New Testament. All of the Old Testament points forward to Jesus, the centerpiece of human history. The Jesse tree takes its name from Isaiah 11:1, which says “A …
Paving the Way
Molly Evert Counter Cultural Mom It has been said that two things in life are unavoidable: death and taxes. Most people do not want to think about their own death, yet doing so can be one of the kindest things we can do for those …
Fresh Blueberry Pie
4 cups fresh blueberries, 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1 cup water, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 baked pie shell or graham cracker crust, 1 carton (8 oz) Cool Whip. Wash and drain blueberries. …
Homemade Easy Bake and Queasy Bake Oven Mixes
Don’t spend a fortune on Easy Bake Oven or Queasy Bake Oven mixes, make your own homemade version. Visit Budget 101 for plenty of recipes. They have directions for everything from Barbie’s Pretty Pink Cake Mix to Creepin’ Crud Chocolate Mix for Queasy-Bake Ovens. Make …
My Collection of Snowmen
In the winter of 1997, I began a love affair with snowmen. Well, not really a love affair, but I love what they can symbolize for Christians at Christmas. I had never thought about how the Christmas story could be told through the image of …