Christmas Ornament Giveaway #1-Believe in Miracles

Hooray it's Christmas time! That means it's time to decorate. Long ago I made the decision to try to keep my Christmas decorations focused on the Savior and His birth, to help remind me it's not about the stress or the glitter, it's about a miracle. This also means that I am always on the lookout for great Christmas ornaments with a Nativity theme, especially ones that are just a little different. Although this year I have a plastic tote and a half of my collection that are staying packed because I can't replace them, they're fragile, and my darling son has the obedience of a goldfish.  Recently I found some beautiful nativity ornaments through Etsy and a few very talented and generous artists who were willing to share with my readers.

Our first week's ornament comes from riricreations (who is btw offering free shipping for Cyber Monday and some deals for her shop anniversary this week). To win it: 1. Tell me about you help your family to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. For additional entries 2. Check out riricreations and comment below on one item you like from her shop. 3. Become a follower of Secrets of Mom through GFC and leave a comment (or just leave a comment if you already are). 4. Share this giveaway on Facebook and leave a comment. The giveaway will run until Friday December 3, 2010 at 12:00 MST. The winner will be selected using a random number generator and announced Friday afternoon. Then Rita will send off the winner's ornament off in time to be enjoyed for the holidays. Good Luck!

Christmas Traditions: Christmas Books Advent

I found this idea in a magazine years ago. Assemble 24 Christmas (or winter) children's books, wrap them up and every evening from December 1st to Christmas Eve, the kids get to unwrap one book. It helps them with the "IamsoexcitedandifIdon'topenapresentrightnowIamgoingtoexplode" phenomenon. Of course over the years I've collected more than 24 books, so now we start reading books on the night after Thanksgiving. Here are some of our favorites. Most of my books I have gotten at Seagull Book or at 'after Christmas' sales. I have also gotten a few good deals through Scholastic book orders. The vast majority of my books I have bought for $4 or less.

1. A Christmas Dress For Ellen by Thomas S. Monson
2. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski
3. Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck
4. Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
5. I Spy Christmas by Jean Marzollo
6. Who Is Coming to Our House? by Joseph Slate
7. The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats
8. And Then In A Twinkling by Becky Kelly
9. The Very Smiley Snowman by Jack Tickle
10. What Santa Can't Do by Douglas Wood
11. Mary Engelbreit's A Merry Little Christmas: Celebrate from A to Z
12. Today Is Christmas! by P.K. Hallinan
13. Christmas Pea Coat by Richard H. Schneider
14. The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale by Angela Hunt
15. The Little Drummer Mouse by Mercer Mayer
16. Fear Not, Joseph!: A Story of Christmas by Julie Stiegemeyer
17. There Was No Snow On Christmas Eve by Pam M. Ryan
18. Silent Night illustrated by Thomas Kinkade
19. The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
20. Bear Noel by Olivier Dunrea
21. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
22. Christmas for a Dollar by Gale Sears
23. A Cricket's Carol by Mark K. Moulton
24. A Christmas Stocking Story by Hilary Knight
25. Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff
26. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
27. The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

My blogging friend Jocelyn also has a list of 24 favorite Christmas books plus she has a simple craft or ornament to go with each one if you're feeling ambitious. They're worth checking out.

Home Remedy for Sore Throats: Apple Cider with Mulling Spices

Friday morning I woke up with a sore throat and thought "Why did I agree to come into work today?" After hitting the snooze alarm I remembered something about bills, my unit needing me and it only being a couple hours, then dragged my tired booty out of bed. I work in Pediatrics and I generally don't get sick, because I am exposed to a wide variety of nasty bugs in many forms on a regular basis and after a year or so that builds up a super immune system. That is I don't get sick as long as I get enough sleep and keep the stress down. (Unfortunately neither Wednesday or Thursday were low stress days.) If I don't keep the stress down there are any number of nasty bugs just waiting to make themselves at home. Solution: Treat symptoms while they are mild.

Growing up, whenever we had sore throats or various upper respiratory illnesses my mom would make hot lemonade or hot apple cider for us. (My grandma was a firm believer that if you added a teaspoon of Everclear alcohol to some hot lemonade and gargled it, it would kill anything that was lurking in your throat. It probably does, but I can't say that I have ever tried it.) So I filled my thermos with hot apple juice, lemon and mulling spices and I was good to go. I didn't realize how much my throat hurt until the apple cider was there to sooth it.

Now some of you may be asking, 'what are mulling spices?' Mulling spices turn ordinary hot apple juice into spicy yummy goodness. If you purchase them they are generally overpriced, but they are very easy to make. (Another trick I learned from my mom.) Plus when you make them yourself you have an excuse to smash things with a hammer, which can also help with stress. (Helpful Hint: I found that the cheapest place to buy spices is in the little bulk baggies at the health food store. The last time I bought them they were about 25% of the cost at the grocery store.)

Mulling Spices
6 cinnamon sticks
1 small whole nutmeg
1/2 cup of whole cloves
1/2 cup whole allspice
1 whole orange peel, cut into little pieces and dried
1/4 cup dried cranberries (optional)
1/4 cup thinly slice dried pears (optional)

1. Smash cinnamon sticks and nutmeg with a hammer. (Preferably with spices in a bag.) 2. Mix ingredients together. 3. Mix one heaping teaspoon of spices per cup of beverage. (Some people tie their spices into little cheesecloth bags before soaking them. I am way too lazy for that.) The longer the spices have to soak in the juice the better the flavor. If you are going to make big batch, a crock pot is a good option. You don't have to limit yourself to mulling in apple juice. Most clear fruit juices will work.

I've been drinking a lot of this stuff over the past four days. (I use the same spices a few times and keep refilling my thermos with hot juice.) My throat feels so much better. I like to add a tablespoon of lemon or orange juice to it as well (I had a voice teacher in college who swore by putting lemon juice in her water to ward off sore throats). I'm not saying that apple cider is a replacement for medicine when necessary, but there is a great deal to be said about getting plenty of fluids and Vitamin C. Both of which are necessary for healing. Plus the spices do great things for you too. Cinnamon helps with circulation, digestion, anxiety, stress, diabetes, menstrual cycles and is a mild natural antibiotic (which is why it is found in some toothpaste.) Cloves also improves digestion, eases throat irritation and coughing, and is another natural antiseptic. (I read in a few places that it has officially been endorsed by the FDA as a stopgap measure for tooth pain.) Allspice has pain relief and antiseptic properties. Nutmeg aids with digestion, but it's thrown in this mix for flavor. I think it's pretty awesome that all of these spices that I'm using to help things taste better are actually helping my body heal at the same time.

Valentine's Day on the Cheap

 This year for V-day I made beef jerky for my beloved. He will know this truly a sign of my love because I HATE touching raw meat, which is an unavoidable downside of making your own beef jerky. (Although it's very tasty, and super easy and inexpensive to do if you have a dehydrator and a jerky gun.) Including the cute container to put it in, it cost me less than $4. For my kids I found some cute V-day socks at Old Navy for 70 cents each and a couple books for a few dollars each.
 In the past we have made it a point to not go out to dinner on Valentine's Day. Even the places that are usually empty are packed. When it's so busy service seems to decline and you spend a large part of your evening listening to each other's stomach's growl as you wait for your food. So we have made it a tradition to make dinner together, and then go out a few days before or after. And Valentine's is the one day of the year that I make his favorite dessert, that I hate. This year we'll make heart-shaped pizzas as well as a few batches of cookies. Showing your love doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

How to Have a More Worshipful Christmas

I came across this great list today and just had to share it. It was found at http://www.lds.org/topic/christmas/christmas-ideas.html Enjoy.

• Replace some holiday decorations in your home with reminders of Christ.
• Politely decline requests that will take you away from family.
• Play more Christmas music.
• Donate gently used items to a thrift store.
• Go Christmas caroling.
• Avoid “mad rush” shopping times.
• Say thank you as often as possible.
• Schedule a night to help another person or family.
• Call someone you normally wouldn't to wish him or her a Merry Christmas.

• Delegate some holiday preparations to children or other family members.
• Trim the gift list.
• Simplify a traditional activity.
• Find quiet time to pray.
• Write down great memories as they happen.
• Set and stick to a holiday budget.
• Forgive a grudge.

My Favorite Christmas Traditions

Here are some of the things I enjoy most about the holiday season, many of which you can do with your children on a low budget.
1. Baking cookies!
2. Decorating. This can get expensive, but it doesn't have to be. Some of my favorite memories as a child were making our own decorations. We made paper snowflakes and festive paper chains that we hung from the ceiling around the borders of the room. And to this day my mom's favorite Christmas tree ornaments are the ceramic mice that we painted when I was three. Decorating the tree and home and creating ornaments can lend itself to dozens of holiday activities.
3. Looking at Christmas lights. It's always fun to see the displays that your neighbors have up.
4. Reading the Christmas Story Found in Luke 2:1-20, also Matthew 1:18-25, Matthew 2:1-14, & Luke 1: 26-35
5. Reading Christmas Books One tradition that I have started with my kids is that every day starting December 1st we read a different Christmas book. I have collected several through the years from after Christmas sales, but the library also has a wide selection to supplement my own.
6. The Twelve Days of Christmas This is a favorite tradition from my husband's family, something that was passed down from his mother's family. Starting December 13th we put our shoes out and every morning "the Christmas elf" puts a tiny gift in our shoes. As a general rule I try to keep the items under a dollar. I find that the earlier I start on this the better, otherwise my kids just end up with a whole bunch of crap from the dollar store. (Don't get me wrong, there are a few good deals to be had at the dollar store, but you know what I mean.) Some shoe gift ideas: candy, coloring books, crayons (bought a few boxes at the back to school sales), lip gloss, small toys, socks, finger puppets, hats and mittens.
7. Visiting Family What would the holidays be without family? Even if they may drive you a little crazy. ;)
8. Serving Others This is the most of fun if it is done in secret. Growing up we were poor, but I didn't realize to what extent until I was older. You don't miss what you don't know. Frankly if my friends now knew they would be shocked and amazed, for that matter my friends from back then would be shocked and amazed. Despite this my mother made it a point each year we would pick someone in need to serve. Often we would find someone in our neighborhood who lived alone and drop gifts on their doorstep for The Twelve Days of Christmas. They were simple things, a 6-pack of ginger-ale, 5 cookies, 4 fresh oranges, etc., but there were times when we learned that it really made a difference to the person that we were serving. And it was such a thrill to try to deliver them without getting caught. There are many other ways to serve other this season and there are many in need. Toys for Tots, Sub for Santa and the Food and Care Coalition are just a few organizations that appreciate donations. Even if you don't have money to give you can still serve. Donate old coats, donate your time. Find someone out there who needs some cheering and share the Christmas spirit with them!
9. Christmas Shopping I love shopping for Christmas. Buying stuff for my kids is always fun. Finding a the perfect gift for a friend or family member fills me with excitement. Finding a good deal is even more thrilling, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to lose any sleep over it and risk being trampled. Not when there's Amazon.
10. Singing Christmas Carols Whether you do this with friends, family, neighbors or by yourself, it really makes the season.