Gifts that Go Beyond Christmas

This year one of the most incredible gifts that I received came from my Aunt Judy.  My aunt and uncle began working on our genealogy several years ago and gifted us with a terrific volume of information which they continue to keep up.  This year though they added a whole new element.  In their travels, they discovered that one of our relatives William H. Shaw kept a war diary between the years of 1861 - 1865.  She got permission to borrow the hand written document and transcribed the entire document into a typewritten document which she had copied and spiral bound for all of the branches of the family.

I actually spent my Christmas Day reading this diary.  Some days are boring and quick, but many pass on information that made me cry and cringe.  Stories of men dying, their blood splattering across him.  Stories of stealing split rail fences to make fires.  Stories of penning notes for fallen comrades. This is a Christmas present that will be cherished not just by me but for generations to come.

I'm thinking if I could find one of the many letters William H. Shaw talks of writing,  I could possible say thank you well enough.

Here are the notes from his diary on December 31st, 1864 that should make you realize how truly blessed we are:

"31st, Saturday. Stormy, some snow, this is the last day of the year.  How many commenced the year with high hopes and expectations? but how soon blasted.  How many who commenced the coming year will live to see its close.  Shall I?  God grant that I may live to see my friends once more."

FYI - he does live to see his family again, except a daughter who dies while he is in service.  The second to last entry on Sunday, July 2nd, 1965 says, Pleasant, we were paid off and got our discharge papers today, and it has been one of the happiest days of my life.  A free man and a citizen once more.

May you all be blessed in this coming year and may none of you endure what our relatives did during that bloody time in our history.

Making Homemade Pizza

It is the day before grocery shopping and the cupboards are bare. Ok, not that bare, but some combinations would make interesting meals. So I have decided to make some homemade pizza. For years that meant that I would revert to Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette version, but DH has found that he prefers King Arthur Flour's version just a bit more. (Frankly, I still like Amy's more due to the time constraints, but today I had the extra time.) Hopefully, it will be even tastier when I add the tomato sauce that I made the other day.

Lately, it seems I am cooking something up in the kitchen everyday. We made Aunt Florence's Irish soda bread to bring to book club on Monday and Charlotte's molasses cookies for church on Sunday.  In fact, I was thinking that it is time to start making up recipe books for the kids.  DD will be 16 and DS will be 14.  Part of me would like to think that they won't move out for years, but the other part knows that it will be in the blink of an eye.  I think that one of the gifts that I would like to send them off with is a compilation of our favorite recipes.  Certainly, this will not be a one day project so perhaps I should start now.

Ironically, DD was touting her cooking skills just the other day to a friend who wasn't even sure how to boil water for pasta.  I thought "woo-hoo," as she was walking her friend through the steps of making dinner,"at least DD won't starve to death when she is on her own."  I thought of some of my first meals that even the dog wouldn't touch.

I know for sure that I will put the homemade pizza dough recipe in their cookbooks. What family recipes do you wan to pass down to your children?

Candy Cane, Candy Cane - Wherefore art thou?

DS is hunting through the house looking for one last treat. DH bought candy canes to put in the kids' stockings on Christmas, but alas, they cannot be located. We have looked high and low for them and cannot find them. DH bought them at least a month ago and so he tucked them away for safe keeping, but apparently the place is so safe, it cannot be located.

I can so identify with this problem as when I buy presents throughout the year and tuck them here and there, I end up spending most of December searching for the items in different little nooks and crannies. Apparently, this has actually brought some admiration of my DD who at almost 15 knows the secrets of Santa and has begun to be impressed by the true secrets of a parent that can keep such secret gifts hidden until the morning of Christmas.

How do you hide Christmas gifts? and if you have any thoughts on the missing candy canes, my children would love to know.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

As you are working to fill your Christmas list, consider Kiva:

Sending Gifts - Helping Homeschoolers

As a homeschooling mom, I love my friend Meg. Meg is my world traveling friend. She currently lives in Germany. Today, we received a package from her.

Her packages have become famous in our house. You never know what they might include. We have received comic books written in Arabic, Iranian Flags, beautiful Middle Eastern fabric, playing cards from the United Arab Emirates (if you can't tell, she lived in Kuwait for awhile). Today's package included:

A book on the Tsars, stamps, money, caps, coins, a piece of the Berlin Wall, a Gecko like stuffed animal from Spain, Art cards. Her package keeps us busy for weeks looking up all the information about the items included. My daughter jokes that this proves that we are geeky homeschoolers because we think this stuff is so cool, but I think any kid would find it interesting. Sometimes peaking the interest of kids doesn't take thousands of dollars, it takes careful selection of interesting items.

I wish for every homeschool family that they may have a Meg, but they can't have mine because she is too cool and we love her.

Saving Local Libraries During Times of Budget Cuts

I guessing that since you are reading this blog for fun, you probably like reading in general. If this is true and you have a few dollars to spend on your reading interest, check out the West Warren Library Autographed Book Auction. A list is available for your review and there is information on making a bid. The proceeds are going to restoring the funding that has been cut by the town. It may seem like it is a little early for Christmas, but some of the titles would make wonderful Christmas gifts. Some of the better known books available are:

Dean Kontz - The Husband
Jacquelyn Mitchard - Deep End of the Ocean
Amy Tan - Saving Fish from Drowning
AJ Jacobs - The Year of Living Biblically
Wally Lamb- Couldn't Keep it to Myself
Anne Rice - Called out of Darkness

Some of my favorite autographs available are:

Jack Hanna
Vera Wang
Billie Jean King

So check out the list and make a bid. The actual auction will be held next Saturday, so your time is limited.

Pre-Christmas Christmas

As many of my fellow bloggers are starting to mention Christmas (I know – this seems like sacrilege at this point in the year), I thought pre-Christmas may be more appropriate to celebrate. With the thought that Christmas is not really that far away, perhaps it is time to finish with the gifts from Christmas’ past. You know the gifts I mean: the ones that have too many parts or take time to put together. The kids opened them so eagerly, but then you put them aside to do “later”. Somehow though later hasn’t come and the item is still in the box tucked in a corner.

Yesterday, DS actually started me on this. He pulled out his Smithsonian Crystal Growing Kit.


With us moving, I could not have crystals growing here and there at the old house, so I put it aside. I’m not sure what inspired him to pull it out, but yesterday he pulled it out and we have begun our crystal growing experiment.



We did just one experiment yesterday, #8 “Emerald Green”, and expect to do more over the next few days. This inspired DD to pull out her Aqua garden fountain for which we will buy some seeds today.

As the credit card commercial says, “What’s in your wallet?” or in this case, “What’s in your closet?” Before the new season comes, perhaps it is time to use what we got before.

The Advent Conspiracy

I found this on Owlhaven's page and think that it is worth to pass along.



Some of my favorite places to give are:

Heifer International
Samaritians Purse

Low / No Cost Christmas Gifts

This is not an article about how to make gifts using leftover household items. Nor is it instructions on how to spend hours and hours making items. It is simply a reminder to redeem your credit card points.

For many people, this Christmas is going to be a tight one. Many of us are trying how not to let our children know just how tight it really is. Thus, shopping with these already gathered points can help. Today, I bought quite a list of items and spent not one penny. Even better, one of the cards that I redeemed from isn’t even our charges that we are redeeming, but instead since my husband is a salesman, it is the card he charges his reimbursable expenses on.

So I encourage you all, before you set your alarm for 3 am on Friday and march out into the cold to save $25.00, look at “free money” that you may already have available to you. (Plus, who knows with this credit crunch – these points may not last too long either . . . why not use them while they are still good.)

Christmas Catalogs Clog my Mailbox

The Christmas catalog onslaught has begun. Each day that I get the mail, I am now getting four or five catalogs a day. By the beginning of December, our mail can become alarmingly large. I must admit that my shopping habits only make this onslaught worse. I abhor crowds. I try to shop throughout the year to avoid the Christmas crowds, but when we get down to the final push, I shop almost entirely online or through catalogs. I’m sure this only increases the catalogs that fill my mailbox.

Some of my favorite catalogs are Hearthsong, LL Bean, American Girl, National Geographic, and yesterday’s arrival Discovery. Some of the items that jumped out of me in the Discovery Catalog:

For weirdness: Balance Ball Chair $99.95 - The picture says it all. I'm not sure that I could add to it.

For Practicality: (the cheapest and most effective form of teenage birth control – the truth! Actually probably a better gift for new parents) a video called From Conception to Birth $14.95

Timeless Entrepreneurship:New!(I like this definition because that must mean I’m young) Ultimate Pot holder Kit $ 29.95 (Of Course, you may be able to find this at a tag sale for $1.00 or in your own attic for free)

There are plenty more really interesting gifts. I suggest that we all review or Christmas lists to see where we stand and what we have left to get. The holidays will be here before we know it.

Birthday Presents for Me

Thanks, Mom, for the slippers. I got my first birthday present today delivered by the mailman. I can’t quite figure out why he didn’t bring me the mail too, but that is a whole different story. My birthmother sent me these white slippers – very comfy!