Guest Post - Brooke from Applesauce is the New Black !

Today, in my series of guest posts, I want to introduce you to my IRL (in real life) friend Brooke.  To my cyber friends who haven't had the pleasure of knowing Brooke, I have to tell you this lady is uber talented!  You should see the nursery (with theme!) she painted!!!  (One of these days when I finally get my antique windows to her, she's going to paint them for me - still going back and forth on whether I want strawberries, or cupcakes..hmmm...  ok, maybe BOTH! LOL)   Booke is new to blogging and has a blog I love.  I love the name too:  Applesauce is the New Black.  Please go check it out.  I especially loved, and could identify with, a lot of her Thirty Thankful Things.  Right now there's an excellent post on Mommy Wars.    Do check out her blog and say hello.   And now, I want to introduce you to Brooke!

Do you have Christmas traditions? Christmas was filled with tradition in my family, but not so much in the “traditional” sense. We didn’t pull out the fancy china, or light the candelabras on the table. We didn’t go caroling to the neighbors houses or even have an advent calendar. But what we did have is, tradition. Traditions, which are important I think, for kids. Traditions are what your kids remember.


Every Christmas Eve, our family celebrates Noche Buena which means “Good Night” in Spanish….or rather, this is what I am told because even though I am half Cuban, I understand very little Spanish. My 3 year old knows more Spanish than me…his Southern Daddy taught him…not me. Anyway, tradition: my family gets together that night and we have the same menu each year: Roast Pork, Yucca, Black Beans and Rice, Plantains, Salad and Bread. We always play some kind of game. We always start an hour later than what we planned. Someone always complains we got the wrong “kind” of Solo plates. And I always talk about how gross and disgusting Yucca is. Tradition.

Now that I am a mom, I am quickly realizing I am the maker of memories and I am the weaver of traditions. This Christmas, my son, Connor, will be three and he is just now starting to understand the Santa thing. Now, I am a Christian…a born again, Bible believing Christian. And we do talk to Connor about the Reason for the Season…but I also love me some Santa Claus at Christmas time. Now some of you may disagree with me on this one and to each his own…but I believe there is a little magic in Christmas …magic that only lasts in a child for so long. That small window where they believe the impossible happens….and I don’t intend to miss out on that. I also don’t feel like Santa makes me any less of a Christian. So today I am going to touch on making Christmas memories involving both Santa and Christ’s birth….because I personally feel you don’t have to choose.

One way of putting Christ in your child’s Christmas:

Two words: Play Nativity. I stress the word “PLAY.” I do not encourage you to let junior clink the heads together of your grandmother’s antique wise men. Think child friendly. Think plastic. It may not be the most gorgeous but you don’t have to worry about sweeping up glass once the inevitable “flying angel” happens. Having the play nativity will allow an easy and fun way to explain the Christmas story.

One way of having some Santa “magic” in Christmas:

Here’s my nifty find from Hallmark…around $7.00 maybe? Santa’s key. What is Santa’s key? Well us folks here in Florida…a lot of us don’t have chimneys because it’s hot….all the time….our Christmas mornings are sometimes happening in shorts and tshirts, people! So with no chimney…how is Santa to get in??? Santa key…hang it on your door Christmas Eve and in the morning the kids can find their Santa Key hanging on the key hook or on the tree. Genius!

I am excited. Excited for the memories. Excited to see my son’s face Christmas morning when he sees his filled stocking. Excited to listen to him sing Happy Birthday Jee-Jus (Jesus). Excited to see my baby girl wake up in her matchy- matchy Christmas jammies that look like her brother’s on her first Christmas morning.

To end this …I’d like to share a piece of a Christmas decoration that was in my mother’s house for years. Goes to show you can have Santa and Baby Jesus in the same house.

May your Christmas be full of merry and happy! God bless and ho ho ho!

Brooke

GUEST POST - Janezworld

Today we're going global!  Jane from Janezworld.com has agreed to take us along what Christmas is like for her in Australia!  I just love to hear how other's celebrate their Christmas, and thought this was an especially good treat to see how someone not in the US does it.  Let's sit back and enjoy the tour, shall we?

Hi everyone, I am Jane from Life @ Number 8, where I blog holistically. http://janezworld.com/blog. Feel free to stop off at my domain Janezworld.com & visit my other blogs, plus the original Life @ Number 8.  A few months ago I worked up the courage to move to a self-hosted blog.

I live at the bottom of the world, well almost.

I was born in New Zealand but live now in Australia. In sub-tropical Queensland (south of the Barrier Reef, north of Sydney where the Olympics were & where Oprah is about to arrive for 3 shows. Be sure to watch her shows to see a little more of my world.)

If you are in the northern hemisphere, I’m a day ahead of you; my nights are your days.

Your winter is my summer.

Summer-time Christmas

Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is different in many ways to what Northern Hemisphere dwellers are used to.

First off, it’s likely to be hot. Even very hot. Or sweltering.

I have been in Christmas day weather where the temp was over 40C (100F plus) degrees. Actually 2 or 3 of those days. These were in the years before we had air conditioning. Yes they were every bit of the challenge you are imagining.

We would sit down about 1pm to a traditional Christmas dinner of baked turkey, ham and roast vegetables, gravy, fresh peas we had shelled that morning, and in time cranberry sauce; when it began to appear on the supermarket shelves. I have never seen fresh cranberries.

When we moved north some seventeen years ago I changed how we celebrated.

Breakfast became a big deal. In the spirit of the season, we open our home and hearts inviting many single, on-their-own, elderly and some lonely friends to join us. I think our biggest crowd was 32.

Everyone is invited to bring something along to contribute. We have an annual menu of cereal, fresh fruit, especially mangoes, ham, bacon, eggs, pancakes, maple syrup, croissants, toast, juice and hot chocolate.

Christmas music fills the air. Laughter and chatter ease away any sorrow and grief.

By the time we had a house with a large rear patio and fantastic BBQ I was prepared to be the chef on duty. That’s me in the photograph – many many ago – complete with Santa hat.

Before our guests arrive we open our stocking gifts. We all have one person to shop for. The rules are: no more than $10 spent in total, and no more than $2 per item. Each has to be specific to the person. We have had some very creative surprises. One year my son who hates green vegetables received a stocking of all green things.

After the guests have gone we clean up, relax, swim, watch a movie with lots of snow in it (It’s A Wonderful Life/Something Bing Crosby-ish)

About 3pm I prepare the turkey with apricot and macadamia nut stuffing, and put it into cook: long and slow. We gradually prepare all we need for a traditional candlelight family dinner about 8pm. We love the coolness of the evening. We aim for an elegant traditional setting. This is one of the ones we used. We found we liked gold and white, so mostly we stay on that theme.

Because I hate sand, and seafood we do not go to the beach, or park, though many Australian and New Zealand families do.

Thanks Jane!  I know sometimes here in Florida we do have an occasional unseasonably cold weather...just no snow...  but to have summer in Christmas???  Wow.  That's something I can't imagine!  LOL.  Thanks again for being my guest today and sharing your Christmas with us!

GUEST POST - Natalie from Mommie On Fire

Today in my series of guests, Natalie Snapp from Mommy on Fire is with us.   She is sharing some great ideas as well as a recipe that was "husband tested" and passed!   Love those kind!   I love those reindeer cookies!   I wish I could say I've had "snow cream" before, but sadly, here in Florida we don't get much of the "ingredient" to make that!  LOL.   So, now, let me introduce you to Natalie.  Please pay her blog a visit for more inspiration!

Greetings to all you "Sweet Jeanette" readers and a special thanks to "Sweet Jeanette" for hosting me today! I'm Natalie Snapp from "Mommy on Fire" and I write about my life of raising three young children spaced a little too close together in age, being married to a man who I adore (but we still have to work at our marriage!), and my reflections on our Jesus who astounds me daily. I'm humbled by the fact that you would read my words - thank you.


Baby, it's cold outside for those of us living in places where the winter chill has officially arrived. The air is crisp, our hands are dry, and our skin is flaking. We must bundle ourselves to get the mail and our children can never find a matching mitten.

It's winter. Not officially, no. However, December 21 it will be so I thought I would post a few things to warm your wintery, frigid soul...

A few months ago, my mother sent a WONDERFUL cookbook to me in the mail and every recipe I have tried has been delicious. Even better, it's a "Weight Watchers" cookbook which means that it's tasty AND healthy. This is certainly the time of the year in which I could cut a few calories here and there.

Our favorite meal so far from "Best One Dish Dinners" is the Tuscan Chicken Soup. Even my husband, who is not a soup-for-dinner kind of guy, was in love.

TUSCAN CHICKEN SOUP

Points Value: 4
Prep: 2 minutes, Cook: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
Cooking Spray
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup chopped onion
1 pound ground chicken breast
2 (14.5-oz.) cans fat-free, less sodium chicken broth
½ cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
1 (14.5-oz.) can stewed tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (16-oz.) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (6-oz.) package fresh baby spinach
6 teaspoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat, coat pan with cooking spray. Add garlic and onion; sauté 5 minutes or until just tender. Add chicken, and cook 5 minutes, stirring to crumble.

2. Add broth and next 6 ingredients. Bring to boil; reduce heat, and simmer 22 minutes or until orzo is done.

3. Stir in spinach; cook 3 minutes or until spinach wilts. Ladle soup into bowls; top with cheese.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 ½ cups soup and 1 teaspoon cheese).

Per Serving: CAL 253 (8% from fat); FAT 2.2g (sat 0.7g); PRO 26.1g; CARB 33g; FIB 5.4g; CHOL 45mg; IRON 3mg; SOD 785mg; CALC 88mg

Serve with a baguette and bon appetit! Dinner is served.

To warm your musical soul, our family has been listening to Perry Como's "Greatest Christmas Songs". Everyone's favorite song is "Christmas Dream" which makes me feel like I should be wearing lederhosen and skiing in Bavaria this holiday season.

To warm your kids's souls, why not make some easy "Rudolph Cookies"?

You will need:
Nutter Butters (Allergy? Use any oblong cookie - Biscoff's work as well!)
Mini Pretzels
Chocolate Chips
Red M&M's
Icing - buy it or make it! I buy. :)

Use the icing to attach all of the pieces - if your children are old enough, they can do it themselves and have a ball!

And if life gives you snow? Make "Snow Ice Cream"! It won't warm your soul but a good time will be had by all...

You will need:
5 cups of snow
About a cup of milk (or half and half or whipping cream)
½ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Teeny tiny dash of salt
To warm your faith soul, check out my favorite devotional: Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. Sarah writes each day's devotion as if God were speaking directly to you and wow does she just "nail it". I have read many of days in which I feel convicted, thankful, in love, and blessed due to the words God placed on her to share. It's simply beautiful and I know Family Christian recently had them for $5!

Lastly, to warm your husband's soul...Hmm. Can't print that here. Use your imagination.

Stay warm, stay in, stay cozy. Laugh with your children, let the spousal criticism go, and don't worry about the state of your house - make it a home. Remember to just be still and know. Remember to remember to remember who He is. Celebrate the birth of our Savior over 2,000 years ago because after all, if your heart is warm, it's likely the rest of you will be as well.