Family Alive

Well, a little bit late, but here they are.  We had a tremendous speaker at our Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) group in early November, Sherri Torelli.  She was poignant, funny, and full of organizing tips from a "sentimental packrat" personality perspective.  I can’t say I’ve been great at implementing them, especially the Christmas card one, but they are worth sharing! 

• Wrap as you buy your gifts!  Wrap in white paper, embellish with wire ribbon.  Wire ribbon was one of her favorite things.  It’s cheap, you can decorate anything with it, including packages, wreaths, and vases. 
• Put together a basket with a timer, your Christmas cards, address book, stamps, and good pen.  Sit down for 15 minutes and write out cards.  When the timer goes off, put it aside.  Do other things, and come back to it.  Do NO MORE THAN 15 minutes so you don’t get overwhelmed.  Start now (early November) and you’ll be done by early December.  **Hm.  Maybe I’ll try this next November 🙂
• Centerpiece – Simple wide, round bottom vase filled with cranberries and long-stemmed roses (silk is fine) arranged in them.  She used white roses.  Beautiful.
• Any size/shape of vases with cranberries and taper candles in them.  I loved this!
• Cut a circle out of the top of red and green apples, place a tealight in the hole, and use down the center of your Christmas table. 
• Thanksgiving centerpiece – clean out a pumpkin, plant a mum, including soil, in it.  Use as centerpiece, and after you’re done, put it right in the ground.
• Glue leaves on top of pumpkins, like hats.
• Cut a circle in the top of little pumpkins for tea lights, use a simple garland of leaves (or fresh/fallen) or berries down center of table interspersed with small gourds squash. 
• Speed cleaning tips:

1. Put together a carry-all with everything you need so you can just take it with you from room-to-room.
2. Things you need: gloves, all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner (2:1 water to rubbing alcohol bc the alcohol dries so quickly it won’t streak), microfiber towels (can quickly be run through rinse cycle before cleaning so they’re damp), cleanser, paint scraper for getting gunk off floor or counters, wide paint brush for brushing out window sills, lamp shades & keyboards, natural pumice stone (most unbelievable cleaner for toilets/porcelin – completely wipes away stains – will shine like never before.  She said, "You’ll have to invite someone over just to show them how clean your toilet is!"), Ostrich feather duster (bc the feathers trap dust – great for knicknacks, blinds, ceiling fans – shake it off outside), plastic bags for trash (leave them in the bottom of your trash cans so they’re always ready when you take the trash out). 
3. Stay in the room until your done.  Don’t take things back to other rooms… pile things outside the door, and put them away when you’re done. 

• Chargers are CHEAP (84cents at Hobby Lobby!) and make all dishes look even more elegant.  You can get a plate clip that holds a tiny little taper candle to clip onto charger. 
• Implement a new tradition each year.  
• Trimming tree – make it a big evening.  Special food, music, memories, movie. 
• Birthday tea party for Jesus!  Serve birthday cake and cookies, tea, celebrate Him early in the Christmas season so it starts off with the right attitude!
• Keep a basket for Christmas cards received on the table.  Read a card at dinner, pray for them. If they send a picture, after Christmas put them in a cheap little photo album and keep them handy so you can pray for them throughout the year at dinner.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent!  It’s a wonderful way to celebrate the whole season of Christmas, and to build the anticipation of the Christ’s coming.  I’ve got my pretty little homemade Advent wreath on the table.  There are lots more Advent ideas, devotionals, crafts and resources here: Advent 4 Evangelicals  I attended a fun mom’s evening last week about celebrating Advent.  Having grown up in the Lutheran church where Advent is a part of the church season, celebrating it as a family has always been something important to me.  We light the candles (previous years only on Sundays, but this year we’re going to try to do it every evening after dinner), read a little devotional, and maybe sing a song.  One idea is to use a chocolate advent calendar as motivation for the quiet time, and I’ve got to get a couple for my sweeties!