What's Your Thing In December?

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 Friday December 6th-Get Organized!
Getting organized is not always easy, especially in December. But it does make things easier to be prepared to face the madness. For me cooking and sewing are so much easier and fun when you can find what you need and are prepared. So I chose two things to organize and clean out. My spice and backing cupboards were a disaster. I have not cleaned these out in years. I found 3 spices of the same thing. Old and new all over the place. I ran to Ikea and bought glass spice containers for a dollar each. Crazy! Of course they have everything you need to help get organized! They worked perfect, I just need to label them better. Now I am excited and happy to be in the kitchen baking cookies, candies, and holiday pies. Yumm....don't worry I will share later in the month.

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 Next, I moved my sewing machine and sewing supplies to an extra bedroom and turned an old desk into my sewing project area. The room is well lit and enjoyable to spend time in. I hung a cute homemade valance that my sister made years ago to remind me of her talents. I hung a wooden spoon holder on the wall just as my grandma's was right in front of her sewing machine. Sewing for me is very psychologically rewarding and I believe keeps me grounded and happy. It may sound weird, but I find myself wanting to sew in the winter when it's gloomy outside. It's also about feeling good inside when you can make something homemade and give it away. I can see why my grandma enjoyed sewing for many years, making hundreds of quilts and many cool rugs.  Giving defiantly gives me warm fuzzies. This time of year I sew blankets, rugs, and corn-bags. Now my sewing projects for Christmas are ready to finish and it's not so overwhelming with everything organized. I can't wait to get going!

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After

What's your Thing in December?

Thursday December 5th-Christmas Music and Beautiful Wrapping
After the initial shock of 4 degree weather at 8 am, today was a good day to stay cozy inside and listen to K-love Christmas music while I organized, cleaned, and dusted. Listen Online I am always moved by music, especially this time of year. I owe the discovery of this channel to my oldest daughter. Who would of thought, a teenager introducing a Christian uplifting radio station to her mother?? She would listen to this channel as see drove around in her green beetle bug all the time. Man how I miss her living at home, driving around with her, and listening to her practice for hours as she composed piano pieces. Her talent and example has touched me and many others.
Wrapping the first present of the season is magical for me. I guess I get so excited to put something under the tree. I have always loved to wrap presents. Making each corner just right, creased, with a matching bow. My mother was a pro! I remember going down to Christensen's department store where she wrapped presents for customer's one year. Wow! I thought she did such a good job, neat, perfect. My Grandma also taught me to never throw anything away, including a bow or ribbon. She had a box of all the accessories for wrapping in a box in the back room. She would save them year to year, reuse to beautify every present. So tonight was no exceptions, wrapping the first few presents with snoopy paper and bow's.

What's Your Thing in December?

I love December! There is nothing like those special traditions that you do for one month out of the year. It's fun to decorate, gather as families, go to a lot of movies, watch Charlie Brown special, shopping, serve, make homemade gifts, sing praises about the Christ child, shout out a Hallelujah, make Christmas candy, make a snowman, count your blessing, go sledding, and many more activities we all enjoy doing. Yet sometimes it's a hard month, a bit of deadline stress, cold weather aches my bones, eating too much, a virus here and there, missing family members that have passed... the end of another year. Yet I still try to enjoy all these things that only but only come once a year.

I will start on Sunday December 1st -Join the choir!
I love singing Christmas songs. This is about the only time I join the choir.  It makes me happy. I have fond memories of my high school choir days. Choir was something I did right in high school, it might of even saved me. It gave me peace through a very difficult time. It gave me friends, good friends. I worshiped and respected my choir teacher Mr. Dahlquist. As years passed I would join the alumni in singing the Hallelujah chorus and Silent Night at the Christmas concert. I left special, I was emotionally moved every time I sing. These feelings will stayed with me for the rest of my life and I am forever in debt for those experiences.

Monday December 2nd-Take a treat to someone in need; watch The Nativity!
It's so much easier to take a treat to someone in December. Service fills my heart along with the season of giving. Homemade jam and banana bread was the perfect treat this time. I never want anyone to go unnoticed. We all have felt unwanted, unworthy, and unimportant. But we have all had someone that went out of there way to make you feel wanted, worthy, and important. As in the movie, The Nativity, we see the humble setting of how Christ came into this world. It reminds me of how lucky we are all.

Tuesday December 3rd- Watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas/All I want for Christmas is a dog Charlie Brown; and collect stuff animals for needy children!
 With hot apple cider and donuts in PJ's, 9 girls snuggled up on the couches to watch these two movies with me. Of course I was teary just watching them as they enjoyed the movies as I brought them cider and donuts. There just isn't a better time of the year then December to have donuts and cider. I just love it!
Now who has way to many stuffed animals. I know my daughter does. Our kids now days are so spoiled. My daughters school is trying to have 500 stuffed animals donated for needy kids. What a great idea!

Wednesday December 4th- Be grateful for the moisture and enjoy the beautiful snow with the bright sun shining bright; and watch this! Singing in the mall
Today as I sit at my kitchen table the snow glitters like a diamond. It reminds me of all the good times I had in the snow every winter. Hunting with my father. Sledding every Thanksgiving up the canyon on our homemade fiberglass sleds. Sledding down Peteetneet hill until I could no longer feel my toes.
best school ever! Playing fox n geese in my grandma Gold's field with my siblings and coming in to get warm by the coal burning stove. To making snow angels every were in fresh fluffy snow. Those days of just playing in the snow as a kid are priceless.

Teach kids what counts!

http://www.gottmanblog.com/2013/10/the-digital-age-emotion-coaching-empathy.html
I love The Gottman institute's wisdom on emotional coaching.

http://familyshare.com/10-simple-ways-to-make-your-wife-happy