A Day Full of Christmas

Time has so gotten away from me.  I am so behing on my gift wrapping, card making, decorating, cooking, celebrating, and just getting in the spirit!  There is no way that it is December 16th already.

 

However, yesterday was a very Christmasy day!  I started out taking two gifts to people at church and learning some new songs in service.  I got my own Latte Moon this morning, too, to take with me to Sunday School at the youth building across the street.  I was glad I had something warm; the sanctuary left me still cold and it was freezing temps outside as well!  This here is coffee with pumpkin spice creamer, topped with mini marshmallows and cool whip!  I never knew until this morning how yummy those toppings make coffee.

After Sunday School, my class had our Christmas party at our terrific leader Patty's house.  Our college leader, Jenna, and her family came, too.  Patty set up a chicken and/or beef taco bar, fixed drinks and coffee, and had also made some super yummy buckeyes!

 

  Below are some of the cookies we baked.  We made hundreds of treats!  These cookies are going to go to some older and/or disable people around our area that our church does some ministry with.

 

 

 

Top left is Morgan, who is spreading some PB on crackers to be dipped in white chocolate.

Below her is Patty, dipping the crackers.  She was too excited about those!

Bottom left is Cassie, who was getting a kick out of us flattening the cookie dough.

Top right is Bella, trying but failing to flatten an entire chunk of cookie dough.

Last but not least is Julia rolling and covering snickerdoodle dough made by her mom.

I made a batch of gingerbread cookies!

Our class is much larger than just these girls, but due to previous holiday plans, not everyone could come!

To conclude my Sunday, I went with my mom, dad, friend Brooke and her mom to my church's final night of The Living Christmas Tree, The Birthday of the King.  I would be terrified to be up there so high in that tree, especially the poor lady at the tip-top!  This performace of Christmas songs and the true Christmas story of Jesus's birth is heard by so many each of three nights.  It is a great way to get in the spirit and share the gospel.

 

Sounds of the Season

Christmas music is one of the best parts of the holiday!  It's so joyful and uplifting.

In my Spanish class yesterday, we got the opportunity to play some Christmas songs, American and Spanish, in a bell harmony.

Here are some more songs that I enjoy listening to at Christmas time:  I'll spend more time on individual songs and what they mean to me in later posts

Somebody's Angel by Mandisa

Joy to the World by Jeremy Camp

Once a Year by Josh Wilson

Christmas Time Again by Stephen Curtis Chapman

A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives

It's Christmas by Mandisa

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams

Toby Mac's Christmas CD

and many more I will share later!

Gingerbread House of the Day #2

Here it is!  The other gingerbread house I was inspired to make during second period yesterday.

I had all this stuff at home that goes great with graham crackers, so I decided to to do a Christmas craft with it...then eat it of course.  This was an addition to my dinner and dessert last night.

I used almond butter to connect the house

vanilla bean cheesecake cream cheese to hold the "doors and windows" (Recees Pieces) in place

more of the vbccc to be snow on the rooftop

light brown Heath Pieces as "shingles"

and cool whip as snow!

 

To the side I made a nut tree

pumpkin spice cream cheese

pumpkin

and pumpkin butter make the ground layers

then cool whip and cinnamon make the snow

the "tree" is a skinny graham cracker with more pscc and pumpkin

with pistachios and peanuts stuck all around and on top

 

Before I ate it, I drizzeled some honey on top, becuase a little honey makes everthing tastier!

The cool whip added an amazing flavor to it, also.

 I was thrilled with how yummy this fun project turned out.

A healthy, happy, festive treat for the Christmas season!

Tis the Season for School Projects...Treats

Don't you just love when your teacher comes to class and surprises you with a project?

In most cases the answer to this is a big NO, but when it involves Christmas and creativity, that changes to a big YES!

Today my web design teacher brought in items for us all to make gingerbread houses!  This is the way to do it, using real stuff!  It's cheaper, tastier, and more fun than using a kit from a store.

 

This one was made by a friend in my class named Molly to look like a nativity!  What a great idea that also shows the true meaning we celebrate!

This one was the one I made!  It is totally going on display at my house tonight!  I made a cute little house with a walkway, a tree, and a dog house!

Now I have even more ideas with what I plan to do for dessert tonight.  I just love Christmas crafts!  I can't wait to get started on this!  There will be another gingerbread post shortly...(:

Latte Moon Coffee Station-Christmas Offering

Here is a photo from one of the activities at my church that I mentioned earlier.  This is one of our Latte Moon Coffee Stations we have set up during Sunday School.  We serve cups of hot chocolate, coffee, cappuccino, and apple cider for $5, and/or a tumbler with refills all month for $25.  All the money we earn goes to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions.

This year's theme/slogan is Totally His 

with empasis on the "all"

 This is the most commonly displayed picture of Miss Lottie

All or nothing!  Give it all to the Lord.

All the world is meant to hear His glorious name, and this offering goes to support the international missionaries who travel worldwide to spread the gospel...The real reason for the Christmas Season!

 

Christmas Color Coordination-Red

Brrrrrrr!!

It's a chilly day today in East Tennessee!  Nineteen degrees when I left home to go to Bible Study!

I do not like being cold, so today I planned to wear a nice, warm sweater dress.  These last 2 weeks of school I am trying to make my outfits to where I can get the most use out of my Christmas accessories that I can.  Today I matched my dress with red fuzzy socks to wear with black boots, Santa Claus (he has on a red hat, but you can't see in this picture) earrings, a red bow, and Winter Candy Apple body spray from Bath & Body Works!

Color Coordination

Color Coordination Makes Me Happy

I just love to match up all my outfits, down to even the stuff you can't see when I can.  I match my accessories, like pens for example, too.  Since the Christmas season has snuck up on me so fast, I have only gotten to do two outfits so far!  I need to get on it...

 

In the top picture is my Peanuts snow day t shirt, my Charlie Brown Christmas Tervis, and some "Be generous" chapstick that I bought for only a dollar at Target.  (Target is my favorite store to Christmas shop.)  I love how that not only is cute and Christmasy, but it reminds me to be generous with all that I have.  We also watched the movie at school Friday!  My phone case is from SkinIt, where I customized it myself. 

This is the outfit I am wearing at the moment!  (I forgot to put the socks in the picture, so I put them separate below.)  Today I am wearing the bright Christmas green with elf socks and bow earrings.  Bath & Body Works is my favorite place to buy body care items this time of year.  Their holiday scents are fantastic!  I used vanilla bean noel today since it is green and matches color wise.