Journal My Christmas - December 20th

Unexpected~

That is one way to describe the events of late. Today, we went back to church because our family had been adopted in light of all our recent issues. We were given a nine pound Costco ham along with other foods and a $25 Walmart gift card. We never have had to be on the receiving end of Christmas help and it is definitely a humbling experience. Feeling that there are others who need help more, we decided to give the gift card to mom's neighbor Dale. He was overwhelmed by the gesture.

More generosity came our way in the form of a WinCo $100 gift card. It arrived in the mail today. What a blessing that those around us are willing to share with our family.

So the unexpected came in the form of assistance. I just pray that we can help others in the future in the same way so many have touched us this holiday season.

Journal My Christmas ~ December 19th

Letter to Santa ~

Dear Santa,
It has been so many years since I did this, if I ever did it at all. Things right now are so crazy and it almost doesn't even seem like it is Christmas. If it wasn't for the fact that I actually went Christmas shopping yesterday, I would have continued to feel that Christmas is no where to be found in our homes.
My wishes this year are:
*My family to celebrate the day and take time to laugh and smile
*To not find joy in the little things
*Patience to deal with all the challenges that are facing my family
*Make Michael's time with us enjoyable and fun
*The strength and stamina to get done what we need to in regards to moving in with mom.
*Help other families who may have it harder than our family at this time
*Not forget the reason for the season and celebrate Jesus' birth
*Attend church with family.
*Bless others with yummy gifts
*Healing in my foot as I decided to fall and sprain it today.

So Santa, things aren't as important as others this year. Help me to keep my focus where it should be and be there for my family

Merry Christmas
Faye

Journal My Christmas ~ December 18th

Christmas Food ~

Oh the smells of Christmas become alive the week before. Food plays a big part in our celebration.

First off is Baking: Caramel Corn, Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Fudge and Butterscotch Fudge start the ball rolling. We give alot away to church friends, Jodi's bus drivers, Jodi's teachers and whoever else comes our way.

Our friends Val and Beth also bake alot and we get an annual tray of yummy goodies.

Next is Desserts: Coconut Cream Pie for Dave and Dale, Pumpkn Pie for Billy and Mom, maybe a Caramel Pecan Pie for Neil - who knows what will be baked.

The past 2 years we have had Christmas Brunch not dinner and I have to say it has been so relaxing and wonderful. We open presents, eat and eat and eat all day. Angela brings her Sausage Rice Casserole - yum. We make scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns and whatever else we throw into the mix. That being said the day is full of yummy things and it has become a perfect part of Christmas.

Journal Your Christmas ~ December 17th

Perfect~

Oh the perfect gift - what is it.

Is it the annual caramel corn that those who recieve it start asking for it before December hits.

Is it the cookies and fudge that others look forward to also.

Is it those handmade treasures that bring smiles to others faces.

YES to all the above

It is also the special gifts that are bought each year to bless family and friends.

This year is really hard because so much has gone wrong but today with what little money was available I shopped and had such a great time.

It is all about bringing joy to my family and it was awesome.



For Dave so far it will be a Ted Dekker book, a His Word Gift Certificate, a Snuggie with a book light, movie tickets and some See's candy.




For Mom her annual coffee from I think Harry and David this year. A Frappucino Machine that will be from all of us. It was funny she finally popped off with something she wanted and voila I found it a few hours later. It made it great because my brother needed something too and this is going to be a fun gift.



For Jodi she will get some sweats and toys.




For Michael who is visiting us, we bought him an IPod Nano with all the accessories that will be from all of us. He will also get a Snuggie with booklight, a gift card for Barnes and Noble, a gift card for I-Tunes, a book of Disney pictures and some Sees Candy



For Matthew a gift card for Chevron, Cold Stone, Wendy's and Subway, See's candy and a Disney Picture book.

For Val and Beth we are going to make a Salsa/Tortilla/Reindeer dish gift set. It is going to be cute. We are going to exchange gifts on Monday

For Treion, Saren, Bev and Colleen some handmade goodies that I created using the Zutter Bind It All. We are going to exchange gifts and do a stocking exchange on Sunday.


We opted to not exchange gifts with Rick & Maria and Don & Kim. We put our focus on Mike and Matt. Matt is with Rick and Maria.

This year our family will recieve some Christmas help. Dave will go pick up a gift card to help with our Christmas on Sunday. We have discussed it and we are going to bless someone else with it. We appreciate the assistance but a guy I went to school with named Dale and his daughter Maddie need it more.

So what is the perfect gift and are my family and friends receiving it this year? The only perfect one is the one that God gave each of us.

So Christmas hopefully will be a focus on our gift of life with the birth of Jesus. He is the reason we celebrate Christmas. So Happy Birthday Jesus and thank you for all you give to us every day.

Note: Use Ribbon on layout

Journal My Christmas ~ December 16th

Grateful ~

Even when life is hard, there are still so many things to be grateful for. The friends and family in my life rate at the top.

So here is what I am grateful for:

God loves me
My Family
My Friends
My Furbabies
Church and freedom to worship
I have a roof over my head
I can walk
My diseases are active but not crippling
I can create and enjoy doing so
We have the means to sustain ourself
God is providing and doing great things in our lives

I will add to this if I think of more, but this is what I am grateful for.

Journal My Christmas ~ December 15th

So much is happening in the next couple weeks. Trying to move, short sale the house and yikes the Holidays. It has actually caused some dread as of recent days. I actually feel the panic setting in.

But now I can focus on people, who in my world will I be with and what will we do.


Thursday my beloved nephew Michael arrives to stay with us for 2+ weeks. What a blessing to be able to spend that amount of time with him. He is going be a huge help and even a distraction at times. I only wish that Matthew could be here too, but we will be seeing him at some point.



Sunday I will get to crop all day with Treion, Bev, Colleen and hopefully Saren. We are just going to celebrate Christmas and have fun. I am going to work on getting all this into the album, I am a bit behind there.



Family, Friends and Everyone else ~


During the week different church services and such will allow us the opportunity to see friends and celebrate our Savior's birth

Family will round out the week with a Christmas brunch and just time to relax. I so need that. I hope for a day of rest to ease my mind and spirit.






Dale and his daughter are recent additions to our family and hopefully we will get to share some Christmas cheer with them.

Lots of blessing still to do and I am looking forward to it.

We need to tell those in our world how we feel about them and more important share our faith. This is the season to bless and I am up for the mission.

Note: check out page guidelines

Journal My Christmas ~ December 14th

Gifts~

I am a huge believer in hand made gifts. I think things you make are so much more special because of the time involved.

This year money and time are big issues but I had some commitments and I wanted to follow through. Today I recieved the charms from the charm swap that I participated in. I love my Creative Escape friends because they always do fun things.
Here are the charms in the packages they came in and then the charms on my necklace that I will wear throughout the month.

Great job ladies, I love them.



Here is the process of making gifts. I love my Zutter Bind It All and so I decided to do their 12 Days challenge and made the gifts I needed for 2 swaps. One was a secret santa swap with my CE friends and the other was to do a stocking stuffer swap with my friends during a weekend long crop. Unfortunately both failed to happen. Being that things are a bit bumpy right now, the 2 bright spots in my month not happening left me a bit sad.
Through an honest mistake the hostess from the Secret Santa program ilthought I had withdrawn and let the person who was giving to me that I had dropped and she reassigned her partner :( Being that money was tight, I sold stuff on Ebay to make the money to buy goodies. I had so much fun and was ready to ship off my package when I was told what happened. I hold no ill-will toward the hostess, I have been so sad because it was a bright spot in my month and now it was gone. I am still going to send my assigned partner the goodies I made because they were personalized.
My friends Treion, Saren, Colleen, Bev and I were set for a weekend long crop where we were going to do a stocking swap and also make stocking stuffers for each other. Well the crop was cancelled and rescheduled for next month. It made me sad cause again it was a bright spot to look forward to and it didn't happen.
We are getting together to crop on Sunday - I need it and we will do our swap.




Back to gifts, I love to create and I hope my friends will love their goodies. Gift giving is one of my favorite things. I like to see others happy, that is what is important to me.

Tonight at dinner with my mom, brother and sister in law, we discussed the fact that we are all struggling financially and we are going to treat each other to dinner and that would be our respective gift.
We always enjoy being out with each other so this will be perfect for all involved. I have truly seen though especially this time of year, that there is more then just presents to make others happy.
I will bake and make caramel corn. That will bless many others. This season the emphasis will be on doing for each other as opposed to buying for each other. I am really looking forward to it and know that either way God will bless us all.







This awesome package arrived today. Veronica M sent this to me so that I could still participate in the Secret Santa swap. Now I have a fun gift coming her way. Thanks Veronica you made my day

Journal My Christmas - December 13th

Christmas Music ~

To me Christmas Music is the best part of Christmas. I love to sing along and something about all the songs just make even a bad day better. I love singing about all the festivities and most importantly Jesus' birth.

Two of my most favorite songs are "Do You Hear What I Hear" and "It's Almost Christmas Time" by David Meece

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see
Way up in the sky little lamb
Do you see what I see
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepard boy
Do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the sky shepard boy
Do you hear what I hear
A song, a song
High above the tree
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepard boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know
In your palace wall mighty king
Do you know what I know
A child, a child
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Let us bring him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace people everywhere
Listen to what I say
The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light

The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light

I am not sure what it is about this song but it is my comfort song. I love to sing it and I love to hear it. It is one that always makes me feel better.





My second comfort song is "It's Almost Christmas Time" While attending Crossroads Christian Church in San Jose back in the 80's, I was very involved in the sound ministry and this song opened one of the Christmas plays they did. It took me awhile to find it on CD but I did and it is another that I hum and sing alot.

Everywhere that I go people are looking up
People are sharing love
See the look in their eyes, something is shining bright
Is it the time is right?

Seems to be such a joyful occasion
Every face has a smile
And it's starting to feel like my favorite time of the year

And it's almost Christmas time
The time of the year that's so full of cheer
Yes, it's almost Christmas time
And I'm glad that it's finally here

Put a wreath on the door
Hang up the mistletoe, look at the falling snow
Put a log on the fire
Let's take a walk tonight under the starry sky

Let's remember the days of our childhood
Like we'll remember tonight
And remember the one who was born so that we can have life

Cause it's almost Christmas time
The time of the year that's so full of cheer
Yes, it's almost Christmas time
And I'm glad that it's finally here

Cause it's almost Christmas time...





Enjoy this fun video, it brings a smile to my face and I hope it does yours too.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/LemUynikIYDKqA2bgop8

Journal My Christmas ~ December 12th

My Christmas Carol ~

It seems funny that we just went and saw A Christmas Carol last week, so to stop and think of Christmas' past, present and future is kind of fun.

Christmas Past - being one of four kids Christmas was always crazy busy with fun and excitement. We definitely had years with lots of presents and stuff and then years where things weren't so plentiful. My grandpa would give each of us children a can of Planter's Peanuts. We always looked forward to that.

After I left for college, I had a couple Christmas' where I stayed in the Bay Area but was always surrounded by friends. One of my favorite times was setting up the live Nativity at church. It was awesome to celebrate our Savior's birth with a beautiful display.

Moving to Spokane we had 2 awesome family Christmas' at Rick and Maria's. Our first Christmas together was spent at our home on West Glass. We had mom and dad along with friends Dan and Beth join us for dinner.

Since moving back, we have a huge Christmas at mom's followed by dinner. 2 years ago we started Christmas brunches instead of dinner. We have also attended Midnight services at Jean's church. It is something we look forward to.

Christmas Present ~ This Christmas and last have been out of the ordinary. Our family has been gravely affected by the economy. Last year things were hard, this year they are harder. We have all worked together to make things as normal as possible but it just isn't the same. We all have agreed though that we need to keep our focus on the true meaning of Christmas. This is truly what helping us all get through some really tough times.

Christmas Future ~ Only God knows what the future holds but with us moving in with mom next year should be better and we can concentrate on putting things back together.

The reality is though that the only constant is that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' Birth and no lack of income, presents or decorations can change that. So knowing that I am confident that Christmas Future will be filled with the same amount of love that Christmas Past and Present have had.

Journal My Christmas ~ December 11th

Oh Christmas Tree ~

Setting up our Christmas Tree is one thing I always look forward to. It is full of lights and ornaments that we have collected ever since we have been married. There are also ornaments from previous students and some I had when I was single.

My first trees were real and oh the mess they left behind. When I moved to Spokane, we bought an artificial tree that moved with us when we moved here. It lasted quite a few years but one year just after having an emergency appendectomy, I was home alone and told do not lift anything and all the sudden the tree snapped at its base and came tumbling down. Being that Belle will chase anything that is rolling around and knowing I didn't want her eat any of the ornaments, I tried to pick the tree up and oh that was a bummer.

Dave and mom went to Target and bought a brand new tree and the new one is huge. Our tree is full of branches so lots of lights and ornaments make it symbolic of our life, our family and our faith. My tree topper is a Precious Moments Angel and she just makes is perfect.

Being that we are trying to move, no tree will go up this year but next year for sure. I have a small pink tree that I was going to use for a special girls weekend, I may set that up in my kitchen until Christmas.

I have been working on some special ornaments for a contest and for some gifts, hopefully they will happily adorn the trees of my friends.

Journal My Christmas ~ December 10th

It's a wrap ~

Journal My Christmas - December 9th

Traditions~

Hummmm.........what are our Christmas Traditions

1. Sending out a newsletter with our Christmas cards. Many find them annoying but it seems that the Warriner clan loves them. Dave's Aunt Lilo always comments on how she looks forward to reading what is new. Since they all live in Washington and we live in Nevada it is our way of connecting with them.

2. We love to decorate. The more festive we can make our home the better. Tree all decked out along with the yard and any place else that needs some extra decor. I really enjoy it. Next year we will get back in the swing of things.

3. Stockings - we have Mickey and Minnie stockings that we hang up each year and they get filled to the brim with goodies. We usually open our stockings on Christmas Eve. We even have stockings for the doggies.

4. We open our presents on Christmas morning and then head to moms for more presents and brunch. Brunch is a new tradition that we all love. No more have to rush and put together a dinner. Makes for a relaxing Christmas day.

5. Mom loves coffee so every year she gets a basket full of Gloria Jeans coffee. Each year there is a theme and she gets other goodies in her basket to go with the theme.

6. During the holidays a few years ago, I started making coconut cream pies from scratch. I don't like them but other family members did. So found a recipe, tweaked it a bit and voila the best coconut cream pie anyone has ever tasted. When I make these I have to make multiple because everyone wants their own.

7. Caramel corn is the latest tradition. It has proven to be a great gift for our pastors and friends. I think they are beginning to expect it now.

8. Going out after Christmas and buying all the fun decorations and goodies on sale, we love Christmas clearance. That is something we have definitely done year to year.

I thought maybe I had no traditions but that is obviously not true. There are lots of things I do year to year so that constitutes a tradition.

This season has taught me to relax and not take things so seriously. I need to focus more on the meaning of the season and not all the hustle and bustle. Guess that will be the newest tradition.