What Is Christmas? Sit down, I'll tell you...

Depending on your culture, family heritage, childhood environment, beliefs and religious convictions, the holidays mean different things to different people. Being interfaith, my family is no different.

But for me personally, Christmas (or, in my case Yule) is about the festivities, the joys (whatever those are for myself), the hope the season brings for the new year ahead, the miracle that is the cycle of the seasons, mother Earth, the God and Goddess, the sun's rebirth, the beauty and wonder of the season. But if you were to ask me what I want for Yule every year, my answer never changes: I want memories.

The holidays for me are mental photographs and videos of great memories with my family. For some reason, I live off of them all year long. I remember them and anticipate with joy and contentment the exciting holidays to come each year, the anticipation at the memories I know will form, the contentment of my heart and the peace in my soul every holiday, doing everything I love: Giving, cooking, hosting and laughing. And, yes, I am one of those rare gems that likes to discuss politics (even if you don't agree with me) over dinner. Life is filled with wonder and beauty and joy and good and the holidays are the perfect time I take to slow down mentally and physically to just absorb it all, to remember it second for second.

I hear some people complain about the holidays. And all I can think is, they are just doing it wrong. The reason for this must be guilt, for one, and fear, for two, then obligation for three. But it is also stressful because of those things, you feel you have to go broke to please family 9you don't) you think you have to make every celebration event (you don't) and you think you have to fear what others will think of you if you do what is right and take the holiday to appreciate it and embrace it for what is best for you. You don't HAVE to do any of those things, and that is the beauty of holidays.

The market has capitalized on holidays like Christmas and birthdays. What would change this is people spending less money on stuff and spending more time (something money cannot buy) with their loved ones, without shame or fear or guilt. And the family, they have to accept this lifestyle and in turn appreciate the time they get with their loved ones minus the materials and gifts and "stuff".

I am in no way saying gifts are wrong or bad. As you likely already know, I shower my kids and my husband with gifts and my husband showers me with gifts as well. But we don't only do this during the holidays, we do it just because,m we do it on anniversaries, or when a loved one is ill, we do loving things because we want to, not because we have to.
That said, I do believe gifts are actually a big part of the holiday.... For YOUR family. For my family, it is outside immediate family members such as in-laws. We keep it all between the four of us, because that's what we want.

It's also very hard for me to mingle with my in laws and celebrate the holidays since I celebrate them in an entirely different aspect than they do. They celebrate Jesus, his sacrifice, gift giving, materials and the commercialized aspect of it.

I celebrate it with spells, incantations, devotions, dancing, fire, nature, the sun, the moon, the animals, and the gifts are just a bonus because I truly enjoy giving to my kids and my husband, especially during the holidays. This is my time of year where I can spend as much as I want on gifts and get them each something they've always wanted. Would Yule be over if we stopped doing gifts? Not at all! There is the volunteering, the giving, the charities. There is the holiday meal, the spiritual observance of it. There is the time with my family, but most of all there are the MEMORIES.

I love spoiling my kids. I also love teaching them about giving back and kindness and loving others and compassion. I love teaching them about family values and the joys of the season, what makes the holiday really great: Memories.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

This is one of my husband's favorite meals! It's flavorful and goes great with egg rolls and cream cheese wantons!

Ingredients:

2 Cups uncooked instant rice (brown or white is just fine)

1 3/4 cups water

1 cup beef broth

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

2 Tablespoon light soy sauce (I use light soy sauce but you can use regular if you prefer)

1 tsp brown sugar

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 tsp ground ginger

1 lb boneless beef chuck roast, round or tip steak, thinly sliced

1 onion

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups broccoli florets, steamable or frozen is fine

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions.

In a small bowl or large cup, mix the broth, soy sauce, brown sugar and cornstarch thoroughly until completely dissolved.  

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat and add the beef, onion, ginger and salt and pepper. Cook until browned, then add broth mixture to the pan and bring to a boil. Let simmer until sauce has thickened to your liking. 

Meanwhile, heat broccoli (if using steamable or frozen) according to package directions. If using fresh broccoli, add the fresh broccoli to the skillet when you pour the broth mixture in.

Once broccoli has cooked, add broccoli to the skillet and stir to coat. Serve stir fry over warm rice and enjoy!  

School and Finance

I decided it's time to introduce my kids to finance and money and the responsibility that comes with it. Today I had them clean the house, and do extra chores like taking the trash out and grabbing the mail for allowance money.

When they were all finished and I made sure they were finished completely) I gave them their 'check" which was in the form of play money from their Princess cash register.

I gave them fives and ones. I made them count out their earnings, and then I made them use this money to "pay" for merchandise they really wanted. In this case, my son wanted micro machines from Star Wars and my daughter wanted Minnie Mouse blind bags. Each had to wait their turn to buy their merchandise, which meant waiting patiently and taking turns.

We set up a store like it was an actual store. We have had the opportunity to do this at the grocery store before, but this time I incorporated math rather than a credit card in order to pay for their stuff. At the grocery store, it's a no brainer to slide a card and be done. This way they had to learn the whole concept of payment and finances.

I had them each count out the correct amount of money to buy their things, and then gave them their things once we were all done.

So today they learned responsibility, hard work, and how to earn a living. I want to keep this up over the years from now on so that they grow to appreciate money and to use it responsibly and to work hard for everything they want and for everything they need.

Yesterday we learned all about electricity, and how the Earth orbits around the sun, and the change of seasons. Today we learned about money. But this is a subject I will incorporate into everyday learning. :)

Christmas Decorating 2016

Every year since we had the kids, we have had a tradition when it comes to decorating for Yule.

First, we bring in the Christmas tree. We are a sentimental folk, when we could not afford a real tree, much less have a real one in our first apartment (landlord's restriction), we opted for an artificial Christmas tree we bought on sale at Walmart dirt cheap. I had never had a Christmas tree before, real or fake, so I was super excited to get one that year. It was our first Christmas together, in our first apartment. I will never forget it.

We went to Menard's to get some of the ornaments and decorations. We picked them all out together, then we went to Sam's Club to get the ribbon.

We brought the tree home and set it up. We spent that evening decorating it while eating pizza. Ever since, we have been carrying this tradition on with the kids.

We bring the tree inside (almost eight years later and we cannot bring ourselves to part with it), we turn up some classic Christmas music, and decorate our tree as a family.

I always thought I would be the type of person to rearrange the ornaments my kids put on once they went to bed, but I don't. In fact, I love the way they decorate it with us. I prefer to leave it all just the way it is.

Every year it seems we try something new or festive. This year we added tinsel. I've never been a huge fan of the tinsel, but it's grown on me this past year. I actually prefer it over ribbon I think.

Once the tree is set up, (always on the Sunday after Thanksgiving), and it is all decorated and lit up, we put in a Christmas movie and bake pizzas.

The kids look forward to this tradition every year. They are now old enough to know what we are going to do as the year goes on, so it's even more exciting to see their faces light up when we tell them what time of year it is.

Thanksgiving 2016

Well, another successful Thanksgiving, and looking forward to many more! 

This year we found a 25.84 pound turkey, our largest bird yet. It took longer to cook, but the meat was so juicy and tender! You can get my Thanksgiving turkey recipe HERE.

As always, I start by rubbing the entire turkey with real, unsalted butter. Then I add the turkey rub under the skin, I am generous with the seasonings, especially this year with such a large bird to roast, I ended up doubling the rub recipe.

It turned out PERFECT! Everyone enjoyed it. My mother in-law made the delicious gravy, and the kids helped grandma and grandpa make the stuffing. :) 

Thank goodness we got a new roasting pan last year! Our old one was way too small. The wings of the bird always fell off because they would get roasted to the sides haha.

Tim has always made me laugh. He is such a goof and I love his humor. :)

The kids had so much fun this year. They made crafts with grandma and played with grandpa all weekend. It was such a great time. We can't wait until next year! ;-)

Haylie LOVES her grandma!

My in-laws arrived Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and stayed until Sunday. We had so much fun! Irvine Park lit up their Christmas Lights in the Christmas Village on Thursday, so we bundled up Friday evening and went to see them with Mama and Papa.

We got lots of pictures, but these two are my favorites!

We had such a blast (as usual)! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Gobble 'til you wobble! ;-)

Planting My Herbs Today

I am so excited for Spring! It's practically here!

I started my day with my coffee and a book and the usual house chores while the kids ate their breakfast and played with their toys. We aren't radical with schooling just yet, and when we do more curricular type things it's always later. Right now they are just too young to go all day every day.

Once awake and finished with chores, I went straight outside to gather as much snow into my bucket as possible. Some melted already so I didn't get as much as I had hoped, fortunately I left pails outside last night which caught a good amount of snow in it along with the buckets and containers that have rain water up to the brim in them. I took my water bottles and filled all of them up as much as I could. I am conserving the remaining rain water/snow for later.

I try to do this each year. It's a blessing for my thirsty plants and I would rather nourish them with rain water than anything from our city tap. I know, I am just finicky that way. It's a personal preference. It isn't that tap water won't help plants, but I feel rain water is best whenever possible. It's why I will collect water from a well known lake if I am all out of rain water at home. Last year we were very dry so I wasn't able to have such an abundance of water as I already have this year. Not even snow, as we barely had any snow to speak of all winter two eyars ago.

I hope this year is different. The large snow banks which turned to pools of puddles outside are instantly soaked up into the earth. Mother Earth is parched.

The rainy days make things a bit more challenging, and stressful, kids hate being cooped up just as much as I do. But at the same time I am so, so grateful for this rain!

I put new potting soil into my pots, sowing and digging as much as I am supposed to for my herbal plants. I'm not planting too much ahead of time, because I don't know when the weather will warm enough for me to replant them outdoors. But I did plant my lavender because germinating will take some time and by that point the weather should be much better and less hostile for it.

I also planted my cilantro, but only one because I prefer to use it fresh when I do and I don't plan to dry it.

I went outside and collected snow to put into the pots that will melt into the soil so as not to overwater them. So far that has been my day, and I feel really accomplished. The kids have managed to keep their toys off the floors so far (which is more than I can say for the bathroom and the tub, but whatever). I see flurries drifting around outside right now. I wonder if it will snow some more? I plan to get the kids outside today, we may even skip over to the park for a bit if the weather permits. :)

Let the Christmas Shopping Begin!

Call me a lunatic, but I really enjoy Christmas shopping. I look forward to it every year! This year was a little more exciting because now we have two kids, and our first is older and easier to shop for now, and we know what things he is really into this year. (One of those things you automatically do, even though I was restricted by my parents from celebrating Christmas, it comes so naturally for me now, is taking mental notes to self throughout the year.) ;)

Well, we had a very wonderful Thanksgiving with family this year (just like every year). I was super excited for it, we prioritized and had all of our Thanksgiving shopping done by the 17th, leaving only a few small items like french fried onions and green onions. Other than that everything was done and we were able to relax and enjoy the rest of the two weeks leading up to the big day.

My mother in-law, (Mama Gail), and father in-law (Papa Larry), arrived Wednesday night, and stayed until Sunday. We were so happy to have them here with us longer than one day. Unfortunately, my brother in-law (Nathan) and sister in-law (Melissa) couldn't stay but they did make it for dinner :).

Well, with the grandparents here early, we decided to get the kids' Christmas shopping done while we had the chance. Our work schedules have been so hectic lately (it always is this time of year), and we wanted to go shop for their gifts sometime before or after Thanksgiving.

We did a little shopping online, because we don't have a Toys R' Us nearby us anymore, we ended up having to do that online, but that was great, because it saved us time and everything. I actually decided I prefer Christmas shopping online, and next year we may just do that, except we like getting out of the house together while the kids stay home and going to explore the toy land at Farm and Fleet ;). Both of us are still kids at heart. Me more so since I didn't get to do this as a kid :).

So that was our weekend. And we got all of the kids' Christmas shopping done, and just need to wrap everything soon. Since I am still pretty new to this Christmas thing and gifts and the kids presents, I am following Tim's lead on most everything haha. If I don't know what to do or how to do it, he does!

We also found really great bargains at JCPenny!