Merry Christmas Friends

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

I leave you with this song that I think TRULY describes Christmas very well: 

May the Joy of Christ's Birth, Death, and Resurrection fill you with HOPE this Christmas!

Today you'll find me

barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.  Ok, only really 2 of those three! =P (I hate to be barefoot.) Today I'm trying to get most of my Christmas baking done.  So far the white chocolate covered pretzels are in the fridge to set and peppermint has been crushed for a few different projects including:

These peppermint marshmallow hot chocolate stirrers, except I don't have sticks OOPS!

Funny, I sent my husband to the store for candy canes, and he came home with a 2 lb candy CANE it was huge. Thankfully, I could just bang it on the table to get it into small enough pieces to put in the blender :). 

and I'm making a variation of these:

Which I'm hoping will turn out well.  

I'm also making some brownie trees, white chocolate gingerbread cookies, and some eggless cookie dough so that I can eat it! 

What are you baking up this Christmas season???

Oh and of course there will be some coconut creations ;). 

Reminiscing of Christmas Past

When Sarah of Yes, Teacher shared about some of her Christmas traditions as an MK in France, it made me think of some of our old Christmas traditions with my family.

When we (my sisters and I) were growing up, my grandparents always spent Christmas Eve at our house. It was so special to go wake up my grandpa at 5 in the morning and snuggle with him until my parents woke up, just staring at the tree.  My mom always had a very adult tree upstairs, it was mostly covered in blown glass ornaments/very breakable ornaments and covered in white lights, white garland, and white beads.  I always loved to admire that tree.

Even though we don't plan to do "Santa" with our kids, as a child we did celebrate Santa coming. My grandpa would "go to the mall" on Christmas Eve, which meant he went to the basement to get dressed up like Santa, then would come and knock on the upstairs door and give us a quarter. He did this for everyone in the neighborhood. One year, I asked my mom, "Mom why is Santa wearing Pap's glasses?" I was about 4 so I don't remember her answer, but I think the cat might have been out of the bag then ;).  He also made one of our neighbors so afraid she locked herself in the bedroom on Christmas Eve.  Oops!  He totally didn't mean to scare her.  He was the greatest pap ever!  We'd also usually eat pizza from my mom's favorite pizza shop that evening. 

On Christmas morning, we had gifts from my parents under the tree upstairs. Then we would eat some breakfast (usually some nut roll, date roll, and other sugary goodness) and then open the presents "from Santa" under the tree downstairs (aka gifts from my grandparents.) Then our parents would finish up lunch while we played/put away our new gifts. 

(I realize now the tree always looked so much more majestic when I wasn't allowed to touch anything).

At lunch our aunt and uncle would come, we'd all sit down to eat lunch.  Afterwards, we'd open up our stockings and gifts from them after lunch. It was a very special time. 

Normally our tree had more decorations but I don't know why we didn't that year.  This was my last gift from my grandpa.  He passed on the following October.  He was the best paper catcher/thrower awayer ever! ;)

my sister loves beagles so she got some beagles that year

Then we'd head to my dad's parent's house after all the dishes were done and put away.  We'd eat some dinner down there, exchange gifts, and then head to our neighbor's house.  They would offer us the most delicious assortment of cookies.  There's one I have no idea what it's called but it has chickpeas in it and it's soooooo amazing (perhaps because I grew up on it).  

I'm not sure what our new traditions will be as we start our own little family. I sure do miss though being able to wake up on Christmas morning (even in high school) at 5 am and snuggle with my grandpa. Those were the days! I'm sure though we'll start focusing our family traditions around Christ after our little one gets here.  He truly is the reason for this Season. 

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. - Luke 2:11

For to us a child is born, 
   to us a son is given, 
   and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called 
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, 
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 
Of the increase of his government and peace 
   there will be no end. 
He will reign on David’s throne 
   and over his kingdom, 
establishing and upholding it 
   with justice and righteousness 
   from that time on and forever. 
The zeal of the LORD Almighty 
   will accomplish this. - Isaiah 9:6-7

What are some of your Christmas Traditions??? How have they changed since being married?

Not here, but there

Today you'll find me over at Jana's blog doing a post on some holiday baking (which I've yet to start)! EEK!  I need to get some eggs pronto! ;)  I  really can't wait to make these:

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If you are interested in guest posting for me while I take a little break in January, please shoot me an email mrsawood 08 at gmail dot com. 

Looking for posts on: 

First time mommyhood tips

DIY Tutorials

Faith

Make-up Tutorials (cough Lanie cough)

or if you have something different you'd like to post on, please share it with me ;)

Cold Hands Warm Hearts

When I saw that Ilene and Sandy were hosting a Cold Hands Warm Hearts swap, I had to participate. I love gloves!  I'll let you in on a little secret.  In high school gym class, I'd wear gloves because it was so cold.  Yep, I was a nerd. 

I was so excited to be paired up with the beautiful Katie, of The Bright Life.  She's so awesome.  I love reading her blog.  She's inventive, creative, talented, and best of all, she's a believer!  I've been super encouraged by reading her new advent series.  You should totally check it out!

When I received my package I was so grateful!  Katie just picked things that fit my personality so well. I wish that I would have taken better pictures, but have been lacking the motivation/ability to take a lot lately (with hubby working).  These don't do justice for the beautiful gifts I've received.  

Sweet, sweet Katie, sent me that beautiful little card, explaining all of the gifts that she had sent.  (I wish I would have thought to do that). That little bundle of lace includes buttons that I can use to make more things for my shop.  So excited to use them! 

Oh, and the lace, that's the sweetest part to me.  It's left over from Katie's wedding gown that her mom MADE for her.  So precious!!!

She gave me those lovely brown gloves on the left (which I had to break out when the furnace was accidentally turned off in our apartment).  I LOVE the gloves and booties for our little one.  Katie also gave us those beautiful cards :). 

And also included were these beautiful prints of Scripture verses.  I absolutely love them.  I just haven't had a chance to get frames for them yet, but I will!!! I think I may need to hang them in my "craft room." 

If you like the prints that you see, be sure to check out more of Katie's design work in her shop!

Isn't Katie the best??? Thanks so much again Katie for being a great partner and thanks Sandy and Ilene for hosting!

Be Our Guest Part 2

Calling all readers, calling all readers, it's your chance to SHINE!

As I mentioned yesterday in my post, I'm hoping to be blogging through my due date, however, I would love to have some guest posts lined up for that time after the baby comes, when I will TRY to do a few posts but would much rather have you meet each other (as in other readers) than have you hear the ramblings of a zombie mom new mom. 

We'll be looking like this only 1 bajillion 10x worse. 

Now the question remains, what would you post about?

Good Question! 

There are a few ideas I have in mind, but am very open to suggestions. 

I would love posts on:

Faith

DIY projects

Mommy Tips

How you deal with the "Winter Blahs"

Photography tips

Make-up/Hair Tips

Winter Recipes

Would you be willing to partner with me?  I would hope to have the posts by January 10th.  I would just love to keep the blog up even while we adjust to a family of three. 

If you are interested in guest posting please email me at mrsawood08 at gmail dot com. 

Thanks everyone!!!

It's the Little Things: Midwives, reorganizing, and picking names (maybe)

It has been quite a while since I've linked up with Lindsay for a Little Things post and I still have been terrible at taking photos.  However, I do have some little things that I'm very thankful for this week. 

1. We went to our midwife appointment this week and baby is still head down and tends to be on the left side. Which is apparently a good thing. :) We absolutely LOVE our midwife.  She is just super wonderful.  So knowledgeable, caring, and a woman of faith.  LOVE LOVE LOVE HER. 

Anyway, I had borrowed the book Natural Childbirth: The Bradley Way from her.  I'm so thankful that I did.  It was probably one of the best books to prepare me for childbirth/help me to learn better how to take care of myself during the rest of this pregnancy.  I recommend it to anyone who is pregnant/trying to get pregnant. 

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I also read parts of Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss and hope to get that book soon.  I was just AMAZED at how well some of his homeopathic remedies worked.  It also had a list of laxative foods/foods that constipate you, which is amazing to have right now.  Right, pregnant friends?

2. Also this week I took Tuesday and reorganized the closet in the bathroom.  It may not sound like an all day ordeal, but:

1. I have a belly that makes bending, reaching, stretching, climbing difficult. 

2. We had a box of tools that had spilled on the floor and nails were everywhere.

3. I also took time to sweep and mop the kitchen and bathroom floors. 

4. I could only work for so long before my left hip would start hurting again. Boo!

But praise God it was done by the time my husband got home from work.  YAY! One thing off the checklist before baby gets here.

3. And that leads me to the last thing I'm very thankful for this week.  We MAY have decided on names. Maybe. I like the names we've picked out and I think our boys name might be set, but Aaron wants to look at the name book some more. So we'll see.  I hope we stick with the boys name that we have. I love it.  For a girl we only have a possible first name picked out right now. I also love that.  I have a possible middle name in my head, but I think he'll reject it so I'm waiting for a while to tell him. 

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So that's what I'm thankful for this week.  What about you?

Be Our Guest

Hello Everyone!!! 

I hope that you are all doing well. I'm sorry to have been out of the loop for so long on blogging, but I think that I will be back enough to at least finish out this month.  I am hoping to still blog until baby is born (or almost born) but am just not sure exactly when that will be.  Supposedly in 44 more days but we'll see. 

Have you gotten into the Christmas Spirit yet?  Are you like me and have been playing Christmas music since November 1st the day after Thanksgiving?  I love Thanksgiving and truthfully, as much as I love Christmas, Thanksgiving is up there pretty high as well.  We'll say they're tied for my favorite.  

I'm hoping to make these for some gifts
via Pinterest

We live in a small apartment with no real room for a large tree, I tried that once and it just took up half the living room and now our couch is larger than it was back then.  So we just have a small three foot tree, but it suits us just fine.  I put it up about a week ago and just love sitting and looking at the pretty lights. :) 

Someday I will make these as well. So pretty!
via Pinterest

I also have 2 nativity sets displayed in our living room.  I love them both.  They are a great reminder that Jesus is the reason we celebrate!  I can't wait until next year and we can talk to our little one about Jesus and share about His birth using our nativity sets.  

More than all the decorations though, Christmas is about Christ and His Birth and why He had to come to Earth.  So if you've made it this far into my ramblings, GREAT and thank you!  

via Pinterest

What does Christmas mean to you??? 

I would love to have some guest posts this month on what Christmas means to you, some traditions you follow, and how you celebrate Christ through this season.  

If you are interested, PLEASE shoot me an email at mrsawood08 at gmail dot com.  I would love to hear from you. 

Making the Switch

Last week sometime, I read an amazing post by Alissa of Rags to Stitches Boutique called Why I Choose Storenvy. I'm SO Glad I read this post. 

I know I don't have a huge customer base for my shop at all really.  I'm ok with that for now.  I'll probably have to slow down a bit anyway.  However, I was getting a little frustrated with just all the tiny costs that add up with Etsy.  They're all really little costs, but for us at this time, they add up.  Then I read this post and was like WOAH! 

(Right now they have special categories to help you shop for Christmas items on the front page.  This particular one is one of Alissa's products.)

Basically there are no fees on Storenvy for listing items, no fees when you sell an item, you only have to pay the PayPal fee, which I would have to do anyway. 

So I decided to make the switch to Storenvy for Toaster's  Transformations.  I'm still in the process of transferring all of my items over, so they will still be available on Etsy until probably after Christmas.  

One of my favorite things those is that you get to customize your storefront.  So fun, even though I know very little about design. 

This is my new banner for the shop.  You read that right, you can take 20% off until December 15th. (The last day I will be shipping before Christmas.) 

So what do you think? Like the new shop?

Blogger Fail

Hello Everyone!!!

I had every intention of doing a wonderful Thanksgiving post on all the things I was thankful for and take pictures while we were visiting my family.  Unfortunately that never happened.  I've been a bad blogger and been gone for almost a month. YIKES!

In that time, I've been trying to get the apartment ready for baby.  We are for the time being in a little one bedroom apartment, so making room for baby is going to be challenging but it'll be OK! :)  I can't wait to rearrange our bedroom so that we can set up baby's crib.  We got the crib at a yard sale and it's AWESOME and we got the bedding as well.  It's super cute.

Yay I found a picture of it.  Or, the closest thing I can find to it.  I'm pretty sure this is it though :) :).  YAY!

I also worked on sending out my Cold Hands, Warm Heart package.  I'll be writing a post about that soon!!! I need to get motivated to take pictures :/.  

I'm hoping to do maternity photos soon as well.  I can't believe we're 33 weeks and that means we only have 7 weeks to go. Can't wait to see our midwife on Wednesday and hear our baby's heartbeat again. 

Aaron has been working VERY hard so lately the pattern of my day has been:

Get up at 5:30 or 6 with him. Make breakfast, pack a lunch, get his tea or coffee ready.  

At 7 or 7:30 go back to sleep.

Sleep until I wake up. 

Do some things that need to be done: dishes, cleaning, checking the website so he can have more subbing.

Eat lunch.

More monotonous stuffs.

Start making dinner.

Eat Dinner with Aaron.

Send him off to work.

Do whatever until he gets home.

Chat and pray for about an hour.

Go to bed around midnight. 

Please be praying with us that Aaron gets a good paying Full Time job soon.  Preferably teaching, but we'll do whatever God wants. 

Speaking of monotonous stuff, I need to clean up from dinner!  Hope you've all been doing well. 

There is going to be an announcement tomorrow :). Stay tuned!