Our children’s school offers an Outdoor Ed. class once a week for students in Kindergarten – 3rd grade, and I volunteer as a helper for both James’ and Clara’s classes.
This year, one of the teachers made an amazing “nature-inspired” Advent Wreath for the outdoor ed space.
Isn’t it fantastic!?
There’s a common misconception that Christian schools are the same as public schools — just with a Bible class tacked on at some point during the day — but that really couldn’t be further from the truth.
Every subject, every extracurricular activity, and every learning opportunity throughout the day is infused with evidence of the Creator. Our children are able to see Christ in all aspects of their school experience.
It’s fun to be on the parenting side of Christian education after being a student for 17 years (including college), a daughter of a Christian school teacher for 30+ years, and a wife of a Christian school teacher for 17 years now.
Seeing my children learning a variety of “secular” subjects through faith-filled lenses is one of my favorite things!
FAVORITE MOMENT = A New Nativity
Would you believe that I’m down to just ONE bin of Christmas decorations!?!
I have a few different Alpine trees, but just one bin of decorations for our entire house.
Even still, our home feels festive with the twinkling tree lights, it sounds festive with Christmas music playing in the background, and it smells festive as I usually light a candle this time of year — so I really don’t need to go overboard on decorations.
I’m committed to keeping our Christmas decorations to a minimum for now — but I did find THE cutest Nativity on Facebook Marketplace… yup, I bought it!
It’s the perfect Nativity for my farmhouse style — and very different from our other Nativity (which Dave’s Grandma made for us).
FAVORITE TRADITION = Candy Countdown
Last week, someone asked about our favorite holiday traditions, and I had to stop and think for a bit because we don’t have many true traditions that we do year after year.
We don’t open our gifts at a certain time, we don’t drive around and see the lights on a certain day, we don’t have Christmas parties on the same day each year… but then I remembered our Candy Countdown Chain!
I started this a few years ago and it’s always a HUGE hit with the kids (and SOOOO easy to throw together!)
This year, I really surprised them by starting on December 1 — with 25 different types of candy!
In previous years, I’ve stuck with 12, or even 10 if I get a late start — but I just so happened to be at the dollar store right after Thanksgiving break and realized I could stock up on candy and start the countdown on December 1.
It cost me $16 for all the candy — I had the plastic wrap and ribbons in the house already — so for $16 and 20 minutes of work, I get to give all 4 kiddos a fun treat every day until Christmas.
I’d say that’s a pretty good return on my investment.
This candy countdown chain is a really fun, simple, frugal, at-home, clutter-free tradition that helps to build anticipation for any upcoming event (birthday, back-to-school, summer bread, Christmas, vacation, etc.)
RELATED READING: How to make a candy countdown chain.
PAST FAVORITE = One-Line-A-Day Journal
I’ve always enjoyed writing and have kept some sort of journal since I was in 7th grade.
In my younger years, my journal entries could be pages and pages… but these days, I have better things to do than spend 45 minutes a day journaling about my life.
I came across the idea of a one-line-a-day journal several years ago and have loved it ever since.
The idea is to write just one sentence or thought every day… and stick with it for 5 or 10 years (with the same date’s sentences eventually ending up all on one page for easy reference later on).
This would be such a fun, simple, and frugal Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list!
Here are a few more journal options on Amazon.
FAVORITE CLOTHING = Fingerless Gloves
I’ve worn my favorite fingerless gloves for a decade now…
I absolutely LOVE these gloves!
They are lightweight, yet still soft and warm on the inside.
They are black — so they don’t show dirt, and they are easily washable.
Best of all, they have a removable thumb covering as well!
I have actually driven back to the grocery store to hunt through dozens of carts in the parking lot in order to retrieve these gloves when I accidentally left them in my cart — they are that valuable to me!
Seriously, life without thumbs is really hard — and thumbs inside mittens aren’t super usable.
I purchased a pair for Nora for Christmas — I hope she loves them as much as I do!
Shop these gloves!
FAVORITE BOOK = Kisses from Katie
I officially got my first book recommendation from Nora!
She read Kisses From Katie and then passed it on to me — it’s very inspiring.
I heard about Katie Davis when I was in college — she’s only a couple years younger than I am and went to Uganda right after high school. When Dave and I were just married, she was in the process of adopting 13 Ugandan girls (as a single woman).
If you’re looking for an inspirational story to read over Christmas break, try Kisses From Katie.
READ THE BOOK: Kisses From Katie
FAVORITE MEDIA = Home Alone
Home Alone was one of my favorite Christmas movies as a kid… and now my kids love it too (we just watched Home Alone 2 over the weekend).
Truthfully, it’s really not all that “wholesome” — rich-snob kids who are disrespectful and disobedient to their parents, negative family dynamics, swearing, etc. but I do love how the family eventually all rallies together at the end (as well as Kevin’s unlikely friendships with the neighbor man and the pigeon lady).
Our boys especially just can’t stop giggling from the time the robbers enter the home until the end of the movie. It’s more fun for me to watch THEM than it is to actually watch the movie.
FAVORITE RECIPES = Christmas Cookies
I didn’t do much baking over the summer, and I haven’t made all that many cookies this fall… so everyone is excited that I’m baking again for the holidays!
I’ve already made several batches of our favorite Christmas cookies and bars, as well as 2 large batches of fudge and a really delicious dark chocolate pecan pie (recipe from a friend).
If you’re looking for easy, family-friendly holiday treats that use ingredients you probably already have in the house, let me hook you up!
Simple Christmas Favorites:
- The perfect cut-out sugar cookies
- Spiced molasses cookies
- Creamy lemon bars
- 4-layer caramel peanut butter fudge
- The most delicious (from a box) bundt cake
RELATED READING: Find your new favorite recipe in my virtual recipe box!
FAVORITE ARCHIVED POST =
We continue to scale back on gifts each year — but there are always those few people you absolutely must give a gift to, even though they don’t need anything.
If you have a few of those people on your list, this archived post should help!
Read the post: 5 Simple Gift Ideas for the Person Who Has Everything
That’s all for this month.
If you’re interested, you may scroll through all my Favorite Things posts HERE!
Meg says
I am not on Facebook much anymore so I haven’t seen anything from you in quite a while. I realized how much I missed your blog, so I came looking for you! I was sad to see you haven’t posted on Facebook in a few years but then I went to your blog and was thrilled to see current posts! Our lives couldn’t be more different (my daughter is grown, I’m terrible at decluttering and I’m Agnostic!) however, I’ve always loved reading your blog. I’ve been around since Nora was a baby & keeping you awake! I didn’t unsubscribe from your emails, but unfortunately, I don’t receive them anymore. I just signed up with a new email.
Anyhow, I just wanted to say hello and let you know I’ve missed your posts. Happy Holidays!
Andrea says
Hi Meg — so glad you checked up on me 🙂
I actually haven’t been on Facebook in over 3 years — so you aren’t missing anything over there. However, I do update the blog (and send out one email) every Wednesday morning.
I’m taking a couple of weeks off for Christmas break, but hopefully you will start getting my emails again in the New Year!
Pascale says
Hello Andrea,
Thank you for posting your favorites.
I’m curious about the One-Line-A-Day journal, what do you write on a day when nothing special happens and it’s just a normal day?
Andrea says
You could literally write anything in your line-a-day journal — something funny you heard a child say, a quote you want to remember, something interesting you read/heard/saw/did, a Bible passage that stuck out to you. It’s just one sentence — certainly you can come up with one sentence about even the most normal day!
Pascale Forest says
Thank you, Andrea.
I hadn’t thought about using it that way.
I appreciate your suggestions.
Connie Meekhof says
I’m planning on making your fudge but in the picture it shows sweetened condensed milk and in the recipe it says evaporated milk. What do I use?
Andrea says
the picture actually just shows the side of the can (intentionally, so the words weren’t visible) b/c I didn’t have any cans of evaporated milk in the house as I make my own. 🙂
Follow the recipe as written!
Vickie says
The next book by Katie Davis is just as good or better than the first. You’ll love it.
Andrea says
That’s what I’ve heard! Glad you think so too! Maybe it will be my Christmas vacation reading 🙂
Carrie says
My family enjoys a “Made from a box mix” Cake called Apple Cider Doughnut Cake. The recipe I use is from Princess Pinky Girl. The first week after discovering this recipe, I made it twice….
Andrea says
sounds amazing! We also have a favorite “from a box bundt cake” that I make. It’s SO delicious! And SO easy!
Chris says
I love so many things about this post. I also went to Christian school from 8th through 12th grade, homeschooled my son and then he went to Christian school for a few years. I currently work in a residual treatment facility for foster children and it is run by the Assemblies of God, so I work in a Christian environment.
I just LOVE that Nora is learning to be a book lover. 🙂
I love your candy chain idea.
I absolutely love your Grandma’s nativity set.
I love how you keep things simple in your home and don’t spend a ton of money for your children to have fun!
One of my favorite things about Christmas is the music too. They have some Christmas music on Youtube showing a fireplace. I love it.
And of course, I love your blog!
Merry Christmas to you all!
Chris says
I also meant to post – I do not journal but I started writing in a gratitude journal several years ago. It is extremely helpful in changing my outlook in life! I think it was Elisabeth Elliott who said, “Gratitude is a spiritual life preserver”.
Andrea says
Thanks Chris — this got me thinking that I also wanted to get Nora a gratitude journal for Christmas. I just found a really simple one for $5 on Amazon and put it in my cart!
Hannah Beth Reid says
I feel the same about “Home Alone”…it is so fun to watch my kids watch it!
This post reminded me I should recommend “Kisses from Katie” to my daughter.
Those gloves look amazing!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Andrea says
Yes, Merry Christmas Hannah!
Nancy says
Speaking of virtual recipe box, how do you save your recipes? We got on the Microsoft train a few years ago and I use OneNote. We didn’t like Microsoft, I can’t remember why. But I’m kinda stuck with OneNote till I think of something else. I even started a binder lately and just print out recipes. I remember my mama sitting down with recipes cards and her little box with index cards.
JoDi says
I had a binder until I started using the Paprika app on all my devices many years ago. Still love it!
Andrea says
Thanks for the recommendation. I think I’ve heard of Paprika before but never really looked into it.
Nancy says
Thank you for the suggestion. I found lots of recipe apps, I haven’t heard of any of them.
Andrea says
Hi Nancy,
Most of the recipes I use on any sort of regular basis are right here on my blog. If I want something special, I just google it until I find something that looks good. I don’t save many recipes these days… although I do have one “Favorite” button on my Google Chrome browser that I put a few recipes from other blogs that we really like.
Nancy says
I know I save way too many! I’ve got 7 pot roast recipes and nobody needs all that.
B says
We used your idea for a Christmas countdown this year, so right after Halloween I went through the kids candy bags and took out a bunch (one of the same kind for each kid) in preparation for this, as they had way more candy than they needed. And voila a candy chain without even having to buy candy 🙂
Hannah Beth Reid says
Brilliant!
Andrea says
this is a great idea! I definitely need to “steal” some of their Halloween candy next year (although I think my kids are old enough to notice now!) You’re wise to start young!
JJ says
Your sugar cookies are our family’s favorite! We have done a frosting with friends at a get together, we use them for Name Day cookies, and they are part of our Christmas cookie collection!
That is awesome Nora recommended a book! I will have to check it out!
Christian schools are a blessing! That outdoor advent wreath is beautiful. ❤️
Oh my word, my kids love the Home Alone movies, too. So true about loving to watch them laugh!
Current favorite: Reading a chapter of Luke each night as a family, then singing Christmas hymns together with YouTube songs with lyrics. My 2 year old loves her instrument shakers, so we all have joined the fun. Haha
Andrea says
yes, yes, — those sugar cookies are so good! glad your family is still enjoying them!
And I love that you all sing together each night!