Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Already this Christmas is promising to be a memorable one.  My heart is full and overflowing as I consider all the blessings surrounding me.

Not the least of which is the miraculous and mysterious fact of the incarnation.  I don't get it and I marvel at the fact that God became a person. 

Check out this moving little video picturing the wonder of Immanuel -- God with us.


the cross in christmas from tammi dryden on Vimeo.

Praying you and yours have a blessed, peaceful, restful and Jesus-ful Christmas!

Essential cookies

I have t minus one day left until my family arrives to celebrate Christmas!  Yeehaw!

The kids and I have been baking little by little and then tossing our cookies into the freezer to pull out for Christmas week.

We probably have time to do one more batch of yumminess before the grandmas descend.  We'll do a quick batch of gingerbread cookies tomorrow and then my cookie platter should be complete.  Still hoping to make these chocolate andes mint delectables too.  We'll see how productive we are tomorrow!


Thus far, this is the cookie selection we have for our platter:

Thumbprint cookies
Double chocolate walnut cookies
Sugar cookies (decorated by the kids of course)
Cranberry orange cookies (a new addition and DELICIOUS)
Snowballs

My grandma will be bringing her world-famous peanut butter balls to add to the goodie selection.

It's good but I feel like something is missing . . . .  What cookie is essential on your annual Christmas cookie tray?

Food gifts ROCK my Christmas!

As I get older and more boring, I find myself preferring the practical gifts much more than the sentimental pretty ones. 

And this year I've discovered that FOOD is my ultimate gift. 

During this busy and fun holiday season, my brain is almost maxxed out.  With so much to think about, menu-planning is taking a backseat.  Tonight we had fresh fruit, veggies, and pita bread pizzas for dinner.  Kind of boring and not even that filling.  My husband gave me a look across the dinner table and *almost* commented negatively but held his tongue.  Wise man. 

It's always exciting to receive packages, isn't it?  But when free food is inside?  WOWZA.  That takes Christmas packages to a new level of wonderfulness.

What food gifts do you enjoy getting or gifting at Christmas?

Forgot to take a picture of the honey-baked ham we received as a gift from Matt's Tia Becky.  Hope ours turns out looking as scrumptious as this!  This was the first time I've ever received a piece of meat in the mail.  AND I'M SO EXCITED!!!  These suckers are expensive and supposedly delicious.  What a humongous blessing that I don't have to go to the grocery store to figure out what meat to cook for Christmas dinner this year. 

My in-laws' annual Christmas gift -- yummy cheeses, sausages and chocolates in cutesy tiny packages.  Fun and practical and full of delectable fat.  Pair this with some crackers and veggies and we've got a snacky-board-game-playing holiday dinner.

These pineapple flowers are DELICIOUS! Of course my girly-girl had to pick a flower for her fruit of choice.  [Do you like Chloe's marker-ed hand?  My children can not color with markers without it completely adorning their digits.]

Look at this monstrous luscious edible fruit arrangement!  Talk about a practical and healthy gift!  WAY better than getting a bouquet of flowers in my book.  And the chocolate covered strawberries are DIVINE. 

Christmas Link Love

We have been seriously enjoying the snowy Christmas season here in the Horn house!  Hence my serious lack of blogging in the month of December. 

Here are some super neat Christmas links to some activities we've been engaging in this season:

* Clive & Ian's 12 Questions of Christmas.  Veggie Tales creator, Phil Vischer, just released a new dvd series spanning the Bible in entirety.  From the video clips I've seen, these dvds use puppets, songs, and tongue-in-cheek humor to teach Bible stories.  More importantly, these dvds give an overview of the gospel and how it's woven througout the overarching message of the Bible.  These 12 Questions of Christmas videos are short, witty, educational and involve a puppet named Clive.  Need I say more? 
* Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson.  I LOVE THIS CD.  LOVE.  LOVE.  LOVE.  What I love about it is that it's all about giving a complete picture of Christmas.  The story of Christmas did NOT start in a manger in Bethlehem.  It began much earlier than that with God's promises to take care of our sin problem.  Check out some of the songs here: Gather Round Ye Children Come; So Long, Moses; Matthew's Begats; Behold the Lamb of God.  Purchase here. 
* Jesse Tree: An Advent Devotional by Ann Voskamp.  Already blogged about this here. It's fantastic.  And it's free.

What Christmas resources are you excited about this year?  PLEASE share!

Christmas Photos

Today I venture out by myself to get Christmas photos taken of the three crazies.  Pray for me, please!

As I think about the time ahead of us at Portrait Innovations (by far, my favorite portrait place) I am questioning WHY I do this every year. 

There's just something sweet and magical about capturing children in a photo every Christmas.  My mom got a portrait taken of me and my sister annually and now that we're adults it's really neat to go back and look at how we grew and changed over the years.  Not to mention laughable at our funny hairstyles and dated clothing. 

According to the Portrait Innovations gal I spoke with I should plan on a 2-3 hours for the photo shoot ordeal.  Sphincter say WHAT?!?  I hope to get there an hour before hand and then we'll see how long we last . . .

Do you do annual kid or family photos?  If so, is there a particular portrait place you prefer?  Any tips for making the process a smooth one?

(In case you're wondering, the photo above was our feeble attempt at Thanksgiving to get a card-worthy shot of the kids.  Even with a sugar coated spoon [literally], Solomon was not into it.  A good memory to be sure but not Christmas card material.)

Homemade Christmas

This year I was forced to jump-start my homemade gift-making in time for Thanksgiving.  Since we traveled to my bro-in-law's house for Thanksgiving this year, it was only logical that we should save some money on shipping and bring along their Christmas gifts.

And also the Christmas gifts for my other bro-in-law's family who joined us for Thanksgiving too.

I was a busy little gift-making elf the week prior to Thanksgiving, let me assure you!

But now that the harriedness and busyness is over, I'm SO THANKFUL to have all those gifts done and delivered.  Rest assured, I'm far from done with Christmas gifts.  I still have several gifts to make on my remaining to-do list to make but it feels good to have two families crossed off. 

We have two teenage nephews, and four nieces of varying ages.  I don't usually make anything for the nephews since I can't ever think of a cool enough crafty gift to suit their tastes.  They ARE teenage boys after all.  But the nieces and sisters-in-law always get at least one homemade present from me.

This year I made something I've always wanted to try -- homemade hot cocoa mix.   I did three flavors: Peppermint, Spicy Mayan and Butterscotch.  Easy peasy and VERY yummy due to the powdered milk included in the mix.  Makes for a smooth and creamy cup of cocoa.

For my nieces I made necklaces with interchangeable magnetic charms.  I used scrapbook paper for the charms, modpodged them several times, affixed a magnet and voila!  Don't believe the dimly-lit pictures, these turned out really cute and not at all yellow-y as the photos belie.

What gifts are you crafting up this Christmas?

Chloe trying on the headband and not-so-secretly hinting she'd like one for herself.

Peppermint hot cocoa mix in repurposed formula can

Ribbon and scrapbook paper can really dress up a tin formula can!

Spicy Mayan hot cocoa mix.  I thought the spices called for in Alton Brown's recipe were too mild so I added more chili powder, cinnamon, and a touch of cayenne.  This stuff will surely warm up your insides on a snowy winter's day!

The ribbon wrapped, bow-topped finished headband for my 5 year old niece.  She loved it!  And I love hot glue.  Can't craft without that miraculous goo.

Magnetic charm necklaces with decoupaged scrapbook paper and store-bought chains. I made two of these -- one for each of my teenage nieces.

Jesse Tree

For years now I've been hearing about and wanting to incorporate a Jesse tree into our Christmas traditions.  This year, thanks to the generosity of Ann Voskamp, I've finally been able to make one!


What is a Jesse tree?  Simply a small tree with daily ornaments that depict Old Testament stories foretelling Jesus' birth.


It's been fun and enlightening to learn alongside the kids about God's promises to provide a Messiah.  Each day I have Chloe color, glue to cardstock and then cut out her ornament.  Then I hole-punch it, attach a hook and put it on our tree.  Lastly, we read the coordinating devotional for the day.  


The devotional by Ann Voskamp is FANTASTIC.  At first I thought it would be too abstract for the kids but I abridge it slightly and do some additional explaining in my own words.  What I especially love about the devotional is that the main text is from the actual Bible.  So often kids' Bible stuff is paraphrased or watered down.  Ann's Bible excerpts are from a completely understandable and clear version (NCV and NIV) for kids. 


To get a free pdf copy of the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional, follow instructions on Ann's blog.  (You'll have to subscribe to her blog to get the free download link.)


Does your family do a Jesse Tree?  Or an advent calendar?  How to you count down to Christmas?

A Fall photocard

Shutterfly has been rocking my bloggy world this season with their fun freebies!

In yet another blogger-aimed promotion, they are offering a $25 credit to bloggers who post about their photocard projects.  And since I'm NOT on the ball creating my Christmas photocards this year, I thought I'd share a project I did this past fall with a design aptly named "Fall leaves fall".  Creative title, Shutterfly.  :)

I did this project for my in-laws who live far far away in southern Texas.  They never get to experience the glorious colors of autumn.  And I like to keep them happy with new pictures of the grandkids.  This card was the perfect mix! 

I especially like that I am able to type a message AND pay for postage AND mail cards all electronically through Shutterfly's website.  That saves me loads of time and guarantees that the card will actually be mailed. If it sits on my desk's to-do pile there's not much hope it will ever make it to the mailbox.

Check out Shutterfly's WIDE selection of photocard designs.  And if you're a blogger, grab yourself some free money for Christmas-y photo gifts!

Fall Leaves Fall

Unique party invitations and greeting cards by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.