Year 2009 Complete

An interesting article arrived in my mailbox today: Doug Phillips comments on "How to End the Year 2009". If you're interested in knowing what he said, it is also posted on his blog.

That's One Way

The older brothers gifted their younger brothers with a promise to build a big snow fort with them -- practical fun!

They made good on their promise within hours. Of course, it helped that we had a good dump of fresh snow -- add to that the fact that we had to stay home due to that inclement weather, and uh-hum, shall we say inclement health = flu bug, which we didn't wish to share with all the family & extended family.

So far ... they've made a pentagon with five sheets of plywood, filled that with snow using the snow blower, packed it down by stomping on it and letting that harden for a few days before starting to add brick walls to make the fort higher. They've dug a tunnel from the outside to the center where they use a ladder to climb up onto the floor of their fort. I guess you can try and make anything work with snow -- it is working to give them all some fun in the snow, lol!

Nativity Collection

Brayden made a lovely new nativity for me ...


Timothy had a new unique nativity idea ...


Corbyn etched a detailed little nativity with pyrography ...


Ken gave me a set of 12 stainless steel nativity cookie cutters -- I think I'll use them dual purpose by using a red ribbon to hang them as ornaments.

Thanks to my guys for indulging my collection.

The Twelve Voices of Christmas

The Twelve Voices of Christmas is available as a free audio download from Back to the Bible.


This Mp3 and text drama written by Dr. Woodrow Kroll will enrich your understanding of Christmas.

Gabriel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Disclosure
Zacharias ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Disbelief
Elizabeth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Blessing
John the Baptist ~~~~~~~ Voice of Preparation
Mary ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Wonder
Joseph ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Reason
Angels ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Praise
Shepherds ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Declaration
Anna ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Thanksgiving
Simeon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Peace
Herod ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Deception
Wise Men ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Voice of Adoration


Thanks Maxwells!

CHRISTmas Blessings

Our littles were singing Happy Birthday to Jesus...


Happy Birthday to You!


Happy Birthday to You!


Happy Birthday, dear Jesus!


Happy Birthday to You!


Then they came up with another "verse". This one is just for you:


"Merry CHRISTmas to you,


Merry CHRISTmas to you,


Merry CHRISTmas, God Loves you!


Merry CHRISTmas to you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Perfect Snow

... to play in -- with temperatures to match!

... And perfect snow to make Snow Ice Cream. I posted that recipe here last year. It's been a keeper ever since. We've waited for the day when we could make Snow Ice Creamagain.

Just in time for CHRISTmas Day celebrations! Can't have a Birthday without ice cream now can we?

Elegance in Simplicity

Simple Centerpieces.

I don't recall exactly where I found these on my internet travels, but I thought they were simply elegant.

Amazon: Free $4 Video-On-Demand credit

Right now, you can get a free $4 credit for Amazon's Video On Demand.

We heard about the following movie in summer. There is a link to view the trailer of Food Inc. on this post. All about manufacturing of food -- we know that food is made by God, not industries. It is best eaten that way or in a state as close to the original form as possible. The movie really is what we here at Klasse Woods Natural Farm are all about. This movie was just released in November, but from now until January 3rd you can go to Amazon.com and watch it for free:



They offer all sorts of films for $0.99 to $2.99, some good, but many not-so-good. So "Be careful little eyes, what you see ..."

"I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes ..."Psalm 101:3a

Here's how to get your free $4 Amazon video-on-demand credit:
::Go here and enter code AVODGIFT.

::Click "Apply" and the $4 credit will be automatically added to your account.

::Choose and watch a movie (or movies!) for free by January 3, 2010.

Thanks, MoneySavingMom!

Ice-luminaries

Look at this easy, elegant ice-luminary.


We just put a five-gallon pail of water outside to freeze, then when the walls were about 2 inches thick we cut a hole in the top and drained the rest of the water. As it turned out the bottom was very thin still so we just broke out the bottom, put a lit candle on an inverted empty fish tin then placed the ice-shell over-top the candle.

Very elegant.

Someone mentioned seeing this lining the walks outside the church at a wedding -- nice idea, don't you think?

To dress it up, one could freeze decorations into ice as well for extra appeal.

Another tutorial for ice-luminaries can be found here.

Sprucing Up

Pinecones abound at Spruce Woods.

I enjoy using pinecones to "spruce up" my home ... and I use the greens also.

I've seen bags of pinecones and bunches of greens offered for sale at almost every supermarket so I figure I'm not the only one who likes to use pinecones to
"spruce up" my home for the CHRISTmas season.

Filling a special basket with cones and adding a bow is simple enough.


A nice way to add a festive look to my home with a basket that was gifted to our family filled with fresh flowers when my younger sister went to Glory just over a year ago. It reminds me of her simple, beautiful life.

This year we shared our pinecones with our CSA garden members. They each got a mesh bag filled with pinecones with their last garden basket of the 2009 season. It was for the express purpose of decoration and creative uses ... of course they also make nice starters for cozy fires in winter or backyard firesides in summer. One member sent me a picture of her little boy enjoying his craft - see it on my Facebook profile.

Really the ideas for using pinecones are endless ...

Years ago I made pinecone wreaths and kept this one for myself.


I never tire of it. Someday I just may make more of these again, now that we have a fresh yearly supply of pinecones on our own yard.