Christmas Traditions

This Christmas season has been extra special with little Lena.  As she gets older we can introduce her to so many fun experiences.   Last week we had a fun evening together visiting Knott's at night to see the park all lit up at night.  We caught the Christmas Tree Lighting Show, nibbled on french fries, walked around the Christmas craft village, rode the merry-go-round and Lena's new favorite the trucks. 

Mommy & Daughter date to Knott's to see the Christmas tree lightning show!

Wearing her new winter coat from Auntie Kristen and Uncle Sam and savoring a warm french fry.

This Christmas season we have implemented a few new traditions in our household which has been extra fun!  Last year I picked up a Nutcracker advent calendar on clearance.  It has 24 mini books that tell a piece of the Nutcracker story.  Each day you read one of the mini books and then it becomes an ornament.  We put them on this mini tree that came from Dan's mom. 

The Nutcracker Advent Tree

Over the last few years we have accumulated some great Christmas books, most of them gifts from close family and friends.  This year I gathered them all together and put them in a big basket in our living room.  Lena has recently taken a greater interest in books.  She spends lots of time turning the pages and babbling as she points to the pictures.  In the future years it will be fun to read one book each night together as we count down the days till Christmas.

Christmas Book Basket

One of my best thrift store/garage sale finds this year was an entire little people nativity set that I purchased for $3.00!!!  I've been wanting a nativity set for quite a few years and I really love this one because Lena can play with it.  I can see her enjoying it for many Christmases to come acting out the Christmas story on her own as she plays with it.

Little People Nativity

With my coupon from Fisher Price I bought this Little People Nativity Advent Calendar from the Fisher-Price website.  Lena loved putting the cloth pieces on the nativity each night with Daddy.  She would always walk up to it and steal the drummer boy out of the December 24th pocket. 

Little People Nativity Advent Calendar

 I've been wanting to get an advent wreath for awhile so I finally snatched one up on sale at Michael's this year.  It was fun to light one candle each Sunday in December as we counted down to Christmas day and it made a pretty centerpiece.

Advent wreath

While it is not a new tradition we were able to add several new ornaments to our travel ornament Christmas tree.  We love looking at the ornaments and remembering all our fun trips as a family both before Lena and after.  We feel blessed to have been able to travel to so many interesting places together.  I wonder what new ornaments we will add next Christmas?

Family Travel Ornament Tree

This Christmas season has been one of my favorites.  We had lots of family time playing with cousins and visiting festive locations in Southern California.  We feel so blessed and thankful. 

Lena loves Mommy and french fries!

Gift Giving - Simpler is Better I Say!

I LOVE giving presents!  One of my favorite things to do is make little gifts to give our neighbors at Christmas. For years I did the traditional bake-a-bazillion-types-of-cookies-all-day thing and give the neighbors a smorgasbord plate of them.  It took a lot of ingredients (expensive), a lot of time, made a HUGE mess, and to be honest it was difficult to get them to all turn out well and stay fresh by the time I could get them finished, packaged, and delivered.

The traditional "plate of Christmas cookies".

A few years back I watched a revolutionary episode of Martha Stewart in which she declared that often it is better to make one type of high quality cookie and package them simply and beautifully for gift giving.  That year I searched for the perfect recipe and decided upon a simple Scottish Shortbread recipe that I found on a blog.  Taking a cue from Panera (where they charge $2-3 for one of these massive shortbread cookies) I made a giant version of this cookie and packed them in pairs for Christmas gifts.  Here is a picture of something similar I did for a tea later that year.

Large shortbread cookies wrapped in cellophane with raffia and lavender sprigs.

This year I decided upon an awesome gingerbread recipe that I found on Food.com.  I love it because the dough is really easy to roll out, it is super spicy and flavorful which gives it an heirloom quality, and the cookies hold their shape well while staying soft with a nice chew.  I iced them by brushing on a simple vanilla icing (1 cup powder sugar, 2 tbsp milk, 1/2 tsp vanilla) and then sprinkled on some raw sugar crystals for a nice simple sparkle.  I also like how the sugar crystals give the cookie a tiny crunch factor.  (Can you tell by reading this that I watch WAY too much Food Network TV!)  For packaging I used clear cellophane bags with a pretty bow.  I placed a piece of green card stock on the bottom to keep the package nice and flat and tiny squares of wax paper in between each cookie so that they wouldn't stick to each other while stacked.  The entire endeavor only took me an hour and 45 minutes from start to finish for eight half-dozen cookie packages which is two batches of this cookie recipe.  You can find the recipe here on Food.com.  Don't over bake them (unless you want crispy cookies)!  My cookies finished in four minutes.  They will firm up as they cool.  Also make sure you let the dough rest at room temperature for at least two hours like the recipe says and for Pete's sake! don't use margarine - only real butter will do if you want quality cookies!

This is what my neighbors got this year:  Vanilla Iced Gingerbread Rounds with Sugar Crystals

One year my oven wasn't working so instead of baking I made homemade greeting cards out of pictures from our trip to Europe.  I chose all pictures of interesting doors we had photographed on our trip.  I packaged the cards in clear plastic and tied the tops with pretty ribbon much like I packaged the cookies.  It was a nice change from baked goods but I still love to bake!

This was one of the door photos we took in Venice, Italy when we were there.

This was one of my favorite door photos from our trip to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

So what do you gift your neighbors or special people in your life?  I would love to hear some of your ideas!

Welcome #10 - Riley Michael

My eighth nephew was born on December 3rd!  Mr. Riley Michael is the tenth grandchild in our family but the first for my youngest brother and his wife.  I was able to visit him last weekend and he is the most precious little boy!  Welcome Riley!  We are so glad you are finally here!

Mr. Riley

My brother - the proud papa!

Pigtails and Other Happenings

"Peanut" in pigtails eating pizza.  Perfection.

Lena at Knott's on the trucks with Pop.

Excited to ride the merry-go-round with Mom at Knott's!

Being silly is so fun!

 Sharing a vanilla cone with Mom.

 Using Pop's pick to strum the guitar.

Happy Thanksgiving! - 300th post - Major Change to This Blog

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  The Shacks have much to be thankful for this year as always.  We hope you can enjoy the day with your family reflecting on the blessings in your life.   I know from experience that there are times when that is easier to do than other times when it seems that things are going awry. 

"Give Thanks to the Lord for He is good;  His love endures forever."

-Psalm 107:1

  

Change to this Blog

Over my four years of blogging I have enjoyed sharing our journey.  It is good to walk through life with others; to share your burdens and the joy of your triumphs.  When I first started writing this blog I never intended it to be read by others mainly because I didn't really think anyone would be interested.  I just wanted to write for myself so that I would remember the thoughts and events in my life.   Then God took us on such an incredible journey these past four years with our adoptions, weight loss, and at last the start of our family.   Along the way many of you have joined me and followed the happenings in our lives.  You have been encouragers, commiseraters, prayer warriors, fans and friends and I hope we can continue this partnership as I have so much more to say and I know God isn't done with us just yet!  On December 1st my blog will be going semi-private for the purpose of adding a layer of safety and protecting the identity of our little family.  I invite you to share with me your email address so that I can grant you access to our blog.  You can email me your info at [email protected].  Thank you friends and family!  The Shacks appreciate you!

Lena Turns One - The Party!

Not too long ago, before we were blessed with Lena, Dan and I used to think that it was silly to throw a big, fancy birthday party for a one year old baby who would never remember the occasion.  What we didn't realize that we know now is that the celebration of a first birthday is not for the baby as much as it is for the child's family and friends.  As Lena's first birthday approached we decided to throw a party to honor and thank the people in her life who have prayed for her, blessed our family with time and resources, and will be an important part of her future upbringing.  Honestly, if we were to include everyone who meets this description our house would have busted at the seams.  There are so many of you who have been supportive of our family from afar sitting at your computers reading our updates, writing encouraging messages, and praying for us regularly.  We can't thank you enough!

We had a lot of fun preparing for this celebration!  I was very inspired by this pumpkin party that I found online and borrowed several ideas for Lena's party in addition to some creativity on my own part.  We had beautiful weather on the day of Lena's party which was ideal since most of the party was outisde in front of our house.

We had lots of pumpkins everywhere.

We rented a bounce house for all the kids that were coming to celebrate. and Lena loved it too!

These fun scarecrows offer a playful fall touch to the porch and side yard seating area.

One of my favorite craft projects was this visual timeline of Lena's first year of life.

Beginning with her picture as an embryo, ultrasounds, and at birth...

...through months one through four...

...months five through eight...

... and months nine through twelve ending with a picture of her first pigtail taken the day before her party.

I am going to reuse the black and white photos from the timeline in her first year scrapbook.  It was so emotional walking the timeline and seeing the transformation of Lena Joyce from embryo to one-year old all laid out before your eyes.  It was a great testament to the miracle of her life and the sanctity of life in general.

The guest tables were set with pink checked fabric remnants and strips of burlap with mini pumpkins and mason jars full of candy corn.

Inside we had a harvest themed feast for our guests.

Lena's smash cake was from a local bakery and I made carrot cake cupcakes and mini yellow cupcakes for the guests.  I got the styrofoam cakestand on Oriental Trading Company and pinned green fabric remnants to the tiers and edged them in orange polka dot ribbon.

We had homemade caramel corn, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin shaped homemade shortbread cookies as a party favor.

Harvest veggies and hummus, grapes, and Irish cheddar and crackers.

We also had BBQ pulled pork sliders, white chicken chili, spiced apple cider, and a coffee/tea station.

I made bunting to hang all over the house from green fabric remnants and jute string from Lowes.  The same Etsy shop where I got Lena's invites had a .pdf party package where you could print out matching water bottle labels and birthday banners, etc.

Lena in her special birthday outfit with Grandma!

When she woke up from her nap she wasn't in the best mood and when everyone gathered around her for the cake and sang to her she pretty much freaked out.  Not how I imagined this moment.

We tried again later without a big audience and she really got into her cake!

She liked eating it with a fork more than with her hands.

Opening presents was a bit more fun!

Lots of lovely, fun things to wear!

She loved the giggling face from Grandma.

She loved this kitty cat birthday card!

Bounce house with Pop!

We had a VERY fun day as a family.

Happy Birthday to our beautiful baby girl!  Thank you so much for helping us celebrate her precious life!

(Photos compliments of Pop and Auntie Mary!)