The Christmas Post

"We need a little more Christmas in Christmas this year."  
                                         ~quote from The Christmas Post
This was a 1940's set Broadway style musical.  It was so great, and my family had a ball being in it.  They had 4 performances last week.
Marissa and Daniella as newsies

Briana on the left

Briana as one of the sales associates~back center

Ashley and her friend Dulce (Sweet Ruth) as shoppers

Marissa as the Little Girl lost in the store.  Can you see her in the back looking out the window?

Sales associates~ look happy

A sinking ship~Briana is in the center

James, Marissa, and Daniella in the Nativity scene.  Daniella quoted John 3:16, and Marissa quoted Luke 2:11-12.

Marissa in her Little Girl outfit

My 2 elegant 1940's girls.  Can you see the 2 hours worth of hair curling?  : )
The coat Ashley (right) is wearing actually belonged to my grandmother.

 Well, it's absolutely impossible for me to transfer my excitement about this show and how great they all did; how funny and fun it was. 
Remember this week to keep a little more Christmas in Christmas this year!
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Letitia

It's Finally Beginning to Seem a Lot Like Christmas

The Homeschool Blog Awards end on Dec. 15th.  If you haven't voted for your favorite blogs, go HERE to vote. 

I was nominated for Best Homeschool Mom, and some of my friends were nominated for other categories.  Jonatha for Best New Homeschool Blog, and Ashley, who is the daughter of my friend Heidi, was nominated for Best Teen Gal Homeschool Blog.  Tia and AmyBeth ~Best Blog Design, and  Mary for Best Encourager, Best Live-What-You-Believe blog, AND Best Cyber Buddy.  If I left anyone out, I'm sorry, and let me know. 
We've had so much fun the past couple of days.  James, Ashley, Briana, Marissa, and Daniella are ALL in a Christmas Production at our church.  And, it IS a production.  This show compares to shows at Dollywood.  They have a professional set, which belongs to our music director personally.  He bought it from the church he had been with several years ago.  They are doing 4 performances~last night and Sunday night, then next Friday and Saturday.  It is a Broadway style musical set in the 1940's complete with neato costumes and swing dancing (yes, in a Baptist church!!).  I literally spend 2 hours each performance day curling Ashley's and Briana's hair.  Thankfully, Marissa and Daniella are dressed like boys for their biggest parts, so their hair just goes under a hat most of the time.  The show is so fun to perform and watch.  They're all still in bed this morning!!
James has been doing a study on electricity with Marissa and Daniella.  I am so glad for them, because he is very good with science and making it fun and interesting for them.  I'm not!  I found 2 of the Science in a Nutshell Kits, complete, at a used curriculum sale for only $10 each!
Yep, school in her PJs complete with her friends, and look at that snaggle tooth.  : )  "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". 
Daniella's circuit~

Marissa has loved this study and walks around the house giving examples of things she's learned.
Marissa's circuit~

Electricity, a little daily math, cookie baking and decorating, dress rehearsals and performances, daily reading, some jigsaw puzzles and board games have pretty much made up our schooling for the past week.  Briana is finished with her college classes until mid January, and Ashley is in her last week, with 2 finals this week.  Her classes are 8 week courses, so she only takes 2 at a time.  I'm finally getting in the Christmas mood~maybe this show 2 nights in a row did it.  So, I'm really looking forward to the next 2 weeks!

Letitia

Getting to Know You-Christmas

This has been passing around on email, and I thought I'd share it here.

1. Wrapping paper or gift  bags? definitely wrapping paper, much more fun

2. Real tree or  Artificial?   real tree of course (sniff.....ahhhh!)

3. When do you put up the tree?  usually the first weekend in December; we were earlier this year
4. When do you take the tree down?  when it starts to turn brown and the ornaments start falling off  :-)
5. Do  you like  eggnog?  no                                                
6. Favorite gift received as a child?  Hmmm...l don't really remember anything specific.  I remember one time getting little Dawn dolls, and my grandfather gave me this stage they could stand on, and it moved to make them look like they were moving around.   I remember a couple of other dolls, too.

7.  Do you have a nativity scene?    Oh,yes.   14 or so, plus a couple of nativity ornaments
8. Hardest person to buy  for?  My husband and my dad                    
9. Easiest person to buy for? Marissa

10. Mail or email  Christmas cards? mail

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? some suction cups with the little hangers on them

12. Favorite Christmas movie?  A Charlie Brown Christmas

13. When do you start shopping for  Christmas?   sometime in November

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?  I don't think so, but I've given a few to my mom

15. Favorite  thing to eat at Christmas?  Peanut butter fudge, divinity with nuts, boiled shrimp

16. Clear lights or  colored on the  tree? colored and blinking......although if I could have 2 trees (!) I'd love to have one with clear

17. Favorite Christmas song?  hmmm..hard to pick a favorite.  Tennessee Christmas, Angels We Have Heard On High,  O Little Town of Bethlehem, Winter Wonderland, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Emmanuel........

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?   stay at home, sometimes we travel for New Years

19. Angel  on the tree top or a star?  angel          
20.  Open the presents Christmas Eve or  morning? presents from immediate family on Christmas Eve, "Santa" and stockings on Christmas morning (even though my girls all know, we pretend Santa), and grandparent gifts that afternoon

 21. Most annoying thing about this time of year?   hmmm.....traffic and the dark, sadness about the people who don't have a relationship with Christ and do all of this with no real purpose

22. Favorite ornament theme or  color?  our eclectic collection of memory-filled ornaments and  green, red, and gold~ garlands and ribbons
23. Favorite for Christmas  dinner?  ham

24. What do you want  for Christmas this year?  a wall fountain for my front porch or a new kitchen faucet, anything to fix up or decorate my house

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! 

Anyone can feel free to do this on your blog.

Letitia

Miss Marissa and Best Homeschool Mom Award

Tomorrow we celebrate Marissa's 10th Gotcha Day!  I let her pick the meal she wanted and a treat, so we will spend the morning getting 2 crockpots full of chili going, and the afternoon making/cutting out/decorating sugar cookies.  (Two pots of chili means I don't  have to cook Tuesday night!)  Somewhere in there we need to work in taking her flowergirl dress to the alterations lady.  If you've never read Marissa's adoption story, you can read it and see photos HERE.  We love you to pieces Miss Marissa.

  In other news, I stand amazed and dumbfounded to be nominated for the Best Homeschool Mom Blog Award.  Thank you!!  
                                              
When I started this blog I never expected to find some great friends, much less to receive an honor for writing about our lives.   Even if no one out there votes for me (except my kids--you'd better vote for me! ), it was a thrill just to be nominated.  There are a lot of great moms, dads, and teens nominated for awards, so please take time to GO VOTE for your favorites and make some new friends.   Voting starts Dec. 3, and I think goes through about the 17th. 
You know, when Ashley and Briana were little, I thought being a mom was about the only thing I was pretty good at.  Then we adopted 2 little ones, and they (and God) challenged everything I had ever done or believed about parenting and homeschooling!  I've been on a journey for several years to learn all over how to be a good mom for them.  We all do different things, have different ideas, and different styles, but the thing most of us have in common is the burning desire to do what is best for our children.  We change math curriculums 14 times, we have pet frogs when we hate anything remotely amphibian, we do what it takes to help that child be the child God intended~~to follow their God given dreams and desires, to learn the way they need to learn, to go off the beaten path and maybe take flack, even from other homeschoolers, because we're doing it different, we read and reread their favorite books until our eyes cross (insert Billy and Blaze and Woof stories), we provide as many of the learning opportunities as we are able, and the list goes on.  That's what being the Best Homeschool Mom is, and I am so proud to know so many of the best!! 
This week Heidi gave me the Blog Friend Forever award.  Thank you so much!  You are my biggest encourager and fan! LOL!  You have blessed my life more than you realize. 

I have lots of friends here, some I'm just getting to know, but when I think of this award, three names come to mind.  One would be to pass it right back to Heidi.  If you don't know this lady, she is a faithful forever friend.  When ARE you coming to the mountains so we can hang out??  The 2nd would be Denise.  I have felt a connected friendship with Denise almost from the start.  It's funny that these 2 ladies only live about an hour apart, so Denise hitch a ride with Heidi!  The third person is Jonatha.  She has been a faithful blog friend since I first started blogging.  She is such a sweet lady and has a house full of beautiful girls. 
Okay, it's time for me to get busy doing some internet Christmas shopping.  All of you who have those countdown tickers for Christmas really make me mad! 

Letitia