Head Start on Stocking Stuffers and Secret Santa Gifts

Order a bunch of these. Great for family members, young and old, co-workers, friends, and yourself!

BRAIN POWER PUZZLES, VOLUME 10, CHRISTMAS EDITION

NEED A SECRET SANTA GIFT? HERE’S THE PERFECT GIFT FOR YOURSELF OR SOMEONE ELSE! This volume delivers hours and hours of fun. Entertain yourself and power up your brain while solving a variety of easy, moderate, and difficult puzzles. This Christmas themed activity book includes ● Word Searches ● Anagrams ● Word Fit Puzzles ● Scrambled Words ● Sudoku ● Math Puzzles ● Mazes ● Christmas Song Challenge ● Word Fit Puzzles ● Cryptograms ● Pictograms ● Christmas Movie Challenge ● Calcudoku ● Christmas Riddles ● Crossword Puzzles and more. Created by an educator and author (ME!) this book will satisfy young and old. Work alone or play with a friend. NEED A STOCKING STUFFER? There's something to satisfy everyone

$9.99

Getting Ready for Christmas, #8 The Manger Scene

What is the TRUE meaning of Christmas? THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST!

We have a crèche where the kids can rearrange the figures. They know the story that fulfilled every single prophecy of his birth: his lineage, his virgin birth, where he would be born, even his name.

I recently read an article that took a look at just 13 of the many, many prophecies. The odds that one person could be born at the right place and time and be a descendent of King David were astronomical. Literally. The number was 1 in 10 to the 138th power (that’s a one with 138 zeros following it). Putting it in perspective the author (click here) used the example that it would be more likely for a gasoline engine to refrigerate itself during its combustion cycle.

Here are two more sites that explain more thoroughly the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies by Jesus: mb-soft and simplybible.

Hold a microphone to people in the mall and ask “What is the true meaning of Christmas?” You’ll hear all kinds of sappy answers about Santa, giving, family, helping others and silly answers about partying and decorating with more lights than your neighbor. Christians are celebrating the birth of Christ, our Savior.

The truth is that we wouldn’t celebrate Christmas if it weren’t for Easter. If Jesus hadn’t died for our sins and rose again to conquer death then no one would have even heard of him today. Is your Christmas all about Santa or all about Jesus?

Getting Ready for Christmas, #7 The Kitchen

I found the perfect place to display my dozens of Christmas music boxes: on top of the kitchen cabinets and out of everyone’s reach. Our first Christmas here at Big Pine Lodge I set up a village of lighted houses on the cabinet tops. Because the ceiling soars to the center peak you could look down on the village from the loft area, but when my youngest daughter moved far away I sent along the village for her to enjoy in her new home.

The green of the cabinets never seems to come out right in photographs. Take my word for it, they are not blue, but rather a woodsy green with antiquing. The Elmira stove is the focal point and I polish it and talk to it like a man with a Corvette.

Having the kitchen open to the sunroom means I always know what’s going on. The kids play video games there or in the loft which looks down onto the kitchen.

I love my kitchen. I had a list of 13 must-haves when I designed it and Brody Smith of North Country Cabinets did a marvelous job of making it all fit.

Getting Ready for Christmas, #5 Family

The picture above is of a teddy bear vignette set in one of the nooks (or crannies, I can't tell the difference) in our log home.

Christmas is close. Closer than you think. This is the weekend that we get together with all of our closest loved ones and celebrate together. Our church choir sings a cantata. We eat turkey and ham and lots of sweets. We open most if not all of the presents under the tree. We get “us” out of the way so on December 24th and 25th we can go to church and concentrate on “Him”.

This year I’m hoping there will be enough snow for sledding down the hill, having a sleigh ride and making snowmen.

Merry Christmas!

Getting Ready for Christmas, #4 Snow

I love living in Michigan with four distinct seasons. It’s just not Christmas without that frosty white blanket over the woods and on the roof.

Here’s a shot of the back of the house from one of the trails. We enjoy snowshoeing and riding in the Argo (a six wheeled ATV) along the trails. The stars at night are unbelievably bright.

I’ll never forget the Christmas before we moved here full time when we arrived at midnight to an impassable driveway. We snowshoed in by the light of a full moon. The sparkles on the snow were like shining diamonds.

The silence of the woods is not marred by traffic, barking dogs or any other civilized sound. We hear an occasional coyote, the hoot of an owl and the whisper of the wind. Sleep is deeper here.

Getting Ready for Christmas, #3 The Railing

I do the railing differently each year, sometimes looping the lighted garland and sometimes twisting it round and round the rails. Running it down the stairway is tricky since I don’t want to end with one of those strings of lights that doesn’t have another connector plug. I’ve added tiny presents, sparkly bulbs and gold or red berries.

A thoughtful electrician added special floor plugs on the bridge with the on/off switch on the first floor so I can light up the house with one flick of my finger and shut things off for the night without traipsing upstairs.

Getting Ready for Christmas, #2 The Tree

A lodge-themed 9 foot tree claims the corner of the dining end in the great room. We have tiny canoes, fish, Adirondack chairs, moose, bears and other assorted wildlife ornaments.

A log home is made for Christmas, so just one tree isn’t enough. We have a small 3-footer on top of the highest cabinet in the kitchen where the ceiling slopes up to the highest point. A third tree decorated in white lights and red ribbons sits center stage in the bridge that joins the loft and the guest bedroom upstairs. The bridge is ten feet wide and twenty feet long so the tree has plenty of room to reign over the second floor and still be seen from the great room. A small 4th tree sits sits on a ledge by the front entry along with a teddy bear in a child’s rocker.

Red and green go great against log walls, but not so great if your home’s color themes clash. Fortunately I went with shades of green and burgundy throughout. That’s pretty common for log homes probably because most log home owners are thinking ahead to Christmas. I’d venture to guess that we decorate sooner and keep the tree up longer than most folks.

Getting Ready for Christmas, #1 The Mantel

My husband and I picked up every single rock for this 6 and a half ton fireplace. We’re lucky enough to live in a log home. There’s nothing like a fire in the fireplace on a cold wintery night especially if there’s a foot or more of snow on the ground and it’s almost December 25th.

I thought I’d write about the special “loggy” look of Christmas here at Big Pine Lodge for the next several posts. I’m starting with the fireplace because the collection of rocks was started before the basement was even dug. We have 62 acres of woods criss-crossed with trails that we made. It was easy to find field stones, some the size of boulders (we left those), along these trails. Our pile of rocks grew over the course of many months. We amassed about 13 tons and what we didn’t use in the fireplace we used around the base of the foundation outside.

The fireplace is seven feet wide and soars up to a height of about 26 feet. We had to leave a gap of about 8 inches between the top rocks inside and the ceiling because, as a totally full log construction, the whole house settled quite a bit when the logs shrank. We experienced about 5 – 6 inches of settling over the first three years as the logs noisily popped and cracked during the drying process. We left similar gaps above windows and doors to save us from broken windows. Frames slid over skirting boards until the gaps closed.

The fireplace is the center piece of the great room and a fun conversation starter: Can you find the rock that looks like a hockey mask? A russet potato? A tennis ball? A brain?

The REAL Meaning of Christmas

The REAL meaning of Christmas

This is so simple. What is the real meaning of Christmas? First I’ll tell you what it’s not. It’s not what Hollywood and New York would have you believe. It’s not the syrupy plots of countless classic movies and new movies that add the word Christmas to their titles. It is not all about Santa and elves and giving presents and donating to the food bank. It’s not about helping the poor and opening our hearts to the unfortunate. It’s not about family gatherings around a beautiful Christmas tree, a roaring fire in the fireplace, a turkey and all the favorite dishes on the table. It’s not about buying presents for a family you don’t even know and delivering them anonymously. It’s not about Scrooge, the Grinch, the Nutcracker, Toyland, Frosty and on and on.

It’s about the birth of one who was wholly man and wholly God. All that I mentioned above is what the world has tacked onto the commemoration of one wonderful day, the day our Savior was born. I love all the things I listed, especially the part about family, but the REAL meaning of Christmas is that Jesus Christ was born. And let me tell you that we wouldn’t even think of celebrating his birth if it weren’t for his death. He died for ALL of us. This is where we get the phrase “once and for all” and every time I think about it I remind myself that Jesus died for every single person. Every human’s sins are forgiven.

We bought presents for needy families, but they had to accept them. That sounds simple enough, but we’ve had people in the past who have refused the gifts. What an apt analogy to salvation. Jesus gave us the gift of eternal life by paying for our sins. All we have to do is accept Him. Come on, you know you’re not perfect. There’s no way you could please the Creator of the Universe. But wait. There is one way you could please him . . . accept His gift. Accept His Son Jesus Christ.

And that’s the REAL meaning of Christmas!