So Sew Organized

Merry Christmas from the Risingers! Clearly, someone is enjoying his first Christmas. :) May you have a blessed, fun-filled day with Christ at the center!

Notice that I did not say Christmas gift. That was on purpose, for a couple reasons: 1) This would make a great housewarming/hostess/whatever else gift during the winter months, and 2) I wouldn't want anyone to think I am giving these away as Christmas gifts. You are not allowed to know what you are getting until Christmas . So just because I made these this week does not mean they are Christmas gifts, ok? Just wanted to make that plain. Moving on...this was a super quick and fun project that left me saying, more! more! And I thunk it up all by myself, ohyesIdid. Here it is: Peppermint Hot Chocolate Mix. (Original, eh?) I cheated took normal hot chocolate mix and added crushed peppermint powder and some extra cocoa. My lovely assistant helped me crush the peppermints and candy canes by smacking them with a hammer and then unwrapping them. Here is a closeup of the layers (and whats all in there): The jar is just a $1 jar from the dollar store, and it isn't as big as it looks i...

This may be the most boring Christmas post you'll ever read, but I thought I would share how we do our gift-giving around here and hook you up with some links to what I'm reading in the blog world these days. Which you probably all know and have also been reading, but I'll link you up, just in case. Just to say I did. And help the poor soul that isn't. (I think that was pretty bad grammar, but moving on...) I mentioned before how there is usually anywhere from 35 - 55 people around at Christmas.Which is a blast, but makes for a wholelotta presents. We try to keep them trimmed down some by drawing names. Everyone's name goes in a hat and we draw the lucky person we get to buy for the next year! Kids draw kids names, and adults draw adults. It works well, and keeps everyone from having to buy 55 gifts! Here is what our tree looked like last year, pre-open presents time: And yeah, that picture doesn't really show them all. Just take my word for it...there is a lot....

Holly and I talked last week about making Christmas cookies, and I mentioned having some little ones around to help me with it. Here are some pictures (and the recipe!): It definitely involves making a BIG mess.... Carefully cutting out the shapes.... Frosting them.... And some very serious sprinkleputtingoning.... But boy, are these things good! We just won't say how many fingers got licked in the process. ;) Here is the easy peasy recipe.... Sugar Cookies Cream: 1 1/3 cups soft butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 2 eggs Add: 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, 4 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tsp. baking powder. Divide dough in half. Chill 1 hour. Roll out on floured surface. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Frosting: cream 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 5 cups confectioners sugar, 3 teaspoons milk, and 2 egg whites. Color them red (or pinkish, like mine) and green, if desired, and top with loads of sprinkles...

Rachel, Carrie and I had the opportunity to go to a local Nursing Home and help with a Christmas party! A lady in our church (I'll call her Mrs. H) holds a Bible study there once a week, and Tuesday was the last one for the year. She decided to make it a Christmas party, and asked us to help out in the music department. We also helped give out goodies and presents to the residents that came, and the girls especially enjoyed wheeling people around in their wheelchairs. This was such an important opportunity for us to take some time to focus on others during the Christmas season. So often we are thinking of ourselves, what we have to do or buy, or what we will be receiving. If we think about anyone else, we remember Jesus, because after all, He is the reason for the season! But stopping to focus on others and give them a merry day is also very important. And we have bunches of fun doing it! This is Candy, Mrs. H's dog. He goes in to the Nursing Home once a week to make his rounds...

Hey folks, welcome to our chat! Come on in a sit a spell. We're only chatting once this month because of the ca-raziness of the Christmas season, but we hope you'll join us in reminiscing about our childhood Christmases and discussing plans for this year. Join us in the comments section, and we hope you'll stop in again real soon! Nicole : I can not believe Christmas is here already. Holly: I can, but I can't at the same time. Yes, the year is flying, but I love October-December so much that it's what I look forward to every year. Nicole: Yes, I agree that it is the best time of the year! Holly: Are you ready for the big day(s)? Nicole: Of course not. Holly: Haha! Nicole: I still have some presents to finish up, and I'm scurrying to get everything ready for our Christmas program on the 23rd. I just have to finalize a few costumes and props, and (hopefully) that will be ready to go. How about you? Holly: Whew, you're busy! Surprisingly, I am ready for Christm...

Before I give you this recipe, I should explain a few things about our Christmas celebration. I told you last year about how my extended family gets together every Christmas (this will be the 36th year in a row!) and spends about 3 days together. This year there will be 39 people (a few cousins and their families only can come every other year, and this is an "off" year, or the number would be well over 50). 39 people + 3 days of celebrating = a whole lotta food. My Aunt sends out a list of food for everyone to bring/make that looks like this:  Yeah, we're pretty serious about our food. We live to eat, not eat to live. :) But with all that food, we don't have your typical sit-down Christmas dinner. We open presents Christmas morning (a 2 hour project) and then have an enormous breakfast at around noon. The rest of the time, we just spend snacking and fixing things like fondue, etc. Here is one recipe that we enjoy each year. It is an easy thing to make that can be put...

My siblings and I tackled a dessert project for our ladies meeting that was loads of Christmasy fun! It was so much fun, in fact, that one of my brothers (I won't say which one) even volunteered to help us without being asked. Wowzers! For a member of the male species to volunteer to cook in our house...well, lets just write it down, folks. Here is the original inspiration photo, via....wait for it.....Pinterest, of course! (And here is the link to my Christmas board, in case any of you missed it before. Keep your eye on it, its a-changing all the time!)                                                                          ...

Yes, make that the 350th dorky pun about Pinterest, but I just couldn't help it. :) I shared some of the decorating I did in the auditorium of our church, now I'd like to show you what I did in the fellowship hall! Seriously, what did we do before Pinterest ? A lot of my ideas came from there. ( Here is a link to my Christmas board for ya.) In most cases I took an idea and tweaked it to make it my own. I was very pleased with the results! I did a red and white theme, which I think is just super elegant for Christmas. I know the traditional colors are red and green, but there is something about red and white that slays me. I decorated this room primarily for a Ladies Christmas Supper that we had on Tuesday night. Here are some of my centerpieces: Just different sized red and silver balls in a glass vase, all from our local Dollar Store. Starlight mints in a narrow vase. Do you know how hard of a time I had to find red starlight mints??? I finally had to settle for the red and g...