Prairie Son#1, Prairie Daughter#2, Prairie Daughter #1 holding Prairie Son #2
Prairie Husband is in the van with the heater
Merry Christmas! I attempted to slowly wean my children off the materialism and selfish aspects of Christmas, and tried to focus more on the birth of Christ. Their handwriting assignments this month were bible verses from Luke 2. We read Luke 2, a couple of times this month, participated in Operation Christimas Child (the girls REALLY liked this), and we discussed giving even less gifts to each other next year, and picking something for someone out of the World Vision catalog.
I started my cinnamon bread dough the evening of the 23rd, and let it rise all night. In the morning, I was up early and worked on the dough, making four loaves, and using the braiding method I read on the Providence Lodge blog. I will be using that technique from now on. Makes the bread look much nicer, and the cinnamon filling doesn't ooze out everywhere. We ate one loaf yesterday for breakfast, and took one to my sister's house last night for our Christmas Eve get together, and we had it this morning for breakfast, along with bacon and grits. I'd like to try and make it our traditional Christmas breakfast each year. It was my goal from the beginning, 22 years ago, but I could never master the cinnamon not oozing and burning the bottom, then no one wants to eat it...this year was MUCH better. I am so happy!
Praise the Lord for the wonderful gifts we received and were able to give this year. Even though we are in a depression in this country, we still managed to find useful and needful gifts this year, for the most part ;-)
The girls received good jewelery, horse tack, books, boots, clothes and bath stuff. Our eldest daughter (PD1 - 13 yrs) worked really hard for the past few months on crocheting, sewing, and sometimes purchasing small gifts for family (like a box of oatmeal pies for PaPa). My eldest son (PS1 - 21 yrs) worked hard for months on wood crafting jewelry boxes for his sisters, bird houses for everyone else, and the cutest little red wagon for his little brother (PS2- 2 yrs). He did an awesome job! His grandfather was a big help in showing him how to join corners, and how to make the greatest wooden wheels for the wagon.
Learned a valuable lesson on being prepared today. My inlaws power went out today. They were at home with no way to cook, and no heat in 30 degree temps. Their house is wondefully insulated, and when we arrived this morning to give them their gifts, their house was really warm to us, though they were sitting in their coats with hats on ;-) But when you heat with wood, most any other place is warmer. I love our wood heat, except in the early morning. Yikes! it can be cold. Okay, back to the inlaws. They have a generator, but had ZERO gas, so they weren't able to use it to cook or heat with. They really need a wood stove, but my MIL wouldn't like wood and dirt being tracked into her house. It would drive her crazy.
We have a generator, and probably the only fuel around is in our vehicles. This greatly needs to be remedied. I have always know this was a weak spot in being prepared, and today proved that out. We were so fortunate to have wood heat, and while our power didn't go out, it could have. This would have left me unable to cook my ham, unless I cooked it on top of the wood stove. Which, now I am thinking about it, I could have taken the roaster pan and cooked it on top of the woodstove...hmm, good to know.
Thank you Lord for opening our eyes and seeing the way our country is going, and how we need to be ready. Help us to see the holes in areas, and to quickly fill those needs.
