Right now I am making cookies, candy and more goodies for the Christmas Season. For the firewoman, firemen and ambulance crew where David volunteers, I am getting baskets and putting in jams, jellies that I have put up and a fresh homemade loaf of bread. For friends I am making the baskets with apple butter, bread and some of the jams and jellies. Also, I have made fudge for friends and will put them in little baskets. We do have Old Order Mennonite, Amish and outsider friends that we give to. Some people we give to are unable to make such goodies for health reasons.
At meetings (church) on Sunday, we light the candles for Advent. Each candle is to remind us of the coming and Birth of Jesus. Our thoughts at both meetings and home are of what Jesus did for us. Do we really thank, acknowledge, praise and honor the Lord in both the good times and the times that we feel are not so good? Do we realize that the Lord sent His only Son who died on the cross for us? We don’t only honor Christmas, but why Jesus was born on this earth. The ultimate gift that He could give us was His life for our sins.
We do not put up Christmas trees, lights, honor Santa Claus, etc. Although this year we have allowed Michael to have a very small Christmas tree in his room and lights around the windows in his bedroom. I do make a couple of evergreen arrangements with red bows on them for our house. Also, this year only we will be wrapping our Christmas presents for Michael. We usually don’t do this-we consider buying wrapping paper, tape, etc. a waste, but this year we will do it. Michael has never celebrated Christmas before and wanted a sort of outsiders Christmas. After talking with our bishop and deacons we were giving permission for this year only. Michael agreed he would go with our way next year. In our usual way when we give gifts they are usually in bags or just set out for the person to find in the morning.
December 23rd we will go to Susan’s school in the evening to see her school Christmas. The school may have a play or readings – after which is religious songs singing. When the children are over there are refreshments for both the students and those that attend. The students give the teacher her Christmas gift. Usually it is a gift from all the students like a quilt, cape, sweater, and alike made by the students mothers. Of course, we have done different. Our teacher is an unmarried lady, lives alone and keeps up her home by herself. Her house badly needed to be painted. Her Christmas gift a couple of years ago was that the parents and older students would paint her house-and did when Spring came. Another year they put a new roof on her house. The teacher gives all the students a small gift such as pens, pencils, stationary, etc. In school when it comes to students giving gifts we have each child draw a name from someone in their class. All the girls draw girls. The boys draw boys. All the 1st graders draw a first grader, 2nd grader a second grader, etc. Before school closes on the 23rd, the children will change gifts and open them at school. When students want to give gifts to other friends whether in school with them or not they give them outside of school. At Christmas Time we take the buggy and go out and give our gifts – our children give their gifts at that time. We never want a situation in school where some students get gifts and others don’t or one student gets more gifts than others. That is why we decided to give gifts, aside from the drawing, outside the school.
Martha has told you about our ladies group. We draw a name from a coffee can each year. The coffee can is now decorated really pretty and not the tin we started with. For the whole year, we send notes letting them know they are in our prayers, notes of encouragement, and more. We send them birthday cards, Easter Cards, Christmas Cards and more. At Christmas time we have a dinner at someones home and find out who our writer was and give them a small gift. Our husbands also give their husbands a small gift. Then we send the coffee can around and draw our new person for next year. In answer to Martha’s request-yes it was meant that you draw me and I draw you the first year you were among us. On December 16th, we will be having our dinner this year. Since we have Amish in our area their ladies have joined our group and the dinner is at one of their houses this year. I put someones name back at the drawing one year and the deacons after ward ask why I refused the name I pulled. I explained that I had drawn my own name, which I had. So I put it back and drew someone Else’s. I have drawn my Mother’s name, but even though we know who it is we don’t mention it until the Christmas dinner.
I will continue on Christmas in my next post. Here is a Christmas dish you might want to try.
Be with God,
Jean
CHRISTMAS CARROTS
12 med. sized carrots, peeled and cut into 1″ lengths
4 tbsp butter melted
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tbsp. parsley, chopped
Next Monday on Dec 19 will be part 2 of Jeans Christmas post. And her last post for 2011! |
Morning folks, and look for Jeans Christmas post next Monday instead of Tuesday. It will be the last post of the year from Jean! Richard
I found that picture with the dog in the snow online so i thought id place it on Jeans post. Pretty cute i think, and I'm off for the day so everyone have yourself a great day. Richard
Good Morning, I love the pictures, Richard. They are really great !!! It is cold here today, but no snow. The headline in our paper today is: Let It Snow-Eventually. It's fine with me if we don't get it. Marilyn
Richard – another excellent post by Jean – i am really looking forward to Part 2. oh and i love the carrot recipe. i do something similar but with honey and mint – i think i will try Jean's this year.i really enjoy how the children each pick one child and exchange a present each at school. then if they want to give additional presents it is done after school. that is a great way for children to not feel left out if they don't get as many presents as others. your friend,kymber
Richard, I enjoyed her post so very much! What a blessing! I'll look forward to the next one. Thank you so much for putting all this together. You've really done an excellent job with your blog. I enjoy it tremendously!
Hi Jean, Thanks for sharing your Christmas with us… What caught my attention today were all of the photos… There was alot of snow out there –and the pictures are fabulous… Looks COLD though!!!!!Thanks for your Christmas Carrot recipe. I love carrots and that looks GOOD. Thanks!Merry Christmas.Betsy
Ahhhh, an old fashioned Christmas without tarnish or the blemish of the commercial side of Christmas.I pray through all our business that we all remember the Greatest Gift of All. Precious Jesus!!! Woohoo!God bless ya and have a marvelous day!!! :o)
Richard, one more time, please tell Jean, "Thank You", from the bottom of my heart for all of the effort and time she takes out of her day to share her life with us. We have a similar affair at our church and it is called, "Secret Pal", where the women choose up a another lady in the congregation to write to throughout the year. When the year end rolls around, we have a luncheon and reveal ourselves to our "pen pal". It is a great way to get to know others in church. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOUR READERS!
I love the way they exchange gifts at school.
What a great post!! Isn't that the way It should be? The greatest gift is Jesus! Not some presents that will get tossed or forgotten as time goes on.(0: Thank you so much for your posts Jean! I was just thinking I would like to make some cooked carrots for my Christmas dinner this year. Something different. I was glad to see it ((0: Of coarse I will make them.hehe Blessings, Lissa
Hi Richard, hope all is well! the pictures are so nice! and the dog is so cute! Thanks for posting and I will try to get those pictures of the Shoo Fly Pie to you today. I got a new camera and I don't quite know how to put them on my computer yet. I need help! hehe Blessings ~Lissa
Beautiful and a photos fascinating story!
The photos complement the post so nicely! Thanks so much for the info, and thanks for the recipe as well. 🙂
I wish that we could bottle your sunshine Lissa,lol. And I'm sure you will figure out how to use your new camera, i mean after all i really want to see some of what your making from Jeans recipe's. Richard
And welcome to those who have arrived after my last comments this morning. And Michigan Mary thank you for those kind words for Jean, and since she does go over to a friends( Martha's parents) to view the comments on her post i think she's very aware. I think that's one of the main reason for her to even post her thoughts and share them with Amish Stories in the first place, because folks have responded in such a positive way to what she has to say. Her posts on this blog are extremely unique and are not found on any blog, and she appreciates all of you very much. Richard
Lovely post and beautiful photo number 6. Be safe this Christmas season and, as Elisabeth Elliott says, 'you are loved with an everlasting love and underneath are the everlasting arms."Merry Christmas from Thistle Cove Farm
The carrots sound very good. And so do your Christmas traditions Jean. I think they are more meaningful in the end, because the worldly way is too rushed and all for material things.
What a lovely post! Thank you, Jean 🙂 And thank you Richard for coming by my place.xo, misha
Good evening sweet Richard!Oh, I am so glad that you went out to get some cocoa!!!! Hey, it eases the PAIN of a stressful day! I have some EVERY MORNING…a "French" thing!Thank you for your visit and kind words, Richard. The animals on this post just touch my heart; I am a dog lover as well as a fanatic about horses. Sweet and gentle is your post today!Enjoy that cocoa and GOOGLE the RED VELVET COCOA! The cream cheese whipped cream will make you smile!! Anita
Glad you were able to make it over Anita, and yes that hot chocolate is coming in handy since its now getting noticeably cooler here in Pennsylvania. Ill give your blog a look in a day or so to see what your up to. And thank you Thistle Cove Farm for your holiday greetings, and hello to Leigh and misha. Well I'm signing off folks so everyone stay warm and safe, and ill see you on Wednesday with the recipe of the week. Good night. Richard
Ok Richard! I sent you the pictures. Whew! I hope they were ok. (0: I will be sending some more if I can get the hang of it LOL ~Lissa
Lovely post! We enjoyed the photos and the stories are very interesting! The dog is very cute too!
Such a good story as well as the pictures!
Thanks for your visit to those who dropped by after i left Amish Stories in late afternoon. Lissa ill check my e-mails this morning to see how everything turned out with your baking, and thanks for sending that. Richard
Beautiful post! I would like to see Christmas celebrated in such a beautiful fashion. I dislike all the commercial traits that have been allowed in our society. I can close my eyes and remember what wonderful Christmas celebrations we had when I was a child. Thank you for sharing.
I'm with you on the commercialism that we now have regarding Christmas Annesphamily. And its been like this for many years so its not something that has just sprung up, the good news is I'm not sure that it could get much worse! Richard
I truly agree Richard ~Lissa
Well Lissa we could try and ignore all of what helps maybe cheapen this holiday like i do. And that's pretty much all we can really do, which is to celebrate Christmas the way that we all want it to be! Richard
Enjoyed the posts and pictures. I loved the dog in the snow. My dog loved the snow, would just wallow in it. He is now in doggie heaven.Enjoy reading about everything you write and the comments.Merry Christmas
Thank you for coming by ramblinjodie and merry Christmas to you and your family. Richard