1. Wassail

My favorite Christmas tradition is the night we put up and decorate the Christmas tree. We turn on Christmas music and I make my husband’s favorite holiday drink…wassail. I don’t make it exactly like the version his mom makes. I basically pour apple cider in a pot and add a bunch of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice) and let it simmer on the stove. It smells yummy and tastes delicious.

The boys drank theirs with an ice-cube, each in his own version of a cup.

My mother-in-law adds sugar to her wassail…a step I skipped because the boys would be drinking it and don’t need any more sugar.  I found another recipe on www.cooks.com that has brown sugar in it: Hot Apple Cider

2. Memory ornaments

In my post this week on enjoying the holidays with small children I recommended involving your little ones in decorating the tree. It may not look perfect but they feel so important. This year, in my pregnant state, I just sat on the couch and soaked it all in. The boys would pull out an ornament and discuss its history…who made it or whose baby picture was on it or where it came from.

Last year my mom found a bunch of pictures of me and my brother visiting Santa Claus. She put them in framed ornaments and gave them to me. The boys thought it was fun to see me as a little girl with Santa!

They also loved seeing their hand print ornaments from previous years and comparing their hands now to then. You can buy kits to make these ornaments or here is a recipe to make your own: hand print ornaments

3. Nativity set

Last year my parents moved out of the country. When they did that they offered some of our family “treasures” to us. I loved this nativity set growing up and had been looking for one for our family. I was so excited to get to have this become one of our Christmas decorations.

4.  OneVerse

Did you know that 340 million people still do not have God’s word in their own language?

I learned about OneVerse when I was at the Relevant Conference. I discovered you can spend $26 a month and they will send you the verse that was translated with your money, each month.

This week I learned about their Gift-a-verse program. For $26 they will translate a verse and send you a card to give to someone. I decided this would be a great gift to my son’s Kindergarten teacher. May also be a great gift for your child’s classroom. Make a copy of the verse and make a card to give each kid and tell them a verse was translated in their honor. Check it out here: Gift-a-verse.

What were some of your favorites this week?

 Linking up with: