Christmas in Michigan

The Christmas season always seems to become a tsunami of activity

with places to be and things to do.

It is my heart's desire to keep Christmas

"simple, sane, and sacred,"

but that is no easy task.

At the end of 2016, my husband asked me to take a sabbatical from directing dramas

at our church for the 2017 year.

That was a really hard one for me.

It is truly a passion of mine.

But it takes a toll on our family when Mommy has her brained wrapped

around all the details of the next big dramatic presentation at church.

It's very difficult to manage a household of 6 homeschooling children

as well as all the details of such big projects.

My husband and I brokered a deal that I would direct our big Easter drama in 2017

as well as the Missions Drama in October.

Then he would get a year sabbatical until Christmas 2018.

Meanwhile, I have been talking to our church leadership about an amazing 

Christmas dinner theater that our former church in Michigan has been doing for 7 years now.

My friend there and I have been talking about this for several years,

but it just wasn't the right time to introduce it to our church in Texas yet.

Until now!!

My friend said, "Brenda, you need to come up THIS year to see what it is and 

how it's done, so you can do this at your church in 2018."

So, since I'm not caught up in rehearsals this year,

it was the perfect time to take a whirlwind weekend trip

up to Michigan to tour behind-the-scenes of In Bethlehem Inn

and to enjoy front row seats at two evenings of the dinner theater.

My friend who is our church kitchen QUEEN went with me

to learn how to run our kitchen and what a blast we had!!!

Our hospitable host and hostess of our B&B  were simply divine and treated us so well!!
We had two days of snow which made the whole trip magical!!
What a dream to get to visit with so many long-time friends from

our very first church ministry way back when my husband and I were first married!!
I can't wait to see what God has in store for this amazing ministry and the

dinner theater plans for Christmas 2018!!!

Party!

We are a part of a wonderful group of believers at our church

and this year our Sunday School class got together

to celebrate the season on the first weekend of December.

We've found that waiting too far into the month limits those who 

can join us because of other obligations and events 

they are committed to.

Our two oldest girls were working, but the rest of us

had a marvelous time with people who are so dear to us!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Bethlehem Revisited 2017

Our favorite annual tradition.
My husband couldn't go with us this year because he was

working our little town's annual Christmas parade.

This year's festivities require choices and planning.

Lots of things are overlapping.

So those of my children who were interested this year went with me!

We had some friends tag along with us and we had the best time!

 

Welcome December!

Thankful for so much: Thanksgiving Recap

Gone are the days of scanning piles of new recipes to try for the holidays.

My kids aren't huge fans of traditional American Thanksgiving food.

Years and years of trying something new has only produced

more food that ultimately gets dumped in the trash.

No one wants to eat leftovers for days and days anyway.

Even if the leftovers have been upcycled into something new.

This year, I decided to simplify everything.

No panic.

No stress.

No expectations.

No disappointments.

I spent roughly $15 on a bouquet of fresh flowers to split up

and add some simple nature to our table.

I pulled out my Grandmother's Blue Willow serving dishes

and what fun to enjoy those at no cost!!

No worries that the glasses had a winter theme on Thanksgiving Day.

I'm not sure a single person at our table even noticed!

They were much more concerned about what was IN the drinking glass.

No more spending hours in the kitchen in preparation for a lunch feast that

is gobbled up in 15 minutes.

I spent just a few minutes dropping our fully-cooked,

 spiral sliced ham into a crock-pot,

as well as Cranberry BBQ meatballs, 

and Cinnamon Sugar Butternut Squash.

No stuffing.

No green bean casserole.

No turkey.

Abby and I made 10 pounds of mashed potatoes the day before

 and simply reheated.

Roasted asparagus was tossed under the broiler just as we were sitting down,

and I didn't even warm up the store bought potato rolls

 purchased at the grocery store.

Everything went so fast as we were gathering around that I didn't even manage

the traditional table photo of the whole family!

We had a friend who just moved into her home the previous day

 join us for our lunch,

and what fun to have a guest this year!!

Everything was gobbled up in moments and the table cleared for dessert!

Our non-traditional, family favorite, Chocolate Eclair Cake,

 had been assembled the day before

 and hailed with joy and happiness!!

In a flash, it was over.

Simple.

Happy.
Thankful.