....it's almost here....

I think as a mom who just loves Jesus i have a little bit too high of expectations with four boys under 7 in this house...the day before Christmas...

I might want to give up sometimes....not worry so much about impressing Jesus so much during Christmas and just relax about it and then.....Love came down for me...

This is my devotional this morning so I thought I would type it out instead of make a huge facebook status about it....

Ann Voskamp in her book The Greatest Gift talks about how God is born into the hands he made (Joseph and Mary).

"This night, in the deep of the heights, as the book of Revelation tells it - and we have a revelation of all hell breaking loose and racing God to get under our skin, of an all-out cosmic war spinning across space, of the King of forces of good driving a daring raid right into the flank of the beast who is a crimson gash tearing the waiting sky.  The Nativity of this night is a brutality of heaven and earth.  

In the heavenlies, according to the Nativity of Revelation, the child breeches, the beast lunges, and our eyes flash away, too terrified to witness evil devouring holiness and our one last hope.  All of earth holds its desperate, wild breath.  And then, at the last possible moment of all this impossible, the Infant is seized and thrust to the throne.  The Child lives! Rescue is certain! And all of hell makes one last lunge, clashes desperate, the dark horde of eveil wrestling Michael and the heavenly host - and then it's over.  Satan falls like lighting from heaven, falls out of the sky in a heap.  And now over Bethlehem, in the Nativity according to Luke, the star hangs high, victorious on a silent night, a holy night.  

Now all is calm.

God comes...

God comes quiet....

This night a battle has been waged and won for you.  Love had come back for you.  Love had to get to you.  The Love that has been coming for you since the beginning - He slays dragons for you.  This is the truest love story of history, and it's His -Story, and it's for you.  

Rejected at the Inn, holy God comes in small to where you feel rejected and small.  God is wil you now.  Wherever you are - in a soundless cry or hidden brokenness or in your ache - God always wants to be with you.  You are not ever left alone in this.  We are never left alone in this ; God is with us.

....The greatest Gift laid into our empty hands....Grace is weightless. "

Merry Christmas Eve

Try your hardest to slow today..... Christmas shouldn't be about running and hurry and preparing presents or performing...Christmas should be still, quiet, soft, slow like JEsus came...and we should be preparing to make space for Jesus!

4th Advent Sunday

"Mary responded, 'I am the Lord's servant.  May everything you have said about me come true'. And then the angel left her". 

~Luke 1:26-38~

Conceive: it's not passive, but an active verb.  Its root in Latin means nothing less than "to seize, to take hold of."

Mary takes hold of God...of grace.  She opens her hands wide when the angel appears to her and she says, "yes".   She has become the dwelling place for God.  Inside her womb beats the thrumming LOVE of God.  

Tonight we will light our fourth advent candle on our advent wreath...Love...

The ice covered trees, weighing down the thin branches to meet the snow covered ground cancelled our church service this morning.  The service where we were to reflect on Christ's love.  How deep His love is for us....that He should send His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.  It's almost safe to say that I hate missing church.  But this...maybe God knew we all needed a day to slow...a day to reflect on our own...some may and some may not.  Instead of using this "free time" to prepare even more for the coming Christmas we used it instead to rest.....

yes.....choosing to rest in His love.  This Love that came down and showered us with grace. 

"This Love that gave - but not to those who loved him.....this Love that gave -  but not to those who could give back.....this Love that gave to those who were poor, bankrupt, the enemies...."

Sometimes, for me, it's easier to give than receive...but this is the one gift I do not want to refuse....or miss. Because when Christ came as a baby, love came down to his own people who were waiting for Him and they didn't receive Him...they didn't even recognize Him.  

How do we receive Christ this Christmas? "The way to receive Love isn't to wrap anything up - but to unwrap our hearts". 

Letting your heart love is learning to receive Love.  Because it is his greatest command...to Love One Another....Even though you are empty.  Even though there are stresses...unseen needs...hurt....

You feel you heart can't forgive those words that stung so deep...."your heart can't forget that remark that was made more like a blade and left a mark how many years later.  Your heart can't forgive the step mother, the side joke, the backhand, the over the top family that just gets under  your skin...your heart can't forgive ... THAT'S WHY HE GAVE YOU HIS!"

Because when it's His heart beating in you...you can forgive in a heart beat.  

Can I stress this....?? LOVE...Christ gave it one way...expecting nothing in return...so why can't we? Why can't we love our family like Christ loves us? Why can't we treat our family like Christ treats us? We deserve nothing but we scream "I deserve" with our words and our actions.  We shouldn't measure ourselves to each other but just to Christ.  And what was Christ but love? Do we love? Do you show unconditional love to your family? To your neighbor? To your friend? To your kids or your spouse? Do you forgive in a heart beat or do you hold that grudge for years...and years?  

".....in this world of sin...our Dear Christ enters in...."

He chose to love knowing He may not receive it back.  If that doesn't make you fall to your knees, or make you feel small...I don't know what will.  If you truly hear the story of Love and don't sit in awe of it or allow yourself the time too....you will miss it.  

This advent...will you let Christ fill all of your emptiness with Love? Receive His love and His grace? 

Surrender to Him in Love?

"Take all my cravings for vain recognition, fleshly indulgence, and worldly ambition.  I want so much Lord, to make You the focus, to serve you in secret and never be noticed.  So I surrender all to you."

In our house every time my kids make space for Christ we fill the manger...

 (wooden box with straw...then a wooden baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloth will be put in the manger on Christmas morning)

we have this wooden box and some straw....every time anyone makes space for Christ we put straw in....when we LOVE each other, when we help each other, when kind words come from our mouths...we are preparing for His coming!  We are learning to  Adore Him and Love Him by loving each other...

what are we doing......

Church of North America....what are we doing?

Yesterday facebook blew up with screaming from both sides of the fence about Phil Robertson's Suspension.  I get it...you're a huge Duck Dynasty fan...yup...so am I.  We have their seasons, my kids dressed up as them for halloween, we have camo and lots of it....but so much time and energy went out on facebook yesterday.  I'm guilty.  I was pulled in by the comments people were making to one another....amazed at how Christians are treating those who are supporters of the LGBT community.  My mouth dropped when I saw some statuses claiming "THEY are sinners"..."They are disgusting and make me want to puke!".  I feel I could write a whole book on many things regarding this...number one being, "you just lost any opportunity to share the gospel".

But while on facebook yesterday I had this stirring inside of me...there are bigger things....

there are bigger things going on in the world....like this Christian village.  Have you heard of it? It's called Sadad.  It's in Syria and in late October one of the biggest Christian Massacre's happened here.  Why didn't we hear this on our daily news? Because we the U.S. are the ones arming those who performed this massacre. 

Find the article here.

~Romans 8:35~

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?"

I will never forget hearing about a girl who witnessed her entire family murdered.  She said that here in the America we pray for God to take the pain away...but here the people pray that God would make their backs stronger to endure the pain.  

What are we doing? Why are we not using the voices God has blessed us with and His Word to stand up for those being truly persecuted? To stand up for those who are starving? To stand up for those who are being sold and beaten in slavery or trafficking? Why instead are we using our voices to tear each other down.  To debate things that are a waste of your time.  

We are so comfortable here that really are our biggest worries freedom of speech? Because truth is...whatever we lose here on earth is temporary...we are free in Christ.  I can't help but look at these pictures and not cry...not fall to my knees and ask why am I here...in comfortable America when there are children dying for your name? We have taken for granted the life we are given.  How many of us get to go to a comfortable, in tact, newly build church in two days? While others? Have just lost theirs completely.....

Lord God, hear our cry. We’re crying for courage for those who endure tears and pain for the honor of Your name.

Lord God, hear our cry. We’re crying for You to turn back the hands that harm Your people.

Lord God, hear our cry. We’re crying for the persecuted body of Christ to find strength in You to stand firm in the face of harassment.

Lord God, hear our cry. We’re crying for all of Your people everywhere to offer the Hope of Good News found in the Grace-Cross of Christ without fear, always without fear, because greater is You who is in us, than he who is in the world.

Lord God, hear our cry. We’re crying for the release of faith-prisoners, for the penetration of Your Light-Word, for the real comfort of Your broken ones.

Lord, hear our cry. The persecuted members of Your very body cry. Today, we remember and cry with them. So You catch our tears, hear our cry, and answer before we even know what to cry.

And You cry too…

Our cry mingles with His, He who never ceases to cry these things…

In His precious name,

Amen

Join me in praying for the persecuted? Join me in just daily reminding ourselves how wonderful we really have it here...and that maybe we can use these voices to make great changes. 

Do we really know what it means to need Jesus? To cry for him? Do we appreciate his persecution? Have we grown cold to it? 

It's almost Christmas and although I love the family time and all the decorations, the smell of baked goods and the candle lit Christmas Eve service...I love the gospel.  I love reading every night with my family and teaching them that this Babe we celebrate coming...came for them...he was crushed and beaten and killed for them.  This cannot be something we over look...

"No ear may here his coming ... but in this world of sin , where meek souls will receive Him still, The dear Christ enters in."

We as Christians during Advent celebrate Christ coming and that is what we are purposed to do....we are called to live and prepare for His coming again....

"Truly He taught us to love one another...His law is love and His gospel is peace.  Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother.  And in His name, all oppression shall cease...Christ is the Lord! Oh! Praise His name forever!"

http://www.aholyexperience.com/

http://www.revangelicalblog.com/blog1/2013/12/20/shame-on-us.html

from a facebook status:

My list of what if's for Christians:
1.) What if we spent more time standing at the bedsides of the sick and dying and less time standing on our soapboxes?
2.) What if instead of choosing a posture of "us" against "them", we instead embrace the posture of Jesus which is "us for them" and "us with them?"
3.) What if instead of inventing new ways to stir the pot we instead got busy about the work of making peace?
4.) What if instead of walking around with a chip on our shoulders believing that everyone is out to get us, we instead live as living sacrifices for the cause of redemption, deliverance, and freedom?
5.) What if instead of shouting in anger, we instead took time to listen in love?
6.) What if instead of believing that Jesus invented political parties, wrote national documents, or started dogmatic religious groups, we instead believe that Jesus announced a Kingdom that no party, document, or doctrine has ever fully captured?
7.) What if we were more concerned with feeding the hungry than we were feeding the bloated egos of pundits, politicians, preachers, and personalities?
8.) What if "our" idea of "truth" was made subservient to "God's" ideal of "love"?
9.) What if we gave less energy to identifying our enemies and more energy to making friends?
10.) What if instead of defending our right to say whatever we want, wherever we want, and on whatever medium we want, we take the advice of St. Paul "Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone?"
11.) What if we really believed that mercy triumphs over judgement?
12.) that love covers over a multitude of sins?
13.) that the best way to change the world is with open arms and not shaking fists?
14.) that humility is the mark of the Christian and the same attitude that Jesus Christ himself had?
15.) that pouring our lives out as servants seems to be a better way that demanding the world serve us?
And what if instead of immediately aligning ourselves in camps of conservative and liberal, we seek instead to draw so near to Jesus that we are shaped in such a way that we don't fit well in any camp, but instead live against the grain with hearts full of hope, eyes full of joy, actions full of love, and words full of grace?
What then?
Well...who knows?

Reflections of this day...

So it's 9am and I already have a ton of thoughts swirling around this female mind of mine...probably not a good thing!

First of all let me just say this is how we started off our day....well after screaming and hitting and cleaning our rooms we finally settled down to pray and enjoy food....

oh and there is this....apple cranberry bread with a glazed topping...

This is what I wake up to every morning...it is the best advent devotional and I am falling in love even more with this advent season.  

Then my brother gifted me this yesterday....

this alone has my mind swirling....I feel like I can't get through it fast enough and I got it last night....

I am saddened today......saddened at judgment, debates, hateful words, and so much more.  Phil Robertson got suspended and although I dislike it tremendously ... even more? I hate the follow up's, the name calling, the assuming, the judgement and everything coming from it.  People will go to extreme ends, climbing crazy mountains to proclaim that "being gay is disgusting and makes me sick... God hates homosexuality, THEY are sinners..." this is not how we as Christians are suppose to handle these situations.  This is not how we are suppose to react.  Why was Jesus' ministry so successful? He was love! Because they legalize homosexual marriage does not change my definition of marriage.  It does not change what the bible says.  In my opinion, all sin is dealt with in one way...that person seeing Jesus Christ, laying their sin at the cross and being repentant.   So in my opinion, in this matter, we pray.  We pray that God shed His mercy on our nation.  We pray for those lost and we seek them out to be the hands and feet of JEsus.  Because the more sin in this world the more work we get to do...seeking the lost and pointing to Jesus.  If asked what I believe I will stay true to the bible.  I will quote it and back it up fully and I will not tolerate or accept sin.  Not just homosexual sin, but that of a liar, that of pre-marital sex, that of adultery, that of stealing, that of beating a child and so on...but I will hug you and I will try my absolute hardest to be like Christ and show you his love. Why? Because this is what Jesus did for me.  So I was gifted with forgiveness and love so that I can gift forgiveness and love. We get so offended so easily and then we assume that person must be a liberal or an extremist or a strict conservative.    Phil Robertson was asked what he believed and he stated it.... it should be that...that's it! 

Instead we should climb those incredible mountains to proclaim and scream to the world to help those who are hungry, those who haven't heard the good new of Jesus Christ.  We should stop giving our energy in pointless debates that consist of belittling, tearing down others and instead use it to be the voice for the child sold into sex slavery right now, for the mother being abused constantly because her husband gets pleasure out of it, what about the children being abused, what about the homeless. Be love to the grandma with no family around, be love to the woman whose husband has left her dry.  What about the teenager on the verge of depression and suicide?  We have such strong opinions on everything but really? there is much more going on in the world today.  Much bigger things that we need to stand up for.  

I wish my words had power and if they did I would scream at the top of lungs STOP IT! Stop hating each other...stop tearing each other down....stop trying to tell others what God is thinking ...just stop.  We worry so much about the things in this world that are political and we lose sight of our relationship with Christ.  We thrive on debates and proving a point when really we need to thrive on teaching our children about Christ.  We need to thrive on spreading the gospel and reaching the unreachable.  

Just a little bit of my heart today. 

Sisters in Christ

"So here's the deal, I can't be myself anymore.  I am always doing something wrong. Not doing the right things, saying the right things and I even feel as if the way I mother is wrong in your eyes.  I speak....and am ignored and I move on....saddened but strong.  You speak and I am afraid to answer because of the fear of it being the wrong response.  I cannot praise you enough or in the right way you desire so I have stopped. My heart is turning cold because of this.  This is not a friendship. When do you walk away from a friendship because it is eating at your heart? Your very being? It's making you bitter and unloving not because it's never about you but because it's always about you and what you are not doing right.  When do you give up on a friendship because no matter how GREAT their life is, they absolutely cannot find the joy in it?"

John 13:34-35

"A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you,

so you must love one another.   By this everyone will know that you are

my disciples, if you love one another."

The enemy targets very specifically ... relationships.  This is not a relationship that has Christ as it's center...this is not a sisterhood or a friendship.  We are the body of Christ and although we can work without some parts of that body we work best when united.  This sisterhood in Christ should not be filled with competition, arrogance or jealousy...but filled with love for one another.  We should stand together and encourage each other, mentor, laugh and learn.  We should be able to spend a day together and learn more about each other, share our gifts to better our relationships...not think critically or judgmentally.  

"While I was yet sinning directly against Him, Christ reached out wide to me and directly took the nail and literally drained himself for me."

We are to model Christ in our relationships.  "While we yet disagree theologically, can I still be nice to you? Why do we demonize people instead of evangelize them? God loves us while we sin, God holds out his hand to the disobedient, and love is what makes God the most potent of all.  Love is the most radically subversive activism of all, and the only thing that ever changed anyone."  

Here is a lie we believe and we need to break.  "If you disagree with someone on one point  -  then you must disdain or dismiss them entirely.  And if you acknowledge or affirm someone -  then you must agree with them entirely".  This is a lie...we must break it!

Every gathering with your friend...your sister in Christ should be refreshing.  It doesn't have to contain this long theological discussion.  It IS okay to gather and craft...it IS okay to gather and bake...it IS okay to gather and just be each other...as different as we all are...love is what we need most in this sisterhood.  If we would make a commitment to stop the judgment in our heads, stop the competing, stop the jealousy when it first takes root...we could be the sisters that break the mold and make our lives about the joy-filled proclamation of knowing Him and making Him known. We could be his daughters called to be peacemakers, "the ones who know that the brokenness of humility is the secret to community and the harshness of pride is what builds walls of division. 

Lets rise as sisters in Christ...lets be a generation that lives a godly example of women of the church...

Let's be confident in our identity in Jesus Christ....because truth is...if you are bitter, if you are angry, if you are prideful, jealous or arrogant...God can't use you.  

You cannot be the gift to those sisters if you haven't unwrapped the gift and fully embraced it with Joy.  That is what this Advent season is about right? Unwrapping the gift...

What do you have to lose if you decide to stand proud with sisters in Christ as opposed to tearing them down? Because God? He had everything to lose.  Christ? He didn't have an attitude that He might die for us...he willingly chose to die for us.  That Babe in the manger that we celebrate this season "He is the Prince on the Cross who saves you with His life, so your identity is no longer wrapped up in being one of the rich ones inside the gate (Esther 4:10-17).  Your identity is wrapped up in being one of the rich ones inside of Him."

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God"

Advent Three :: {JOY}

joy (/joi/) : a feeling of great happiness and pleasure; rejoice

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, Rejoice!"

~Philippians 4:4~

{eucharisteo}

The root word of eucharisteo is {charis}, meaning "grace." But there is more...Eucharisteo, thanksgiving, envelopes the Greek word for grace, charis.  But it also holds it's derivative, the Greek word {chara}, meaning "joy." 

We sit down as a family last night to read the Advent Scriptures on Joy.

After the scripture reading and after a sermon on Joy...it still rings in my heart..."where is our joy as Christians?".  I look at the majority of those who claim to know and love Jesus Christ and all I can see is depression, sadness, ungratefulness.... do we think it's unattainable in a broken and impossible world?

As long as thanks is possible, then joy is always possible.  Joy is always possible. 

Whenever, meaning - now; wherever, meaning - here.  Joy, eucharisteo, charis, chara...it is not in some exotic location or in some emotional mountain peak experience...this wonder of joy can be right here.  Here in the ache of now...in the depression, in the sadness, in the ungrateful.  Eucharisteo...give thanks = joy!

The answer to your depression and anxiety is the adoration of Jesus Christ.  The answer to our anxiety is to exalt Christ. 

Calvin wrote, "We are cold when it comes to rejoicing in God! Hence, we need to exercise ourselves in it and employ all our senses in it - our feet, our hands, our arms and all the rest - that they all might serve in worship of God and so magnify Him"

We were made to worship Him. Every moment you live, you live bowed to something.  And if you don't choose God, you'll bow down before something else - some banal Baal.  The Baal of success, the Baal of Pinterest, the Baal of perfection or the Baal of affirmation.  All sucking your joy. These Baals keep us from God, the Baals of work, agenda and accomplishments.  These Baals keep us from prayer.  

"You know you have a Baal that needs to be cut down whenever you cut yourself down.  Whenever you slash yourself, you have an idol that needs to be slashed down.  

and here....is my favorite part....

"but if you slow and still and wait, Advent whispers to you: there is one God who was cut open for you.  He let His blood run so you can stop running".  

Tim Keller writes, "The only way to overcome idols in your life is to see that Jesus gives you freely what every other god says that you can only get through your performance.  Jesus gives you through His blood what every other god demands through yours". 

"Jesus, the Gift, comes to give you freely through His passion what every other god forces you to get through your performance".  

Stop! Be still and listen.  Open your heart to the things Christ has given you and be joyful...be thankful.  Because the opposite of joy is fear and the ache of fear is the result of unbelief.  

Let Christ come this Christmas into your home, into your daily life.  Cut down those idols that are standing in your way and give to God what he wants for Christmas...your bended knee.

Kneel here...and behold Him only.  The only place where you can receive the gift of acceptance, so the gods of acceptance have no hold on you. 

O come, let us adore Him....O come, let us adore Him....O come, let us adore Him..Christ the Lord!

Advent Week 2 :: Day 12

These months, these winters months are statistically proven to be the most depressing months.  When I heard this in the beginning of November I laughed.  I thought to myself, "How is that possible?".  I love these months. I wait for them...anticipate them! 

I've said it before that I find snow miraculous but more importantly I find the Advent season ... well, there are no words to describe it.  A discovery of the greatest love, an unwrapping of the greatest gift, a witnessing of the greatest miracle...

But I think back to those statistics and I think deeply why these months would be the hardest...most depressing.  I think of family right now, who is scared for Christmas because they can't afford dental work.  I think of another family who God has brought into our lives, whose husband has left her dry with no money and three kids.  Christmas is a scary time for her. I think of the few people I know that have no one to spend Christmas with.  I think of other families who are facing death...or sickness.  I think of friends who don't know the miracle of the season of Advent.  They don't know that person called Jesus Christ. 

Jesus....the name that sounds like a breath...Yahweh ... Ya...weh.  Jesus, "the Love later went to the Cross to fulfill the unfulfilled, to pay the price for our broken love like we never could, to love God for His unbroken love like we never have.  Jesus, the Love who hangs on a Tree, who cries out our yes to the covenant.  Yes, You are mine.  I am Yours. Jesus, the Love who doesn't just die the death we deserved to die; He lives the love we've desired to live".  

In a place of faithlessness and doubtfulness and godlessness, God gives God.  The God who can reveal Himself wherever, whenever, to whomever; the God who is never limited by lack or restricted by the expected; the God who is no respecter of  persons but the relentless rescuer of prodigals; the God who gives the gift of faith in the places you'd most doubt.  That is always the secret to the abundant life: to believe that God is where you doubt He can be. 

Nobody and no situation - no sin, no mess, no decision - meets the diagnosis of despair.  Because there's God's cure of amazing grace.

No personal choice that muddied your life can ever trump the divine choice to wash your life clean. 

No situation is more hopeless than your Savior is graceful. 

There are moments this Christmas when you feel like no one really sees you.  No one sees how alone you feel.  How overwhelmed by the work and unappreciated by the people.  No one sees that you just want someone to cup your face and look into your eyes and say your name from somewhere deep inside, like a calling home, like a belonging - like a holding that has you around all the fragile places and won't leave you...Jesus...Yahweh...let him..."Love is the greatest thing God can give us, for himself is love" ... "And love is the greatest thing we can give to God, for it will also give ourselves..." 

It'a another good day....

I'm that person that love snow.  Yes...the "S" word in Michigan apparently.  I wait all year long for it.  Yes I am happy when spring comes and when summer comes and I absolutely LOVE fall...but I LOVE snow.  It's magical.  If you don't believe me check out this and see if your view of snowflakes change!  I could stare at it all day.  It makes me want to fall to my knees in front of my slider and just stare at it.  So Sunday when we had 40% chance of snow and I woke up to the ground covered...and when I spent all day on Monday watching snow fall...I thought it couldn't get better...until I woke up today and spent the whole day watching snow fall....I.just.love.it!

So I got a little visit from my sister today! I just love spending time with her.  There was a time in life when we hated each other...you know when we were living with our parents under the same roof and she ruined my life and I ruined hers? :)...now we love each other!

So she came over to help me with these....

These are homemade memory games I am making for each of my boys.  Matts is the one with trucks and Bens is the shapes.  Will and Zak are getting sports ones...how fun huh?

Then she decided to make these...

Homemade marshmallows! not the super healthy recipe :/ but we'll figure that one out soon!

So as I'm watching the snow...I decided I'll post the other goodies we made this week....

These are glazed oatmeal cookies....they are sooooooo yummy!

you can find the recipe here

and then we made these....

yes...these are to die for.... Cranberry Bliss cookies... and that recipe is right here

oh! I'm not done.....

We decided to have these for breakfast... apple pumpkin muffins

That is it for the baking in this house...there is so much sugar floating around this house I feel like I need to chew on some carrots :)

then while the kids were down resting I decided to add sweater sleeves to all of my candles and I love it! So I decided to share as well some of the simple CHEAP decorating I do for Christmas!

yup...simple added sweater sleeves to candles...added so much to the decor' I felt!

Applesauce cinnamon ornaments turned into garland...with wooden stars from Michaels with paper

burlap bow with sticks, berries and pine with some applesauce cinnamon ornaments

wooden signs with painted words...

and advent tree with free printable ornaments...custom made advent wreath with pregnant mary on a donkey

making room for Jesus...every time the kids do something nice they get to stick hay in the manger...(I still need to paint it)

sweater stockings :) 

wooden letters from michaels with paper mod podged on...

brown tags from Michaels made into ornaments with 25 days of Christmas on the back

chalkboards, sweaters, homemade ornaments, pine cones and paper...easiest decor'