Post Christmas Craft idea

Around here we find letting go of Christmas hard. It is a little sad to take down all the festive decorations. The living room feels empty with out a tree and lights. And I really hate recycling Christmas cards. 

But this Post-Christmas craft has been fun and helped a little with the post Christmas blues. 

How to Make Boxes Out of Christmas Cards:

Step One: Cut the card into two pieces down the fold of the card.

Step Two: Take a ruler or and mark a line form one corner to the other and again with the other corners. This will give you the centre of the card.

Step Three: Fold each side so the edge of the card reaches to the middle of the card (Your X you just made). It helps to crease the fold with the ruler. 

Step Four: On one side cut the creases until they mean the creases going in the opposite direction. Then do it again on the other side. 

Step Five: Fold the flaps you have just cut in and glue them together forming the side of the box. 

Do this on both sides.

Step Six: Now fold the middle flap over the top of the two flaps you glued together and glue it down as well. Again, repeat on the other side. And now you have the top of your box.

Step Seven: Now you get to make the bottom of your box exactly the same way but you need to make it a little smaller so that it will fit. Cut off 1/4 inch off each side of the other piece of card before you start and you are set. 

We use them to give small gifts, or even pack up little ornaments. 

Have fun!

Mommy Magic

I love having a baby in the house. I love snuggling up with a warm little bundle. I love how they look at me like I am the most important, beautiful person in the world. And I love how I can fix any problem, a bump on the knee, a sleepy head, or even frustration over a not being able to eat electrical plugs. A cuddle and a nurse usually puts everything right.

I just wish that lasted forever. I wish that I could fix every things for all my kids for ever. But I can’t. For my big kids, I can no longer make everything right with a hug. I wish that I could reach in and take out the fear and anxiety in the heart of one of my beautiful babies. I wish I could help another see himself as I see him, an intelligent, fabulous, and interesting person. I wish I could help my little boy not take everything so deeply to heart. But I can’t.

As much as it hurts my heart, I know that taking the hurt and difficulties away from my kids would not serve them well. When I step back a little I see that it is the hard things that will make my children into strong adults. I know that if they never have to struggle, they will not know how strong they are. Or if they never hurt they will never see how beautiful forgiveness is. But it still hurt me to see them sad, frustrated or scared. Sometimes I think it hurts me more. They bounce back and move on but I am still grieving for them and their tender hearts. I want to fix it and make all the bad stuff disappear.

But my four-year-old said it best. After some now long forgotten sadness she was very distraught. I was trying to fix it, to explain why it was not that bad, why she should cheer up. She looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said “Mom, I don’t want you to make it better. I just want you to know that I am sad.”

Oh right. I am not the magician who can fix every things, but I still have a little magic left. I am that place that is safe even if the world gets to big. I am the listening ear that can just hear what they are feeling when their emotions getting more complex than ever before. And I can still have a hug, even though it will not fix everything. It still helps.

The inner four-year-old

I think that inside all of us is an inner four-year-old just waiting to get out. It is that part of us that wants to run with "super jets " down the hotel hallway. Or order waffles no matter which meal it is. It is the part of us that would love nothing better than to lay floating on our back in the swimming pool singing very loudly to our selves.

Some how between the time we were actually four and now we have learned that social norms do not include these things and so we don't wear our favourite pants, shorts, skirt and dress all at the same time. But I think I would have a lot more fun if I did.

Look at this

They say too much candy rots your teeth!

Happy Halloween

Look at our real live jack-o-lantern.

Beauty on the Plaines

I find it very easy to be thankful when I walk in this beauty. 

Food and abundance.

I have not been blogging a lot lately. Don’t worry there has not been a big crises or big news to announce. I have just been busy. Very busy dealing with food.

Yes food. It is harvest time on Cananda’s prairie. Between our backyard garden, the produce from our CSA and my very generous friend's acreage. I have been over run. I am canning, freezing, and backing up a storm. It has become my new obsession. This week I have put up 12 jars of pickles, and 14 jars of tomatoes. I have got the crab-apples juiced and ready to make into jelly. The zucchini is still coming so I am now shredding it and freezing it to use in the winter. I am just our of time and recipes. That was just this week.

I have been back to the store to buy more canning jars four times and I am out again!

Yes I love it, and yes I am very excited to have good, local, healthy food put away for my family this winter but I am getting tired. I feel like it has become my full time job. My kitchen is nuts and I am running out of room for all these jars!

I have caught myself complaining about it all. My feet hurt at the end of the day and I was crazy frustrated when I had to throw out a whole box of cucumbers that I could not process before they when bad. Seriously, I am complaining that I have too much food, a great deal of it free. Hold The Phone?! This is crazy. I want all this food, I love it. I even prayed for a bountiful harvest. And now I am complaining.

You know, I have felt this same feeling before. There have been times where I am overwhelmed by things, or people that I love, by the abundance of what I have been given. And is that is the way God works. He give so much it blows us over. And if I do accept what God has to give me I love it but it will without question change my life and challenge me in new ways. And sometimes His abundance is so big that I don’t feel like I can handle it. It is too much. I am too small. I can’t take it all. (That is too much zucchini!)

But if I do say yes, I let His gifts come even if I can’t figure out what to do with it all, I am always better off. I have what I need in the “winter” moments.

But if my fear takes over it is ok.  Unlike my cucumbers God’s gifts don’t go bad. And if I can’t say yes today, He will offer it again.