Happy Fall Y'all!

Devin has been painting door signs and more for the last few months.  Lately she has been inspired by some entries on Pinterest.  I haven't ventured over there myself and I have a feeling I would like it too much!  ; )  

I know fall offically arrived a few weeks ago, but at our house it's not really fall until I climb up in the attic and bring our all of our boxes of Thanksgiving and fall decorations.  Then fall can begin.  Saturday,  while we were already neck-deep in various projects around the house and had our three grandchildren here for the weekend, I decided it was time for fall to arrive at our house officially. 

I climbed up into the attic and pushed all the boxes to the opening, then passed them down very gently to Aaron.  The boxes are too heavy and I really should put everything in smaller boxes to make it easier on myself.  After Aaron hauled everything into the dining room Jackson and I got busy.  He was so excited to finally get everything decorated!

Jackson and I did all the work and had a blast doing it.  As we pulled out item after item, he would make a remark about it or ask a question about it and would either place it on the dining table or put it where it normally would go.  I was amazed at how he knew just where something was supposed to go.  It really made me think about how important our simple family traditions are to these children of mine and to Jeff and I as well.  I discovered that Jackson has some favorite items that he loves and promised that he could have them when he married.  He quickly informed me that he would not be getting married!  LOL!

Now the garland is hung, candles have been lit, Pilgrims are all in place, wreaths are hung and our special Thanksgiving devotional box is in it's usual place.  The Thanksgiving season has officially arrived at the Chamblee home!

I'll take pictures to show some of our favorite items in the days ahead.  Right now we are still in construction/destruction mode with a renovation of our laundry area, so things are not quite in order.  Do you decorate for the Thanksgiving season in your home?   What are some of your favorite fall/harvest season memories?

If you are interested in some of our favorite Thanksgiving resources check out this post 

here.

And for some of our fall and Thanksgiving traditions, check out this post!



Check out some other Thanksgiving ideas at Learning to Live a Surrendered Life!

Starting Over Again

This time of year always has Jeff and I reflecting on the past  year.  What direction should our family go this year?  What worked this past year?  What didn't work?  How can we be more effective in our family life as we learn to serve each other and those that we come in contact with?  What type of family ministry should we be involved in?  What books should we read?  How much should we expect from the children? What character traits do we need to work on?  Get the drift?  Lots to think about and reflect upon.

Two verses we always try to keep in mind as we set our goals and our plans for the year are as follows:

Psalm 90: 12   So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.


Ephesians 5:15  See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.


It is so important that we make every day count, that we don't waste our time and energy doing things that don't really matter.  We want to make wise choices for ourselves and our children, carefully choosing how we will spend our time each day.  In these days  and weeks that we have been off of our routine it has been so easy to get sucked into spending too much time watching movies (no matter how wholesome) and being sucked into the internet.  I feel a need for a few days of fasting from the media or at least greatly limiting out time in front of the screens.

We have now cleaned up, boxed up and stored the Christmas materials.  Today I am focusing on getting the house back in order....dusting, scrubbing bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping are on my list of chores for the day.  The rest of the week will be spent in planning for the upcoming session of school:  looking through new resources, making copies of other items, writing lessons plans, making reading lists, organizing the school room to better serve our needs, filling in daily assignment sheets and putting worksheet copies in weekly folders.  I even have new ideas for my blog that I am eager to work on, but my family needs must come first.

So tell me...Do you set new goals and make plans for the coming year during this season?  What are you doing these days between holidays?   Do you need some encouragement to get motivated for this next year?  When You Rise Up:  A Covenantal Approach to Homeschooling by R.C. Sproul will be sure to give you a needed dose of conviction.  It's on my desk now to re-read in the next few days along with my new copy of Large Family Logistics:  The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family  by Kim Brenneman.  No matter how much time I spend in trying to organize and establish routine there is always room for growth.  There is much to learn in this fabulous resource...no matter if you are a homeschooling family or not...no matter if your family is large or small...there is a wealth of information for any family to help their days run more smoothly.

Thanksgiving Resources

I wanted to share with you all a few of our family's favorite Thanksgiving resources.  I am not an Amazon affiliate (don't think I want to be) and don't have time today to link up to christianbook.com, but some of these books are available from christianbook.com and if you decide to purchase I would appreciate it if you went through the little button on the right.

--I found the ThanksLiving Treasures box years ago on a clearance table in a Christian bookstore.  It has been the best investment.  The box contains:

 a 56-page booklet containing six biblically-based lessons on thankfulness form the Pilgrims'        exciting adventures along with creative ideas on family celebrations for Thanksgiving

A tablet of My Treasures pages to record and preserve your family's expressions of thankfulness from year to year

Five historically symbolic objects including a miniature Bible, replicas of the Mayflower and Mayflower Compact, a stone cross and a cluster of Indian corn

Five full-color 5 x 7 reprints of historic paintings depicting scenes from the Pilgrims' journey to the New World

A keepsake treasure box to store these contents and other cherished family photos or mementos

We have enjoyed this so much over the years and the children look forward to our time remembering the Pilgrims and how God led them.

--Another resource, again from Family Life, written by Barbara Rainey is Thanksgiving;  A Time to Remember.      This book is beautifully illustrated, has pages for  your own Thanksgiving journal entries and comes with a CD of beautiful Thanksgiving hymns and praises.

--A sweet book that was discarded from our local library:  Autumn Harvest by Alvin Tresselt.  With the exception of one page about Halloween this book is a treasure from another time, describing fall and harvest time in a country setting.

-Another library discard;  The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh.  This is a classic Thanksgiving story retelling.  It is simply written and simply illustrated.  A perfect book for an introduction about Thanksgiving to younger children.

-One of my precious Thanksgiving memories is reading Louisa May Alcott's An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving to my children as we were driving to my mother's home for Thanksgiving one year.  What a precious story of children being resourceful and working together to bless their parents.  A couple of years ago I found a picture book version illustrated by James Bernardin that is just beautiful and includes Miss Alcott's recipe for apple slump!

-Still another library discard:  Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? by Jean Fritz.  Like her other books this one has illustrations that tend to be a bit comical, but not disrespectfully so.  This book tells what happened to the actual Plymouth Rock in the centuries after the landing of the Pilgrims.

-Eating the Plates:  A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners is a great book for studying the customs and eating habits of the Pilgrims and early settlers.  It also includes a Pilgrim menu and recipes which include fresh corn soup, red pickled eggs, Hot Indian Pudding, Succotash Stew, Spicy Cucumber Catsup, Bannock Cakes, Whole Baked Pumpkin Stuffed with Apples, Bearberry Jelly (cranberry), Swizzle and Hot Nuts.  This is a very interesting book!

-Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin is a book from my childhood.  This is a story about befriending those who may look different and takes place in New England.  A fun story for kids of all ages.

-The Pilgrims' First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern is a beautifully illustrated tale of the first Thanksgiving which "introduces children to the struggles of the Pilgrims during their first year at Plymouth Colony and the events leading to the historic occasion we celebrate today--THANKSGIVING."

-The Thanksgiving Primer is a "complete guide to re-creating the first harvest festival for your family, friends or church."  Includes primary sources, pictures from Plimoth Plantation, an order of service, music, a menu and recipes.  There are even drawings to use to design your own Pilgrim costumes.

-Of Plimouth Plantation by William Bradford is a bit heavy for the younger crowd, but a must-read for the older ones....at least portions of it!  We can only know what actually happened by reading first-hand accounts and you can't get more first-hand than this book written by the long-time governor of the Pilgrims.

-Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxes is another beautifully illustrated book that tells of how God prepared Squanto to be just a tremendous help to the First Comers.  A must read for the younger children, your older ones will enjoy it as well.

 -For years Jeff has read from Margaret Pumphrey's Pilgrim Stories (sometimes entitled Story of the Pilgrims) to the children each night during the month of November.  This is a highlight for the children and due to several church meetings this month it has been put off until this week.  Jeff was going to drop it for this year, but the children wouldn't let him.  It is so special to see big and little children gathered to hear daddy read!

While I know that it is too late for you to purchase these books for this year, perhaps you can find them for next year's Thanksgiving season.  Your time spent teaching your children about the true reason we celebrate Thanksgiving will be richly blessed.

Thanksgiving Menu

Devin and I have finalized our Thanksgiving Dinner menu and we are also coming up with ideas to save time and sanity on Thanksgiving morning.  My mother-in-law will be bring a couple of dishes.  We will be cooking and baking several dishes this week and freeze them.  Others we will prepare the day before and reheat in slowcookers.   That leaves us with only turkey, ham and gravy to cook on Thanksgiving morning.  Hopefully that will also mean less mess to clean up!!

Turkey--I buy a large turkey!  We eat leftovers for a day or two and then I boil the carcass to remove other    meat to make casseroles or soups and save the broth for my Christmas dressing!  This will be baked that morning.

Ham---Again, I buy large!  Same principle as for the turkey and the extra ham and the hambone are great for seasoning peas, green beans and dried beans.  This will be baked that morning.

Dressing-My mother-in-law is bringing it this year.  I really love to make dressing so this is hard for me!!

Gravy--made with turkey giblets, onions, shredded carrots and flour for thickening.  Not difficult to make at all and oh, so fabulous on the dressing and mashed potatoes.  Did I really just open and heat a can of cream of chicken soup and call it gravy years ago?  This will also be made on Thanksgiving morning.

Sweet potatoes--My mother-in-law is also bringing these.

Mashed potatoes-Made the day before and reheated in the slowcooker.

Sweet and sour green beans--A family must for holidays!!  We will make these the day before and reheat in a  slowcooker.  Recipe will be posted later.

Squash casserole--Made this week and put in the freezer.  Will thaw out the day before and be ready for the oven on Thursday.

Glazed carrots--Prepared the day before and heated in a slowcooker (yes, I have three of them!)

Green salad-prepared the day before

Cranberry/apple casserole--Delicous with dressing, it has replaced the canned cranberry sauce in our house.  I will also post this recipe later this week.  I will make two or three of these this week and freeze them.

Deviled eggs-Prepared by Kaelan the day before Thanksgiving.

Rolls and bread-Baked this week and frozen.

Honey butter-Prepared the day before Thanksgiving.

Buttermilk pie-Prepared and frozen this week.

Chocolate Chess pie--Prepared and frozen this week.

Blueberry pie--Made the day before Thanksgiving.

Apple pie--Made the day before Thanksgiving.

If there is any recipe that anyone would like to see, just leave me a comment.  Otherwise we will be schooling, cleaning house and preparing our hearts for Thanksgiving.

Traditions--Chamblee Style!

I had really intended to post this a few weeks ago, but got caught up in life and so, there's nothing like last minute!!  Most of our family traditions center around the holidays.  I have already posted about some of our food traditions, but we have several other traditions around here that I hope bring special memories to my children as they grow and leave home.  I not only hope that they have great memories, but they understand the reasons behind our traditions.

In the Chamblee home we bring out our Thanksgiving decorations and serving pieces in mid-September.  We spend one or two days putting the every day items away and placing our cornucopia, platters, pitchers, wreaths, Pilgrims and various foliage throughout our kitchen and living areas.  We have had this tradition ever since moving into this house over 11 years ago and we all look forward to it.  Last year,  as Caedmon was due in early October, I begged out of decorating for fall.  Everyone complained that it just didn't seem like Thanksgiving without all of our decorations.  Hoping that they realize the decorations don't make for a thankful heart, we decorated joyfully this year.

Not only do we decorate for fall, but we spend time studying the Pilgrims and do a devotional series from Family Life called The Thanksliving Box.  We listen to praise music that reflects a thanksgiving theme.  Every year Jeff reads Margaret Pumphries' Pilgrim Stories to the children.

Most years we have one or two bonfires.  We drink gallons of hot tea and hot chocolate when the weather cools.  We drink coffee with all the flavored creamers that are available now.  We make leaf and acorn shaped cookies and begin filling the freezers with hearty casseroles and soups.  I pull out our fall table cloths and placemats and we enjoy a little more formal table setting.  For our Thanksgiving meal, we will use our "fancy" dishes.   These are not my treasured China dishes that my granny gave me when I was seven years old, but some white dishes with golden trim that were purchased from a dollar store.  They look fancy and nice, but I will not worry about them being broken.  After Thanksgiving we will use them for most of our evening meals until after we put away our Christmas decorations.   Most Thanksgiving Days are spent here at our home with Jeff's parents and my mom joining us.  We don't watch the parade or any football, but eat and enjoy some outdoor time and fellowship.  Last year we even took the pictures found in my sidebar and tomorrow we plan on taking more.  Maybe I can switch the pictures out and you can see how my children have grown this past year!

The day after Thanksgiving may find the girls and I doing a little shopping, but we will definitely begin to transition our decorations from Thanksgiving to Christmas on Friday with the hanging of the Christmas ornaments on the tree coming Sunday afternoon after church.

My mother started the tradition of giving our oldest daughter a Christmas ornament (or  set) each year and she has carried that through with all of the grands.  (I am so very sure she never thought that we would have 7 children and there would be 5 other grands as well!).  We also purchase ornaments for each of the children and now, our own grandchildren.  The ornaments typically reflect each child's interests that year or reflect a family trip or vacation.  This year I purchased the ornaments in Gatlinburg and most of them have a mountain theme.

When recently asking our children what they like most about Christmas some of them responded, "Advent!"  About 15 years ago we were vacationing in the Ozarks (in the fall---we love mountains in the fall!) and came across a little store/bakery that was associated with John Micheal Talbot's (a singer) monastery.  There we found a beautiful hand-carved Advent wreath and decided then and there to establish a new tradition.  So each year we spend most nights around the Advent wreath singing and reading scripture that looks toward the coming of Christ.  Each week a new candle is lit until the final candle is lit on Christmas Eve.  It is a very special time for our family and helps to keep the focus on Christ at Christmas.   The Advent season begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so you have time to set up this tradition for yourselves if  you haven't done so.

Another tradition we started about 10 years ago was the Jesse Tree.  We have a small table top Christmas tree that is covered in white lights.  Each night during our devotions around the Advent wreath we also put an ornament on our Jesse Tree that reflects the prophecy from the Bible that we are reading that night.  I printed the ornaments that I found on the internet on cardstock, colored with colored pencils, cut them out and mounted on red or green cardstock and hang them with sparkling gold thread.   We also have some Nativity ornaments that we hang on this small tree.

Spending so much time focused on the true meaning of Christmas helps us to keep our thoughts from being quite so self-centered and more Christ-centered.  Santa doesn't come to our house, but we do get three or four gifts for each of the children.  The children also draw names for each other.  Christmas Eve the children open the gifts from each other and the gifts from us.  Christmas morning they have some small gifts that we put in a stocking, but each child from the very youngest knows that mom and dad put them there.  Our gifts are not big.  We are not into electronic gadgets or commercialized toys.  They are usually tools needed for a hobby or craft, items to put in a hope chest for our older girls, books, fun school supplies or outdoor play items such as bikes, basketball goals or roller blades (and these come very rarely--how many basketball goals do you need, anyway!)   This year the children have mainly requested books.  It seems they have read everything that appeals to them on our heavy-laden bookshelves.  Books are one item that I will happily invest in!!

Our Christmas Eve dinner has become a puzzle, but it seems our tradition has become to have take-out Chinese!!  I think that has come from the years that Jeff was in full-time church ministry and having candlelight services on Christmas Eve.   We generally have homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning and have a meal much like our Thanksgiving dinner on Christmas Day.

Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, I have some more prep work to do and a house to clean as well.  I have some coughing, feverish children to take care of as well, so I am very thankful that we did not plan on traveling tomorrow.    Praying that you and yours will have a very special Thanksgiving and that you will make some special memories with your family.

Linking up at Learning to Live a Surrendered Life.  Check out the link for more Thanksgiving ideas!

Are You Washed?

It has been our family's practice for many years to meet together each evening for family worship. During this time we read Scripture, sing and pray. We are now attending a church where the hymns are not very familiar to us and we are missing some of the standard gospel hymns from our Southern Baptist upbringing. We typically sing from an old Baptist Hymnal during our home worship. Tonight we sang an old favorite "Are You Washed in the Blood?" Are you?

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in his grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless?
Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Saviour's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Traditional Recipe

The only experience I had in my growing up years with cranberries was the canned cranberry sauce that we had every holiday with our turkey and dressing. A few years ago my mother-in-law began making this cranberry casserole. We really enjoy it and I think you will, too! BTW, a side note for those of you doing the KONOS states and regions unit beginning in January---you will need cranberries as you study the New England states in week 2. Sam's has a big bag that you can get to make this recipe and then freeze to use for the recipes in your study. Enjoy!

Cranberry Casserole

1 c. peeled raw apples, chopped
3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. uncooked oatmeal
2 c. fresh cranberries
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 c. chopped pecans (I leave these out due to allergies)

Butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Put a layer of apples, half of each sugar, half of oatmeal and half of nuts. Repeat layers. Pour melted butter over all and bake in 350 degree oven for 45-40 minutes. Serves 8-10 people.

This also freezes well. I will be making two pans this week.