Für Susanne...

Danke für die Geschenke, Familie Siebert! Letzten Freitag haben wir eine Überraschung aus Deutschland! Susanne hat mir Früchtetee gekauft und ich mag es! Ich habe mit Andrew geteilt aber nur ein wenig. Ravenna und Andrew haben ihre Kindereier geliebt und Ravenna mag ihr Armband und ihre Kerze. Es war so lieb von euch und wir hoffen, euch zu bald sehen. Was möchten sie aus den USA, bitte? (Ich denke, dass die Susanne braucht ein Blog).

With the help of a German dictionary and occasional grammar help from Andrew I wrote that paragraph! It may have taken me half an hour but I did it! Here is the translation: Thank you for the gifts, Siebert Family! Last Friday we got a surprise from Germany! Susanne got me fruit tea and I love it! I have shared with Andrew but only a little bit. Ravenna and Andrew loved their Kinder Eggs and Ravenna loves her bracelet and candle. It was so nice of you and we hope to see you soon. What would you like from the USA? (I think Susanne needs a blog)

Celebrating Advent

 Last year when we had our Super Frugal Christmas I made this Advent Calendar as a gift for my family using only what I had in my fabric stash and my somewhat limited sewing/embroidery skills. Now that Advent has rolled around again we are finally able to get to use it!

In our determination to try to keep Christ as the center of our Christmas celebrations we are doing family/spiritual activities for every day instead of candy or small toys. I typed up activities and put the folded slips of paper into each one of the stars. Luckily I had the good sense while making the calendar to color code the stars' numbers by weeks since I randomly strewed them about in the sky above the stable, otherwise it would be much less fun to try to find the correct number each day.

For the second Sunday of Advent we lit our second candle, read from Isaiah 9:6 and listened to Handel's Messiah Chorus. Ravenna was upset that we didn't light all four of the candles so we also talked with her about how Christ brings light to the world and lighting the candles one-by-one helps us to appreciate the increase of light as we get closer to celebrating Christ's birth (also the Return of the Sun!).


What I love about this calendar is how personalized I can make it. For example, during this last week we put up the Christmas lights and wreath one day, the next we set up our nature table and this coming week I have the Christmas parties we are attending as activities on the days that they will occur and on December 5, tomorrow, Ravenna will put out her shoes for Saint Nicholas.

To prepare for Saint Nicholas due to some "misconceptions" about who actually will be bringing her gifts on Christmas Eve/Day (we haven't decided yet) we have been spending some time at this lovely website that teaches all about the life of Saint Nicholas. Sometimes we forget to do the things listed on the scraps of paper and sometimes they just don't work out for various reasons but I love having the ideas of festive and enjoyable things to do every day.

The Handmade Christmas

So much knitting in December! This is Andrew's hat made with 100% virgin wool. It was fun learning how to make cables. While the pattern worked up just fine, I couldn't get the gauge right and made it too big.  All of these knitted patterns are on my Ravelry page (talldarkeyes) if you are interested.

I made six of these knitted monogrammed dish wash cloths and they were a perfect project for learning how to knit. They also made great gifts for the grandma's who still wash their dishes by hand.

This hat was made for my sister Rachelle and was the first had I ever knitted. It was knitted in an alpaca blend and came out very soft. I really like the flower accent. 

 My MAJOR project that didn't get finished until Advent was nearly over was this Advent Calendar. I made this up with no pattern using only materials I had lying around so please excuse the poor planning and design. I must say it was VERY frustrating to try to figure this one out with limited sewing skills/design knowledge. It came out all right in the end and we are looking forward to using it next year.

My favorite element was Mary holding baby Jesus. I really wanted to have her holding him instead of him being in the manger because if I had just given birth I would never want to put that baby down.

All of the stars are pockets that will accommodate a slip of paper that will list a scripture related to the birth of Christ as well as a celebratory activity for that day. It might be baking cookies and giving them to a neighbor or for the 24th singing Stille Nacht. I will get those ready for next year and I am excited for the memories I know that this calendar will help our family make.

Christmas Abundance

Per our family tradition we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve morning. Despite our small budget I do believe that this year the gifts were the most meaningful. I can remember countless times as a child (even as an adult) where after the gift unwrapping extravaganza, surrounded by wrapping paper and gift chaos, feeling disappointed. It was a difficult feeling to understand because I often would get at least one gift item that I wanted. Thinking back on it now it seemed like coming down from a sugar high of all the excitement and anticipation. Maybe I am growing up, but this year I cared more about seeing the happiness on the faces of those I gave to.

We follow a tradition of only giving four gifts: something you want, something you need, something to share, and something to remind you of Christ. At least one of those items needs to be handmade. With our $15/person budget here is how we did.

Ravenna received a shopping cart and wooden fruit for the want gift (Goodwill), puzzles for the need (Garage sale), and Candyland to share. To remind her of Christ I made a Nativity scene Advent calendar that I will post pictures of later. We were able to stretch the budget in this case because someone kindly gave us a gift card so Ravenna also got a small tea set.

Andrew's gifts seem small but that is because of them never arrived which was his "want" gift (CURSE you USPS!). He received Penzey's grilling spices to share, razors and the knitted hat for the need and the advent calendar was made for him too.

 Andrew's gifts to me were so well thought out and really kind. For the gift to share he got me a spider plant, for my want a used copy of the Encyclopedia of Country Living, steaks for the "need" he he he, and a really cool carved nativity he commissioned from one of his students. We were delighted to see that Andrew bought me steaks and I bought him steak seasoning!

While this isn't the most impressive Christmas gift showing I am so happy with it. I feel so happy that we succeeded at our goal and nobody felt deprived. This season has been so joyful for me as I busily went about imagining and creating gifts for our loved ones. It also has been so nice to not be very concerned about the receiving. I know we won't always need to be in the position to have a small Christmas budget but I have to say, I think I want to do a $15 Christmas again next year!

Handmade Christmas Linky Love!

As promised here is a rather short list of some of my (recent) favorite handmade gift resources. I will happily add more as I find them (or you send them to me). I have others that I am currently making so I don't want to post them lest prying eyes discover their Christmas gifts!

Make your own vanilla extract! I am totally doing this for myself!
Gifts from Nature are always great with kids.
Inspired Ideas, has tons of cute projects and includes all the patterns and directions!
Knitted Monogrammed dishcloths!
14 free patterns at STC Craft.

Just for fun: given that this is the first week of Advent check out Wee Folk Art's Advent celebration.

The $15 Christmas

This year has been a year of many lessons in frugality. While our 2010 family resolution was not intended to be a penny pinching endeavor it has become that and I am very grateful to have had the preparation. In January we never imagined the negative impact that a new teaching contract would have on Andrew's take home pay, nor the sharply rising costs of insurance and food (have you SEEN the price of butter?!) generally.

Like many Americans a single paycheck just isn't cutting it no matter how frugal we try to be. We are blessed to have some savings and I earn a small amount from babysitting which make up for the difference, but savings won't last forever when there is always a deficit. After Christmas I will need to get a part-time job and the necessity frightens me. Going back to work isn't frightening so much as the need to go back to work despite my tireless efforts to reduce our spending. We live very frugally and just within this past year we have let go of a cell phone, new clothes, a car, cable TV, Netflix, eating out, comfortable thermostat settings and taking vacations all in the name of THE BUDGET. The only thing that we haven't cut back on is food but I am not willing to sacrifice the health and happiness of my family and live on beans and rice. Yet...

With these looming financial pressures Christmas appears on the horizon. After figuring out the budget we decided that we would only spend $150 total which is the smallest amount we have ever spent on Christmas in our entire marriage. After the gift giving list was tallied that left only $30 for me and Andrew but we are excited for the challenge and know we can make it work and still have great gifts! How? Nearly all of the gifts we are giving are going to be handmade/secondhand which we have had a lot of practice doing this year! Luckily for Ravenna, I have been collecting her gifts throughout the year at thrift stores and garage sales but her gifts will also not amount to more than $15.

This post is not written to worry anyone (especially our families) about our family, but to honestly state that we understand the financial pressures of a down economy very keenly; we sympathize with the greater struggles that others are going through and we know we are blessed. Despite a small budget we will be able to find ways to still participate in holiday traditions despite. God gave us magnificent brains and a desire to create. If I can harness those two energies I know I can learn how to use them to give joy to others in a frugal, yet still loving, fashion.

Does anyone else have a frugal Christmas plans? Maybe we can share ideas? I already have a growing list of Internet links with great (frugal) gift giving ideas that I am going to post soon. Handmade Christmas gifts take time and planning so getting started ASAP is a necessity!

Christmas at the Whitlock Manor

While a little late, please enjoy this post with pictures of our delightful Christmas celebrations. In the above picture Ravenna is ecstatic to have received two "Baby Signing Time" DVD's and is signing "heck yeah!" Actually, she is signing "baby" but that isn't as cool.

This is my make-shift Advent wreath. For weeks Andrew kept saying the kitchen smelled funny, like "feces" (by the way, anything that "smells weird" to Andrew gets equated with feces). It turns out that the smell was the coming from the candles. I did not think that they smelled anything like feces, more like petrochemical, but next year I think we will find some beeswax candles and keep these ones for emergencies.

The Lean Tree again! Rachel asked about how my cloth gift bag adventure turned out and you can see for yourself if you click on the picture. Notice all the gifts under the tree are wrapped using reusable/reused wrapping. Even the gift tags were made from last years Christmas cards. Hurray for frugal and Eco-friendly, plus, they look crafty fabulous.

Here Jeff-Dad is modeling the latest in reusable gift bag fashion. Doesn't he look stunning?

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

December 6th is Saint Nicholas Day, when much of Europe celebrates the man whose myths created the Santa whose arrival Americans await on December 24th. Saint Nicholas was the patron saint of many things but was especially known for his generosity and good deeds. On the night of December 5th, German children put out their shoes and often leave oats and carrots for Saint Nicholas' horse. If the children were good, their shoes would be filled with small toys and treats, but if not...well, lets not talk about that since all children are good.

So, last night Ravenna put out her shoes and this morning, look what she found:

A fresh dusting of snow and some awesome finger puppets!

She just loves them! I think that we will continue this tradition in the future because it was lots of fun and fits in well with our Advent celebration. Tonight we lit our second Advent candle, read scriptures prophesying of Christ's coming and sang, "The First Noel."