I've added a few new features to Musings of a Housewife that I hope will be helpful. Over the weekend I created a Whole Foods Resources page that is a great place to start if you are interested in learning more about the whole foods lifestyle. I also compiled my design tutorials into one convenient location. Both are linked in my nav bar. And there is now a Print Friendly button at the bottom of each post, should you feel like printing recipes or information for future reference. Before printing, you will have the option to delete any photos or content you don't need.
Another collection I bring out every year at Christmastime is our Christmas picture books and music. I don’t know about you all, but I always put away the Christmas books during the rest of the year so they are fresh and exciting to look at every Christmas season. That’s what my mom did, so that’s what I do!
We enjoy using these story books and Christmas carols to teach our children our beliefs about the birth of Jesus and God’s redemptive plan. We also enjoy reading stories that tell tales of our cultural Christmas traditions (yes, gasp, even Santa).
My very favorite of all Christmas books is Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas Tree. My mom saw Captain Kangaroo (anyone remember him!!?) read this book on his television show when I was a little girl, and she fell in love with the story and bought the book. It was my favorite growing up, and now it is a favorite of my children’s.
If you haven’t read it or don’t have it, please for the love of all that is merry and bright, order this book TODAY! See, it even qualifies for free super saver shipping on Amazon. Order several and give the extras as gifts. It’s that good.
Another favorite is The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree. It tells a sweet story of a little girl’s Appalachian Christmas.
And if you are looking for a book that tells the Christmas story, I am very fond of a book entitled The Christmas Story. The words are straight from the Gospel of Luke, and the illustrations are gorgeous.
Then I have a Christmas playlist on my iPod that’s full of, well, Christmas music, of course. So we enjoy the sounds of Christmas in our car and house throughout the season.
I’ve been trying to think of my favorite Christmas carol, and I really don’t think I can choose one. I love the old classics like Hark the Herald Angels Sing and some of the more obscure like Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence. There is a richness in the hymnity that is rarely replicated in more modern lyrics, I don’t know why. I find this particularly striking in Christmas carols. Don’t get me wrong, I love the more modern Christmas songs as well. I have quite a few Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant tunes on my Christmas playlist. But the hymns have a way of humbling me.
So what are some of your favorite books and songs?
The Villages
The first Christmas that we were married, I started collecting those little lighted Christmas houses by Department56, and over the years my collection has grown exponentially. I have collections from both the Snow Village and Christmas in the City.
Last year we were too overwhelmed with a new house and a new baby to be bothered with my villages, so I was looking forward to getting them out again this year and deciding which pieces to display.
I usually like to make several displays in different rooms in the house, but many of those surfaces are within reach of curious little fingers. So this year we (meaning Hubby) just made one big display of the Christmas in the City collection on top of my entertainment center, which is high enough to prevent a certain one-year-old from getting into mischief.
With the Christmas tree relegated to the living room this year (another concession we have made this year with a toddler in the house), the village is our focal point of Christmas decorations in the family room, and I find I am enjoying it all the more without anything else to compete.
I love to sit on the couch in the evening with the lights in the room turned off, all except the village. It’s such a peaceful winter scene, reminiscent of Christmases past.
I’ll have pictures to post in the Christmas Tour of Homes!
Today in a moment of weakness, I picked up some Christmas cookies at the local grocery. You know, the shortbread cutouts with the red and green sprinkles that come in a bag. I have such discriminating tastes.
I brought them out when we got home and shared a few with C, who took one and immediately started picking off all the green sprinkles.
When I inquired, she replied, "I’m trying to get all these broccolis off here."
Clearly I need to buy cookies with sprinkles more often.
At Marianne’s request: Peanut Butter Balls.
This recipe is an old favorite. It originally came from my aunt, Midlife Mom.
I traditionally make these Peanut Butter Balls and box them up as Christmas gifts for friends and family. They make great teacher gifts too. I usually start making them before Thanksgiving, and I always lose count of how many batches I make.
Not only do they make great holiday gifts, they are nice to have on hand for snacking too. Not that I would know anything about that. Huh-uh, not me. I have way too much self-control for that.
So anyway, here is the recipe, if anyone is interested:
Peanut Butter Balls
Mix the following and refrigerate for several hours or overnight:
1-1/2 cups peanut butter
1 box 10x sugar
2 sticks butter, room temperature
Melt together in a double boiler:
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 stick paraffin wax (This can be found in the canning section of the grocery store.)
Roll peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls. Using toothpicks, dip balls into chocolate mixture and cool on wax paper. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve.
ENJOY!
One of my favorite things to bring out at Christmastime is my Christmas dishes.
I have accumulated almost a complete set of the Spode Christmas Tree dishes over the years. The nice thing about these dishes is they are casual enough for everyday use and nice enough for company. So I actually put away my regular dishes and use the Christmas ones the whole month of December.
In fact.
Shhhh, don’t tell.
But I actually dug these out last weekend and have been using them all week. Yes, before Thanksgiving.
I know, I’m such a rebel.
I was tagged by Chili for this meme. She’s making me work today. Let’s see…
1) Growing up I had the ugliest foot known to man. I had a huge bunion. Hubby has admitted that the first time he saw it, it scared him. Seriously. Not a pretty site, Let. Me. Tell. YOU!! I had a bunionectomy to remove it when I was 22.
Besides being very painful, it severely limited the shoe styles I could wear. After the surgery, the door to the world of shoes was thrown wide open, and I have been in shoe utopia ever since. (Everything comes back to food or shopping with me, doesn’t it?)
2) I love tulips. They are my favorite flower. Yesterday I planted 30 tulip bulbs in my yard. I wish I’d bought more.
3) I’m a coffee snob. You can have your Starbucks. I order my coffee from LaColombe. It’s amazing coffee. And it’s a local company! Well, local to me, anyway.
4) I probably have a brain tumor.
Gee, that sounds awfully dramatic. My mother always told me I have a flair for the melodrama. Incidentally, karma (if you believe in that sort of thing) is alive and well in my daughter, who is at the moment having a fit over trying to take off her tights.
Anyways, it’s called a meningioma, and thank the good Lord, it’s benign. It was discovered last winter. When I’m done nursing I am supposed to go for an MRI to see exactly what is there, how big it is, and to decide if it should be treated. Should be fun!
5) I have a sick addiction to polishing my stainless appliances. My kitchen floor might go a month without seeing a mop, but my appliances are spotless and shiny!
If you want to do this meme, consider yourself tagged! And leave me a link!
Just a mom attempting to juggle three kids, four blogs, a blog design business, and the laundry. 
