12 Days of Christmas (2017) – Day 10

GRAND PRIZE!!!

One of you WHO COMMENTS ON ALL TWELVE POSTS AND ALSO SHARES ABOUT THE SERIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA will win a grand prize from me, pictured here.

REMEMBER…in order to win the grand prize, you must leave a comment on all 12 posts. You can start with Day One HERE.

OK, let’s get started with our tenth day’s guest, September McCarthy!

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Traditions

My oldest daughter sent me a text a few weeks ago that warmed my heart and stirred my memories. She asked if she could come back home and re-live a Christmas memory that my builder husband and I began way back when our older children were so very little.

When a baker marries a builder, the delectable hand-crafted fun that we stir and craft from our Christmas weekends, are gifts we love delivering to our friends and families every year.

The builder creates a work area with tools and fresh-scented wood and helps the kids work diligently on hand-made Christmas ornaments, with a templates and tools and a station for the finishing touches. And while the builders of choice work with their hands and their gifts, the little ones are set up at the counters with mama and make dozens of Christmas goodies to be delivered as well.

When it is time to deliver our handmade gifts, we always let the kids go to the door and make their deliveries. They work through excitement and nervousness to share the real joy of our Christmas season with ours. They shine the gift of giving and most importantly listening. The biggest blessing of crafting and baking and delivering gifts has been the opening of our hearts to receiving the words of others that share their stories with us when we give. My children have learned to listen to loss and needs and to see where they have made a difference in the life of someone that may have overlooked before.

We allow the kids to pray and choose who they want to give their gifts to. We drive through neighborhoods, towns and streets that may be unfamiliar and when they give their gifts they share the Good News that Jesus has Come.

The greatest gift in giving has been in the waiting to see how God will use us. While we create and bake and whittle away, we talk and consider just exactly who will receive our gifts and how God can use our smallest offerings.

Some of our favorite recipes have come from our traditions and some of our most favorite memories have come from the giving. The best gift we can give to our children at any time of the year is the gift of giving with a sincere heart of sacrifice and love, always pointing the greatest gift on earth – Jesus.

I share our heart for serving and loving others, with creative ideas and incentives to raising a family that love others well.

Enjoy one of our favorite Christmas recipes below. Perhaps you can find a few new ways to serve and love those around you this Christmas Season. There is no better way to teach our children to love others, than to do it together.

Thumbprint Cookies, September McCarthy

350 Degree Oven, 3 Dozen Cookies

¼ cup butter, softened

¼ shortening

¼ brown sugar, pressed

1 egg- separated

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup finely chopped nuts

Mix butter, shortening, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla

Work in flour and salt until dough holds together

Shape teaspoons into balls. Beat eggs whit slightly. Dip each ball and roll into nuts.

Place 1″ apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Press thumbprint before baking.

Bake 10 minute or until light brown. After cool, fill with favorite jam and lightly dust with confectionary sugar.

Day Ten Giveaway

For the 12 Days of Christmas series, I am giving away a copy of my book, {Why} Motherhood Matters, along with the Companion Journal for {Why} Motherhood Matters.

September McCarthy is the wife to one amazing builder and a home educating mother to ten beautiful children and three grandchildren. You can find her words penned on her blog, at One September Day, September lives a rural life, with her growing family, chickens, gardening, shelves overflowing with books and a project always on the horizon. Her family is her #1 priority and her heart is always at home. She believes in new mercies every day and fresh grace on everyone she meets. You can follow her on Social Media here: Facebook, Instagram, and Blog.

 

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