And The Tradition Continues......

Have I mentioned that we are a family that LOVES traditions??!!  Well, if not…we are!

Here are a few more of our Christmas favorites….

*Nativity scenes….LOVE them!  I especially love collecting them from different places we have traveled to.  The one below was given to us when we married 20 years ago!  It had more animals once upon a time, but even being short a few from the herd, I think it is beautiful.

 

Obviously these two were some that we collected during our travels.  I love how they each show the nativity in relation to that locations culture.

 

 

*Next would be Christmas cards!  We love to receive Christmas cards and we keep them every year.  I have a basket full of cards from the past 10 years and each year we enjoy looking through them.

Some are picture cards from our friends and family and those are really fun to look at how everyone has changed.  Sometimes there are cards from people who no longer will spend Christmas on this earth and those can be kind of sad, yet also neat because they always get us started sharing memories of that person!

This year we are doing something a bit different in sending out our cards.  We are slowly going through out list and making a couple of cards a day.  We are spending time praying for that family and trying to put some time into each one before we send it out.  That has been really fun!

 *Now we have our puzzles!!  We buy a new Christmas puzzle each year, put out a puzzle table, and get busy solving it!!  The girls are really good at the puzzles and we are already on a second puzzle this year!

 

*Books!  Every year we purchase a new Christmas book to put under the tree.  It is fun to look at the changes our books have gone through.  We started with board books, then to picture books and now novels that we read together over the holiday season.

 

*RACK….this is our newest tradition….Random Acts of Christmas Kindness.  We plan out an act of kindness to do each day during the Advent season.  These have ranged from taping quarters to gumball machines, to spending an evening praying for friends, and even handing out hundred dollar bills to random people.  We have learned to step out of our bubble and make an effort to become more involved in the lives of others through this activity. 

This year we decided to recycle our Thankful Tree and turn it into our RACKed Advent tree! 

 

Click HERE to read about how we displayed our RACK Advent last year!

The neat thing about this tradition is that the Lord changes it each year!  This year we have been doing something a bit different, but I will share that with you tomorrow!

Traditions are a great way to make life comfortable, peaceful and joyful, but remember that sometimes traditions become stumbling blocks and keep our focus off of what it should be on.  It is always fun to look at new traditions and try some, but every family is different and what is fun for us might be a burden for you! 

Thank the Lord we are all so different because this would be a pretty boring world if we were not!

Cinnamon Ornaments

In our chat yesterday about Bumpkin Farm's Christmas tree traditions, I told you that I would give you more info today on how to make cinnamon ornaments.  Being that I am a farm-ess of my word, here ya go!!! 


First you start with 3 cups of cinnamon and 3 cups of applesauce.  I was able to get my cinnamon at Dollar Tree!!  Whew!!  That could have been expensive!

Then you mix it up! 

I started with a spoon and eventually went to using my hands because the dough became to thick. 

Oh, you should also know that the batch in the pictures is a double batch so you won't have as much dough.

Then you grab some cute helpers and some cookie cutters!!

Sprinkle a little cinnamon on the surface you plan on using just like you do when you make biscuits. 

Then you plop the dough down and start rolling it with either a rolling pin or your hands!  I prefer the rolling pin, but....there is a girly that lives in my house (otherwise known as my daughter) and she likes to use her hands!

You flatten it out at whatever thickness you want your ornaments to be, but remember, the thicker the ornament the longer it takes to dry.  Then you get cutting!! 

Be sure that you keep some extra cinnamon around to use when things get sticky!!

Then beautiful cinnamon ornaments begin to appear in your kitchen!!

After cutting them out, make sure you use a toothpick and make a little hole at the top for the string, ribbon or hanger!  We forgot this one year....Oops!

Stick them on a cookie sheet once they are cut for about an hour to allow them to harden up just a bit.

 

 

 

You will notice that about this time your house starts to smell REALLY yummy!!  Our dogs started to think there might be something good for them in the kitchen.  They are not allowed into the kitchen so they were both sitting at the entrance just hoping someone would share!

Tank really, REALLY wanted to help!!  He thought they smelled REALLY good!!!!

So after an hour on the cookie sheet, move them to drying racks where they dry for a few days.  It was funny because I had these racks in the corner of my kitchen during Thanksgiving and because of the yummy smell, everyone tried to grab the cinnamon "cookies" during our celebration!  They taste GROSS...trust me ;)

After they are dry you string your hanger of choice in the hole.  We use twine, but ribbon is really pretty too!! 

Then you can either paint them or leave them the way they are.  We usually do a little of both!

I think they look lovely on the tree and they make the house smell yummy all season!  And, when you go to open your Christmas boxes next year the smell of cinnamon instantly gets you in the Christmas mood!!

This is a really simple project to do, yet yields a great return!!  Super fun, beautiful in a simple way, and a fun tradition to have.

Blessings my blogger friends!!

Christmas Trees on Bumpkin Farm: Christmas Traditions

After Advent, I would say that my next favorite family Christmas tradition is the cutting and decorating of our tree.

The day after Thanksgiving we head out to find the "perfect" family tree!  Now, perfect is relative cuz I could tell you some crazy stories about trees past!

Unfortunately, where we live there is no place to just head out in the woods and find a Christmas tree, so we head to a tree farm to find it!

We usually walk around for a couple of hours going from tree to tree declaring each tree's perfection until we see the next one.  Then about two hours into it my back hurts and everyone is getting a little dizzy from all of the trees so we just pick one and begin cutting!

Christmas tree cutting this year!! 2013

Tree cutting from 2011!!

Tree cutting 2010!!

We load it up and carry it home, set it up in the living room and allow a day for all of the branches to settle, or all the insects to wake up from their slumber!

Then the following day is probably one of my top five most favoritest days of the year....tree decorating!!  The Friday night before we decorate the tree, we spend time decorating the house and Farmer Willie puts the lights on the tree so then once Saturday comes....BAM, we decorate!!

It is a decorating party!!  We have a spread of finger foods, always have some chips and queso, red and green M&M's and Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes.  There is usually some fruit and raw veggies with dip thrown in there too.  And finally......Christmas punch!!!

After we spend time eating and visiting we begin decorating!!  We usually put up three trees.  The main on in our living room we cover with ornaments that we make.  This year it is mostly cinnamon ornaments and boy does our living room smell good!  (I will show you how to make them tomorrow!)

The other tree, usually in the dining room, we hang our yearly ornaments.  Each year one of the girls and I will go and pick out a special ornament for each person.  Sometimes we have a theme and other years we get ornaments based on things that each person was interested in throughout the year.  We label them with the year and the name.  We started this about ten years ago and the plan is that when the girls leave home they will be able to take their special ornaments with them to hang on their trees!!

We also hang our travel ornaments on this tree as well.  Each time we travel to a new destination we try and pick up a Christmas ornament as a souvenir!!

You can imagine how much fun this tree is to decorate!!  It brings back tons of memories and fun stories!!!

The final tree is really just there because we love Christmas trees!  This year it is decorated in red and white and is in our library.

You will note the cat at the bottom, Aslan, thinks he is the best gift of all!

We keep the lights on the trees going as long as we are awake!  I love the mood that it sets in the house!! 

We don't really do presents, so under the main tree we have our Christmas books, under the red and white tree we have some homemade gifts for each other and  we don't put anything under the memory/travel tree.

So....what traditions do you have with your Christmas trees??!!

Advent on Bumpkin Farm - Christmas Traditions

Christmas is coming! 

I know, hard to believe isn't it?  This year has flown by!!

Our family is one that loves tradition!  Probably a little too much :)  But during this time of year our traditions abound and frankly, we like it that way!!

One of our favorite traditions is observing Advent. 

What is advent?  It is traditionally a time of expectation and waiting for the celebration of Christ's birth.  It is a time to focus your attention, thoughts and actions on things that are everlasting as opposed to short-lasting.

In order to do this, we have nightly Advent readings that include the lighting of the Advent candles, a short lesson, reading of scripture, singing, and prayer.

Our advent wreath is simple greenery with four candles in the middle, three being purple and one pink.  The purple candles are the color representing royalty and penance and the pink, being that Advent is partially patterned after Lent, represents joy . 

Week 1 stands for Hope, and week 2 Love. Week 3 stands for joy and week 4 peace. In the center of those candles is a short white candle that is lit on Christmas morning representing Christ!

Different churches and different denominations observe Advent differently so we have just picked what makes sense to us and gone with it!! 

I remember when growing up, the Baptist church we attended observed advent and each Sunday we sang the following song:

Light One Candle

1. Light one candle for hope One bright candle for hope He brings hope to every heart He comes! He comes!

2. Light one candle for love One bright candle for love He brings love to every heart He comes! He comes!

3. Light one candle for joy One bright candle for joy He brings joy to every heart He comes! He comes!

4. Light one candle for peace One bright candle for peace He brings peace to every heart He comes!

He comes!

 Because this song has a lot of memories and meaning to me, it is one of the songs we sing each Sunday when we light that week's candle.

Do I think you have to observe Advent?  Nope! 

But for our family, it is a way that we can come together each evening and bring our busy, excited thoughts all back to the reason we are rejoicing and celebrating in the first place.  That God...GOD, chose to become a human and come to earth and live just to sacrifice himself for ME so that not only we can spend eternity together, but so that we can have a relationship now!!

Want to read more blogs about homesteading? 

Follow this link!!  Homestead Barn Hop

Bumpkin Bars!!

Bumpkin Farm is now up and running!

What's the difference?  Well, now we have a cool name and a logo thanks to Urban Creative Studio via etsy!!

And we have officially sold our first batch of soap, otherwise known as Bumpkin Bars!!

So for today's post, I thought you might enjoy seeing how we make the bars.

This batch is a peppermint 100% goat milk soap.  We say 100% goat milk because most goat soaps are made with some water added.  Since we use the milk that we get each morning we have a nice supply and are able to use all milk.

First things first, we get all of the supplies laid out!

Then we start to measure out the ingredients beginning with the solid oils like palm and coconut oil.

Then we measure the liquid oils out!

After that we begin to melt the solids.

Once that gets going we finish measuring out the essential oils, any specialty oils and the milk.

Here we are measuring out the peppermint essential oil.




We measure our milk out in frozen cubes.  It is much easier to control the temperature of the milk when you use frozen milk and there is the added benefit of it being easier to get an exact weight on!

Once that is measured the solid oils are usually melted and we add the liquid oils such as olive oil.  This allows time for the oils to sit and cool to the correct temperature!

Adding the olive oil to the coconut and palm oils!

At this time we also measure out the lye.

During the next step we add the lye to the milk.  This is done very slowly and carefully as lye can severely burn your skin if it is not handled correctly.  Another hazard is adding the lye too quickly.  If this happens your burn your milk.

We at Bumpkin Farm always take the utmost precautions when handling the lye!!  Goggles, long pants and sleeves, shoes and rubber gloves are a must!  We also keep a bottle of vinegar out in case of spills or splashes.

As the lye and milk cubes mix the lye heats the milk up quickly.  Because of this we monitor the temperature of the mixture.  If you keep it at just the right temp, you end up with a beautiful, creamy colored soap!!

Look at that great color!!

One of the final steps is the mixing of the oil mixture and the milk mixture.  At this point the lye is extremely dangerous so we have to be really careful!

We pour the milk mixture into the oil after they both reach about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  After these are mixed well we use a hand blender to really, REALLY mix them!!  When they are mixed and things are going as planned, you watch for the mixture to reach something called "trace." 

This is the point that your mixture reaches the consistency of pudding.

Once we have mixed, and mixed, and mixed and we reach trace, we add the essential oils and any extra oils such as sweet almond oil or shea butter!!  Then it is poured into the mold where it sits and cools.

After 24 hours the bar will begin to harden.  At this point we have to cut it quickly!!  We use a lot of palm oil in our soaps and they tend to harden fast so we have to keep an eye on it.

 After cutting, the soap then sits on drying racks for one month. This time helps the soap to dry and harden, thus helping it last longer!  It also allows the chemical reaction to finish where the lye, milk and oils become soap!

And finally.....

We have the finished bars!!  And boy do these smell good :)