Holiday Gathering- Creating a Family Game Night!

Have you ever been to a holiday gathering and everyone sat around trying to think of something to say to break the silence? Something that would lighten the mood and get the conversation started had everyone racking their brains. Well, I have an idea for you that is so much more fun!! It might be hard to get everyone involved as it is not the "norm" any more. But once they start they will be glad they did and next year everyone will look forward to the holiday gathering at your house with a smile, not a dread!

It's a family game night!!

And it can span generations!! This past weekend we played "Spoons"!!

Anyone can play this game as soon as they are old enough to match three of a kind. It is a fun-filled, fast-paced game that will have the whole family sitting on the edge of their seats! And it can be a large or small group of any age range, so Grandpa and Little Joey can both play!!

We have also done Twister! It's a classic but children love it and the adults don't mind watching!



Bible Charades - My children are carrying their Ark of the Covenant into the Tabernacle(pink blanket on chair)

Or what about Charades? Pick a theme like Bible, Christmas, or Movies! Or play anything goes!!

Whatever game you choose it can make memories instead of mouns from the guests at your next holiday gathering. You can also throw in a yummy dessert to make it even better!!

Dirt Cake

Throw your cookies into the processor or hand your children rolling pins and the cookies in a zip top bag and crush them until they are tiny!!

Find a cute helper to mix your pudding and milk together.

Blend the cream cheese and butter until smooth.

Then fold in the pudding and cool whip.

The finished Dirt Cake

Then layer in a container, a see through one is fun, and chill until ready to serve!!

Then enjoy this with your guests after everyone is tired and smiling after a night full of fun!

What are some of your family fun night traditions? Do you have a special game that you play at gatherings? Share your ideas and let's start making memories!!

Written by Happily Domestic contributor - Amanda Sikes

Bright Lights Fall Tea Party

Last summer two of my good friends and I started a Bright Lights group for our daughters. If you have never heard of Bright Lights, it is a discipleship group for girls headed toward their teen years. The purpose of the group is to teach these girls to live their lives fully for Christ, to be strong in the Lord in their youth. Our group meets twice monthly. At our meetings we have lessons on specific character building topics such as being honest, building a relationship with our parents, having a clear conscience, being a friend, sharing our testimony, etc. Each week we also have a time of worship, prayer and end each meeting with tea time!

Since the girls finished up their first set of lessons, we moms felt a high tea was in order! Boy, did the girls have fun. They dressed in fancy dresses and we made oodles of goodies. Here is a few pictures from the occasion.

Pumpkin Spice Scones (made by me), Egg Salad, Chicken Salad an Cream Cheese and Watercress Sandwiches.

More goodies!

The Mamas (that's me in the middle)

Our lovely young daughters

While we had our tea, we listened to a variety of pretty music including the Little Women soundtrack.

Miss I ready for her tea

After we ate the girls decided to dance!

They put on some bluegrass and had their own little ho down!

Bow to your partner

Then it was time for our craft. We all made Lavender Sachets.

To save time we hot glued the sachets verses sewing them. It worked out well.

My daughter's sachet ready to be glued.

Finished project- so pretty and it smells so good!

All the finished sachets.

To learn more about Bright Lights or to find a group in your area, please click here.

Happy Thanksgiving Dear Readers!

Photo Credit

It's that time of year again, time to gather the family around the table for the feast of the year! Turkey, potatoes & gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and don't forget the pumpkin pie! It is also a time to reflect on what God has done for us over the past year, a time to give thanks.

I hope your Thanksgiving holiday is a joyous one filled with many reasons to be thankful. Be blessed and enjoy the day!

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 107:1

Wordless Wednesday- Baby's First Haircut!

Now that Baby J is 2 years old he finally had enough hair for his first haircut. He did such a good job! Sat so still.

Before

Chop, chop

So handsome!

Teaching Gratitude

During this season of thanksgiving we often find ourselves purposely focusing on what we are thankful for and also on helping our children learn how to be grateful. By nature we humans tend to take our blessings for granted. The things that we see, use, and have everyday become just that, everyday. These are the things that we don't even notice anymore. It will take more than a month out of the whole year for us to train our children to be grateful. We can't allow them to relish in the lavish "American" lifestyle for 11 months and then expect them to be overflowing with things they are thankful for the other one month. So, how does our family help our children to "see" their blessing all throughout the year.

• First, we expose our children, in age/maturity appropriate ways to the living conditions of others around the world. We do this through missionary books and hunger relief programs like Samaritan's Purse and World Vision.

• We also involve our children in outreach through our local church. We deliver meals to those that are sick, buy gifts for those in need, and "give up" a meal out to help someone with bills. We are VERY open with our children about giving sacrifically.

• And one of the biggest ways that we teach children to be grateful for their own blessings is that before a birthday and always before Christmas our children go through their toy boxes and donate toys that they are finished with. We make sure that they don't just donate the "junk" toys from the bottom of the box either. At times we ask them to really search their hearts, do you really need that many babies, barbies, hot wheels, etc. Just because you play with it doesn't mean that you should keep it. Another child may not have any toys that nice.

So we use these ways as well as any other ideas or conversations that come up throughout the year to train our children to be grateful all year long. But we, as most other people, use this season of the year to focus heavily on this training.

And here are a few of the tools that we have used this year to focus on this season of Thanksgiving....

A huge list of Thanksgiving themed free printables.

An entire ebook that is packed full of practical ideas for busy moms like you!

A download that has everything "crafty" from paper crafts, decorations, table accents and crafts for children too!!

How do you train your children toward gratitude? Do you have a website, a blog post, a lesson that you could share with us? Please leave a comment and let's help each other capture gratitude in the hearts of our children.

Written by Happily Domestic Contributor - Amanda Sikes

DIY Holiday Bibs Tutorial

Last summer I found the most amazing set of bibs at a yard sale and knew I could make them myself. I was correct! These are SO simple and better than any bibs you can buy at the store.

What you need:

1 small decorative kitchen towel

(these are not full size kitchen towels, these are the small ones that are pretty much worthless for kitchen or hand towels)

29 inches of Bias Tape

Thread to match

Ribbon or any other embellishments you want (optional)

You can almost always find these small decorative kitchen towels at places like dollar stores. I found this turkey print one at Target in their dollar bins. What is nice about these towels is they are already embroidered. Makes a cute bib without having to add much.

What to do:

Fold top of towel down towards the front. Adjust to desired length. Cut neck opening in center of towel at fold.

Next, take your bias tape and center with neck opening. You will then open bias tape to enclose around neck lining. Pin together.

Sew using a zig zag type stitch. You will need to sew the entire length of the bias tape, sewing close to the bias tape edge. Make sure to fold in the bias tape ends for a nice finished edge.

Here is the stitch setting I used.

The finished bib!

You can always add ribbon or ric-rac to the towel flap edge and to the bottom edge to give your bib a little more flair. I actually bought gold ribbon to do this, but lost it. :-( I'm not going to bother now.

Ready for lot's of Turkey and Gravy!

These bibs are so nice and cover well. I also like the flap at the top for wiping little faces. Did I mention these are also cheap to make? This one cost me around $2.00. It would be simple to make a nice set of holiday bibs for a baby shower gift.

Stay tuned for DIY Christmas bib with stretch neck opening!

Have Your Cookie and Eat it Too! Set of 2 Ebooks WINNER!!!

CONGRATULATIONS JILL!!!

She left winning comment #1...

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Jill said...

I'd love a set of these books from HD! I follow you on facebook, I follow Heavenly Homemakers on facebook. I follow the HD blog.

Thanks for the giveaway hosting!

NOVEMBER 8, 2011 5:33 PM

winner has been contacted by email and has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner will br drawn.

Bright Starts- Ingenuity Signature Edition Playard WINNER!!!

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winner has been contacted by email and has 48 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be drawn.

Birthday hat and shirt set review and giveaway!

The items from Jade and Grey Designs won't dissapoint that's for sure!! I received the matching birthday shirt and hat for little J's first birthday. From the moment I opened the box I couldn't wait for his party!!

Such beautiful bold colors!!

Brittany, the mother behind Jade and Grey Designs is super sweet and easy to work with. She kept me posted on when my items were finished and when they shipped and then she even followed up to make sure I got my package on time!!

First birthday photo shoot

She offers so much more than birthday sets though. Check out this hairbow set!! I would love to add it to my photo prop collection as well as to my girls' hair bow collection!!

Opening presents

She also offers bibs, nursing covers, and tutus!

At his party

The colors on this set are so bold and vivid and just perfect for any little boy!! The work is high quality and I know this set will hold up for numerous photo shoots to come!!

I made his cake to match the colors of his shirt

BUY IT- Visit Brittany's shop and purchase a variety of wonderful handmade items for the upcoming Christmas season!

WIN IT- Brittany has offered to make one of our readers a birthday set in their choice of gender and number!! $30Value!

After you have completed your first entry you are eligible for additional entries. *See my giveaway instructions here for more information. * *Remember to leave a separate comment for each additional entry and include your e-mail address.*
Extra Entries: (1 each unless specified, leave a separate comment for each thing you do)

First Mandatory entry: Visit Jade and Grey Designs and share with me what items catch your eye!!

• Follow Happily Domestic blog publicly through Google friend connect (can be found at my right sidebar.) - current follows count too! Counts for 2 entries.

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• Blog about THIS giveaway between November 19th and Novemebr 25th and gain TWO entries!!! link back to Happily Domestic- leave the URL where you blogged. Please leave separate comments for each entry. Example "I blogged about your Birthday Set giveaway@ #1" then "I blogged about your Birthday Set giveaway@ #2".

• Grab the Happily Domestic button! (found at right sidebar)- Leave the URL where it is posted.

• Follow Happily Domestic on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (counts as 1 entry)- after this you may "tweet" daily and gain an extra entry each day that you tweet-limit one per day.Leave your tweet status.

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• Enter any of Happily Domestic's current giveaways, leave a comment and tell me which giveaway you entered. Counts as 1 entry per giveaway entered. Please leave separate comments per giveaway you entered.

• "Like" Jade and Grey Designs on Facebook.

Giveaway ends November 30th, 2011 at 8:00 p.m.(MST). Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

*This giveaway is open to USA residents ONLY.
Must be 18 years old or older to win.*

Written by Happily Domestic Contributer: Amanda Sikes

Thank you to Jade and Grey Designs who provided me with the birthday set free of charge for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and no other compensation was received to conduct this review and giveaway.

A Thanksgiving Recipe: Cream of Mushroom Soup From Scratch



We've all had that wonderful thanksgiving classic Green Bean Casserole. It's yummy, comforting and easy. Unfortunately, one of the main ingrediants comes from a can, laden with chemical preservatives. One way that I am trying to make our diet healthier is making as much as I can from scratch. This eliminates those pesky preservatives as well as offers delicious flavor. I know exactly what is in our food and that is a good thing! So, here is my recipe for cream of mushroom. It is adapted from a recipe I received from a friend a while ago and I absolutely love it! Thank you Christina :)! You can use this to replace cream of mushroom in any recipe and because it stores well in the fridge for a couple days, you can prepare it a day or two in advance.

Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 tbs Butter

2 tbs Olive Oil

1/4 c. Whole Wheat Flour

(if you prefer white flour, that is fine.)

1 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp pepper or to taste

1/4 cup mushroom or chicken broth

1 3/4 cup whole milk, a little less for a thicker soup

(you want whole milk in order to get that thick creaminess)

12 fresh mushrooms roughly chopped

(I prefer 15-18 baby bellas or buttons but feel free to use your favorite mushroom)

Melt butter and oil in a sauce pan. Add flour, salt and pepper, stirring to make a rue (paste). Add mushrooms and cook until softened. Slowly add broth and milk while whisking until thickened or to desired consistancy.

This recipe makes equal to 2 10 oz. Cans of Condensed Cream Soup

How do you make the holidays a little healthier for your family? What ingredients do you try to make from scratch?

Written By Happily Domestic Contributer: Brittney Thompson

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A Thanksgiving Recipe: How To Brine A Turkey

We all know that when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner the turkey is the star. No pressure, everyone only expects it to be beautiful, flavorful and juicy! So how do you go about doing this? Well, I'm no turkey expert but in my opinion it's all in the brining. This is a fool proof way to gaurantee plenty of flavor and only takes a few extra minutes.

Turkey Brine

1 Turkey

1 turkey sized pot or brine bag

1 cup salt

1 bundle of thyme and sage

(5ish sprigs)
2 bay leaves

1 lemon, juiced

5-7 whole garlic cloves, crushed

2-3 tbs black peppercorns

(if you don't have peppercorns, you can use pepper. Peppercorns just offer more flavor and are easier to remove)

Enough ice water to submerge the turkey

I prefer doing this in a pot but you can just as easily use a brine bag and lay it in a roasting pan.

Mix salt into about 2 cups of your ice water to allow salt to disolve.

While your waiting put the turkey in container of choice and add remaining ingredients.

Now add salt water and the rest of your ice water until you have mostly covered the turkey.

Seal your bag or put a lid over your pot. Leave it over night until you are ready to cook it. Your water will be pink as the salt draws out the blood. This is normal. You will want to pat your turkey dry before you season it for the oven.

Enjoy!

There are many ways to season your brine like including orange juice and orange slices, cranberries, brown sugar... but I like my turkey to be simple and savory so I use this recipe. A quick google search for turkey brines will bring up all sorts of fun recipes, have a look and see what sounds best to you! Regardless, the beauty of a brine is that you are allowing your seasonings to infiltrate parts of the meat you simply can't reach. Your family and friends will be raving at your beautiful and flavorful creation!

This is last years turkey after my over night brine. Delicious and beautiful, I was quite impressed! I'll definitely be using it again this year.

What special tricks do you have to get that perfect turkey?

Written By Happily Domestic Contributer: Brittney Thompson

Wordless Wednesday- Dancing Babies!

Last weekend we rented Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 and when the menu came on my sons started rockin out! So funny! Look at J's face as he dances, he is such a hoot!

Deployment Homecoming Ceremony!

It finally arrived. The day my husband was going to be come back home, in my arms, touchable, real. I trully felt at times that he would be deployed forever. Suspended in time. Dramatic? Maybe... But I felt it anyway. I cannot express to you the joy that I felt on this day. We had to wait until 11 pm. Agonizing! Then it was delayed until 2:30 am. After daylight savings. Meaning, we had to get to 2 am twice. More agony. Than, 2:30am rolled around and they said "They are at Camp. It will be another 40 minutes." You could hear the groans. Little Man ended up falling asleep for a bit, despite all the noise. 40 minutes passes and... another 15 minutes. OH. MY. GOSH.

So sleepy!

Finally around 4 am they arrived. They announced the returning soldiers and all of us were cheering. Excited screams of "Theres my husband!!!", "Look, he's right there!", "Daddy! I see daddy!!!". Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes all over again.

They are HERE!!!

I began to panic after a minute when I hadn't seen mine yet. Where was he? What if he already came in and I missed him? What if he wasn't really with this group? It was completely irrational. I had just seen him on the moniter and I knew he was here. He was right behind the door. Finally my husband came out and suddenly I could breathe. It was like I had been holding my breath for a year and had finally come up for air. I couldn't tell if he could see me or not. I couldn't take my eyes off him. Tears started coming and I felt impatient for the rest of the soldiers to finish filing in.

Finally walking through the door! He was exhausted but has never looked better to me!

Thankfully, after all the wait and delays they decided to be short and sweet with the dismissal. I could see my husband looking for me and I excitedly waved as big as I could. He saw me, he was walking towards us. I was stuck on the bleachers and couldn't get to him. Another agonizing wait, what was probably 2 minutes felt like 10. To describe the moment he finally got to us is hard. He said "Hey baby" and kissed and hugged me. The realization that he was home sunk in. He wasn't leaving again, he was home to stay. After a moment he turned his attention to our son. He saw him at his birth, but left after only 2 days. It had been nearly 7 months since he had held Little Man. "Hey buddy", Little Man looked at him. I could see him trying to figure out who this guy was. We had been skyping often and I know he recognized his daddy's voice. After a minute, he lunged for him. Touching his face, playing with his uniform, all smiles... I could see the joy and relief on my husbands face. So much emotion happens in those first few minutes. It is amazing and overwhelming in all the best ways. Instead of trying to explain, I will just share a few pictures. I think they speak much better than I can.

Relief.

Father and son, finally together.

Love.

Thank you to Cyrstyal Handwerk Photography who took these pictures free of charge. It means so much to us that we have such beautiful pictures to remember this wonderful night. You have truly blessed me and my family.

Written By Happily Domestic Congtributer: Brittney Thompson