Food Storage?

So, if you are a member of the church you have heard many times about food storage and being prepared.  Well, as far as our living spaces go we've always lived in little tiny apartments or in someone's basement, so food storage wasn't an option.  Plus, the idea of a room full of dried beans and wheat wasn't appealing to me.  

Food storage was for old people.  (Yeah, I said it.)

When we first got here to Washington I - for some reason - felt like I should just buy an extra of things when I went shopping.  An extra can of peanut butter here, an extra box of cereal there, you know...just because I knew we liked it and would probably finish it before I wanted to go to the store again. 

Pretty soon my cupboards in my tiny kitchen couldn't handle the extra food and I actually decided I'd clear a little spot on a shelf in one of our main storage closets in our house.  

This house is small and has about as much storage space as any other apartment we've lived in, so the shelf was a hot commodity, but I did it anyway...because it was either that or cramming it on top of my washer and dryer. (Not that having an excuse to avoid laundry wasn't tempting.)

Pretty soon my small shelf spot needed to be expanded, and after a little while we had a "food storage" of our own.  

(A very small amount of food storage mind you.)

I didn't think much of it until we had a rough month where we had no money and payday was 2 weeks away.  And since we don't live by family we couldn't "drop by" at the right time to mooch dinner off people.

But then I looked in my closet and realized we would be okay, and we were able to feed our family for those 2 weeks from our little closet of extra's.  

I am now a HUGE believer in food storage...except not the beans and wheat, because that would do no good for me.  

I still buy an extra of things whenever I can, our food storage now looks like this:

See, we have NO space...it's smashed in with all our board games and other stuff, but it's there.  

And that is a very comforting thing.

What's for dinner?

You know what I realized, I've been totally stuck in la-la land not even thinking about how DIFFERENT this Christmas is going to be without going home to be with family.  I've been so busy preparing with decorations and gift buying/sending that I hadn't stopped to think about what this Christmas is really going to be like.

That is until today.

Today it hit me.  

Who's going to feed us??

Okay, that wasn't really what I thought...but think about it if you will.  We normally have families to visit, cousins to see and play with, food was coming out our ears wherever we went.  Now it's up to me to provide that same "stuffed to the rafters with all the junk you could ever want" for my own little family, and I'm hoping I am up to the challenge.  I sat down to make a little menu and I'm not going to lie, it made me a little sad to write down the things that we normally eat as tradition with our families.

Lest you think my entire life revolves around food (not that one look at me doesn't really give that away) I was sad about other things too.  Just the simple ability to sit and laugh with our families will be MAJORLY missed this year.  But I am determined to make it the best Christmas I possibly can for my little family.  

Sure circumstances made it so we couldn't be home for Christmas this year, but that will not ALWAYS be the case.

So here is what we've done the last week or so to keep us busy:

Playing outside (when it's not raining).  Addison LOVES pushing the walking toy back and forth over and over on the patio.  Plus doesn't she look freaking adorable in her new coat??

Claire insisted on making a leaf pile (even though the leaves on the ground were soaking wet) so she began jumping and pulling leaves off the tree instead.

Brielle joined by trying to climb the tree.

Me, Brielle and Claire went to a "Holiday Bazaar" here on base.  (Addison has double ear infections and has been running a fever for a few days...so she wasn't up for going out.)  

The girls were SO excited to meet Santa and each drew him a picture.

When Brielle was asked what she wanted, she said "a car".  Santa looked pretty shocked, she explained that she wanted a kid car that she could drive (a Power-Wheel) and he seemed a little less surprised. 

(I hope her belief in Santa doesn't shatter when she does not receive said car on Christmas morning.)

Claire clammed up when she got to him and I'm pretty sure she didn't say a thing.  But hey, at least she approached him and sat on his lap, right?

At the "Bazaar" they had a few games for the kids to play.  When you finished you got a piece of candy...Claire and Brielle just camped out there and played each of the games over and over and over so they could get more candy.

 

Coming up on our agenda?

*Ward Christmas Party

* "Pie Night" at our house 

*Making Gingerbread houses

*Growing Donuts (my mom's idea...very excited!)

*Candlelight Christmas Eve Dinner

*Acting out the Nativity

*TRYING to read "The Forgotten Carols"...at least listening to the music

*Baking all sorts of goodies (well at least muddy buddies and cookies)

*Assembling and wrapping presents

* BIG Christmas morning breakfast 

(cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, bacon, orange juice...you want to come now don't you??)

*Listening to TONS of Christmas Music (we can't get enough this year!)

*Spending time as our little family, making memories.

(Ahhhh....how tender)

So there you have it, my enormous post has now come to an end.  

We sure hope everyone has a FANTASTIC Christmas this year!

Dancing Elves...a traditional Christmas funny.

Crafting - Christmas Wreath

It has been a very long time since I have let my crafty/creative side come out.  I just always seem to be short on time, money and desire lately.  

However, yesterday I went shopping with a friend so she could try to find a Christmas wreath.  As we were wandering around Michael's, I suddenly got the urge to do a little crafting again.  So, I got the supplies to make a wreath (all their Christmas stuff I needed was 50% off!) and got to work.

So here is the unveiling of my new project!

The supplies:

Green wreath, cranberry garland, small gold Christmas ornaments, big green flower (and some green floral wire).

Step One:

Attach Green Flower

Step Two:

Attach Cranberry Garland

Step Three:

Attach Gold Ornaments

Step Four:

Hang on Front Door

So there we have it.  I really like how it turned out, plus it makes me feel happy that I have a one of a kind wreath hanging on my door for Christmas.  We'll see if the crafty/creative bug strikes again any time soon...if not, at least I have proof that it did happen this time.