A new twist on the 12 Dates of Christmas!

I somewhat randomly thought of this idea to wrap a date night up in a gift bag.  We watched 12 Dates of Christmas on Netflix the other night and I was remembering last year when we tried to have 12 dates.  Last year, though, it just consisted of us making a list of 12 things we wanted to do together in December and some included the boys.  This year is much more fun.  No kids allowed and since Aaron is very busy at work I decided to surprise him by putting together all of the bags myself.  Basically, I put all of the items that we'd need for the date (as much as possible...as size limitations obviously exist) in the gift bag and labeled them #1-12.

This idea is especially nice for us since we don't have a large Christmas budget and usually just do $25 of stocking suffers or something simple.  Wrapping up the dates makes spending time together like a gift, which it is.  These 12 dates will give us something to look forward to during the entire Advent season and will encourage us to spend time together. I spent just a few dollars on items for the bags.

We're in a season of life where we don't really have many opportunities to get out by ourselves.  We don't have family in town and haven't found a new babysitter since our previous one started college.  So, date nights at home are important to get us spending time together and remembering to enjoy each other's company. Right now the boys are both down by or before 8pm...so if we work hard to get dishes done before bedtime then we'll have a couple hours free!  Early bedtimes won't last forever, so might as well enjoy them now!

Tomorrow is December 1st and I can't wait to start having dates!!

 

 The corner of our bedroom has 12 labeled gift bags.  I also wrote the minimum amount of time that would be needed complete the date.

 

I will post pics and a description of what's in each bag after we have our date so I don't ruin the surprise (in the off chance that Aaron sees this post).  Stay tuned!  If you want ideas in the meantime, I can e-mail you.  

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Date #1:  Devotions Night

Time:  30 minutes 

Contents:  2 packs hot cocoa, mini marshmallows, bible, and printed out Advent devotion.  

Consensus:  We enjoyed having some focused time to think about Advent.  We liked this devotion okay but decided to do the Christmas Edition of Our Daily Bread for the rest of Advent.  This is a tiny book devotion that is free and many churches have copies or you can order one. We'll each read it during our day and chat about it at night. 

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Date 2:  Poker Night!

Time: 1 hour

Contents:  Poker themed chips, plastic poker chips, poker hand ranking print out, and a deck of playing cards  

Consensus:  A lot of fun. Pandora.  Snacks.  Great company.  We learned some stories about each other and I learned a couple of new kinds of poker that I'd never played before.  

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Date #3:  ??

Time: 2 hours

Consensus:  

What do we put stock in?

Well, Aaron and I are marking this as our worst Thanksgiving ever and hoping to file it away in the books and move on soon. 

I've cleaned up more than my share of throw-up this week, to say the very least.  I've spent way too much time in the bathroom, to say a little too much.  I lost 6 pounds, saw each family member slowly drop like flies, dealt with an unbearable baby, canceled one thing after another due to sickness, and have now officially spent an entire week cooped up in the house. 

So, no, we won't be eating stuffing today, traveling, seeing family, making turkey shaped goodies, or any of the other festive things one traditionally does today.  I'm not the type of person to be depressed.  I try to keep things in perspective.  But, in all honesty, it would be a lie to say this hadn't been a quite depressing and discouraging week. 

But maybe in situations like this, we need to consider that we shouldn't only be thankful for things and stuff and the All American obsession, FOOD (Oh how I love food).  We all love things and stuff.  But in the end, all of those things will fade away.   

What are we thankful for regardless of our circumstances?
That's a hard one.  I remember mentioning to Aaron that even though we are all really sick and it sucks and blah blah, that at least we are together and at least we are in a warm home being sick. 

But what if you didn't have a family?  Many don't.  And what if you didn't have a home?  Many don't.  Do you truly have nothing to be thankful for? I don't believe so. 

A quite thought-provoking passage in Philippians 4:11-13 of the bible shows the apostle Paul talking...

"..I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  

We can be content in every situtaion...not because of the stuff that we have, the people who help us, or the money we possess.  But...we can be content because GOD gives us strength to do everything through Him.  Now that's somethign to be thankful for.

Yes, I'm thankful for my things.  I'm thankful for my home.  My husband.  My babies.  My food.  My clothes.  I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful.  But thankfulness to God goes beyond that.  Christian believers in 3rd world countries don't have a fraction of what we Westerners have and they are more joyful yet. Plenty of people don't have what we have and they're still happy and thankful.  Corrie Ten Boom never married and her life is an amazing testimony of dedication to God. 

So...think deep.  What are you thankful for, regardless of your situation?

I'm thankful for a loving and gracious God who gave me life.
I'm thankful for God's mercy forgiving my sins.
I'm thankful for God's promise of salvation and Heaven that awaits me.  
I'm thankful for the opportunity to live this life. 

Cool Beans: 7 Layer Burritos!!!

This is one of my favorite dinners.  We are having leftovers tonight actually.  Yet another reason to love this...it makes plenty for two dinners (and a lunch probably too)!

What you need:

• Homemade Pinto Beans About 10 cups of dry pinto beans( or 1/3 of your crock pot...they will grow when soaked overnight) or about 3-5 cans.  Doing this many homemade beans in your crock pot will make enough for two dinners plus possibly a container to freeze for later use (unless your family is really big). 

• Spanish rice mix or make it yourself with one cup white rice, 1 can diced tomatoes, 2 cups water, and some seasonings (i.e. herbs, onions, buillon, salt, etc.) 

• Other toppings.  You can use whatever your family likes but here's what we usually include to reach our "7" layer minimum :)

• tomatoes, diced up
• letuce, shredded
• onion, diced
• cheddar cheese, grated
• salsa
• Others could include:  tortilla chips, guacamole, sour cream, etc.  Sky is the limit!

• Tortillas!  I love me some flour tortillas.  Aaron has to have corn tortillas which are pretty terrible for burritos so he ends up making more of a rice bowl and a couple mini burritos.  

This one is definitely in the rotation!