Hope Chest Christmas Extras
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>
HOPE CHEST HOME SCHOOL NEWS
CHRISTMAS EXTRAS
DECEMBER 18, 2001
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FROM MY HEART TO YOURS
THE JANUARY HOPE CHEST ISSUE
FREE SHIPPING ON DECEMBER ORDERS!
CHRISTMAS GOODIES FROM PAST ISSUES!
THE POET'S PEN:
The Paradox by Virginia Knowles
Shepherd's Tale by Virginia Knowles
Christmas Once is Christmas Still by Phillips Brooks
RECIPES:
Holiday Wassail
Peanut Brittle
A Birthday Cake for Jesus by Valerie Frazier
CHRISTMAS INSPIRATION:
The Candy Cane
Santa Versus Jesus
Merry X-Mas? by Kathryn Frazier
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
A Family Christmas Game
Soap Making
Painting Wooden Plaques
WHAT'S NEW AT THE KNOWLES HOUSE
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FROM MY HEART TO YOURS
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I had asked my husband several weeks ago to set aside last Saturday (ALL
of it!) for me to run errands and do Christmas shopping. I planned to be
gone from the time I dropped off one daughter at 9:30 a.m. for a party
until the time I picked up another one from a study session at 4, since
both of these events were in the vicinity of the rest of my errands. On
Friday evening just before I went to bed, he begged me quite earnestly to
NOT be gone all day since he had some work to do and we had a Christmas
party to attend that evening. I have to confess that I wasn't very
polite to him (OK, so I was downright rude) when I insisted that I WOULD
be gone all day. Well, "letting the sun set on anger" has its
consequences; I woke up with a guilty conscience at 4 in the morning and
couldn't seem to drift off again. I was glad when Thad woke up briefly
(for 10 seconds!) at 5 so I could apologize. I'm not sure he was
totally conscious, but at least he forgave me! At 6 (still sleepless) I
remembered about the 24-hour Wal-Mart and that Sam's Club opens at 7:30
for business members. If I could get an EARLY start on my errands, that
would be less time out of the main part of the day. I quietly took a
shower at the other end of the house, left a note for Thad, and jumped in
the car.
About 6:45 a.m. I bumped into my friend Cindy Pilling. I was instantly
struck with the providence of God! Cindy's daughter was going to the
same party as my daughter Julia, and we quickly arranged for me to drive
them up there and Cindy to drive back. That would be one less thing for
my husband to do while I was gone. Now I just had to worry about getting
Mary to and from her study session.
By 8:15 I was back from Sam's with our groceries. I had a quick
breakfast, grabbed my hippack and my Christmas shopping list, and headed
out the door with Julia, determined to be as quick as possible on my
outing. I prayed that God would direct my steps to the places I needed
to go and that I would find what I was looking for at good prices. He
was GOOD to me indeed. I was home by 1:30, and very happy with my
purchases! As it turned out, Mary's study session was postponed, so Thad
and I never did have to chauffeur her. We had a few hours to relax and
prepare our finger foods to bring to the party. It was a lovely evening
with some of our home group friends, and we even went Christmas caroling
in that neighborhood.
As I think back on Saturday I am struck with how I didn't need to be
anxious about having "enough" time to get everything done MY WAY. I just
needed to commit my plans to God and let him lead me. Psalm 27:8 says,
"Do not fret--it leads only to evil." His kindness also leads to
repentance, even if it means a bit of insomnia. I realized that part of
the "holiday spirit" should mean being extra considerate of the desires
of others, so it was much more blessed to graciously submit to my dear
husband than to get my own selfish way. The very best gift I can give
him is sweetness!
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THE JANUARY HOPE CHEST ISSUE
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I will send the next issue of the Hope Chest sometime in January. The
theme is Excellence in Education. I'm already working on some resource
reviews, but I would LOVE for you all to send your thoughts about this
topic or any others of interest to home educating families. What works
in your family?
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FREE SHIPPING ON DECEMBER ORDERS
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I am offering free shipping on any resources I have in stock up through
the end of December. Please e-mail me to be sure I have it! If I've run
out, it's not a problem for me to quickly reprint my own books, but I
would have to reorder Cindy Rushton's titles.
You can find resource descriptions here:
http://www.hopechest.homestead.com/resourceorders.html
I have the following currently in inventory:
RESOURCES BY VIRGINIA KNOWLES (that's me!)
The Real Life Home School Mom -- $14
The Best of the Hope Chest Volume 1 -- $10
The Best of the Hope Chest Volume 2 -- $10
The Best of the Hope Chest Volume 3 -- $10
RESOURCES BY NANCY CAMPBELL
Family Meal Table and Hospitality -- $18
RESOURCES BY CINDY RUSHTON
Christ-Centered Christmas -- $8
Nature Study the Easy Way -- $25
Language Arts the Easy Way -- $20
Ministering to the Heart of Your Child -- $
A Charlotte Mason Primer -- $12
Homeschooling... Digging Into ALL
of the Options -- $12
Inspiring Our Children Toward Greatness
Using Great Literature -- $12
The Three Rs for Mom --
Well, Maybe Four! (4 tapes) -- $16
QUANTITY DISCOUNTS! If you order any three items or more, take $1 off the
price of each item.
TO ORDER ANY OF THE RESOURCES: Send me a list of which books you want and
how many, and compute the subtotal. Shipping to USA addresses is $2.50
minimum and 10% after that. Florida residents pay 6% sales tax AFTER
computing shipping. (Contact me for foreign shipping rates, rush shipping
rates, or quantity pricing.) Mail your check, order and e-mail address
to:
Virginia Knowles / 1925 Blossom Lane / Maitland, FL 32751
If you prefer to order with a credit or debit card on the web, go to the
PayPal web site at http://www.x.com and send the payment to
[email protected]. Be sure to get the e-mail address correct! Also be
sure to include your name, address and other order information. This is
the ONLY way I can accept credit/debit card payment.
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CHRISTMAS GOODIES
FROM PAST ISSUES OF
THE HOPE CHEST!
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THE POETS PEN
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THE PARADOX
by Virginia Q. Knowles
Come, see where He lays,
Good Shepherd and Little Lamb
King of Kings and Servant of All
Prophet and Prophecy Fulfilled
Physician and Wounded One
High Priest and Atoning Sacrifice
Counselor and Rejected One
Builder and Foundation Stone
Righteous Judge and Condemned Prisoner
Ancient of Days and Newly-born Babe
God and Man
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SHEPHERD'S TALE
by Virginia Knowles
A prayer I make to stay awake,
To watch the sheep safe in my keep,
When I should see, in front of me,
An angel bright in darkest night.
Be not afraid! the angel bade.
Good news of joy! A baby boy
Is born today, on bed of hay.
The Savior mild, the Lords a child!
Now in the sky the angels fly,
And gladly sing of newborn King.
Give God high praise, hosannas raise,
And peace on earth through Jesus birth!
All shepherds know that they should go,
To follow them to Bethlehem.
Where baby rests is not the best,
A scratchy stall holds Lord of All.
But God above sends Gift of Love.
Forgiving sin, he lives within.
Now spread the word, till all have heard
Amazing story, to God be glory!
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CHRISTMAS ONCE IS CHRISTMAS STILL
by Phillips Brooks
The silent skies are full of speech,
For who hath ears to hear;
The winds are whispering each to each,
The moon is calling to the beach,
And stars their sacred mission teach
Of Faith, and Love, and Fear.
But once the sky its silence broke,
And song o'erflowed the earth,
The midnight air with glory shook,
And angels mortal language spoke,
When God our human nature took
In Christ the Saviour's birth.
And Christmas once is Christmas still;
The gates through which He came,
And forests wild and murmuring rill,
And fruitful field and breezy hill,
And all that else the wide world fill
Are vocal with His name.
Shall we not listen while they sing
This latest Christmas morn,
And music hear in everything,
And faithful lives in tribute bring
To the great song which greets the King
Who comes when Christ is born.
~~Phillips Brooks
Phillips Brooks (1835-1893) was an influential Episcopal minister who
is famous for his hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem.
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RECIPE BOX
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HOLIDAY WASSAIL
64 oz. apple cider or juice
32 oz. cranberry or cran-raspberry juice
4-6 tbs. white sugar
3 cinnamon sticks or several liberal shakes of ground cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ground cloves or a dozen dried whole cloves
1/2 cup orange juice
Simmer for about 30 minutes on medium in a large pot. Serve in mugs.
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PEANUT BRITTLE
In the 1998 Christmas issue, my dear friend Cheryl Bastian shared a fun,
educational and yummy way to make Christmas gifts.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
1/2 cup water
3 cups peanuts
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS: Combine sugar, corn syrup, water and butter in heavy
saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Cook
on medium low stirring occasionally to 275º (soft crack stage) and syrup
turns a golden color. Add nuts and continue cooking and stirring often
to
295º. Remove from heat and quickly stir in baking soda and vanilla.
Immediately pour hot mixture into buttered jelly roll pan (or large
cookie
sheet with lip around edges). Spread out evenly on pan. Cool and
break into pieces. Store in an air-tight container. Makes 2 & 1/3 lbs.
SKILLS LEARNED:
o Reading a thermometer
o hands-on measuring with cups and teaspoons
o doubling and dividing recipes
o vocabulary (dissolve, soft crack, hard crack)
o observing solid to liquid changes
o observing different stages of candy making
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A BIRTHDAY CAKE FOR JESUS
by Valerie Frazier
Aside from a Christian background and a stable home where love and
discipline go hand in hand to shape their values, one of the greatest
gifts we can give our children is to create family traditions. These
simple experiences, which occur year after year, develop valuable
memories. Id like to share just one of our Christmas traditions with
you.
Because Christmas is Jesus' Birthday, we celebrate it like we would
anyone else's. But His birthday cake has special symbolic meaning.
1. The shape of the cake is round representing God's unending love
for us.
a. Bottom Layer - BLACK (Chocolate) representing the fact that all
men have sinned. This is the reason Jesus came to earth.
b. Center Layer - RED (Red Velvet, Strawberry or Cherry flavored with
red food coloring) symbolizing Jesus' blood that was shed for our sin.
c. Top Layer - GREEN (Pistachio flavor with green coloring) denoting
the new life we have in Christ after our sins have been washed away.
2. The frosting is pure WHITE standing for the righteousness and
purity of Christ.
3. A border of RED hearts stands for the brothers and sister united in
Christ circling the earth as His witnesses.
4. On the top is a GOLD (or Yellow) star typifying the star that shone
heralding His birth and lighting the way to where it had taken place.
This should be a six-pointed Star of David. Six is the number of man
that showed us that the Grace of God includes us all - not only the
Jewish people whose Messiah is our Savior.
5. In the center of the top is one large RED candle representing Jesus
who came into the dark world to bring it light and truth.
We gather around with the cake in the center and each person is
given a smaller GREEN candle. Dad or Mom reads the Christmas
story out of Luke, or some of the children who have memorized it
recite it. Then we light the large RED candle and sing Happy Birthday
to Jesus.
After everyone takes their smaller GREEN candle and light it from the
middle one representing Jesus, they put it in the top of the cake. This
represents the fact that we all are to be the light of the world. We
sing
"Silent Night". Someone prays, thanking God for sending His Son.
We blow out the candles and proceed with our Christmas Celebration.
If you haven't created a family tradition such as this, now is the time.
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CHRISTMAS INSPIRATION
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THE CANDY CANE
A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a
witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated
several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.
He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the
Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the
Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church and firmness of the promises
of God.
The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the
precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also
represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down
into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all
sheep, have gone astray.
Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain, the candy maker stained it
with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the
scourging Jesus received by which we are healed. The large red stripe
was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the
promise of eternal life.
Unfortunately, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a
meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still
there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear." I pray that this
symbol will again be used to witness to The Wonder of Jesus and His
Great Love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate and
dominant force in the universe today.
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SANTA VERSUS JESUS
Author Unknown
Santa rides in a sleigh ...
JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
Santa comes but once a year ...
JESUS is an ever present help.
Santa fills your stockings with goodies ...
JESUS supplies all your needs.
Santa comes down your chimney uninvited ...
JESUS stands at your door and knocks, and then enters your heart
when invited.
You have to wait in line to see Santa ...
JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap ...
JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
Santa doesn't know your name. All he can say is,
"Hi little boy or girl, what's your name?" ...
JESUS knew our name before we were born.
Not only does He know our name,
He knows our address too.
He knows our history and future and
He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly ...
JESUS has a heart full of love
All Santa can offer is HO HO HO ...
JESUS offers health, help and hope.
Santa says "You better not cry" ...
JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you."
Santa's little helpers make toys ...
JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs
broken homes and builds mansions.
Santa may make you chuckle but ...
JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree ...
JESUS became our gift and died on a tree.... The cross.
We need to put Christ back in CHRISTmas.
Jesus is still the reason for the season!
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MERRY X-MAS?
by Kathryn Frazier
Do you sometimes write "Merry X-mas" on cards and letters to save
space? Does the sight of it make you cringe? Do you tell your
children, "It's not X's birthday, it's Christ's birthday!" Here's
something
else you can tell them:
The Hebrew people have traditionally held God's Name in such high
regard as to render it unspeakable. When they come to His Name in
the reading of Scripture, they substitute the word *adonai*, which
means "Lord". That is why we have lost the true pronunciation of His
Name, and we say "Jehovah" or "Yahweh".
In the King James Version of the Bible, whenever you see the word
LORD (all capitals) in the Old Testament, it denotes the personal
Name of God.
Early Christians, who were predominately Jewish, kept to the
tradition, and used the capital letter "X" (kee) to stand for the word
"Kristos" (spelled: kee, roe, iota, sigma, tao, omicron, sigma--but I
don't have Greek symbols on my keyboard). "Kristos" means Christ.
This was carried over by some into the English language. So
"Christmas" became "X-mas".
It is actually a capital letter kee, not an English "X"; and it was
originally intended to safeguard against using the Holy Name of Christ
without due respect.
I am not saying that in our culture today people are not using
"X-mas" to disregard the Lord, or to simply abbreviate. They certainly
are.
But we who know its origin can take a moment to reflect upon the
holiness of the Name of Christ every time we see it. We may also be
able to use it as an opening to share the gospel with those who don't
know.
May you have a blessed Christmas season in the Lord!
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CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
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A FAMILY CHRISTMAS GAME
Last year we played a little Christmas game. I had each family
member (except toddler Micah) write on slips of paper (or dictate to me)
the following:
* three "traditions" or things they like to do during the Christmas
season
* two things they would like to START doig
* one thing they DON'T like during the Christmas season
I put all of the slips of paper in a basket, and then read them aloud one
by one. Everyone had to guess who had written what was on the slip. The
first person to guess correctly got a point. (The winner got to pick a
board game to play.) Since some of the younger ones had a lot less
points, I gave them a helping hand -- on several rounds I told everyone
to let one of the younger ones have first guess, and I tried to read
obvious ones, like Andrew's answer of "I like carrots" (go figure that
one out!). At the end of the game, the winner got to pick a board game,
so we played Scrabble next, with little ones teamed up with a parent or
older sibling. The point of this game, besides having fun, was to get
us to talk about what we want and don't want to do each Christmas season.
It let me know what things were important to my husband and children,
what things to be sure to do this year, and what things we might want to
skip.
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SOAP MAKING
Soap making is really easy and fun and you can make GREAT gifts. We made
several dozen soaps last year and put an assortment of about 10 each into
pretty glass bowls as presents for my four sisters-in-law. The girls
are giving them away as presents to friends and relatives. To make soap,
you take chunks of clear glycerin or white moisturized soap. I get mine
at a craft store for about $9, but you can sometimes find them on sale.
They come prescored in one inch sections, and are easily cut with a sharp
knife. Next, put several chunks in a large glass or hard plastic
measuring cup and nuke them in the microwave for about 45 seconds. (If
you don't have a microwave, you can heat it in a pan on your stovetop.)
Now you have a hot liquid, and it's time to squirt in a few drops of dye
and fragrance. The dye was about $2.50 for a packet with three 1/4 ounce
vials (red, yellow and blue) and the fragrance vials were about $2.50
each. (We got peach, vanilla and light rose.) We mixed them with
popsicle sticks. Now you pour the liquid into the mold trays. You can
buy trays with up to nine small molds, or with a few larger molds, or one
large loaf. Most of the trays cost about $2.50 each. From my
experience, the smaller chunkier shapes work better than the wider
shallow ones. Now you let the soaps harden for 15 minutes (more or
less) and then you pop them out. This part was a little harder, and took
some patience and hand strength. It's actually easier to pop them out if
you let them set for an hour or so, but we wanted to use the molds as
quickly as possible. The molds do get a bit warped after a while if you
aren't careful. The brand of materials we used is Life of
the Party. Variations: If you want a tie die effect, you can wait until
you pour the liquid to add the dyes and then swirl with a toothpick. You
can also layer the colors if you wait until a slight "skin" develops on
the first layer. This takes trial and error. You can also buy soap
glitter, pearl powder, soap "noodles" and other additives to make your
soap extra fancy. If you use a loaf mold, you can buy shaped soap
inserts and then cut up the loaf into about a dozen wedges. Even young
children can do this craft. If you do happen to touch the hot liquid,
you get just a little burn feeling, but is not as damaging as hot wax,
and it's much easier to pour. We didn't have any problems, as long as
we supervised. . I highly recommend soap making as a quick, easy, and
fun project! It was so easy to clean up too -- since it is SOAP! And
they sure make lovely gifts!
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PAINTING WOODEN PLAQUES
Another craft we did last year was painting wooden plaques with acrylic
paints for last minute Christmas gifts. The plaques were 69 cents each
and the 2 ounce bottles of acrylic paint were 50 cents to 70 cents each
-- all on sale at Michael's Crafts. I bought about 10 colors, and also
got some paint brushes and foam rubber spreaders. If you have a paint
marker (gold metallic is nice), you can write sayings on the plaques.
One year I copied The Paradox poem that appears earlier in this issue.
Before you paint, it helps to sand them lightly to remove rough edges.
Most of all, be patient with your children and just let them have fun.
It's so easy to pressure them to make a perfect product, but that's not
the point!
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WHAT'S NEW AT THE KNOWLES HOUSE
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It's just a week before Christmas, and we're officially "off school" for
the next two weeks, even though I told the kids to put in a few hours to
make up for the slack times last week! Today or tomorrow we're making
sachets and heart-shaped soap for a few extra gifts.
My sweet friend Patty Morman is going to come over this afternoon and
help with the children so I can go back to my internal medicine doctor to
get results of various tests (chest X-ray, EKG, blood tests, thyroid
tests, etc.) and to hear her recommendations for improving my health.
(I'm sure the big one is to lose 50 pounds. Sigh.) I'm a little bit
apprehensive, but I have to remind myself to FRET NOT! I went to a
surgeon yesterday for a consultation on fixing my abdominal hernia, and
was quite relieved to find that the recovery time (when I can't lift
babies or laundry) is much shorter than I anticipated. I'll probably
have that done next month. I TRIED to go for a baseline mammogram last
week, but found when I got there that I would have to wait several more
months since I recently weaned Naomi -- something about the leftover milk
making the image cloudy or something. Never mind that I have been pretty
much either pregnant or nursing (or both!) for over 15 years! At this
rate I could be well into my 40s before having my first mammogram! Ha!
On Friday, our five student friends from India are coming back to our
home for a Christmas party. We're all looking forward to that. We're
not going to do a whole feast this time, only desserts. Since they liked
the William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving animated video that we
showed last month, we'll show the Christmas one, which is called The King
is Born.
Well, I guess that's enough for our Christmas Extras!
Please be sure to respond to the Reader Survey I sent out today.
May you have a blessed Christmas in Jesus!
Blessings,
Virginia Knowles