Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees

I have a new addiction.

It’s a card game that should be in every home across the nation.

SET.

It’s even made by the amazing company that invented my other addiction – Quiddler.

I will admit that the first time I played SET I didn’t get it. I was playing with my college age nieces and nephews, and they were blowing me away.

But it didn’t take long for me to figure it out and fall in love with the challenge.

The object of the game is to find sets in the cards that are dealt. Sound easy? It isn’t. Each set of three must be alike in some way, but different in others.

You look at shape, color, design and number to find the sets – forcing you to see the cards in a different way – to be creative.

If they are all diamonds, they need to be a different color, a different design, or a different number.

It’s fast-action fun!

And with Christmas coming up it would make a perfect stocking stuffer.

Trust me on this one – you’re gonna love it!

I love my family.

I love getting together with my family.

With 2 amazing parents, three sisters, one brother, 4 in-laws and a large collection of assorted nieces and nephews, aged 3 to 24 , any gathering is an undertaking best described as “organized chaos.”

Our official spring gathering is called the Remix and is entirely grandchildren driven. Since we celebrate Christmas together over Labor Day they thought we should remix Christmas in the spring.

Now every year the grandkids (with Grandma’s guidance) plan a fun- filled week-end at Mom and Dad’s on the prairie.

Some of the traditions include:

White Elephant Bingo: Everyone brings a wrapped white elephant gift and one evening we play bingo. Every time you get a Bingo you get to chose a present – either from the table full of presents, or you can take a gift away from someone who has already chosen one.  Things can get pretty wild as presents start flying from one person to another!

When someone gets a black-out, the game is over and everybody opens their gifts. (Anybody need a talking Bob the Builder and Wendy who can no longer talk?!)

Dress-Up Night : No, we don’t do a white tie meal with tuxes and formal attire, instead, we dress-up as any assortment of strange characters. We had pirates, ninja’s, and some Lord of the Ring characters (swords were definitely a favorite accessory this year!)

But we also had a sweet old granny, door-to-door salesmen, a camel herder, and even Shaun Cassidy (complete with entourage).  The creativity among those young’uns was amazing!

Family Worship Service: On Sunday morning we gather together to sing, pray and share. This year was especially sweet as both of my parents shared their testimonies.

For my siblings and I,  it was a precious review of events we experienced together as our entire family of seven came to know the Lord in just a few years. But for our spouses and children,  it was a look at events that changed the course of our family for generations.

Tears were flowing freely by the time we sang our traditional closing hymn – “Blest be the Tie That Binds.”

There were huge meals, too  many desserts,  games galore,  a family sock hop, and lots of laughter.

What precious memories we made this week-end.

Yep…I really love my family.

One Christmas tradition my children love is lefse.

I was first introduced to this Scandinavian treat at my first Christmas with my husband’s family.

I confess that I wasn’t impressed.

My sister-in-law told me later that lefse is best eaten warm, right off the griddle with lots of butter and sprinkled with sugar.

My children all learned to love lefse at an early age and in time I began to experiment with it myself.

My sister-in-law was right! It is incredible right off the griddle with the butter melting and dripping down.

It is now a tradition that I make once a year and serve at our Christmas Eve family meal. I make it ahead and freeze it, then warm it to serve. My husband and children love it that way.

I, however, eat my share the day I bake it – warm and dripping with butter! Now everybody’s happy.

Lefse

3 cups riced potatoes (these are potatoes that are peeled, cooked, and then put through a ricer. This makes sure you have no lumps. If you don’t have a ricer just mash the potatoes well.)

Add 2 tablespoons of melted butter, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the warm potatoes and let cool. Add 3/4 cup of flour to the potatoes when you are ready to roll them.

Mix it well.

Make the dough into small 1 inch balls and roll as thin as you can. Don’t worry if it isn’t a pretty circle- your kids won’t mind!

As you get more experienced with lefse you can make them bigger, but smaller is easier to work with in the beginning. They are also easier to cook on a regular griddle. You need a lefse griddle to make the large sizes.

A true Scandinavian would use a lefse rolling pin (as seen in the picture) to put the lovely little grooves in the lefse. But I have used a regular rolling pin and it worked alright- I just wouldn’t serve them to a Swede!

You may need to add more flour to each lump of dough as it is rolled out if it falls apart.

Bake on a very hot, ungreased lefse griddle or a regular pancake griddle. Turn when they have small brown spots on them. Turn only once.

To eat, butter them well, sprinkle with sugar if desired and roll them up.

I will confess here that I have in the past (alright- almost every year) used left-over mashed potatoes to make my lefse. I even add the extra butter and they have always turned out quite yummy! (Just don’t my mother-in-law or sister-in-law!)

“O come O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.”

We love this Advent book!

Grandpa and Grandma gave it to the children years ago and it has been a Christmas tradition in our home ever since.

The children have been known to stop decorating the house and start reading it as soon as it is discovered in the Christmas box.

Even though our children have outgrown it, it has stood the test of time and has earned a place of honor among our Christmas decorations.

Do You See What I See: A Devotional Seek-and-Find Book for Advent tells the Christmas story in a creative and colorful way that is perfect for preschoolers.

It is put together like the popular I Spy books with a bright colorful picture, a short devotional and a rhyme for each day of Advent.

The children love to hear the story and the rhyme before finding the things hidden in the pictures.

“When Christmas comes with colored lights
With snowmen sweets and other sights
It’s often easy to ignore
Who all this celebration’s for.

Through-out this pretty picture book
Are hidden objects. Take a look.
Past presents, lights and evergreens.
You’ll find what Christmas really means.

So come with shepherds, sheep and kings.
And peek beyond the other things.
To seek the Savior, born for you.
Look! Do you see him? I do, too!”

This book is a hard one to find, but it is still available from the publisher Creative Communications at http://www.CreativeCommunications.com

The paperback version is so inexpensive it would make an excellent gift from a Sunday School teacher to her preschool students!