Homemaking on the Homestead

Merry Christmas Friends! I hope you have a wonderful holiday! ~Crystal

With Christmas just around the corner it is time to start thinking  about gift giving, it you have not done so already! As a single income family we are on a budget and I am always on the look out for frugal fun Christmas gift ideas. The ideas I am sharing with you here are a few of the different things I have done over the years as well as some ideas that I may be doing this year. Perhaps it will spark some new ideas for you this Christmas season!  Gift Baskets are always popular: Breakfast Basket Pick one or two food type gifts: Pancake & waffle mix along with homemade syrup Homemade granola Homemade raisin bread Homemade cinnamon rolls Then add any of the following: Homemade pot holders Dish towels Spatula Coffee mugs Dish towels, spatulas, coffee mugs can be found at dollar stores or Wal-Mart very inexpensively. Whole Wheat Cinnamon Pancake Mix Crystal Miller 2 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour, freshly ground if possible ...

Merry Christmas!  I want to wish you and your families a blessed holiday time. I missed a couple blog posts last week as I was working hard to finish up Christmas gifts, wrapping, shopping and all the details that go into Christmas. My family (the ones that live locally) will be here celebrating this evening.  The Christmas decorations are up, the food is cooking, the wood stove is warming is making my home cozy and I'm excited for my family to arrive.   My Christmas Menu (in lieu of Menu Monday :) Baked ham Crockpot meatballs (the famous ones with chili sauce and grape jelly) Potato casserole (another easy, traditional recipe with frozen hash browns, cheese, cream of mushroom soup) Roasted sweet potatoes Dinner rolls Salad Dessert In the end, it's not the food, it's not the gifts, it's remembering the greatest gift of all, the baby Jesus, sent to this world to give salvation to all who believe in Him.  Crystal  

This year I set out to make some hot cocoa mix to give away as gifts for the holidays. I wanted to make something different then plain hot cocoa. I like plain hot cocoa, but thought it would be fun to try something new. I searched around the internet for ideas and found some ideas. I wrote down what I liked and skipped what I didn't want and continued to search. After a lot of scribbling notes and searching I came up with my own plan and created these recipes. I wanted a basic recipe that would allow me to make simple changes or additions to it and create different flavored mixes. And that is what I ended up making and will be sharing with you today. First thing to do is make the basic hot cocoa mix. I tried 2 different variations and liked them both. You can pick whichever one you'd like or try them both and see what you think. I got a few mixing bowls out and got busy. I found that the cocoa powder can sometimes be a bit lumpy ...

The stockings are stuffed and hung, the gifts are wrapped, the food preparations are underway and family is beginning to arrive.. such a busy time of year. But full of so much.   Full of love, laughter, excitement, joy, a bit of sadness for those that can be with us this year, and the quiet moment when we remember a baby, a manger, shepherds and the humble birth of our Lord and Savior.  The reason the we gather, the reason we celebrate, the reason we are saved! It's now time to breathe, celebrate, and find joy in God's gift of salvation. Merry Christmas!!

When my daughter Sierra was here a couple weeks ago we put up our Christmas tree.  She really wanted to do this while she was here and I was happy for the help and company.  It made us reflect on our long held family tree trimming tradition.  All my children remember it and what precious memories these things are for them to carry into their adult lives.  Family traditions... how do they start? I once said.. if you do something once with your kids.. it will be a tradition and every year after that they will say.. Remember mom.. when??... Traditions are like glue.. they hold families together. Christmas is a great time to reflect on family traditions. We had for many years a Christmas tree decorating tradition. I would make cheap store bought frozen pizza, have cocoa, eggnog, candy canes, Christmas cookies. Then we would decorate the tree. This tradition had its start very simply. One year, we had 5 or was it 6 little ones?? We went out and bought a t...

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!  

I wanted to share the Christmas socks I made for my grandchildren. I've always loved Christmas socks and it was my tradition to fill socks for my children every Christmas and they have fun memories of this. I wanted to do something similar for my grandchildren, but on a smaller bases. I wanted my own children to be able to carry on the tradition they had for their children. So I had this idea. How about using childrens socks and fill them with a few goodies? So I purchased the socks... I rolled the mate of each sock and put them in the bottom of the other sock. Then I assembled the goodies... I filled the socks.. And hung them on the tree... My grandchildren loved them..  

 It has been a while since I've had a new ebook and I'm excited to share this one with you.  This 27 page ebook is a compilation of my favorite Christmas baking recipes, homemade gifts, and lots of homemade gift ideas.  It's not too early to begin thinking about Christmas! The ebook is an automatic down load. You will receive an email with a download link after you order .  All Things Christmas From Homemaking on the Homestead & The Family Homestead $5

It was a different year in some ways. While still a lot of people, it was the smallest celebration we'd had in some time. It was simple but very enjoyable. I did get a few gifts for my grandchildren and my children, but my children made a different choice. Most years my children draw names for their own gift exchange. This year, a few of my children were dealing with financial stresses and so I asked them all if they would like to skip the gift exchange. They all said yes, that would be a blessing to them.  Several weeks before Christmas my email inbox was full of ads for stuff I needed, stuff I should buy and stuff to give as gifts, etc.. Now my inbox is full of ads that say.. “now you can buy what you didn't get for Christmas!” .. Not to mention I read today that there is a vending machine that allows people to exchange unwanted gifts for books.. really? So we buy, buy, buy to fulfill some sort of ideal.. and then we can take it back, buy what we really wan...

  So many details to take care of this week! It makes it hard to get to my blog! :) I did however come up with my plan for Christmas Eve dinner. I like to make a large dinner and then enjoy the leftovers on Christmas Day so I don't have to do any cooking. Here is what my menu looks like: Meatballs in sauc e, done in the crockpot (the sauce is equal parts chili sauce and grape jelly. It's a family favorite) Baked ham Macaroni & Chees e (I'll making our favorite recipe, Laurie's Macaroni & Cheese ) Potato Casserole , again in a crockpot (hash brown little cubes, mixed with cream soup, sour cream, and cheese) Brussel sprout salad (I've made this for the last couple of years and it is so good!) Coleslaw Dinner rolls Cookie platter for dessert Are your Christmas dinner plans coming along?  

Family traditions... how do they start? I once said.. if you do something once with your kids.. it will be a tradition and every year after that they will say.. Remember mom.. when??... Traditions are like glue.. they hold families together. Christmas is a great time to reflect on family traditions. We had for many years a Christmas tree decorating tradition. I would make cheap store bought frozen pizza, have cocoa, eggnog, candy canes, Christmas cookies. Then we would decorate the tree. This tradition had its start very simply. One year, we had 5 or was it 6 little ones?? We went out and bought a tree and brought it home. The kids were so excited. But the reality was that dad needed to get the tree in the stand and string the lights on before the kids could put the decorations on. But they all just stood there when the tree was brought in looking at dad and waiting for all the fun to begin. He felt a little stressed by it all.  I jumped in and told the ki...

I posted this idea a few years ago..  but it is so easy and so quick to make..  and is darn cute!!  Just thought I'd share it again!!   Christmas is fast approaching! If you’re in need of a quick gift idea this dish towel apron may be just the project. It requires basic sewing skills and goes together very quickly. Using dish towels means no raw edges to think about!! :) You will need 2 cotton dish towels that coordinate and some ½ or 1 inch twill tape. I purchased my dish towels at Target. I got 5 in a package and the cost was $10. You will use 2 for the apron. I figured $4 an apron was pretty good (plus the cost of the twill tape, I had some on hand already). For my pack of 5 dish towels I got 2 aprons and an extra towel for my kitchen, or it could be put in a gift basket along with the apron. You can find detailed instructions for the apron on this site: http://thepickledweasel.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-making-tea-towel-apron.html ...

Making your own flavored coffees at home is not only easy but very frugal as well. I've recently been enjoying an afternoon cup of peppermint coffee. It has been a nice treat to my day. This time of year, with the holidays right around the corner, peppermint is the flavor I start thinking about. I made a quick video to show you how I do it. The recipe for the vanilla syrup (used for the coffee) is below the video.    Vanilla Coffee Syrup 1 cup sugar 1 cup water 1T vanilla extract Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan (or this can be done in the microwave as well). Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Store in a canning jar in the fridge. Will last several weeks. Don't forget to sign up to my YouTube channel...  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5muL8lxJ2Chiv_ikuZT5nQ  

We had a wonderful Christmas with the family. Not all of them could be here, but that seems to be the case more often than not nowadays. I have kids in other states and they were not able to make it home for the holidays. But we did enjoy our time together. Lots of family time, good food, and grandbabies.               I made my granddaughters quilts for their gifts.. here is a pic of them.. I wanted them to be different, but basically the same. This way they would know which quilt was theirs! ~smile~ They are jelly roll race quilts with borders added so they would fit their twin size beds...   I'm a person that enjoy getting the Christmas tree up as soon as Thanksgiving is over. I like to decorate and enjoy the holiday time. But when it's over, I'm done. My husband had to work Christmas night (he works nights and was home for the day but then had to head to work in the evening). As soon as ...