Kaake Family Blog

Picture borrowed from http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/09/get-a-jump-start-on-holiday-shopping.html/christmas-presents I love to plan my Christmas gifts starting in January.  This helps me not only save money but save sanity.  I save money because I have all year to look for those specific items and it saves my sanity because my family is not stressed about what to get someone.  We're prepared. Here's a few steps that have helped me. 1. First decide if you want to make all/some of your gifts.  If you want to make them, try to find neat and unique ideas online.  I LOVE pinterest.com for getting great ideas. 2. Is there someone in your family that has a lot of stuff?  For those people I get the same thing every year.  For our grandparents we do pictures in some form and homemade goodies.  For my mom and dad, I always get them a gift certificate to a Bed and Breakfast and add in something small for each one. 3. Make a list of everyone...

It's a Wonderful Life The Bell's of St. Mary's A Charlie Brown Christmas Samantha's Christmas A Christmas Carol The Nativity Story Veggie Tales: The Star of Christmas Kingdom Under the Sea: The Gift Bible Hero Classics: A King is Born

Above is my sweet Lyshie having some of her mums cookie. I have found a few recipes that I meshed together into this cookie recipe.  Be forewarned, this is not a sweet cookie recipe.  Please adjust accordingly if you want a sweet cookie. Ingredients: 3 cups almond flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 2 tablespoons ginger 1/4 cup oil 1/4 cup molasses 1/2 cup maple syrup 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest Directions: 1. In large owl combine flour, salt, soda and ginger. 2. In medium bowl combine oil, molasses, maple syrup and lemon zest. 3. Mix wet ingredients into dry. 4. Refrigerate dough for 1/2 - 1 hour. 5. Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough onto parchment lined baking sheet. 6. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until tops start to crack. 7. Cool and serve.

My mother made these from as long as I could remember while growing  up.  I was shocked that it was almost impossible to find this recipe online.  So, not only am I posting these here to share with you, but to also make sure I always have a copy of this wonderful recipe.   I hope you had a lovely and peaceful Christmas! Purdue Spiced Nuts Ingredients: 3-4 cups walnuts, pecans or both 1 egg white slightly beaten 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoon cinnamon Directions: 1. Put egg white and nuts in a bowl and stir well till all nuts are covered with egg white. 2. Add sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Stir till the nuts are well coated with this mixture. 3. Remove excess sugar mixture through sieve and spread nuts on baking sheet.   4. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or till nuts are dry.    Store in airtight container.

I got this idea from a blog online.  You can find her post in it's entirety here .  While coming closer and closer to Christ's birth, we are working hard at trying to make sure we are focused on the reason we are celebrating Christmas; Jesus birth.  Tonight I plan to have a Jewish style dinner with my family. For our dinner: pita bread hummus dates almonds lentil soup grape juice Dessert: Honey cake Music: http://www.youtube.com/user/felsefetor#p/u/2/CwV7dxR_UlM   (we're using this solely for the music) Costume: dressing up in robes and sandals Misc: basin for hand washing use oil lamp sitting down and eating our food on the coffee table

I have seen ideas for preschool activity bags that I thought were just darling. Lately it's annoyed me that I don't do nearly the amount of crafts that I'd like to with my children. So, my way of making this easier for us is taking the concept idea for the activity bags and using it for holiday themed crafts. I first find ideas for crafts I like from online, then print of the directions and templates needed. Make sure if you're doing these for more than one child, that you print out enough templates for each child. Only one set of directions is needed. If you have a totally awesome craft supply stash - Great! If not, I suggest going to the Dollar Tree (not Dollar Store) and Big Lots to pick up these items. IF you can't find what you need there, Walmart also has a good selection and great prices if you're on a strict budget. Also never underestimate freecycle and craigslist.org Get together your large zip lock bags - the freezer bags with labels w...

We have about 1 1/2 months till Christmas. How crazy is that? To be easier on our budget, I try to purchase gifts year round as I see them on sale or for a good price. That also keeps us from spending $100's at one time when we wouldn't have it. I also like to save money where I can. This year one of the $$ saving tips I'm passing along is paper shredding. I got out a huge stack of Christmas scrapbooking paper, folding them in accordion style and shredded them in my paper shredder. I'm using this instead of tissue paper. While it probably wouldn't be cheaper if you went out and bought the paper, it sure was for me because it was just sitting around. You could do the same with any kind of newspaper, or other papers you may have lying around. My two wonderful children and beautiful nieces 2 years ago for Christmas. How time flies! I thought I'd give you a peak into what my family does yearly. Here goes.... 1. Have a birthday cake for Jesus as w...