Forget Biodiversity! 2010 is the Year of...

...the Roast.

Some people seem to think that cooking a roast is the easiest meal to prepare under the sun. I can roast meat. Especially lamb. And I can sort of roast vegetables, although the potatoes aren't necessarily cooked all the way through every time. Timing the vegies is tricky. And getting all the vegies AND the meat cooked and ready to be eaten at the same time...well, that's quite a feat. I CAN make gravy. Real gravy using the pan juices, a little flour and a few secret ingredients. I used to make the gravy every Sunday when I was growing up. Problem is, when I was making the gravy back then I wasn't responsible for the rest of the roast dinner. Just the gravy. And then there is one more thing. It's not just the meat and the vegies and the gravy. It's then getting myself to the dinner table with the roast looking like it was a breeze. No stress.

Roasts are such an economical way to feed guests. I've just got to master this skill.

2010 is The Year of the Roast.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, feel free to give me ALL your favourite tips. I want to know EVERYTHING.

Was 2009 the Year of Optimism?

The other day I was perusing my notebook and found a list labelled "2009". Here's what was on that list in bold print - and how I went in plain text.

JOBS
Put shelf and mirror up in guest toilet. No. Still on the list.
Smoke alarms in boys' bedrooms. No. But now that we're back into fire season it is on my mind to get onto this again.
Clear out spare room. No.
Sort out the garden. Well, I've made a very small start.

GOALS
Bible reading and prayer. Being more regular, more thorough, more disciplined...it's a given on any list of goals for any year. Always room for improvement.
Be more deliberate about housework. Mmmmmm...I did sweep the floor under the table where the boys eat a lot.
Read other books - alternating fiction and non fiction. Gave up fiction except during the holidays. Small success with non fiction.
Respond to letters and emails from missionaries by email as soon as the letters have arrived. Alas, no.
Write one encouraging letter per week. Had a good month in May. Otherwise, I did what I vowed I wouldn't do. I let blogging get in the way of letter writing.

Well, at least I have saved myself a job. I don't need to think of any New Year's resolutions for 2010. I can just recycle the list from this year!!!

When I started this blog at the beginning of the year I mentioned that a friend and I had declared 2009 to be The Year of Optimism. Looking at my list of underachievements for the year you might guess that The Year of Optimism didn't live up to its designation.

But no. In fact it has been The Year of Optimism. And I think there are probably three good reasons.

Firstly, my husband and I have been married for eleven year and this has been the first year of our marriage that has been uneventful. This is the first year in eleven years that we were able to stand together, looking out on the horizon of the year ahead at the beginning of the year, without anticipating the death of a parent, the birth of a child, moving house, moving church, leaving a job, swapping from worker to student or student back to worker, a diagnosis of a serious illness, having to make a major decision that was going to be life changing. We were looking at our first ever ordinary year together. Which is not to say that stuff didn't happen. It did. But we were able to face the year more steadily because there was nothing looming when the year started.

Secondly, our youngest boy has been emerging from the toddler years. Joy. We have entered that golden five or so years when both boys are neither toddlers nor teenagers. Which again, is not to say that stuff won't happen. But as a primary school teacher, I know the primary years to be a steady time of a child's life. And we are loving it.

Thirdly, I think in declaring that this year would be the Year of Optimism up front has given me an incentive and a determination to think optimistically. It's a little trick of the mind really, a way of training the brain. Yes, there were times when I felt far from optimistic this year. However for the most part, if I said it was The Year of Optimism then I was determined that I would finish it being able to say that yes, it was The Year of Optimism.

So what of next year? The United Nations has declared it The International Year of Biodiversity - a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives where the world is invited to take action in 2010 to safeguard the variety of life on earth.

I'm going for something much simpler.
2010 - The Year of..
Yes, you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out.

My Bible Reading Plan for 2010

Ever since I became a Christian I have endeavoured to read through the Bible once a year. I became more convinced of the importance of doing this in 2001 when I took a year off work to do some study at a theological college. While at college the principal commented that he reads through the Bible each year because it is his major tool of the trade. Now I am not the principal of a theological college, although one might argue that being a mother makes you the deputy principal of your own little theological college at home. But whether I am a principal or a mother or anything else, I think it's important to keep reading the Bible in a systematic, organised and disciplined way and my personal preference, at least for daily devotional reading, is to keep sweeping through the Scriptures year by year.

In terms of being systematic and organised, I have used various reading plans, some written by me and some written by others such as:

• Starting at the beginning and reading through to the end
• Alternating an OT book with a NT book
• Systems that get you through the OT once and the NT twice, book by book
• A plan that did OT book, NT book, a few Psalms, a gospel and then repeating the cycle - designed to read through the gospels many times in order to really get to know Jesus. This one was a two year project.

Now I said that I have endeavoured to read through the Bible each year. Some years have been successful and some have been anything but successful - if the measure is to get to the end of the plan by 31st December each year. There is always benefit, as long as the Scriptures are read but I have certainly floundered these last few years to get all the way through any plan I find or devise. And I always get bogged down in the same spot. Yes, you know which spot it is. Those prophets! And it has become SUCH a problem that I knew I needed to do something drastic about it in the new year.

So I have been praying about an approach to take in 2010. At the time I was praying about this, Jean wrote a post at Equip where she linked to Justin who provided this LIST of Bible reading plans in this post. (I know, too many links there! THE link to follow is probably the one in capital letters. Thank you Jean for finding this really helpful resource. Praising God for you again and again.)
In surveying the possibilities, I have decided to head in a different direction and use THIS reading plan for the year ahead. Rather than go through whole books at a time, it provides a portion of OT, a portion of NT and a Psalm every day and in the year gets through the OT once and the NT and Psalms twice. The OT and NT books are covered in sequential order so it isn't a wacky, all-over-the-place reading system, but it does break up the books each day which means that I won't have to fear wading into the Prophets for weeks and weeks on end, which does my unfit brain and timid heart in every time.
I haven't read the Bible like this in years. I'm looking forward to it. I'll let you know how it goes.

A Cross from Bethlehem

I was given this small wooden cross about a month ago from another member of a committee on which we both serve. He picked it up while visiting Israel during October. It's made from the wood of an olive tree from Bethlehem. I showed it to our six year old son and explained where it came from.

With eyes as big as saucers he said, “Is Bethlehem real?”
M: Yes.
R: Where is it?
I show him on the map. I thought we had done that before, but maybe not...
M: Didn’t you think Bethlehem was a real place? Did you think it was just a place in a story?
R: I know that everything in the Bible is true, Mummy. Now I know that it is real too.

We have a mad collection of decorations for our Christmas tree. Our tree, when decorated, is no glitzy, department store, colour co-ordinated masterpiece. But it is beautiful to us because nearly every decoration has a story behind it - a Kindergarten craft masterpiece, a gift from a precious friend, a reminder of a special time - and we love to remember each story and give thanks for each special person and occasion behind the decorations as we decorate our tree. This cross from Bethlehem is one of the treasures, with its own special story, that we have added to our tree this year.

Merry Christmas, and may your hearts be filled with joy as you reflect on the One who was sent - a baby born in Bethelehem on that very first Christmas - to be our Saviour. And rejoice.

More on the Mince Pies

Here are a few more tips for budding mince pie chefs.

1. Unless you are in the habit of making pies during the year, make a small first batch. Making pies once a year is a bit like making pancakes...the first ones are never very good. Best not to use up too much of your delicious home made fruit mince on dud pies.

2. Use an egg wash on the inside of the lids to stick them down and an egg and milk wash on the top of the lids. An egg wash top and bottom is just too...well...egg-y.

3. If you live in the southern hemisphere, they are best cooked first thing in the morning or else in the evening when it isn't so hot. It takes me about an hour in the preparation...and having pastry out on the bench for an hour in the heat just doesn't work. If you must bake in the heat of the afternoon, keep your pastry under a damp tea towel.

4. Trim excess pastry off the edges of the pies before you put them in the oven for the perfect pie.

5. If your fruit mix is nice and juicy, the juice will inevitably bubble out of the air holes during the cooking and run all over your pastry lids. But once the pies are out of the oven and have cooled just a little, you can actually wipe off the juice with a clean damp cloth for near perfect results. And when dusted with icing sugar they'll win awards.

6. For those, such as myself, who use pre-rolled pastry from the supermarket DO NOT use low fat pastry! Even if you have spent an hour lining your pie tins, putting in the mix, putting on the lids and getting them all ready for oven and you check the cooking time on the packet one more time and discover that you mistakenly purchased low fat pastry, even still DO NOT PROCEED hoping that it will all be OK, as I did with my second batch of 24, no less! IT WILL NOT WORK. They will not be nice. Pastry is not meant to be low fat. Low fat pastry cooks into a cardboard-like consistency and is a complete waste of good fruit mince.

With these six tips, along with the right fruit mince, you have everything you need to know to make the real deal. Enjoy.

Garden Update # 8

There hasn't been a whole lot of work on the garden lately. Since the weather warmed up most of my gardening time has been directed at keeping the lawn watered. But there are a couple of little things to report.

Firstly, an addition to the pot plants since the coriander came to its end...


...in the form of a lettuce for summer!


And because it is Christmas, a hydrangea...


...here at my spot for sitting for a quiet moment...


...because like the coriander in the pots, the marigold that used to be on this table didn't make it!

Real Hope

Some real hope at Christmas - because without Christmas there is no Easter and without Easter we are without hope. This is a beautiful song by Colin Buchanan. The music is gorgeous too but it is deeply refreshing to the read the words as stand alone poetry. Be encouraged this Christmas.

Real Hope

It was a real birth in real stable
In a real dusty Judean town
And a real mother nursed her precious baby
And a bunch of wide-eyed shepherds gathered round
And real angles sang “Glory!”
For real hope was born that day.

I bet all I have on Jesus
I will throw myself on him
For the one who died a real death, for real sin
I bet all I have on Jesus
And throughout eternity
I will marvel at the real hope
That my Saviour won for me

It was a real life
He had real friends
He walked shoulder to shoulder with the lost
He wept real tears
For the fallen ones
And he anguished over sin's dreadful cost
And on a real cross he cried, "Forgive them!"
As his real life drained away.

I bet all I have on Jesus
I will throw myself on him
For the one who died a real death, for real sin
I bet all I have on Jesus
And throughout eternity
I will marvel at the real hope
That my Saviour won for me

I have real fears
I do real sin
And I hurt the ones I cherish and adore
But the real mercy
Of the true God
Sees the filthy fallen purchased and restored
And I cry "My God - O fill me
With a heart completely yours!"

I bet all I have on Jesus
I will throw myself on him
For the one who died a real death, for real sin
I bet all I have on Jesus
And throughout eternity
I will marvel at the real hope
That my Saviour won for me

(And nothing now until Monday. I am onto my once a week with a few exceptions regime until February.)

A Bit of an Update

I sometimes wonder how I come across in this blog. I know I write about how it would be good to be reading the Bible every day and praying heaps and being nice and kind to everyone and grateful for everything and...

And it would be good to be doing all this and running the perfect household (although I am sure if you looked at the photos here you won't be under any illusions!) and so on and so forth but lest you think I'm showing off and being...

...here's an update on some of the things I said I'd do or try in the course of this blog in recent months and how it has really gone!!

The Garden - well, I think I've been quite honest about the weeds! I did get onto mulching but all those bags of mulch I bought covered about a QUARTER of the area...my conservation of volume is HOPELESS...and I didn't really get back to it after that. That was early October. Having said that, the pots of herbs are doing really well. I think plants in pots are my forte! So if you are thinking of buying me a Christmas present, a big terracot pot would be lovely!!!

The Bible Reading Plan - got off to a great start but I confess I was overcome by the prophets. It's all fantastic and great to learn about the God who judges (and judge He did and judge He will) but I reached a point where, if I didn't change tack, I wasn't going to read the Bible for days at a time because I was so overwhelmed. So that plan was abandoned, I headed back into the New Testament for some refreshment and am looking forward to the Gospels during December. Stay tuned for 2010's plan (and how it goes!)

Praying before answering the door - getting better at doing this. At the very least, certainly pausing to draw breath and open the door smiling. And mostly answering the phone nicely too. Although one day, after about a million calls between 5 and 6pm I did pick up the last call in that series and bark down the phone. It was my dear sister who thinks I am too officious when I answer the phone! That time "officious" would have been a kind description!

Christmas cards - I said in the September post about Christmas that if one started then and wrote two cards a day, one could have 150 cards written before December even arrived. I actually wrote two the next day. And no more until a week ago. We send out an embarrassingly large number of cards so while it might have made it easier to start a bit earlier, it just seems strange writing "Merry Christmas" in September. Just like it is weird to have Christmas decorations out in the shops that early. But don't get me started on that one again...

Reading in general - just 15 minutes a day! It's not much to ask!! I got through both church history books and bits of other books but that too fell in a heap. Maybe next year!

The first thought of the day - the deal here was to try to make one's very first thought of the day one that focuses upon God. It is a marvellous, MARVELLOUS idea but I am wondering if it is next to impossible. I have in mind to email CJ Mahaney and ask him whether he was preaching in exaggerated form so that if we aimed high we might manage to make our second, third or fourth thought of the day one about God. I don't think I have managed a FIRST thought as prescribed. But with some discipline I can get going pretty quickly. A lot depends on how early I get to bed the night before.

West Wing - now, I am having great success here. I haven't missed "The Bill" at all. In fact I watched an episode of "The Bill" while we were on holiday - pretty easy to pick it up again but really, I didn't feel like I needed to make a date to watch the following week's episode. But "West Wing"...loving that! Been watching it since the beginning of July and am well into series three. And wondering where I can access grief counselling against the day I run out of episodes, which at current rate will occur about this time next year.

Toilets - and success here! All thanks to a kind person at church who helped out here. The three toilets are out of the entrance hall and installed where they should be. Yes, we have three toilets in this house!!! And what is better, they all work. What a joy. I started taking photos to blog it but then I pulled myself back into line. A post about toilets? I don't think so!

So to summarise, my life is full of good intention and long lists of things that haven't been ticked off. Which leaves plenty of scope for new year's resolutions!!!

Christmas Cooking Meme

Food is a great part of Christmas so here is a chance to share your favourite festive recipe. Here are the rules.

1. Link to the person who ‘tagged’ you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Post your favourite Christmas recipe - something tradionally festive or something that has become a tradition in your house.
4. Tag four people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog.
7. Post your own Christmas recipe within a week of being tagged to keep this on the move.

And so to get the ball rolling, here is the best home made fruit mince recipe in the world (my Mum's) to put in your own home made, delicious fruit mince pies - or give jars of it away for Christmas presents! You'll never use supermarket fruit mince or buy mince pies ever again.

Mum's Fruit Mince

2 x 350gm packets of mixed fruit (or your mix of sultanas, currants, raisins, glace cherries and other dried fruit)
extra chopped glace cherries (as many as you like - and this is optional)
1 teaspoon spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large green apple - grated
grated rind of one orange
grated rind and juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons of melted butter (the recipe used to say 80gm of grated suet. But suet is not readily available and actually, if you know what suet is, butter is probably preferable!)
2 tablespoons (or more) brandy

* Mix it all up and bottle it in sterilised jars. It's best to let it brew for a month or two but I have been known to make it two weeks before Christmas and it still tastes good.
* It's a good idea to tip your jars up every week or so until you use it to mix the liquid through the fruit.
* If you are running late, a little extra brandy perks it up in a hurry!
* This will keep indefinitely in the fridge so if you don't use it all this year, use what is left as a starter to next year's fruit mince.
* This recipe doubles easily and successfully. I made mine last week and tripled it for this year!
* Get new packets of cinnamon, nutmeg and spice. Don't use last year's unfinished spices. They'll just be dust.
* When making the actual pies I use pre-rolled shortcrust pastry and make them in (big and little) muffin trays. Seal the lids with egg and milk, cut a tiny air hole in the lid and glaze the lids with the egg and milk mixture too. Serve pies with a dusting of icing sugar.

So - over to you! I tag Nicole, Sharon, Simone and Rina. Gone in four fairly different directions so we will see where we end up. I'll try to do a wrap up of recipes before Christmas.

The Month Before Christmas

'Tis the month before Christmas,
And all through this house,
Many things are a-stirring -
Not just that mouse.

So for December this blogger,
Will post once a week,
So that by Christmas day,
She's not screaming, "EEK!!"

And this continues through January,
While we have summer fun,
Because the kids have more joy,
When my computer's not on.

So the day will be Monday,*
That I'll post once a week.
That will be the day.
If you wish, take a peek.

And as Christmas approaches,
And the excitement unfurls,
Remember it's Jesus
Who brings joy to the world.

*There will be the odd exception. Blogger's prerogative.

Infusing Christmas with Christ for Kids - Practicalities

So, bearing in mind the principles of out-celebrating the secular world, praying about our activities, teaching the truths of the Christmas story repetitively with variety and creating gospel-laden traditions, what are some practical things to do with children to steer them towards the real meaning Christmas when they are surrounded by secular commercialism?

Here are a few things we came up with at the Bible study. But before you read on, may I issue the standard health warning that comes with all lists. Do not attempt to do every item on this list in one year. Nor feel guilty if you do none. And so, to the list...

* Make sure you actually read the Christmas story to them!

* Go to a performance of the nativity if there is a good one near you. Or put on a performance at your church. Or put one on at home - act it out, do it with puppets (you can make a pretty good set of nativity story puppets with popsticks, textas and cloth)...

* Emphasise that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birthday. So do some of your own family birthday traditions on Christmas day. A popular one is to have birthday cake on the day...and of course the best time to do this is at breakfast because there is often little opportunity after that!! Cake at breakfast time will surely create a great memory! But if you can't stomach cake for breakfast, it makes a child friendly alternative to pudding if the kids aren't up for that.

* Have a nativity set at home. When the children are young have one that isn't too precious and let the children play with it, act out the story with it and generally engage with it. Our nativity set doesn't have a stable so in the past we have found a cardboard box and made our own - a new one each year - and the quality is gradually improving!

* Look for the nativity scenes set up in shopping centres. Make a point of going and looking at them and talking about them with the children. Be seen in the shops doing this! And send a note of thanks to the manager for including it in the decorations. (Couldn't resist an opportunity to write a letter!)

* Have an advent calendar. There are lots of good ideas popping up at Nicole's blog - she is featuring advent calendars during November. These are good for including daily readings, activities, treats and so on and children LOVE them.

* On advent calendars, if you are a godparent or aunty (or uncle...not sure if any men read this blog!) or grandparent...if you have a special child in your life who is not your son or daughter, make an advent calendar for that child and provide the contents for it every year as your special gift to that child. What a great tradition. How did I think of this idea? Well, I didn't! Our boys' godparents (both boys have the same godparents) did. They gave R the actual calendar with the pockets for his first Christmas and every year they supply the goodies for the pockets. It is a wonderful, wonderful gift. Thanks guys!

* Tap into the great Christmas CDs and DVDs that are available. Have Christmas carols playing in your house and car (the real deal, not Jingle Bells!) Colin Buchanan has a great CD/DVD called "The King of Christmas" and in the Veggie Tales series there are some good Christmas DVDs. I also like their "Easter Carol" DVD which is worth a peek - it goes through the Christmas story at one point, making the point that there would be no Easter without Christmas.

* Presents...
Think about church first, presents second?
Just before opening presents, talk about why we have presents - remembering Jesus birthday and reflecting the gifts the wise men brought. (Always interesting to the think about the gifts of the wise men - gold...something precious, frankincense...incense for worship and myrrh...oil for cleansing used in the embalming process, predicting Jesus death.)
Look at the story of St Nicholas (the origins of that man in the red suit) and observe his emphasis on giving rather than receiving. "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" by Dr Seuss also encourages looking in an outwards direction and thinking about what else is important at Christmas rather than just being greedy for gifts.

* Get the children to make Christmas cards that feature the real meaning of Christmas to give to...their teacher, best friend, grandma, their godparents, someone they know and love, someone you would like them to thank.

What other ideas are there?

Infusing Christmas with Christ for Kids - the Principles

So, I was talking to a women's Bible study group about kids and Christmas last week. The questions they gave me were...

What are some helpful ways to explain what Christmas is really about to children?
What are some useful traditions?
What are some ways to steer children towards the real meaning of Christmas when they are surrounded by secular commercialism?

I started out by talking about four principles to consider as we seek to put Jesus' birthday at the centre of our Christmas celebrations:-

1. Determine to out-celebrate those in the secular world

Christmas is great. Catching up with family and friends, the presents, the cards in the mail, the food, the decorations...it's all good. But for those who know and love Christ there is so much more. This is the day we celebrate that God sent His Son to earth "that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16b). The presents, the tinsel and the food are great and fun (and wonderful for creating terrific memories for our children and ourselves!) but the first Christmas day was an INCREDIBLE moment in history. We have much to celebrate. Those who know and love Christ should determine to out-celebrate what the consumerist world presents as Christmas. On that very first Christmas God sent us His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. That's as big as it gets.

To that end, I would say, especially to fellow introverts, choose which invitations to functions you accept during December with wisdom. This may come as a contradiction having just said, "Head out there and out-celebrate the rest of the world!" But read on. There are plenty of Christmas parties to attend and if you dwell in the southern hemisphere, there are all those "winding up the year" events too. And have you noticed the "We must catch up before Christmas" phenomenon? I smile every time some sweet friend says this to us and then invites us over to dinner during December. And then, except in exceptional circumstances, I usually say, "December is kind of busy for us. But January is really slow. Can we catch up some time in January instead?" I want to save my energy - and the energy of my family - to really make use of this gospel-laden month. Maybe I miss out on a few fun opportunities (and now I will probably never ever receive a single invitation to anything in December, having put this comment out there on the internet) - but December is a really good month to accept invitations thoughtfully and intentionally.

2. Pray

Before we do anything we should pray - pray that our children will truly grasp what Christmas is all about and that they will embrace the gospel. This could be a special prayer project for December. And we should pray about each of our endeavours to steer our children towards the real meaning of Christmas as we plan them and put them into action.

3. Teaching is all about repetition with variety

If you ever wanted to be a teacher you will need to know the single most important technique that lies at the heart of this job. Get your content and then present it to the children in as many different ways as your time and creativity will allow. That's it! December give us a great opportunity to take the content of Christmas - the birth of Jesus - and present that story in as many ways as possible.

But the key is repetition with variety. The repetition is vital because it has been found that if you are trying to convince someone of something new and important, it can take between seven and twenty exposures to that information before it is taken on board. The variety caters for different learning styles (visual, aural, tactile), capabilities (concrete vs abstract thinking for example) and works on different parts of the brain.

So present the Christmas story in as many ways as your time and creativity will allow.

4. Traditions are important

When I think of Christmas, my immediate childhood memories centre on decorating the Christmas tree and house, opening presents on Christmas morning, the food... And I guess I remember these things because there was a tradition built up around of each of them.

So if we can develop traditions with our children that have the gospel "trapped" within them, then in years to come, when they reflect on their own childhood recollections of Christmas, they will have a recollection that is infused with Christ. If they are, we pray, still walking with the Lord, this memory will be a warm encouragement to them. If they have wandered, then this will be a gentle prompt. Christmas traditions infused with Christ are powerful. It is well worth spending some time thinking and praying about, planning carefully and implementing Christ-laden Christmas traditions that can occur every year with all the Christmas joy we can muster.

Next time, some practicalities.

Infusing Christmas with Christ for Kids - The Jesus Storybook Bible

It's official. It is the middle of November and I have turned my mind to Christmas. And thanks be to God, I am excited by the possibilities and not feeling like I am going to drown. Maybe that has something to do with starting six weeks out rather than with only two weeks to go!

In fact I started thinking about Christmas two weeks ago because last week I gave a short talk to a women's Bible study group about kids and Christmas. They gave me these questions as a starting point:

What are some helpful ways to explain what Christmas is really about to children?
What are some useful traditions?
What are some ways to steer children towards the real meaning of Christmas when they are surrounded by secular commercialism?

While I was preparing for this talk I made a wonderful discovery about "The Jesus Storybook Bible" - the subtitle of which is, "Every Story Whispers His Name."


So what's the big discovery?

The format of this children's Bible is such that there are twenty one stories presented from the Old Testament (which "whisper Jesus name") and then the Christmas story is presented in three stories. That makes twenty four stories that will paint an Old Testament backdrop to the birth of Jesus and then tell the story of his birth. Twenty four superb readings to do with our children - one a day - during the month of December leading up to Christmas.

These would make great readings for an advent calendar - just pop a note in each day's pocket which says, "Today's story is..." Or use them as bedtime Bible reading for the month of December or for special stories after breakfast each day during December...

All in an effort to steer our children towards the real meaning of Christmas when they are surrounded by secular commercialism.

Isn't that fantastic!