Announcing the Yuletide Farmgirl Festival!

Announcing. . . 

. . . Brown paper packages tied up with strings. . .  an old-fashioned snowball fight. . . 

Passing on time-honored traditions. . . dressing up in your festive Farmgirl best. . .

Marveling at the simple yet intricate beauty of falling snowflakes. . . Popcorn balls. . .

Singing Christmas carols out on a snowy night. . . skating parties. . . 

If you are enchanted with the thought of a simple, pure, joyful Christmas season, Farmgirl style - handmade gifts, wonderful home cooking, family gatherings, and remembering the real reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ, I hope you will plan on joining me for this exciting online event!

I will be hosting the festival for an entire week as we celebrate the old-fashioned joys of a Farmgirl style Christmas.

Consisting of five different categories, each will have a link pool for you to connect your blog posts.  All you need to do is prepare your own blog posts, relating to the subject of the categories you wish to enter.  You may enter as many posts in as many categories as you like!

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~*~ The categories: ~*~

Home Cookin'

 From sweet to savory, simple to superb, give us a helping of your favorite holiday recipes!  

Festive Photos

A calm, snowy night.  Singing carols at a nursing home.  The joys of an old-fashioned snowball fight.  

Share your fabulous festive photography!

Farmgirl Fashion

Calling all Farmgirl Fashionistas!  

Showcase your festive Farmgirl flair with aprons, mittens, wool skirts, boots - use

your imagination to create a warm, winsome, and modest outfit!

Made With Love

Gather together your yarn, buttons, needle and thread!

There is nothing like a hand made gift to show your love - inspire us with your ideas for crafting a homemade Christmas!

Looking Back

Share your treasured holiday customs, traditions, and memories of Christmas' past - even a favorite Christmas in literature!

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Beginning on Monday, December 13th, and ending on Monday the 20th,

you will have plenty of time to prepare your posts for this exciting festival.

As stated above, I will have a linky for each category here on my blog so that everyone will be able to see each and every inspiring entry.  During the week I will be featuring fun posts with my favorite recipes, winter games, Farmgirl fashion inspiration, homemade gift ideas, free patterns, a fabulous giveaway, and more!

I will select finalists from each category for everyone to vote on at the end of the event week.  Finalists will be judged on...

Creativity

Farmgirl flair

Photography quality {where applicable}

Originality

A special blog button will be awarded to all participants, as well as an award (yet to be announced) for the winner of each category.

Please post one of the following buttons on your blog sidebar or website if you wish to participate.  

Use them to link to this post.  Thank you!

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I'm so excited!  How about you?

Comment and let me know if you will be participating, and if you have any questions!

I'd also love to hear of any ideas you may have!

Looking forward to hearing from all of you!

Lots of love,

~Kellie~

A Surprise. . .

I'm working on such an exciting project - I can't wait to show it to you all!

Stay tuned!

A Surprise. . .

I'm working on such an exciting project - I can't wait to show it to you all!

Stay tuned!

Frosted Forest

A Thanksgiving Favorite. . .

As it's that cozy, festive time of year, I would like to share this fabulous thanksgiving-table worthy dessert that's worked it's way up to my list of top recipes.

 

This recipe is one of my specialties;)  My family says it tastes even better than pumpkin pie, if that is possible, and it's so easy to whip up!

 

Go fetch your apron, and enjoy!

 

 

~ Pumpkin Dessert ~

oven 350°F

1 C. flour

1/2 C. rolled oats

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. butter

 

15oz. (half of a 30oz can) Libby's canned pumpkin {Libby's is Tradition!}

12oz. evaporated milk

3/4 C. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. cloves

 

~ Topping ~

1/2 C. chopped pecans or walnuts

1/2 C. brown sugar

 

 

For crust:

Mix dry ingredients.  Press into greased 13x9" pan and bake for 15 minutes.

 

For filling:

Mix the rest or the ingredients, pour on baked crust and bake an additional 20 minutes.

 

Top it off:

Remove from oven and sprinkle chopped nuts and brown sugar over the entire top.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm.

 

Serve warm with copious amounts of fresh whipped cream, and enjoy!

 

 

P.S. - Always make a double batch!!! 

P.S.S.  It's really good the next day, too, if it lasts that long=)

Hymn History - Once to Every Man and Nation

~The Present Crisis~

When a deed is done for Freedom, through the broad earth's aching breast
Runs a thrill of joy prophetic, trembling on from east to west,
And the slave, where'er he cowers, feels the soul within him climb
To the awful verge of manhood, as the energy sublime
Of a century bursts full-blossomed on the thorny stem of Time.

For mankind are one in spirit, and an instinct bears along,
Round the earth's electric circle, the swift flash of right or wrong;
Whether conscious or unconscious, yet Humanity's vast frame
Through its ocean-sundered fibres feels the gush of joy or shame;—
In the gain or loss of one race all the rest have equal claim.

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right,
And the choice goes by forever 'twixt that darkness and that light.

For Humanity sweeps onward: where to-day the martyr stands,
On the morrow, crouches Judas with the silver in his hands;
Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling fagots burn,
While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return
To glean up the scattered ashes into History's golden urn.

Careless seems the great Avenger; history's pages but record
One death-grapple in the darkness 'twixt old systems and the Word;
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne,—
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own.

The above poem is derived from the original eighteen stanzas of "The Present Crisis", a work by James Russell Lowell that addressed the national crisis over slavery leading up to the Mexican War.  The hymn "Once to Every Man and Nation" was later derived from four of these stirring lines, and set to the welsh tune of Ebenezer in 1890.

James Russell Lowell was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1819.  His father was the pastor of the West Congregational Church in Boston for 55 years. James graduated from Harvard in 1838 and, as a lawyer, poet, critic, and editor, became an ardent champion of abolition.  In 1876, President Hayes appointed him minister to the court of Spain and, in 1880, transferred him to Great Britain.  Over the years, he was in great demand as a public speaker.

The poem, The Present Crisis, first appeared in print on December 11, 1845, in the Boston Courier.  Eventually, when music was added, the poem of protest became a hymn of challenge: "Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side."

Written over 158 years ago, Once to Every Man and Nation is a poignant reminder of Who is in control of history and Who will ultimately write the last chapter.

ONCE TO EVERY MAN AND NATION
Written by James Russell Lowell

Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause,
God's new Messiah,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever
'Twixt that darkness and that light.

Then to side with truth is noble,
When we share her wretched crust,
Ere her cause bring fame and profit,
And 'tis prosperous to be just;
Then it is the brave man chooses
While the coward stands aside,
Till the multitude make virtue
Of the faith they had denied.

By the light of burning martyrs,
Christ, Thy bleeding feet we track,
Toiling up new Calvaries ever
With the cross that turns not back;
New occasions teach new duties,
Time makes ancient good uncouth;
They must upward still and onward,
Who would keep abreast of truth.

Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet 'tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow
Keeping watch above His own..

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

(II Corinthians 3:17)

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

(II Chronicles 7:14)

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

(Joshua 24:15)