Merry Christmas!

What a special FIRST Christmas for Paul and I. A day we will never forget. Our first Christmas with snow. (never thought it could happen!)

(yes, we had to have one of these cheesy kissy ones!)

Hope everyone had a wonderful day filled with blessings and joy!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!!

Smoky Chicken Chili

As Christmas gets closer, I find myself getting a little sad. I mean, I love Christmas so much, that I despise the day after. It's the worst feeling in the world. It goes from extreme happiness to extreme sadness. Am I the only one? Is this crazy or what?

On my happier Christmas note, I am ready to make this wonderful recipe for Christmas dinner. I had it at my aunt's house on Thanksgiving and it was absolutely delicous. YUMMMMM...

SMOKY CHICKEN CHILI (recipe from Southern Living)

Pick up smoked chicken from your favorite barbecue restaurant to make this dish, or use a barbecue-flavored rotisserie chicken from your local supermarket.Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Yield: Makes 9 cups

Ingredients

• 2  poblano chile peppers, chopped
• 1  large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1  medium-size sweet onion, chopped
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  tablespoons  olive oil
• 2  (14 1/2-oz.) cans zesty chili-style diced tomatoes
• 3  cups  shredded or chopped smoked chicken (about 1 lb.)
• 1  (16-oz.) can navy beans
• 1  (15-oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1  (12-oz.) can beer*
• 1  (1.25-oz.) envelope white chicken chili seasoning mix
• Toppings: shredded Cheddar cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, sour cream, lime wedges, baby corn, sliced black olives, chopped red onion, tortilla chips

Preparation

1. Sauté first 4 ingredients in hot oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in diced tomatoes and next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Serve with desired toppings.

*1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth may be substituted.

Note: For testing purposes only, we used Del Monte Diced Tomatoes Zesty Chili Style and McCormick White Chicken Chili Seasoning Mix.

3 things.

3 things I need (slash want) right about now.

1. A nice, big ole' cup of hot chocolate.

2. Our new sofa!!! Which we get on Saturday. 

I. can. not. wait.

3. Homemade Christmas sugar cookies all decorated and delicious.

(If you can get me any of these things immediately, I would greatly appresh. )

my heart.

I just had to share a few things that have touched my heart this week.

For those of you that don't know, I work with Kindergarden at Hickory Hills Elementary. It is a district 1 school, which means a lot of them may not be able to afford food, so the school let's them eat breakfast and lunch free. So as you can imagine, there are quite a few kids that may not be as blessed as us. It truly breaks my heart daily to see/hear what some of these kids go through. But boy can they brighten my days too!

As I was walking up to the office the other day, I noticed a girl staring at the tree that we have set up in the front. Now let me tell you, it's pretty... but it ain't that purdy, if you know what I mean. Nothing special at all. But she sure thought so....

I looked at her and whispered "beautiful tree, huh?" She looked at me with the biggest eyes... "I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. .. I just hope one day I can have something this beautiful in my house". My heart broke (of course, I instantly go home begging Paul to give our tree to this family, which he kindly tells me no, but maybe we can buy them one when the sales go on after Christmas) :)

A lot of our kids have never seen Christmas trees, and it's so exciting to get to see their little faces light up around this time of year.

(Another sweet thing that happened) Today when I walked into my class, Ms. Russell had bought my favorite cake (red velvet), had the kids sing happy birthday to me, and had each kid make me a card. They were SOOO excited to share their cards with me they could hardly stand it (aka: had to put a few kids in time-out unfortunately, for pushing and whatnot). I had a few kids they came over and hugged me for so long, I had to literally pull them off with all my might. "Mrs. Stippich, I love you so much and hate when you aren't here." (Heart breaking again). It was so special of them to think of me, and I made sure to tell them that they were my best birthday gift this year. 

(first of all, like how I am creepily poking from behind the card??)

This card was from one of my students. One of the reasons I loved this card (well obviously I love it cause he drew a picture of him and I, DUH) But the other reason is because he couldn't even spell his name at the beginnning of the year, and in the card, ALL by himself he wrote.. "happy birthday Mrs. Stippich. I love you. Have a great day- (and signed his name)" WOW. How awesome is that!?!?!

Hope this brings some joy to your heart, and remember how blessed we are for all we have!

Creatively Christmas

I. am. inspired. Truly inspired people...

First of all love THIS idea from one of my old college aquaintence's blog's. (Really great blog by the way)

And love all of HER ideas for making a fun//cheap//creative//decorative Christmassy home.

I am going to do it. I am going to make my own decorations. I will be creative. I WILL!!!!

So anyways, check their blogs out for some kewl (yes, I really did spell it like that) Christmas ideas..

encouragement & faith

Encouragement is such a wonderful feeling, and it really does keep me going.

At school today I got to hear these encouraging words from some students:

"Mrs. Stippich... thank you so much for teaching me"
"I think you would be a really good dance teacher"

And my favorite... "You're my favorite kind of teacher"... wow. makes my heart melt.

I love encouraging and getting encouraged. If we all help encourage each other and lift each other up, think of how confident and proud we could be :)

This video encourages me to be strong in my faith, and that miracles can happen. You never know what purpose God has for your life. This video is of my Aunt Penny and Uncle Robin.
(I also nannied for their daughter, Meghan's, kids which are shown in the video as well.)

Be Encouraged... ----> click here to see their AMAZING story of faith.

happiness.

I'll tell you one bad thing I'm really good at... when I'm having a hard time, everyone knows. It's something I'm working on... that, and finding happiness in my job. How do you find happiness in a job? Are you suppose to enjoy it all the time? or everyday?

wouldn't it be nice if God just told us exactly what we'd be great at and love. But God knows better than that. My goal is to find happiness in all that I do, what is something that makes you happy?

For me:

1. Living a life for Jesus, knowing that I am not in control (something I still struggle with daily).

2. My husband. Couldn't be more thankful for that relationship.

Those 2 things are something to be happy about daily. What are some things that make you happy?