I love soup weather! There’s something that makes me feel like a pretty good mom when I can fill my family with hearty soup when it’s cold outside. Rhea Lana moms are smart about these kinds of things too! I found these two recipes in our Rhea Lana’s Friends and Family Cookbook.

QUICK AND EASY POTATO SOUP   

- submitted by Jennifer K, Rhea Lana’s of Searcy manager

30 oz frozen hashbrowns

3 cans chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

dash onion powder

8 oz cream cheese

cheddar cheese

bacon bits

Cook hashbrowns, chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, onion powder and pepper (to taste) for 30 minutes or so in a soup pot.  In a separate bowl, slowly add some hot soup to cream cheese, then return to pot.  Serve with cheddar cheese and bacon and add salt to taste.

TACO SOUP

- submitted by Julie Session, Rhea Lana’s of Russellville leadership team

2 lb ground beef

1 pkg dry ranch dressing mix

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes

2 cans stewed tomatoes

1 can light red kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can black eyed peas

1 can lima beans

1 pkg frozen corn

2 cups water

Brown ground beef, drain, and rinse.  Put mean tinto crock pot.  Add dressing and taco seasoing packages, mix into meat. Add the reamining ingredients.  Stir until well mixed.  Cook in crock pot for 5-6 hours or overnight.

To get your copy of our Rhea Lana’s Friends and Family Cookbook, go to this link and get all the details!

There’s been well over one million articles written about a 24-year-old football player named Tim Tebow. Is it because he’s a Heisman trophy winner? Is it because he is the youngest  of 5 children from Florida? Is it because he’s a Missionary Kid? Is it because he continues to excel, every time the talking heads say he can’t do it? Is it because he’s an outspoken Christian? Is it because he loves his family? Is it all of these things…and more?

Moms everywhere have also taken a sudden interest in the Denver Bronco’s quarterback and football! He seems to be as famous for his personal life as he is for his sports career. He is known for his love of family and his commitment to the Lord. He has impeccable manners with all sports announcers and hasn’t been captured in the tabloids in any compromising pictures or stories.

There are two things in life that I love tons – sports and underdogs.  As a matter of
fact, I probably watch more sports than anyone in my family, and we have two
grown men in our family!   For me, sports are a wholesome way to watch a little television and unwind at the end of a long workday.  I love the rules, the strategy and mostly pulling for any underdog.   I followed Tim Tebow a little bit while he was at Florida, and bought his book for my son and my daughter.  But this season, as I was listening to announcer after announcer discredit his football ability and throwing style –
and then I watched him respond to difficult questions during interviews, and ultimately,  watched him perform well in game time stressful situations……I’ve become increasingly protective of Tim Tebow, like any mother would of someone she cares for.   I don’t know Tim personally, but I’m so proud of how he is willing to be a leader, willing to be mocked at times, and also willing to be a famous role model for American kids.

According to the Los Angeles Times today,  Tim Tebow was named the most popular
athlete in a monthly ESPN poll, a completely shocking development since his name has been completely absent in the news as of late. In the poll, Tebow finished ahead of Kobe Bryant, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.  Another surprising development — the humble, God-fearing Denver Broncos quarterback didn’t brag about the accomplishment.

“What’s that tell me?” Tebow said to reporters Thursday. “It tells me they have a lot
of crazy polls out there. I hope people see I’m real and genuine. I hope they
see that I make a ton of mistakes but that I always get back up and try again.

“But I’m very blessed. I’m trying to grow my foundation and things that like really help. They give me a platform. I feel like now I can walk into any Colorado hospital and talk to these kids that I want to help.”

Tebow and the Broncos play the New England Patriots on Saturday in the NFL playoffs.

I know I’ll be watching and cheering for the Broncos,  Tim at quarterback and Von Miller on defense this Saturday along many, many other cheering moms across the world!!

Check out this article from Crosswalk ministries titled Mom Phenom: Tim Tebow.

How about you?  Are you watching more football than last year?

Date nights with hubby.  It’s not easy for a million reasons, but when you work at it, marriage can be great. Become friends and date that hubby again! (Picnics in the park, bike rides, late movie when kids are already down with a sitter, etc.)

Tackle one big project per quarter. (the garage, the photo albumns, the yard, the closets, etc) This is so important to moms. No one but you may notice, but you should get a parade in your honor when you finish a biggie!

Smile more, complain less. We’re all blessed in a million ways. Look for those blessings and focus on them. Write them down if you need to. Share them at the dinner table if you want. Be positive and those around you will be too.

Speak softer and slower. There’s a good chance if your children are yelling, so are you. If they have a big fat attitude, they may be getting it from you. Make an effort to speak softer and slower and see what happens!

Pick up a new good habit. (Floss regularly, give up cokes, walk each day, etc)

Get outside more. Turn off the tube and throw a frisbee, use sidewalk chalk, rake leaves and get some fresh air. Attitudes will improve, guaranteed.

Hug more. Everyday make sure everyone in the family knows they are loved by you.

Think outside yourself. Pick a single mom, elderly neighbor, friend who’s fighting cancer, etc, and take them on as your secret friend. Send cards, flowers, small gifts, or encouraging words to them all year. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how thinking of others will make you feel good too.

When I was little, just thinking about Santa watching me during the month of December (“He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake.”) was enough to make me talk a little nicer, share a little more, and make sure I wasn’t caught doing anything really bad. These days, Moms everywhere have raised the bar with their little ones with a little guy named Elf on a Shelf. 

From the official Elf on a Shelf website…”Every year at Christmas Santa sends his elves to watch you and they go back and tell him who’s been bad and who’s been good!” The site is filled with videos on Elf Training Camp, actual video of an elf caught flying and the Elf Story movie trailer. There is also a login to register your elf and make a scrapbook of their activities through the season!

The real fun begins when parents get into spinning the tale…and let me tell you there are some parents out there working it! After their children are in bed those elves get busy…playing games, eating cookies, messing up the kitchen, moving clothes from one closet to another…I’m not kidding. There are blogs  and Facebook pages dedicated to ideas for your elf to try and Pinterest is filled with pictures of elves in action!  It seems the more active the elf is the faster your children will get out of bed in the morning to see what he/she has been up to!

Elves are not free and have been sold out of some retailers this year. If you’re one of the one who picked one up at Target you paid $30 for the book and doll. Choices include blue eyed or brown eyed elves and accessories include a couture Christmas skirt if your elf wants to be a girl!

The story and concept were written by a mother-daughter team from Georgia whose ideas were rejected many times by all the major publishers. They decided to publish on their own and produced 300 in the first run of 2005. They have sold 1.5 million to date. Critics think the elf is a little creepy and is really just a “tattle tale.” Others think it’s a little crazy that parents are making HUGE messes for themselves to clean up after the initial 5 seconds of excitement their child receives.

Rhea Lana Facebook fans posted some fun comments on our blog this week including my favorite from a couple WITHOUT CHILDREN who posted, “Me and my husband have fun hiding JJ our elf from each other. Our first baby is on the way.”

Other comments: from Amanda,  ”We named ours Sam Winkle, aka Mr Winkle. The kids wake up super excited each day to find where he is. Today he was hanging out in my k-cup basket, he had been eating on my homemade chocolate chip cookies.”

Katie says, “We have “peanut”. My 4 and 3 year old girls race to see who can find him first every morning and they also tell him when they do good things so he can tell Santa!!”

A sign of the times…Elf on a Shelf spent time in the number one spot on Barnes and Nobel’s website. Will your family adopt one?

The best traditions are the ones that make memories…here are a few from some Rhea Lana franchise owners around the country:

From Lauren, Rhea Lana’s of Jonesboro:

This is a candle my grandmother bought from Montgomery Ward in 1948. It was a pretty candle and she thought it would be nice on the dining table that year. It has now been burned every year since then, on Christmas Eve. My daughter is the 5th generation of this family to enjoy this candle on Christmas Eve. On my daughter’s first Christmas, we lit her Christmas candle for the first time and will do so every year. I even added to the tradition and started a journal. When we light the candle, we write in the journal about the year, our blessings and family stories. It’s so wonderful every year, to read about our past years. This is a family tradition I am proud to pass along to my daughter and I enjoy sharing.

From Sarah, new owner of Rhea Lana’s of Leavenworth-Platte City:

We have a tradition in my family of making Christmas ornaments. It started when I was a baby out of necessity. My parents were just starting out in life and didn’t have money for extravagances like Christmas ornaments. So my Mom took Christmas cards and cut the pictures out and glued them on mason jar lids with ribbons and lace. She even made a star for the top of the tree out of foil. Each year these ornaments were still hung on our family Christmas tree and my brother, sister and I added many more of our homemade ornaments. When my husband and I married, my Mom gave me all of the ornaments that I had made over the years, including the foil star from my first Christmas. That foil star means so very much to me. It reminds me of where my family started and how important the love and support of a family is. I knew I wanted to continue this tradition with my own daughter. I wanted it to be a fun tradition and that one day I will be able to give her a collection of her “special” ornaments. This year we did white snowflakes with her handprints on them. She was not too impressed with the wet paint on her hands! But I love the little imperfections in each of them and I know they are cherished gifts by her grandparents and family.

From Melissa, Rhea Lana’s of El Dorado:

Each year I trace & cut my 3 boys’ handprints out of Christmas fabric & fuse it onto a felt tree skirt. It’s a tradition we started when my now 12 year old was 2. We love looking at their hand prints each year to see how much they have grown!

Love these! What traditions make the most memories at your house?

Post Categories: Christmas • Rhea Lana Family | One comment | 1 Comment