Christmas Festivities

Christmas is sneaking up on us and with a combination of no snow and the kids not getting out of school until the 23rd, we have had a hard time really believing that Christmas is only 6 days away.  Here are some of the things we have been doing to try to catch the Christmas spirit...

Neighbor/ Teacher gifts!  Last year I made these for Ashlyn and Tanner's school teachers and they turned out so cute, I decided to do them for all of my neighbors this year.  The tag says, "May your holiday season be filled with Peace, Love, and Soap."  I got the inspiration off of The Idea Room, you can go HERE to see the directions.

The soap bottles had the families monograms...

And a bottle of hand sanitizer had a cute "hands" saying. 

Zac kept saying over and over, "You are giving our neighbors soap?  Really?"  But I was thrilled with the prospect of a practical gift that they could use all year long rather than something that would be consumed or tossed within 30 minutes of delivery.  The only downside to this gift was because it is so personalized, there is no stockpiling of "generic" gifts that you can hurry and give to that wonderful friend (who wasn't on your list) who is standing at your door with a surprise gift.

For family home evening Ian chose for us to make and decorate gingerbread men.  Charlotte thought this was wonderful and loved every minute of it!

Ian got very detailed with his gingerbread boys and it was hard for him to eat them when the time came.

Tanner with his creation.

And Ashlyn ALWAYS enjoys "snafting" (snack crafting), so it was a fun night for all.  This recipe had butterscotch pudding instead of molasses and the cookies tasted delicious!

After the cookie decorating we headed over to the Museum of Idaho to check out the display of gingerbread houses and nativities (free admission during Christmas if you are interested).

Charlotte has been dying to play outside and is always begging for her coat and shoes so she could head out.  One night, she found a sled in the garage and took it to Zac.  So Zac started to bundle up in his snow stuff so he could take her for a sled ride.  I said, "You don't have to do that, she doesn't even know what a sled is for."

And he said, "You wanna bet!"  She definately knew what a sled was for and had a giggle fest as her daddy pulled her around and around the one patch of snow on our porch!

Last night Zac's mom invited us out for a festive Christmas dinner and the kids were able to put on the annual nativity.  Charlotte was the star of the show and loved the attention!

Ian made the most adorable Joseph I have ever seen and cousin Meg was Mary.

Ashlyn was type cast as an angel.

And Tanner was likewise type-cast as a wiseman!

At the end, Grandma surprised all of the grandkids with coordinating Gap fleece jackets and at least for now, the kids think it is pretty dang awesome matching with their siblings and cousins.

Thanks Grandma for a wonderful party and for adding to our Christmas cheer!

Now bring on the main event!

Counting Countdowns to Christmas

 You might say that we are getting pretty excited for Christmas around here.  In fact, counting down to Christmas has become a full time job at our house...

We have the traditional chain approach which Tanner made himself about the beginning of November because he just couldn't wait to get started on the countdown!

We have our "Christ-Centered" Christmas countdown that I blogged about last year.  Each day, the kids get to open a door where they find a little candy and a slip of paper telling us what our gift to Christ will be for the day.  (It is not as cute this year because I bought candy that was too big to fit with the doors shut :( but the thought is still good!) 

We also have this countdown stocking given that was a gift, in which we have to move a star every day to the appropriate day.  If I was a dang awesome mom, I could put small advent items in there every day, but I figured with all the other rigamarole, moving a star is just fine.

Next up, we have this darling magnet board that my crafty neighbor made us last year.  There is a little magnet that you put on the day.

We made these babies at a cousin craft party.  Every day we cut off a piece of Santa's beard until at Christmas he has no beard left! 

On the contrary, this Santa's beard gets bigger every day that we count down to Christmas.  Ian made this beauty at preschool.

In addtion, we have a darling little Disney book advent in which there are 24 Disney character Christmas stories.  We read one each night and then hang them on a little tree.

So as you can see counting down to Christmas keeps me busy most days as I cut here, glue there, move this, and open that.  But it is all worth it so that I can tell you all proudly that there are only 17 days left until Christmas.... wait a minute, that is only like 2 weeks!!!

AAACCCKKK!

Santa's Workshop

Why is it that Christmastime (aka, the busiest time of the year) is the one time of year that I decide to work on "projects".  I mean, you would think it would be enough if I could just figure out what to get everyone for Christmas without all the extra stress of baking, crafting, and homemade gifts.  But I am, who I am, and here we are with a little more than two weeks left and me smack in the middle of a million projects. 

The first Thursday of December was our Relief Society workshop (which I am in charge of) and we decided to have a hot chocolate bar in addition to our wonderful speakers.  I never do feel that Martha Stewart feeling inside of me, so I was actually quite tickled when it turned out so cute!

Here is the table set up and ready to go 

 In case you are wondering what is involved in a hot chocolate bar, ours included toasted coconut marshmallows, mini marshmallows, pirroette cookies, candycanes, teddy bear cookies...

 Look at my cute jars!  I am so crafty!

 I also took caramel swirl marshmallows, dipped them in melted chocolate and then in crushed graham crackers.  They went fast!  There are also Oreo cookies, or as my kids call them (milk cookies).  If I had been more awesome, I would have dipped them in white chocolate and made snowman faces or something clever.

 These are dipped stirring spoons.  I loved how they turned out.  I took some plastic spoons dipped them in melted chocolate and sprinkled crushed candy canes on some, decorated some with mini marshmallows to make little snowmen, and also dipped some in peanut butter chips and sprinkled with chocolate.  Ashlyn about cried when I took them to my meeting, but I promised her we would make some more if they were all gone, and they were, and we did!

At the end of the table I put some "to-go" bags with some extra packets of hot chocolate for the sisters to take to those who couldn't be there.

All in all the speakers at the workshop were wonderful and I am now in love with hot chocolate bars!

As for my other million projects... you will just have to wait and see because some of them might be for you!