This was fun and easy! My girls helped trace and cut out the leaves. Everyday until thanksgiving, we will write what we are thankful for on the leaves, and paste them on the tree.
This is officially my first post about Christmas, although Christmas has been on my brain for awhile. I just love Christmas, I already have over half my shopping done! My mom-in-law (Kathy) is done every year by Thanksgiving, so I try to keep up with her and do the same!:) It really does make December much more enjoyable. The only drawback is missing the fun shopping atmosphere in December, and those amazing sales the few weeks before Christmas. I feel like I miss out a bit, but really, with Amazon.com, I can usually get the best deal anyway, and the more I can stay out of the stores the better!
I wanted to share with you one of my MOST favorite gifts. My birthday is around Thanksgiving, so the timing of this gift was perfect. It is a homemade Holiday Journal. My amazing sis-in- law (Wendy) put it together for me in 2004, and I have been using it ever since. It is so much fun to grab it each year and look through all the memories and plans. Newsletters of Christmas past, pics of my girls with Santa, cherished memories, lists of what I bought each family member–pretty much everything is in one place and it is so handy!
She took a 3 ring binder, put some pretty Christmas paper in the front and back of it, and filled it with tab dividers. Here are the tabs she included:
–Calendar -its very handy to have the month of December and January in one place, to refer to when out and about, or to check what gift you need by what date, etc.
–Dates–shipping deadlines, greeting cards mailed, departure/arrival dates if you are traveling, party dates, etc
–Gift List— recipient, gift ideas, final Gifts
–Christmas Card List–who you sent one to, who sent one to you
–Kids Wish Lists–a very important list indeed!
–Gifts Received–makes thank yous easier, and I need all the help I can get!
–Holiday Memories–my favorite! Old traditions, new traditions, new ornaments or decorations, where we went, who we saw, what we did, favorite memory, funniest thing that happened, etc.
–Crafts And Decorations–how the tree was decorated, color themes.
–Recipes–what you made, what you wanted to make, favorite cookie recipes, tradition recipes (like my grandma’s pfeffernusse cookies!)
She also included a zipper pouch for store flyers, catalog pages and coupons. She filled it with plastic sleeves that are great to keep the paper protected and to slide in different memorabilia.
My husband and I just got back from a trip out of town. When we leave our girls, we always try to bring them a little something back. This time, they got quite the gift. I was in the airport in Cincinnati, and came upon these creepy candy treats-Scorpion Suckers!
While we are on the subject of creepy candy, I have to share these Chocolate Human Skulls. (see what you can stumble upon when you read as many blogs as I do?) These take it to a whole different level. They are made from molds cast from real human skulls, made available in your choice of chocolates, including “bone chocolate” “delicious blend of Belgian milk and white chocolates” resembling the color or freshly cleaned human bones. That is just WRONG! I will NOT be purchasing these. So creepy!
Here are a few that we tried recently:
Salt Dough Ghosts and Paper Bag Trees
I can’t believe we have never made anything with salt dough before! It is a cup of flour, cup of salt and a half of a cup of water. Mold into any shape and microwave until hardened! So easy! The plan was to just create ghosts, but my girls wanted to get more creative, which was great, it kept them busy the entire evening. The paper bag tree is a cute idea, but all that twisting left my wrists tired, so we decided to make just one! I think making mini trees with brown paper lunch bags would be much better for little fingers and wimpy wrists.
Gotta have a snack in the middle of all this creepy craziness! Apples and Almonds, can’t get much healthier than that!
Easy One Bowl Pumpkin Bread/Muffins
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I have been buying a small amount for whatever recipes I am going to make in the next week or two. I did this for 2 recipes that I make all the time, chili and chicken curry, and both recipes tasted like they had a makeover, when all I did was buy super fresh spices. It is very economical, and so very worth it!
I finally got my fall decorations out this week. I have been looking forward to digging the bin out of the attic closet and seeing what goodies were waiting for me. Here is a picture of what was inside, boy it looks like a lot! Don’t know if I can call it simple, but it was pretty easy to place things around the house, and I didn’t feel like I had to use everything, and got rid of stuff that didn’t excite me
Fall decorating really can be done quite frugally. It really just takes a few touches. Even just a couple little pumpkins sitting around gives a festive feel. I did not buy a thing this year, over the 13 years we have been married, I have accumulated quite a bit, so I didn’t need to add more. As much as I love the look of real pumpkins and gourds, it kills me just to have them sit there and get soft and thrown away after the season, so I didn’t buy any.
Kitchen-I don’t do much decorating here. I like my kitchen simple and clutter free, so just a few fun things here and there. 
In this previous post, I told you about my love affair with mason jars. Well, I’m still having the affair, and I said I would post about all the great things a mason jar can do, so here we go!
Here is a super cute idea for a Halloween craft using mason jars. I have not made them yet, but I know the minute my daughters see them they will beg me to make them. I found them here at Not So Idle Hands and they make me love my jars even more!
Crafts…I wouldn’t say I am a person who likes making crafts. I think it is my impatience. I like the idea of the craft, but I just want it to be done and do not really enjoy the process. Still, I buckle down occasionally and just do it, mostly because I have 3 very crafty girls so it is a way to spend time with them, and I have found that being crafty is a frugal way to decorate my home, so that is also motivating.
These little light up monster jars get me a bit excited because I love anything that creates atmosphere, and I know these will. Maybe I can just start simple and make three of them representing my own three lovely, little monsters. I think these would be fun in my sunroom at night, creating a spooky fun glow!
