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Seasonal

Our Family Christmas Traditions

The number of traditions our family does seems to be growing. I guess I’m a sucker for traditions!

Christmas Lights In P. J.’s

We have to be sneaky for this one. We change the clocks and make sure we get our girls into bed by “8:00” (really 7:00). After prayers and kisses, we wait a few minutes, then kidnap them from their beds, slip on their robes and slippers, wrap them in a blanket and carry them to the heated car. They just love it, we fool them every time!!:) They know there will be bags of treats and merry Christmas music waiting for them in the car. We hit our favorite, “most lit” neighborhoods. After an hour and a half of Christmas light bliss, we head home. It never fails, on the ride home they are full of sugar, tired, grumpy, and have had enough of each other and of Christmas lights!

New Christmas Music
Every year we get a new CD. This year I downloaded the Surfjan Steven’s Christmas album from itunes. I love me a banjo!

Christmas Story Book
It’s fun to see our collection growing, we get a new one every year. “The Nativity” is by far the most unique, but their favorite is “If This Were A Fairy Tale”

Popcorn Tin & Sparkling Grape Juice
We eat popcorn from the tin and drink the juice in fancy glasses while we put up the Christmas tree. My girls fight for the cheese popcorn, Todd and I are usually stuck with the butter and caramel popcorn. I love using the tins to store Christmas lights and decorations, we have about 10 of them and they stack nicely.

Andes Mint Cookies

My cousin, Keeli, has a cookie exchange every year. At least 8 yrs ago, she had us bring over 15 dozen cookies! That was the first time I made Andes Mint Cookies, and have been making them every year, ever since! Click here for the recipe.

New Ornaments

This tradition is one Todd started when we were dating. He suggested we buy an ornament every year to remind us of that particular year. At the time, he lived in Chicago and I lived in Nebraska, so when we found an ornament with a little mouse sitting on a compass with the words “Across The Miles,” we knew it was the one. It was so much fun shopping together, we found a tiny little tree for my apartment and it had one little ornament on it. Looking at our memory tree today, it is amazing how many ornaments we now have! The girls love choosing their own ornament and I love being reminded of what each girl was “into” that year. *Hint..if you go 2 days after Christmas, they are all 50% off!

Santa Pic

We eat at the mall food court and then go visit Santa for a picture. My girls have never believed in Santa, but they (at least the younger two) like pretending that he exists. I love comparing the pictures from year to year. This year, Santa was in some CRAZY pajama’s. I’m not sure where his suit was, maybe he couldn’t afford it due to the economy..

Stockings and Santa gifts
My girls wake up on Christmas morning to 3 piles of presents with a full stocking in front of each pile. They find their pile, plop down by it, and pretty much don’t move until we are done opening all the presents. (well, maybe to get a cinnamon roll and juice.) The presents all say “from Santa,” but as they get older they make sure to let me know I’m not fooling them. My parents always did it this way with us so I guess that is why I do it, too!

Sugar Cookies
We make them every year– it used to be gingerbread houses, but I like simple, so now we are sticking to sugar cookies. This year it was so easy! They rolled, cut, frosted, and sprinkled all by themselves. I just organized it all and had oven duty. They are getting so big!

The Nativity Movie
This is a new tradition. We started it last year. My girls REALLY got into it this year and loved every minute of it. It was so great! We had to keep pausing the movie to talk about what was going on, answer their questions, and explain details to them. (there are some intense scenes that were important to talk through) I really feel like they learned a lot of details that can get missed in our story books. When it ended, my middle girl said “Mom, I just loved that. It is my favorite movie.“

We have a bunch of extended family traditions, but I thought I’d stick to what my own little family does together. Christmas is such a wonderful time to spend time together and teach our girls what all this celebrating is REALLY about…the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Christmas/ Seasonal

Memory Tree

We have a tradition where each family member gets to choose a new ornament every year. Todd started the tradition when we were dating, and we have done it every year. It is my favorite family tradition, it is so much fun to take them out of their boxes, reminiscing about years past.

We make sure we get the Hallmark brand ornaments. They come with the date on each ornament, they are well made to last throughout the years, and the boxes they come in are great for keeping them protected when being stored. We shop for them a day or two after Christmas, when they are half off.

Come with me on a tour of our memory tree!

This was the first ornament we purchased together. Todd lived in Chicago and I lived in Nebraska, so “Across The Miles” was very appropriate.

We were newly weds when we got this one.

My Aunt Linda gave this one to us. I love it.

Baby’s 1st Christmas–another one from my Aunt Linda

That is our now 10 yr old! Where did all that

chub-a-lub go?

This one is from my dad. He thinks I’m the world’s greatest hair stylist.:) Not sure if he is right, he is judging me based on the few hairs he has left to cut. (Ha Ha. Love ya, dad!)

This is another favorite of mine.

My 10 yr. old picked it out when she was 7. That was back in the day when she loved dance and tutus. Now she rolls her eyes when taking it out of the box and says “ugh, I hate tutus!”

This one makes me smile. I bought it the year my youngest was 2. She had green “feetie” pajamas just like this, short blond curls, and was into everything!

This one is priceless. My mom made these when we were young. We sold them at craft fairs and even door to door. My parents used the money to buy a piano so that we could start piano lessons.

Poor guy lost an eye!

I love, love this one. I picked it out when my girls were 5, 4 and 2. My youngest really loved her pacifier, we let her keep it way to long! These stack into each other and closes into one snowman.

This one is from Todd’s childhood.

My mom gave me this one. It is beautiful with the light shining through it.

This is from my Great Grandma Jewel. It is VERY special to me.

She is now in Heaven, she was one of the most amazing people I have ever met.

Give you one guess who picked this one out…

…and this one. The sports center tv above has a button to push to hear the

sports center theme song. Todd enjoys pushing it over and over, just to annoy me.

My youngest chose this one last year. Much of her day is spent coloring.

Once upon a time, there were Dora fans in this house. No more. (sniff)

My choice for last year. I really, REALLY enjoy lattes and my cell phone.

The decorating begins!

I can’t believe my baby can reach that high! (is it me or does

that tree look tipsy?)

Hanging out with dad after a long night of tree decorating.

Hello.

Kids tucked in bed, tree finished, another memory made.

It’s a good life.

Seasonal

Christmas Break & Christmas YouTube

Today my girls are home from school on Christmas break. I let them know last night that we would be doing chores in the morning, so we would be able to play and enjoy the afternoon. We have 4 Christmas celebrations coming up, one on the 24th, two on the 25th and one on the 26th— two are at our house. If we can get the house together today, we will be ready to celebrate!
My goal is to be done with the “not-so-fun stuff” by noon so we can do lots of “fun stuff” all afternoon.
Our afternoon will be filled with fun such as:

*polishing our nails and toes red & green!
*dipping pretzels in chocolate
*making lots of dry pancake mix to have on hand for Christmas brunch celebrations
*working on our Joshua Tree
*working on our Christmas puzzle
*teaching them a new card game
*reading one of our Christmas stories
*watching these YouTube videos

FUN/DIY

Gift Idea-Homemade Coloring Book

My daughter made this for her cousin and gave it to her for her birthday. It is a coloring book that is made from copies of my daughters original art.
We started with quality, heavy paper (like card stock). I had her think of a theme, she chose “ladybugs, butterflies, and flowers.” Then she created the art on paper with a sharpie pen. We took it to Kinkos, had copies made of the original (I wanted to keep the originals:)) and had it spiral bound. When we got home, she embellished the front and tied it with a bow.

Doesn’t It Make You Want To Color??:)

I thought she did such a great job!!

She has been busy making art for more coloring books. I made sure that the paper is 8×11 to make the printing process easier (the book above was an odd paper size, so we had to print them on bigger paper and cut them down.) She has them all in the same, quality- paper notepad. When she is finished, she can choose from her book to custom make another coloring book for a friend. Here are some that are shapes and patterns, which are great because they are gender neutral.

She has yet to make one for a boy, but already has ideas of making sports themed books, etc.

We talked about making gift packs by adding colors and embellishments/stickers for the kids to decorate their own book. She wants to make custom stickers to match with the coloring book. We have even thought about selling these at local craft fairs and taking orders to customize each one with the child’s name and interests. How fun would that be? Until she gets a bit older, we will just enjoy giving them away to friends and family.

One of my favorites:)

“

FUN/DIY/ HOME/ Seasonal

Keva Planks For Christmas!

If you are looking for something to buy your kids for Christmas that will keep them busy for hours AND stimulate creative thinking, then Keva planks may be your answer.

We LOVE playing with them in this house. We first discovered them at our local children’s museum, and I when I saw all 3 of my girls distracted and engaged in building fun for over an hour, I knew it was time to start saving for some of our own–which brings me to the only negative about Keva planks–the price. Believe me, they really are worth every penny, but it would not be an

inexpensive gift.

On to the positives…

*every piece is the same. They are about 1/4 inch thick, 3/4 inch wide and 41/2 inches long. Because they are all the same size and weight, the kids are able to go quite high with the structures they make.
*they are simple, simple, simple
*all ages engage, from toddler to adult.
*no plastic
*easy cleanup
*knocking them down is as fun as building them up!

Notice she is standing on a chair:)

Marble Ramp

Butterfly

Barbie House

Guinea Pig Maze

Snippy Loved It!

Dollhouse Furniture

Tower To The Ceiling With Aunt & Cousins

To Buy Keva Planks, click here.

Frugal/ FUN/DIY/ HOME/ Seasonal

Homemade Wrapping Paper

We have been saving our paper grocery bags for awhile now (I talked about it here) I didn’t want to spend any money on wrapping, so we decided to make our own out of grocery sacks. It was a bunch of fun, and kept my girls busy for days. I told them they had to use silver, black and red. We talked about how most wrapping paper has patterns, and how larger images would get cut off or folded, so we would want to stick with smaller patterns unless it was for a larger gift. I also told them to think circles, just because i LOVE circles and we have a lot of round things on our tree. I was very proud of what they came up with!

This is the first one my 10 yr old made. I love it. I wanted to frame it!

My 8 yr old made this one.

Simple stamps

my 8 yr old made…another favorite of mine

I made this one! I was inspired by my own daughter:)

Made by my 6 yr old

Aww…made by my 6 yr old

supplies we used: red crayon, red marker, black marker,

stamps and silver ink, silver puffy paint

We started on this project before Thanksgiving, so the rest of my Christmas stuff was still packed away. Little did I know that I had bought wrapping paper at an end-of-season sale last year, and when we started bringing the Christmas decor out of the attic I was pleasantly surprised! I forgot I had purchased it. The mixture of both under the tree is nice. My girls were so excited to see their work used to make pretty gifts and I am excited because I think grandparents will love getting a package wrapped in original art!

I wrote about handmade package toppers, but honestly, I needed to keep it simple! I didn’t make any I posted about, but everything I did use we had on hand so I didn’t have to spend money. I’m getting crafted out, and I am ready to just sit, read and snuggle with them. They love projects, but sometimes for me, its too much of a good thing! This was a super easy project, but added to others we have done lately– I am project’d out!!

**I’m happy to be linking up to these link parties:

How-Tos/ RECIPES/ Seasonal

Easy Christmas Ladies Luncheon

I have some very special women in my life. We used to get together for a Bible study at my house every Wednesday morning. We did this for 4 years, and it was always a highlight of my week. We had to stop meeting, due to schedule changes and life taking us in different directions. I thought it would be great to have them all over for a ladies luncheon, and thought “What better time to do it than Christmastime?”

I set the table, made sure the candles were lit, and the Christmas music was playing. I left a Christmas treat by each of their plates (Lindt Lindor Truffles), which added a little touch of Christmas color to my black and white table.

Menu:

Soup-Chicken Tortilla Soup

Salad-Cranberry Spinach Salad

Bread-Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Dessert-Andes Mint Cookies

Something Fun To Drink-Cranberry Spritzer

Something Warm To Drink-Coffee & Hot Tea

Soup:
It was a very cold and snowy week here in Nebraska, so soup was an obvious choice. My cousin, Keeli, passed on a Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe that I have been wanting to try, so I did—and boy, am I glad I did! Yum! I set out chips, salsa, shredded cheese; tortilla strips and brown rice, and let them help themselves to whatever toppings they wanted.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1(15oz) can whole peeled tomatoes,mashed
1(10oz) can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1(4oz) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1(14.5 oz) can chicken broth
1t cumin
1t chili powder
1t salt
1/4t black pepper
1 bay leaf
1(10oz) frozen corn
Flour Tortillas, cut into strips, optional
Shredded Cheese, optional

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn. Cover, and cook on low setting for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Serve in bowl topped with tortilla strips and shredded cheese, if desired

I had shredded chicken on hand b/c I had made this recipe. I put it together the night before and then just plugged it in and set it on high and it was ready in time for lunch.

Buffet Style=Easy!

Salad:
This is my go-to easy salad recipe. Whenever I am asked to bring a dish, this is one I often choose to bring. I can just buy the ingredients, bring a bowl and tongs, dump it all a bowl and toss once I am there. This is a no-recipe, recipe.

Cranberry Spinach Salad
Bag of Spinach
Bag of Dried Cranberries
Slivered Almonds
Feta Cheese
Newman’s Own Lighten Up Raspberry Walnut dressing
Croutons
Dump Spinach into large bowl. Add the rest of ingredients, amounts according to taste. Toss and Serve.

Bread:
Honey Whole Wheat Bread
I like this recipe because I can just put it in my bread maker and choose the dough option. Once it beeps, I put it into a loaf pan and let it rise another 1/2 hour or until about double, then bake. I could just leave it in my bread maker and choose loaf setting, but I like the shape of a regular loaf pan.
Click here for the recipe.

Dessert:
Andes Mint Cookies
Click here for the recipe.

Drink:
Cranberry Spritzer
You can make your own (equal parts of cranberry juice and sprite) or buy a bottle like I did.

This luncheon really was easy. Every recipe I chose was super simple and I already had the shredded chicken and cookie dough on hand in my freezer.

We had a great time. I have to admit, seeing each of them walk through the door made me REALLY miss our Wednesday Bible Study time together! 🙁
I am so very thankful for the friendships I have, God has blessed me big time!!

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