List of Three: Christmas Tradition

Hello, Readers!!

We hope you haven't forgotten about us, even though it may seem like we've forgotten about you.  As we mentioned several months ago, our real lives were keeping us increasingly busy.  Just what was keeping us busy, you ask?  Well, for starters, we both had babies!  Michelle added a new little guy to her family in August, and I welcomed a little girl in October.  As if that weren't enough, Michelle and her family recently moved several hundred miles.  On top of that, we had our regular family responsibilities, jobs, church stuff, and everything else that goes along with living.

Celebrating Christmas with new family members has given us both a chance to reflect a little bit on family traditions, which are part of what make the holiday season so magical.  We thought we'd take this chance to share with you some of our personal favorite traditions.

Nan
1 - Advent Calendar.  Mr. W and I both had Advent calendars like this growing up, and we decided to make our own a few years ago (long before our daughter made her appearance).  As children, we looked forward to adding a new piece to the nativity scene each day; as adults, we still enjoy it!  It took us close to two years to make this calendar — not because it's particularly hard, but because we were inconsistent in spending the time to do it — and we are so glad to have it completed now.  We have it hanging in a place of honor on the inside of our front door.



2 - Petal Roll for Christmas Breakfast.  This is a tradition from Mr. W's family.  A petal roll is a Danish pastry that is basically a gigantic cinnamon roll.  We put it together on Christmas Eve and then bake it up Christmas morning after opening our stockings.  It's simple, delicious, and a great way to spend time together on Christmas Eve — we have contests to see who can roll the longest "snake" of dough.  Food is such an integral part of Christmas, and I have been happy to adopt this tradition from my husband's family!

Image Source

3 - Andy Griffith Christmas Episode.  I grew up watching The Andy Griffith Show, and my family always watches the Christmas episode at least once during the Christmas season; sometimes we'd put it on while decorating the tree, sometimes we'd watch it on Christmas Eve, and sometimes we'd just watch it on a random night.  Although our little girls is still too tiny to appreciate it, I look forward to sharing this holiday gem with her as she gets older.  If you haven't seen it, it's well worth the time to find and watch with your family!





Michelle
1. Christmas stories. I remember fondly unpacking the Christmas decorations and finding the "Christmas Books" at my Mom's house. These books were so special because they were only brought out during Christmas time. I've started my own Christmas Book library for our kids and I just recently found the box {it was one of the two out of five Christmas boxes that we actually have with us - the rest of the boxes are in storage at Ryan's parents} The Christmas book library favorites, so far, "The Polar Express", "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" & "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".





2. Advent. I've done a few different Advents through my childhood and Mr. S & I are still trying different ones to see which one fits. One that my father has always done and keeps doing for the grandkids is the chocolate advent. You can't go wrong with a little bit of chocolate every night. One that Mr. S & I have been trying out this year is one that I found on Pinterest. Sadly the original pin is just the picture so I don't know where it originates from, but I LOVE it!!

Click here for the Pinterest link

As you read each scripture {that has a matching picture to go with it in the Gospel Art Kit} you color in an ornament on the tree. What I love the most about this advent is it's not just the nativity story it's the story of Christ. His birth, life, miracles, death & resurrection. It's wonderful. It is LDS based and uses Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon & Doctrine & Covenants.

  3. Holiday Baking. I'm not a big winter-season lover. Everyone who knows me well knows that I'm not too thrilled with the first snow fall, but I do love that I can turn my oven on without a second thought. I love the smell of homemade bread, sugar cookies, gingerbread, etc. Every year we make our neighbors edible gifts. We make something very similar to this. It's buttery, sugary and you can eat the entire table full that it makes! Besides the sweet smells that fill your house while you bake I also enjoy the time you can take with your loved ones while you do it. It's something that both my oldest baby S and I enjoy doing together.

 

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

Post-Holiday Crafting: What to Do with Your Christmas Cards

Happy 2012, everybody!!

We hope your holidays were joyful and filled with family, friends, fun, and yummy food.  Now that the new year has started, you're probably in the process of putting away your Christmas decorations and trying to answer that age-old question:

What should I do with all of these Christmas cards?

Christmas cards are so much fun to send and receive, and if you're like me, you feel bad about just throwing them out when the holiday season ends.  I've found several different ideas online for reusing Christmas cards, but this one was my favorite.  Even better, it utilized my Silhouette SD Craft Cutter!  If you don't have a Silhouette, don't fret; you can do this with a pair of scissors, too. :)  With just a little bit of time, your Christmas cards can find new life as Christmas gift tags!

All you will need for this project are Christmas cards, scissors/craft cutter, and a gift tag template (or you can just eyeball it if you're really talented!).

I would not recommend using photo cards for this project -- it would be a little creepy to have somebody's face smiling up at you from a gift. (Unless it's John Lennon.  Then that would just be cool.)

Cut the fronts off of your cards -- you'll want to make sure the back side of the picture is blank.

Read the heartfelt sentiment on the inside of the card and then file it or trash it or whatever.

If you have a Silhouette, you can download gift tag templates to use, or you can design your own.

If you don't have a Silhouette, I'm sure you can find free templates online; you could also trace an existing gift tag, draw your own, or just freehand it.

Once you have your card fronts and your template, cut cut cut!  I was able to get 20 gift tags from four regular cards and two money-holder cards.

Save your tags for next Christmas, when you will amaze everyone with your creative, ecofriendly way for addressing your gifts.

What do you normally do with Christmas cards?



So This Is Christmas

So this is Christmas...



...and what have you done...

 

...another year over...

...and a new one just begun...

 

...and so Happy Christmas...

...we hope you have fun...

...the near and the dear ones...

...the old and the young...

...a very MERRY CHRISTMAS

and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

**Lyrics from "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" by the incomparable John Lennon

Christmas Crafting -- Easy Crocheted Dishcloth

Both Michelle and I learned how to crochet a long time ago, but over the last few years, I learned that I LOVE to crochet.  I really do.  I may not be quite as skilled as Kara, but I have a lot of fun making things for the people I love (and for myself, too!).  This year, I wanted something cute and quick that I could give to some people on my list, and I came up with this:

I looked at some other crochet dishcloth patterns and couldn't find one that was quite what I wanted, so I came up with my own!  If you know how to crochet, then you will have no problem with this pattern.  It's easy and pretty quick, too; I think the first one took me about an hour and the rest have gotten progressively quicker to do.

Here's what you're going to need:

Yarn, a crochet hook, and some time.

I used a size G crochet hook and this 100% cotton, worsted-weight yarn called "Yuletide" from Peaches & Creme.  I bought it at Walmart for less than $2 a skein and it is wonderful to use!  You can get about 1-1/2 dishcloths from one skein.

To make this dishcloth, you'll need to know how to crochet a V-stitch.  This is one of my favorite stitches to use, which is why I used it to create the pattern.  If you don't know how to V-stitch, you can find an explanation here.  These instructions only show how to make one row of V-stitches; when you work the next row, instead of inserting your hook into a stitch, you will put your hook underneath that middle Ch-1 and pull your yarn through the empty space in the middle of each V.

Please note: I have exactly zero experience writing crochet patterns, so please excuse my lack of professionalism. :)  If you have any questions at all, please email!!!!

Row 1: Chain 40.  In 5th chain from hook, DC, ch 1, DC (1 "V" made).  *Skip next 2 chains.  V-stitch in next chain.  Repeat from * until 12 V's have been made.  Skip 1 ch and DC in last chain.  Ch 3 and turn.

Row 2: V-stitch in each ch-1 space across until 12 V's have been made.  DC in top of turning chain from previous row.  Ch 3 and turn.

Can you see the little V's?

Repeat until desired size (I do 17 rows) and fasten off.

Ta-daaaa!!  You now have a cute dishcloth to give to somebody else or keep for yourself!

Who doesn't love a handmade gift?

Bring some Christmas cheer to your chores!

Download your "We Wash You a Merry Christmas" gift tag HERE

If you don't know how to crochet but want to learn how, I highly recommend Debbie Stoller's book  The Happy Hooker.  (Get your minds out of the gutter!  She's talking about crochet hooks!!)

Happy Crocheting!!

Linking Up to I {Heart} Naptime and the Sunday Scoop

 

A Sweet lil' Gift

'Tis the season for gift giving. I absolutely love it. The thrill of the hunt to find the perfect gift for everyone on my list. One of the ways I simplify in my gift giving is to make a "bulk" gift for my gal-pals. That way I can put equal effort into each one of my gifts for them. I have other friends that do this too and both the givers & recievers love it! Try it this year - you will do it every year following it!

 This year I am doing sugar scrubs. They are simple & luxurious and my favorite part about them is that there are so many sugar scrub recipies out there you can hand them out all year long (spicy for Christmas, orangcicle for summer, etc).

You can go to WalMart and get cute jars (be sure that they can seal tightly) or if you happen to have some baby food jars lying around...perfect size!! I just spray painted the lids a glossy black (or glittery red, there are so many choices)

Mix up your desired sugar scrub recipe. Tip Junkie has a great list of  14 Easy Homemade Sugar Scrubs to choose from. I knew that I wanted a sweet spicy scent. After reading through some recipes I created one of my own!

Tip: Be sure to mix your sugars together first to get all the lumps out before adding the oils.

I made some little labels for my jars and affixed them to the jars with craft bond (think spray glue).

Download the Printable Sugar Scrub Label

*sorry that it's doing two pages. I've tried numerous things and it just won't change. The bottom three labels are sized larger than the top*

Then tied some ribbon around the top and TaDA! An easy - cute - sweet - gift all ready to hand out to some deserved friends. I think it's extra sweet to tie little silver (aka: baby spoons) to the jar, instead of ribbon some cute twine....the possibilities are endless really.

Have fun and Happy Gift Giving this holiday season!!

Holiday Pinspiration

Haul out the holly!!!  I have had this on my Must Craft Soon pin board for awhile and tis the season to do it.

I followed this great tutorial by Eddie Ross once I saw his Joan Crawford "no wire hangers" reference I knew that we would be great friends!

You will need:

a Wire Hanger

80 or so Ornaments (of varying sizes)

Hot glue

A good movie

I was able to accumulate all of my ornaments from yard sales. Last weekened I went to a $2 bag sale for my local American Legion. My friends & I were a bit wary of all the old-people stuff, but once I saw these AWESOME retro spiky ornaments I was all over it. I scooped those two up (the only two that were there) along with some yellow & teal colored ornaments and took them home to my two boxes of green ones that I got from another yard sale.

The important thing is to have different sizes of balls. If you look close at this pic you can see the gaps. If I hadn't been so anxious to get this done (and plus it was midnight) I would/should have gotten another pack of smaller bulbs to fillin those spots, but if you are like me and just want to get it done you don't notice the gaps unless you point them out ....like I did.

Hanging it up was also an experience, be sure that you have a long ribbon, wire or (like me) some paperclips to unravel and use to reach your hanging spot. The bulbs make this wreat bulky and it won't lay flat against the wall. One tutorial that I read directed you to lay the blubs so it had a flat back - I didn't do that. By the time I read that I had already made the wreath and was looking up how to hang it up.

I unraveled some paper clips to make an "extended hook" hooked them to the hanger top & then to the nail. It worked and it is all covered up by my bow (if you ask with a pretty please I will teach you how to make those too :)

The tutorial is easy and simple to follow and I had the craft done by the end of the night! (I love those kind of crafts don't you?)

Favorite Christmas Salad

We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas!  We have taken a bit of a blogging vacation so that we can celebrate with our families, but I wanted to quickly share this fantastic recipe with you.  My family eats this salad every year with our Christmas Eve dinner and on other special occasions.  I'm not a huge salad fan, but this one is sooo yummy.  When we were teenagers, Michelle's family would spend Christmas Eve with my family, so she can also attest to its yumminess.  You don't need to save it for Christmas, either; it's really quick and easy to put together and can dress up any meal.  Enjoy!!

Christmas Salad
Salad:
1 head lettuce (I like to use Romaine)
1 bunch spinach, well cleaned, or 1 package of baby spinach
3/4 lb feta cheese
1 lb bacon, fried and crumbled
1/2-1 lb sliced mushrooms
1 small red onion, sliced thinly (I'm not a huge onion fan, so I usually omit this)

Dressing:
1/2 c oil
1/2 c water
3/4 c white vinegar
3/4 c sugar (we have used Splenda with great results!)
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp grated onion
3/4 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp salt

Mix dressing in a shaker.  Pour over salad and toss.  Share with your loved ones and watch them be amazed!

List of Three...Christmas Movies

It hit me this morning that I have not popped in my traditional "White Christmas" and it's December 13th!!!! I need to get on that...(along with other Christmas preparations!). So here ya go my List of Three Christmas movies:

White Christmas: There is nothing like the combination of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye & Vera Ellen to make you feel all warm inside!!  (I know this is your favorite too, but I had to take it because I have a sneaky suspicion that you will take Christmas in Connecticut!)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The classic cartoon version please! The live-action Jim Carrey one is okay too, but I was raised watching this cartoon every year. And while you can now get it on DVD I personally prefer the fuzzy VHS version complete with snippets of commercials.

Frosty the Snowman: The 1969 cartoon version that is narrated by Jimmy Durante. This was on the same tape as How the Grinch Stole Christmas so naturally you just pop in the *VHS and watch the whole thing. There have been many remakes of this cartoon, but none of them hold a candle to this version. Ya got to love the magician "Messy...messy...messy..."

*In case you were wondering the VHS had: The Grinch, Frosty and the 1985 musical version of Alice in Wonderland, the one with Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Sammy Davis Jr. & Ringo Starr.......oh the memories!!!

I also have a cherished VHS tape of children's Christmas shows, and half of the fun is watching the very old commercials!  It has The Grinch, Frosty, The Muppet Christmas special, Rudolph, The Town That Forgot Christmas, and one of my personal favorites, which will soon be revealed. :)  I have many Christmas movies that I love, but these would be my top three:

Christmas in Connecticut: You were right!  I grew up watching this 1940s classic and love it.  Thanks to this movie, my family regularly says things like "hunky dunky" and "the old magoo".  Barbara Stanwyck hosts a lonesome (and handsome!) sailor, played by Dennis Morgan, for Christmas.  She writes a column for a major women's magazine and has a reputation for being America's best wife, mother, and cook, but in reality, she's none of those things.  Such a great movie!

A Christmas Story: Another family favorite.  I have probably seen this 50 times at a minimum and I still laugh every time.  Ralphie Parker's family kind of feels like an extension of my own at Christmastime.  This is another one that takes place near World War II.  Is there something about the War that makes Christmas movies better?

The Night Before Christmas: This is a musical cartoon version featuring mice.  It may sound strange, but it's just not Christmas unless I have watched and sung along with it!  Santa Claus gets mad at the town of Junctionville and decides not to visit them, so the local clockmaker builds a musical clock to serenade Santa as he flies overhead.  So fun!

What are YOUR favorite Christmas movies?