-2 days

I have a sister-in-law who LOVES holiday/seasonal decor. This is the DIY gift I'll be giving her this year. With the help of my Cricut, this gift was easy, and cost very little to make. I think it turned out kind of cute.

8, 7, 6, 5, 4, NOW 3 More Days till Christmas!

I know that's a cheap move for a holiday countdown, but give me a break. Jared has forgiven me for the same negligence I've given the sock advent calendar, so I'm sure you all (you same three) can find it in your hearts, too. This holiday ambition sure can get the best of you sometimes. The good news is I've caught up on the calendar, and just about all my other projects, too. More importantly, and most needed however, we had our first annual Error Christmas Devotional.

Of course I bit off more than I could chew that day and was super frazzled with preparations to make the night perfect. I MAY have even been so distracted with it all that I was a little grumpy before we actually got started. And MAYBE the over-the-top efforts weren't actually worth it because it didn't turn out perfect anyway and I just ended up grumpy. But although we MIGHT not have had the "special dinner" till 8:00 (and it MIGHT have been a little over-cooked and MIGHT have set off the smoke detector), and we MIGHT have put Grant to bed before we even started, I managed to regain my perspective, accept it for what it was, and have a really special night with Jared.

We started with a prayer and Christmas song, and then I shared this talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. His message focused on the simplicity and humility of the first Christmas, and on the perspective of the Savior's earthly parents the night of his birth--perspective I have new appreciation for as a new mother myself. It's so humbling, and almost unbelievable to remember the lowly circumstances to which the Savior of the world was born. It's a great reminder to us of what we should be focusing on during this time. I'm so grateful for the Savior, and so happy that when He comes again it will be in all His glory. We looked at different art depictions of the first Christmas, sang more songs, and then Jared shared a message about the different symbols of Christmas. We talked about the gifts we wanted to give the Savior this year, wrote them down, and put them in a specially wrapped box under the tree. It was just the two of us, but turned out to be a really great dose of true Christmas spirit for us. We definitely hope to keep this tradition.

-9 Days: Pretty Packaging

There's something about a good wrap job that makes a present seem more special. Okay, maybe that's just the effect I'm hoping for to redeem my gifts. Seriously though, it seems like the simplest of gifts can make a big impact when they are presented in a thoughtful, creative way. Here are a few examples of easy ways to jazz up your wrapping.

Did you know that paper curls just like ribbon? Use some colorful scrapbook paper to create an adornment reminiscent of formal dance up-dos. The fuller, the better.

Give a brown lunch bag new life and decorate with a fabric ribbon and paper tag. Perfect for smaller gifts.

I love the personalized touch of monograms. I tied this paper ornament with orange embroidery floss to match the wrapping paper. If you don't want to cut the letters, you can hand-write them, or type and print.

You can find these cute snowflake embellishments at Target. They come in a pack of 5 for $1!

This is one of my favorites. I did the snowflake and lettering on my Cricut, but you could easily make a snowflake the old fashioned way. I wrapped a turquoise ribbon around the gift, and glued this paper embellishment right on top. I love the color combo. The black and white paper is fun because you can add so many different accent colors to it.

Okay, now I am sounding really nerdy; I better just end this. For some ideas from an actual expert, click here. Look how easy this one would be:

10 MORE DAYS!

We are almost in single digits, people. Just a report on the Pecan Dippers: So easy, and so good. I'm going to have to give some of those other recipes a whirl.

Additionally, I discovered that no child is too young to take part in and enjoy a little holiday cookie baking. I put Granty in the Bjorn while I kneaded the dough and did other prep work. Let's just say I never knew making cookies could be so comical.  I thought he might be slightly amused at what I was doing, so I strapped him on to watch the show. Boy, did I ever underestimate the entertainment value of crushing pecans. For some reason, Grant found me banging the wooden spoon on the bag of pecans simply hilarious. It seriously made him belly laugh--which made me belly laugh. It was so cute, I about couldn't handle it. I couldn't figure it out at the time, but now that I think about a disheveled lady with a baby strapped to the front of her, banging on the counter rhythmically with a wooden spoon, it is pretty funny. Wish I could have recorded it to share, but I'm sure you can see it all in your mind's eye.

-11 Days: Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

I feel like that's all I write about these days. This is the recipe I am preparing for our Relief Society cookie exchange tomorrow--Pecan Dippers. These ones in particular piqued my interest because they are made with store-bought dough. In fact, I stumbled across an entire article of cookie recipes using prepared cookie dough. Hope these turn out alright. But either way, I will still come home with an assorted plate of deliciousness to enjoy. Win-win.

-12 Days

I know I am behind. The countdown is getting the best of me, but I will come out triumphant in the end. For day -12 (yesterday) I give to you cute tags my paper-expert friend, Lyndsey, posted about on her stationery blog.  This seems only appropriate since most of yesterday my living room was littered with wrapping paper. Grant and I had a blast listening to Christmas music, and he crumpled paper while I wrapped presents. I've gotten the basic wrapping done as a "blank canvas" of sorts. Now I can begin beautifying. These tags or something similar would really add that special touch to any holiday gift, don't you think? Lyndsey has compiled tons of great ideas. Check her out.

13 More Days-"The Betty Ten"

I've somehow neglected Betty Crocker this entire holiday season. Luckily I went searching her site tonight for an old recipe. Check out her tips for making the holidays special--"Red Hot Holiday Trends--or, The Betty Ten." Pretty enticing ideas. (Not that I condone the cocktails or "Mancakes.") The Reindeer Feed looks simple and delicious, and I am pretty sure I will be testing out her Lemon Linzer Bars. Yum.

On another note, Jared and I watched The Santa Clause this weekend and laughed our heads off. Okay, maybe it was mostly me. If you haven't watched it yet this year, do. It is a classic. "You have much more important things to worry about-- like where to get more sweaters when the circus leaves town." That Tim Allen. What a crack-up.

-14 Days: A Little Paper and a Little Twine

Here's a shot of the final Christmas card product. The picture was really the best we could do--out of about a hundred of these self-taken pictures, this was the only one that Grant was looking. For those of you who want one of these on your mantel or other card displaying location, send me your address. Everyone, enjoy this digital version.

And while I'm here, might as well share a couple pictures of what little Granty J has been up to at 6 months.

 Doing baby push-ups, trying desperately to crawl . . .

 sitting up. . . 

 dabbling in some baby food . . .

and of course, taking piano lessons.

-15 Days: Gift-giving Traditions

I can't BELIEVE I have kept this crazy countdown going. I would say I am really getting conditioned for New Year's resolutions with all this commitment-keeping I've been up to. It has been just the perfect little extra dose of holiday stress.

Today's topic: gift-giving traditions.

When Jared and I first discussed all this holiday tradition shenanigans a couple months ago, one of our key objectives was to come up with ways to make Christmas really special, meaningful, and fun for our family without focusing so much on big, expensive, or numerous gifts. Someday, even if we can afford it, I don't want to find myself in the common trap of better, cooler, bigger, and more expensive than the year before. Let's face it, both gift-givers and receivers can get a little carried away sometimes. My theory however, is that with a little creativity and careful planning, this can be avoided. My dream is that with some great traditions, and just a few meaningful gifts, those visions of sugarplums will dance away in my kids' heads.

For example, why not make the ACT of giving the gift just as fun as the gift itself? One of the most fun things at Christmas in my family is drawing names for the sibling gift-exchange. Does your family do something similar? A white-elephant, or one of those exchanges where you can steal others' gifts? I love when gift-giving has a game element to it. Why not spend more time in the presentation of the gift? Cool or creative wrapping? I read somewhere on the internet (and this is my tip of the day) about a family that plays a gift-giving game that goes something like this:

Before each gift is opened, the recipient has to guess what they think the gift is. Because of this tradition, the family goes to great lengths each year to throw each other off. They put little things in big boxes, they might pack a brick in the box of a really light-weight gift, you get the idea. I think this sounds like some rambunctious fun I would love to get in on. Throw in a simple prize for the best guess and one for the best-disguised gift, and you've got the makings of a GREAT gift-giving tradition that actually takes a little focus off gifts and adds a little more fun. Any other fun gift-giving games or traditions out there? Send them my way.

16 More Days--More on Cards

Breaking News: According to two of my friends' blogs today, Shutterfly is offering 50 free photo cards if you write about them on your blog. If you still haven't gotten Christmas cards, check out this site! And then be sure to send me one!

17 Days Left for Christmas Card Sending!

I need to get these things made and sent ASAP. If you're a procrastinator like me, you may give up on your good, but ambitious ideas. Fear not--there's still time to get a cute Christmas card in the mail to your people this month. If you want to do something cute and simple, check out www.picnik.com. This is a great, free photo-editing website, perfect if you don't have something similar already on your computer. My favorite thing about it is the special holiday features. You can add snow, Santa hats, and festive fonts to any picture. Way easy, and way cute.

Martha S. has lots of great handmade ideas if you're looking for something more crafty. These button ones are pretty adorable.

My card is a little craft-photo combo. If you want one, send me your address! Or just wait for the post in a couple days.

-18 Days: 2-Star Cookies

I'm on the hunt for good, new Christmas cookie recipes to use this season for gifts and an occasional cookie exchange. I get so many e-mails featuring holiday cookie recipes, that it's hard to sift through all of them. But when I read the words "No Bake" in an e-mail from Better Homes and Garden, I had to check it out. These are the ones we tried tonight for Family Home Evening. They look pretty, right? Well, don't be deceived. They didn't come out nearly as pretty in real life, and that would have been the only thing that redeemed the vanilla wafers, marshmallow creme, and maraschino cherry combo. Two stars go to the "Easy 'Mallow Cookies." Still, if you're interested in trying any other no-bake cookie recipes, check out this site. I know I'm always looking for ways to eliminate time and mess in the kitchen. I will be in touch with more cookie recipe trials in the near future. Hopefully with better results. If you have some tried and true recipes, send them my way!

-19: Semi-handmade Gifts

If you love DIY projects, but sometimes need a little help starting out, check out Poppyseed Projects. They sell project kits for things such as antiqued temple pictures, wood signs, wood photo blocks, little wood countdown calendars, and lots more. It's also a great resource if you like this kind of stuff, but don't want to spend a fortune to buy it already completed. The genius behind Poppyseed Projects is that they provide you with the idea for the project, and the basic materials--wood, vinyl lettering, etc. You provide the materials that make the project personal--scrapbook paper, colored paint, photos, etc. and save money by putting together the project on your own. You could probably save even more money finding the basic materials yourself, but sometimes it's nice to have that jumping off point. 

I found a picture of this adorable temple block online and searched until I found the source of its creation--It was Poppyseed Projects.

 I ordered my kit for 3.95 which included the block (about 5x5 in), and the temple print with lettering. I painted it, sanded the edges, and added my own paper. It took me probably 10 minutes to make after the paint was dry, and voila! Now little babe Error has a temple displayed in his room. And a cute, child-style one at that. I'm hoping to make more for the nieces and nephews for Christmas. Check out the site for other great gift ideas for the people on your list! They ship anywhere and offer free pickup locally. 

-20 Days: Christmas Books

This will be short and sweet since the day is almost over. The holiday idea for tonight comes from my creative and talented sister-in-law, Rachel. A few weeks ago I ordered a few Christmas books from Amazon to begin a little collection for Grant. (I love ordering books online, and did this frequently when I was teaching last year because you can get some really good, used copies for cheap. I recommend it.) I wanted to do something special with the books, but wasn't sure what. Just found out tonight that Rachel has been building up her own Christmas book collection for her kids and does something absolutely WONDERFUL. She has 24 now (some really special, and some she says are less so) and wraps them up each year to put under the tree. Each night leading up to Christmas the kids get to unwrap a new book to be read. Isn't that perfect? I definitely don't have 24 books yet, so it will take a couple years to get ready. But this is definitely a tradition I am going to start preparing for. Thought I'd pass it along so you can do the same!

21 Days- Family of Shepherds

Last night we made our acting debut as a family. That's right. Jared and I, and even little Granty, were all shepherds in the ward Christmas program. Our role consisted of walking out onto the stage and basically creating ambiance. No, we didn't have any lines (Jared was just holding the mic for Mary after her solo), but we were a pretty big deal nonetheless. 

This isn't a very good picture, but I love it anyway simply because Grant is dressed up like a little shepherd! Seriously. How cute is that? It was pretty silly, but it's a reminder to me that I really do want my baby to be a seeker of Christ, and to want to be the kind of shepherd the Savior was. It reminds me of the important Christmas traditions I want to establish with my family. I definitely don't plan on dressing as a shepherd every year, but I do want the Savior to be our focus.

I'm really excited about the First Presidency Christmas Devotional this Sunday to really set the tone for the rest of the month. In an attempt to maintain the focus, we're going to start the tradition of having our own family devotional sometime later in the month. Kind of a special style Family Home Evening (better start now while Grant is too young to contest it). We don't want this to be a yearly repeated message , but a chance to prepare something new and special. lds.org has tons of great resources--talks, media items, a special fhe lesson, etc. compiled into a Christmas Topic Page. If you're looking for ways to focus on the Savior this Season, check this out! I spent just an hour today browsing through the ideas and talks and felt a rush of true Christmas spirit.

Just to give you a little taste, check out this cute little VIDEO of Kids' thoughts about Christmas. As the little Shepherd Grant proves, you're never too young to focus on the real meaning of Christmas.

Paper Potential (22 Days Left!)

Yesterday I attended a most glorious holiday event--American Crafts' Scrapbooking Warehouse Sale! Thanks to my good friend Lyndsey, ex-American Crafts employee, who invited me. If you're in the area and use scrapbook supplies at all-go. You won't regret it (I've pasted the flyer at the bottom). I told Jared that I probably saved at least $40 dollars in craft store trips for the next 3 months and that he should be glad :).

I LOVE cute paper. You can do so much with it, and around the holidays there are endless uses. Wrapping paper, tags, cute cards . . . the list goes on and on. I'd like to add one more little paper project to your holiday repertoire. For those who have long tired of cutting snowflakes, use these paper ornaments for decor!

These ones are hanging in one corner of my living room. Try them in front of a mirror or in a window.

They are the easiest in the WORLD to make. You need five strips of paper of three different lengths. The one in the middle is the shortest, the two right outside it are a little longer, and the outermost two are longer still. Stack them on top of each other and fasten them on both ends with brads. And voila! The varying paper length creates the ornament shape. Enjoy.

1 Day Down, 23 to Go!

tThe weekend is fast approaching and there are lots of fun activities out there to be enjoyed. If you live nearby, may I recommend the Riverwoods in Provo? Great food, shopping, and Christmas lights. Also, on the weekend they offer free horse-drawn carriage rides, and La Jolla Groves offers free hot chocolate and dollar sugar cookies. (If the Riverwoods isn't in your neighborhood, any place with lights, treats, and Santa will do to really get you in the holiday spirit.) We kicked off the season there a couple weekends ago at the tree lighting. The objective: to take Grant's first picture with Santa and enjoy a festive atmosphere. When we first got out of the car, I really feared our little trip would backfire. It was FRIGID, crowded, and loud. But, it IS the season of miracles, and Grant--who was bundled from head to toe in his stroller, slept through all the chaos until about two minutes before we reached the front of the line to see Santa! We didn't do much else besides wait in the 45 minute line, but it actually worked out quite perfect for us. The line was close enough to the stage to enjoy the entertainment, but far enough away that our ears didn't bleed. We got to see all the pretty lights and shoppers bustling around. AND, I even escaped for a minute to get us a caramel cheesecake brownie from LJG to enjoy in line. All in all, it was a success. Here are the pics to prove.