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.