Merry Christmas...

Wishing all of my wonderful readers a very Merry Christmas!  Enjoy the day, the week, the season!

Gingerbread House Spectacular...

My kids love making {eating} Gingerbread houses.  One of our annual traditions is to make gingerbread houses.  This looks different each year...we've gone to workshops, parties and created them at home.  This year, I found a kit that had all the gingerbread pieces ready to go. 

Building the houses together was a fun project for a cold, rainy afternoon.  (I wish it had been snowing!)  I was a bit disappointed by the size of the houses in the kit but no one else seemed to mind.

The houses turned out great...I wonder how long it will be before Aiden starts to nibble on his!

What are your favorite traditions and activities?  Have fun celebrating the season!

Christmas Cup Cakes...

I have been looking all over for a great Teacher Gift, for my kids teachers.  I recently came across a recipe in Family Fun magazine which my boys and I modified Check out The Science Mommy for the whole story!  The result was this great gift for our teachers...

A Make-Your-Own Cup Cake for One!



Ingredients:

* One chocolate cake mix...this will make 8 individual cup cakes

* 8 c. powdered sugar

* 8 tbs. cocoa powder

* 8 mini cans of Diet Coke

* Snack size zip lock bags

We set up an assembly line to put these gifts together...

 1.  Put 1/2 cup of cake mix into a bag labeled "Cake"

 2.  In a bag labeled "Frosting" put 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1 tbs of cocoa powder

3.  Put both bags into a mug and add this label with cooking directions to the handle  Cup Cake Label (printable) The cup cake is made by mixing the cake mix with 1/3 cup of diet coke in the mug.  This is placed in the microwave for 3 minutes.  While the cake is cooking, add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the frosting mix and mix in the bag.  Cut one of the corners off the bag and frost your cupcake before eating!

The boys decorated gift bags for their teachers!

This was quick and easy to assemble.  For 8 gifts, it didn't cost too much.  Anyone would love to make their own cup cake!

Christmas Memories...

Aiden, my youngest, was born on December 22.  When his older brother, Connar, visited him in the hospital there was some concern that Santa wouldn't know Aiden had arrived.  In order to put Connar's mind at ease, we stopped at the mall on the way home...so that Connar could introduce his little brother to Santa.  While it was a crazy thing to do, one look at the proud big brother's face says it was the right thing to do.  Santa was a little freaked out when I handed him Aiden.  Apparently, Aiden was the youngest visitor Santa had that year...at just under 24 hours old.

Holiday Home Tour...

I am joining the Holiday Home Tour, sponsored by LeeLou Blogs.  Pop on over to check out everyone's beautiful holiday decorating ideas...


These are a few of my favorite Christmas decorations...

I collect snow men and enjoy leaving many of them out through February...a couple of lucky ones get to be out year round!

The wooden tree on the left was given to me by my Aunt Jo when I was a freshman in college.  Each month in a care package she would send a new set of ornaments.  {The snowmen will go on in January}

I made this table runner a couple of years ago...I love the look of wool applique.  I have one with turkeys in progress.

Snowmen just make me smile :)

We don't have a fireplace so we reclaim shelves, that have pictures on them during the rest of the year, to serve as a mantle.  I made Kyle and I stockings for our first Christmas together and then the boys for their first Christmases.  Fortunately, Santa fills all the stockings!  My mother-in-law solved the problem of a chimney when my oldest son was about 3, and quite worried about Santa's entrance.  You'll notice a key hanging with Aiden's stocking.  It's a Santa key and the boys hang it on the outside door knob on Christmas Eve...allowing Santa access sans chimney. 

Our Book Countdown to Christmas

I keep a small scrapbook with all the boys Santa pictures and display the current year's picture in the frame.  {It's still last year's photo...Santa pictures are Saturday!}

We don't have a themed tree...I have several different collections of ornaments and I look forward to putting them out every year.

One of my favorite sets of ornaments are framed pictures of the boys each year...sometimes with Santa and sometimes other candid winter shots.  I'll tell you more about this picture next week...stay tuned!

This is from a collection of bells that have been handed down...the story is that my Great-grandfather brought them with him when he emigrated from Sweden.

The boys have their own tree in our family room...

...their ornaments are mostly toys & candy....it's so much fun!

Thanks for sharing my Holiday Home!



Christmas is coming...

Last night, thanks to grandparents and my husbands work schedule, I got to spend a few hours Christmas shopping.  It was a weeknight, so the stores weren't crowded and it was so much fun!  Shopping alone and relaxed, gave me time to think.  Here's some of my favorite things about the season...

• I love shopping at Christmas!  I never do any Christmas shopping before Black Friday, which is when I start with my husband.  I love being in the stores and the mall with all the decorations, and the crowds...it's so much fun!
• I love finding the perfect gift.  I have been looking for something that will keep my Gram warm...she's always cold.  Last night I found the perfect fleece, bed jacket that's soft and warm and blue.  I can't wait to give it to her! (If you're reading this and you're related to me...don't tell Gram!)
• I love holiday flavored coffee...especially when I am shopping!
• I love buying presents for my kids.  You could easily make the claim that they're spoiled...but it's the good kind of spoiled :)  They are just so stinking cute and fun, that everywhere I look I find something new I want to give them!
• I love having the best idea for my husband!  He can be kind of hard to shop for but this year I had the perfect idea.  Of course, he tried to buy one for himself and I had to hint and now he knows what it is...but I am trying to pretend that it could be something else!
• I love opening books every night with my kids!  They're excited and I am excited and it's so cozy to read in front of the Christmas tree.
• I love the way the house looks all decorated.  My husband does all the lights and outside decorations and even though it was about 10 degrees the day he did the lights, he went all out.
• I love the magic of Christmas...the sense of surprise, the ability to settle into the little girl-ness of the holiday and to relish the moments with family.

I really love Christmas!  This year I am remembering to take time to enjoy the moments rather than hurry through everything.  This year I want to settle into each moment and remember it!

What are you enjoying this season?

Count Down to Christmas...

This is my all-time favorite tradition of all! I thoroughly immerse myself in the holiday season...everything about Christmas is fun for me...as you'll see if you keep reading this month.  But this tradition?  This tradition trumps everything else and is by far, my favorite.

There are few personal pleasures more important, or satisfying, to me than reading a good book.  I do love to curl up and read.  When my oldest, Connar, was approaching his first Christmas I wanted to start something special that would become a time-honored tradition.  (That's a lot of pressure for a new, young family...but I succeeded!)  I read about this idea somewhere, and I wish I could give credit to the original source. 

I built a Christmas Book Count-Down...

What a fantastic box full of presents.  When Connar was a baby, and I was dreaming of this amazing family tradition, I was thinking about having a gift to  open every day.  Here's our book box...there are 23 wrapped Christmas books and two wrapped copies of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". 

The first few years of the Christmas Book Count-Down  I didn't have a book for every day of the month... we started opening books later depending on how many there were.  Since I have added books, liberally, to the collection I now have more than enough.  I store the books all year, so they are not on the kids book shelves...the only time we read the books is  during December.  Every night before bed they take turns choosing a book to open.  There are several favorites in the collection and they spend hours flipping through the wrapped books trying to predict which is which. 

With a little wrapping paper, a couple of hours and a much-loved collection of books...I put together my favorite Christmas tradition of all time.  And if the boys excitement at seeing the box of wrapped books is any indication...it's one of their favorite traditions as well!

Our Elf...

One of our most recent, but favorite Christmas traditions is The Elf on the Shelf.  I bought this book for my kids last year and our family's elf came with the book.  As per the book's instruction, we learned that our elf was visiting from the North Pole and would be reporting back to Santa, frequently, during the holiday season.  The boys would know that he traveled to the North Pole each night because he would be sitting in a new location each morning.

This morning Jingle was sitting on the shelf with the boys stocking holders! 

Since my boys are 5 years apart, I had been looking for a way to keep the magic of Christmas for my oldest.  This new tradition has been perfect.  They love looking for Jingle each morning and my husband and I occasionally remind them that Jingle is listening to their conversations {arguments}  The magic of the season is alive and well in our house as we host one of Santa's elves during the month of December.  Last year, the boys were disappointed to discover that Jingle returned with Santa on Christmas Eve.  With their excitement at his appearance this year, I am sure they will be sorry to see him leave again this year.

What are your new, favorite traditions?