Christmas Books

When we were first married, my hubby and I talked about each of our families Christmas traditions and which ones we wanted to incorporate in our own family. We have used some traditions from both our families and then started some new ones we have adopted from our friends families.

This Christmas book tradition was inspired by one of my students when I was still teaching high school. She explained to me one day how every Christmas season, they would buy a new Christmas book to add to their growing collection. Each night, her siblings would take turns picking a book to read together as a family bedtime story, saving the new book to read on Christmas Eve. I loved this idea as soon as I heard about it and so we added this to our list of Christmas traditions.



We have acquired about 18 books now most we purchased as that year's book (one each year) and some were given to us as gifts. We usually start our books around December 6, so that we can read one book a night. I wrap all the books each year (to solve fighting over who gets to pick which book as some are more popular than others) in the same wrapping paper, except for the new book. This new book is wrapped in a different paper and is saved until all the other books have been read. This book is read on a special night (more to come on that later) which we usually try to do on December 23.

I have really enjoyed this tradition as it brings a nice Christmasy feeling into our home each night. Most of the books have a nice Christmas theme to remind us of the "real reason for the season". In fact, it is probably MY favorite Christmas tradition!



Here is a list of the books we have (although there are many other great books out there). This tradition can also be altered to represent the other December holidays you as a family may be celebrating other than Christmas (ie. Kwanza, Chanaukka, St. Nicholas Day, Boxing Day, St. Lucia Day, etc.)

1. Bear Stays Up For Christmas; Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
2. Welcome Comfort; Patricia Polaco
3. The Giving Tree; Shel Silverstein
4. The Polar Express; Chris Van Allsburg
5. You Are Special; Max Lucado
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Dr. Suess
7. The Touch of the Master's Hand; Myra Brooks Welch
8. The King's Highway; Heward Fullmer
9. Christmas Day in the Morning; Pearl S. Buck
10. Too Many Frogs; Sandy Asher
11. I Believe in Santa Claus; Diane G. Adamson
12. A Wish to be a Christmas Tree; Colleen Monroe
13. Christmas Oranges; Linda Bethers
14. Snowmen at Christmas; Caralyn Buehner
15. The Story of Holly and Ivy; Rumer Godden
16. Christmas Tapestry; Patricia Polaco
17. The Tale of Three Trees; Angela Elwell Hunt
18. Jacob's Gift; Max Lucado

What are some of your favorite Christmas (or other holiday) books?

 

Christmas Advent Calendar

Each year, starting on December 1, we start our Christmas (or Kwanza, Chanaukka, St. Nicholas Day, Boxing Day, St. Lucia Day, etc.) countdown with an Advent Calendar like many of you.

I have seen all sorts of advent calendars around. Here is our version!



I make a list of several activities we can do together as a family. Then each day the kids take turns opening the little door for the day and reading what activity we get to do together. At our house, the holiday season can be pretty busy and somedays are unpredictable. So instead of just cutting up the strips and distributing them into the calendar, I do not put the activity in until I have an idea of what activity is actually feasible that day. I keep a pre-typed list up in the cupboard and then before the kids get home from school, I pick an activity, cut the word strip out and place it behind the little door.

This way each day I control what we are realistically able to participate in. Plus the kids aren't able to find out what we are doing until that exact moment.

Here is a list of some of the things we have included in our advent calendar in years past.

1. Decorate the Christmas tree.
2. Write letters to Santa.
3. Build a snowman.
4. Have a snowball fight.
5. Make Christmas cookies and surprise a neighbor or two with a plate.
6. Sing Christmas Carols together.
7. Write Christmas letters to relatives we will not see for Christmas.
8. Watch a Christmas movie.
9. Visit Santa at the Mall.
10. Take a drive to see the Christmas Lights.
11. Clean out old toys and donate to Goodwill.
12. Make a gift for kids teachers.
13. Make some Christmas Candy.
14. Play a game in front of the fire.
15. Watch The Grinch.
16. Learn more about Jesus.
17. Sleep under the Christmas Tree.
18. Do a secret service for someone in the family or a neighbor.
19. Make a gingerbread house.
20. Read an extra Christmas story.
21. Make some reindeer food for Christmas Eve (recipe to come).
22. Read the Christmas story in Luke Chapter 2 and other scriptures.
23. Act out the nativity scene.
24. Listen to Christmas music.
25. Set out cookies and reindeer food for Santa and his reindeers.
26. Read the notes in our love socks (more to come on this later).
27. Watch a Christmas special on television.
28. Go sledding!

You can use some of these ideas, or come up with your own that will meet the needs of your family and the specific holiday you may celebrate.

What are some ideas you would add to the list?

 

Bugga Buggs Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the Bugga Bugs giveaway and especially to Bugga Bugs for for sponsoring it! The lucky winner is commentor #143... Cari!

Cari said: "I think I would have to get the Noah's Ark animals. My son would play happily for hours with those".

Congratulations Cari! Send me an email with your details and I will make sure Bugga Buggs gets it to send you your free pattern!

______________________________________________________

Now that we have gotten the business out of the way, I am happy to introduce you to a great site Today's Giveaway. I didn't know there was a site where you could find great giveaways everyday! Today's Giveaway also spotlights some great blogs out there so you can see what you might be missing. Who couldn't use another crafty blog to follow?

Right now, Today's Giveaway is hosting some giveaways for the following:



A Penguin Cool Mist Humidifier
from Crane.

To learn more about this giveaway click here.



A Couponizer System
from the Couponizer.

To learn more about this giveaway and the Couponizer click here.



50 Custom Thank You Cards
with Envelopes
from UPrinting.

To learn more about this giveaway click here.

Today's Giveaway has a lot to offer. Go on over and check them out and see for yourselves.

 

Email issues!

I am having some issues with sending/receiving emails. Meaning...I am not getting them. I had several of you leave comments on some posts and I didn't realize there was a new comment until I actually looked at the blog and realized some of you had left them and I did not get a notification.

I have also had a few people order the travel games for their Thanksgiving travels and I have sent them but they are having a hard time recieving them, or they take over 12 hours to come into their mailbox. So if you want to order travel games, be sure to give yourself a window to receive them before your trip till I can figure out what is going on. Darn technology!

And, if you have posted a comment with a question and I have not answered it, it is probably because I have not seen it. I did go back and answer several questions I had not seen in the form of a comment.

I have however received a few of your pictures of projects via email :)! Keep them coming and hopefully I will get them! I love to see what you have done! Thanks!



And because it feels strange to post without a picture...Here is a great shot of my hubs circa 1981 (San Diego Zoo class field trip) since he is my tech guy who is trying to figure out my email issues. I don't pay him enough! This gem recently resurfaced via Facebook!

 

FYI...and a few matters of business!

I was able to meet and see a few of you at the Recessionista Party last week. I think it is safe to say that we all enjoyed ourselves and found some fun accessories, handbags and shoes at the same time.



Just so you know, Recessionista is having and continue to have some amazing giveaways over at their blog. I happen to know of a really exciting one she said would be posted by noon today. Recessionista is a sponsor of the Idea Room but I just wanted you to know that I am NOT receiving any compensation for this post. I just really like their products and more importantly their CHEAP prices!



When something makes me happy, I like to share it with others, especially my loyal readers. So if you haven't been over there in a while, go and check it out. They now have several items you can purchase from their online store and they have FREE SHIPPING! And an amazing giveaway starting today!!



Moving on...If you would like to purchase anything from the Idea Room Store, I will not be taking orders for keychains or pendants after Saturday, November 28. This will ensure you will receive your items before Christmas. At my house, like everybody else, the holidays can be busy and I can not promise to find the time to get to extra projects during that time. So get your orders in now if you're interested.

Finally, I also thought it would be fun to answer any questions you gals might have. Please remember to be respectful :)! Just send me an email and I will get back to you all in a question and answer post. Also, I would like to start featuring some of your completed projects from ideas you have gleaned here. Some of you have been kind enough to send me a link or a picture of your finished projects and I would like for others to be able to see them as well. So send me any and all pictures of something you have made with a link to your blog and I would be happy to host a show and tell for you and all my awesome readers. You guys really are awesome! Thank You!!

 

Making a Pie Crust & Chocolate Town Pie Recipe

In my church I have a calling, or the leader in charge of planning, the women's activities. We recently planned a mini class where the women in our congregation were taught how to make pie crust by one of the women. It was a lot of fun. We made some pie crusts and then sampled a few different delicious pies! They were all so yummy, but there was one particular pie that I had never had before...it is called a Chocolate Town pie. It was like a chocolate chip cookie with a crunchy top layer in a pie crust. Yum!

I thought since it is the beginning of pie season, that it would be fun to share the pie crust recipe we were taught that night. Her recipe is different than my grandma's (which is awesome), but I really liked this one too.

Pie Crust: (this will make one crust; double the recipe if two crusts are needed)
1 cup plus 2 TBSP flour
½ tsp. salt (or slightly less)
1/3 cup oil
2 TBSP cold water



Place the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and stir together with a fork. Then drizzle the oil and water over the flour mixture. Take your fork and mix together just enough to roughly blend it together. Do NOT overmix! Overmixing will make a stiff crust that is not flaky.



Then take your CLEAN hand and mold the dough into a ball. Again do only as needed. Do not knead or mix the dough. There should still be small chunks of flour.



Place a piece of wax paper on the countertop and another piece of wax paper on top of the dough ball. Now roll out the dough between the paper into a circle with a rolling pin.



Place your dough into a pie plate and lift the edges so that if fills the inside of the plate. Take a knife and cut off the excess pie dough from around the edge of the dish. Now use your fingers and pinch in the top edge of the crust to make a fluted edge. I do this by using the index finger and thumb of my left hand held together on one side of the crust and push the crust against them with my left index finger.



Hershey's Chocolate Town Pie:

9" unbaked pastry shell
1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
2 eggs beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup hersheys semi-sweet choc. chips
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Prepare pastryshell, set aside.

Heat oven to 350* Cream butter, eggs and vanilla in mixer bowl. Combine sugar and flour, add to creamed mixture. Stir in choc. chips and nuts. Pour into unbaked pastry shell. Bake 45-50 mins. or till golden. Cool about 1 hour; serve warm, with whipped cream if desired.

 

Make a Cranberry Wreath

**Be sure to enter the giveaway here.

I have seen a few of these wreath tutorials floating around the craft blogs recently like this amazing book wreath from Living with Lindsay and this fun pinecone wreath from V. and Co. Here is my version with cranberries.



I found this cranberry garland at the after Christmas sale at Hobby Lobby last year for $5 and found a perfect use for it. I purchased a round styrofoam ring which can be found at most craft stores. I used some left-over red spray paint and sprayed the ring red. Then I had my older kids help me cut the berries off of the garland(which they thought was so fun).



Then while my hubby and I watched a movie, I used my glue gun and glued each cranberry in place. It was a bit tedious, but I love how it turned out despite the fact that I burned myself with hot glue a couple of times. Ouch!



Then I realized I hadn't gotten a picture of the wreath half-finished so I quit gluing and saved the rest to finish the next day so I could get you guys a picture. So here is a picture showing where I stopped the night before. The cranberries are glued around the entire wreath except for a small strip in the back so it will sit smoothly against the wall or your door.



I like it so much that I am temped to make another wreath, but this time using round ball ornaments like this and this.

Oh...and since someone will probably ask...I found my snowflake door hanger at the end of season clearance at Target 2 years ago.