Kids Simple Christmas Thank You Cards: Download

When it comes to Christmas, our extended families go all out.

I grew up being taught to write thank you notes, and I think writing them is an important reminder for my children to be thankful for those who spent their time, money, and efforts for them. 

So they have to write thank you cards as I did.  I’ll admit I didn’t always love doing it growing up and it’s even hard now sometimes, but I’m so glad that my mom taught me to do so, because don’t we all appreciate a hand-written note once in a while? 

I thought I had this posted here as a download before, because I found one on my computer from Christmas last year, but maybe not because I can’t seem to find it!  I changed it to use less ink on the snowflakes this time, however. 

They are simple and easy for my kids to fill out.  It’s much less daunting of a task when you have ready-made notes like these for them!

Click HERE to download.  Happy weekend!

Fabric Tray + Lego Base = A Christmas Present

So guess what?  My laundry is mostly caught up—just a couple loads from yesterday to do.  Yay!  My house is clean besides the bathrooms, which are on my list today, and I have about 10 more presents for my extended family to wrap and I then I will be all ready for Christmas! 

Today we are making gingerbread men with some friends and my kids and I will have a little movie night tonight and they will be sleeping under the Christmas tree.  I love when they don’t have school and how much more laid-back and fun it is around the house without homework and all the busy-ness that comes along with school.

My handmade gift for the boys this Christmas is a fabric tray using Anna of Noodlehead’s tutorial HERE and…

I bought a blue lego base on Amazon to fit inside.

Now my kids can transport their legos around and those pesky tiny pieces are less likely to be lost in the process.  I’m especially excited for them to use them in the car because that seems to be the place legos are lost most often!

The trays were extremely quick and easy to make as well.  Great beginner project! 

I hope your Christmas plans are coming together and you are enjoying these last few days before Christmas!

Great Idea for a Neighbor Gift

You’ve seen the glass etching you can do with etching cream and vinyl. You’ve seen how people label their dishes with it.  But what if you don’t have the supplies and it’s really not practical to buy those supplies only to do a couple projects with them?  What if you have the supplies and know a lot of people who don’t, but you can’t spend a lot of money on dishes to etch for them? 

My brilliant friend Michelle gave us the cutest gift this year!  I asked if I could share because I knew you guys would appreciate it.  I sure do! 

She made glass etching DIY “kits”.  See that grid on the right?  That’s our last name in vinyl.  The glass etching cream is in a little bead jar she found at Joann.  Type up the instructions, bag it all up, and ta-da!  A great gift for pretty inexpensive.  I’m not sure where she got her etching cream, but I bought mine at Michael’s—just be sure to bring a coupon!

Anyway, I just thought it was such a great gift and especially for those people you know who would love to do this, but have no use for a lot of vinyl or etching cream!

P.S.  I’ve been so lucky to get to know the women married to the band members of my hubby’s band.  They are all great and I’m so happy to know them all!  Michelle is the wife of one of the band members and a friend I hope to have forever!

A Great Christmas (y) Video for the Kids

We’ve watched this a couple time at my house and my kids really like it.  It really had them thinking about those in need.  After the second time we watched it, with tears in my eyes, I turned to my kids and saw my oldest with tears streaming down his face.  This is what Christmas is all about!   

Reindeer Food

(Hawaii posts are on hold while I wait for some pics from my step-dad.)

You’ve probably all seen this around, but I thought I’d share my printable with you today.    The first time we were given reindeer food was a couple years ago from Sabra.  We’ve received reindeer food a couple times since then and my kids love to sprinkle it in the snow Christmas Eve.

Some people make the recipe as 1/2 c. oatmeal, 1/2 c. sugar, and glitter. 

Honestly, I don’t really see the point of using sugar because it’s expensive and we couldn’t even see it in the oatmeal.  I even tried coloring the sugar with food coloring and it still didn’t look good.  So glitter it was, though some argue the point that it’s not safe for animals to ingest.  I think the only thing that might ingest it around here would be mice and well, we don’t mind if they die!  Some add red or green sugar crystals which would be great, but more expensive as well.

So our recipe?  Oatmeal and fine glitter.  (Don’t hate me for using glitter).  The boys helped me package them up for their class gifts tomorrow. 

HERE is where you can download the tags.  The poem says (just found online from a few sources):

Sprinkle on the lawn at night

Rudolph’s nose will make it sparkle bright

As Santa’s reindeer fly and roam

This will guide them to your home.

I should have taken a picture of the back of the bags—the poem folds over the top and you just staple it on.

clipart for reindeer and sleigh found here

We put two spoonful's into a 3 1/8 x 4 1/8 cello bags, found in the jewelry department at Walmart.  The bag says fashion accessories on it and they are self-sealing bags.  They come in a pack of 80.  So that’s what the tags would fit. 

And P.S.  Have you tried gingerbread marshmallows?  Oh so good in hot chocolate!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

How are you all holding up this Christmas season?  I hope you are able to enjoy bits and pieces of it. 

Even with the stress of everything that goes along with it, I have been able to catch those wonderful feelings during small moments this Christmas. 

My husband and I were finishing up our Christmas shopping and I was going over all the gifts I have made or thought of for our families and friends, the cards to send out, the teachers to give to, the neighbors to deliver to, the goodies to make…etc. etc.  The list went on and on.  He listened throughout it all and for a moment we stood in silence in the check-out lane at Target while I thought about how overwhelmed I was.  Then he gave me a big hug and said, “Thank you.  Thank you so much for doing all of this.  It’s so much work and I really appreciate all you do.”  It almost made me cry.  Because it’s just plain nice to feel appreciated.  So for those of you who feel overwhelmed and stressed out, I really hope that you will be able to feel some peace and joy this Christmas season. And remember to think kindly of yourselves for all the efforts you go through this time of year!  Sometimes we really are wonder women, right?  ;)  (not to exclude the men here but I kind of am, ha ha!  Unless you do all that stuff above, then you rock, too.)

Here is a little round-up of some of my past Christmas projects or posts.

 

What Shall I Give Ornaments:

 

Christmas Story Collection:

I found my 8 year old reading these stories as I walked past him to the laundry room. I mentioned that I was happy he was reading them. He came down a couple minutes later and said, “Mom! Those stories are REALLY good.” I told him yes, they certainly were, and how they all make me cry. He said, “They made ME cry too!” So sweet.

White Stocking Tradition:

 

Poinsettia Pillow Tutorial:

 

Baby Jesus and Manger tutorial: 

This is a great way to get the kids excited for doing service!  My kids have already filled it up this year.  They were SO excited!

 

Here are a couple small gifts for teachers, friends, or stocking stuffers. 

Tissue Pouch: 

You’ll also find a link to a tissue holder tutorial there without the loop attached.

 

Hand Sanitizer Holders:

 

Yarn Christmas Trees (from Pretty Ditty):

 

Service Advent:

I used a lot of ideas from Cheri’s post.

And of course some posts from this year.

Gift Wrapping

 

Doily Snowflake Ornament

Ten Gift Wrapping Ideas

In case you missed me over at jame, here are 10 really easy gift wrapping ideas.

Almost all of the items I used are just from the dollar section at Target, and a couple items used are from Walmart and Joann.  I’m not going to really do any tutorial-ish type of thing, since I’m pretty sure you are all smart enough to figure out how I did them!  Just get out your supplies, some tape, and some glue to hold your finishing touches in place!

This yarn is fabulous, and can be found in the yarn section at Walmart for under $2.00 I believe.  I love it because it looks like bakers twine. 

Ornaments from Target’s Dollar Section.

Glitter trees from Target’s dollar section.

Yarn from Walmart, beads for a dollar at Joann.

Berries from Target, twine I already had.

The next two would be fun for kids.  Stickers all from Target section.

These reindeer stickers are also from Target.  It would be cute to draw little speech bubbles that said the TO: and FROM: bit. 

Doily’s from the wedding section at Walmart.  I used a glue stick to glue them on the paper.

Ric-rac is the cutest, and I have some vintage ric-rac given to me from my mother-in-law.  This one was perfect!
Tinsel from Target’s Christmas section.  $2.00. 

And there you have it!  Ten super simple, inexpensive ways to spice up your gift wrapping this Christmas!