A Gift

Our tree, taken with my new lens. Totally not connected to anything written below. I just needed a picture =)

This afternoon I was touched by a thoughtful gift from a stranger.

Even though hours have passed I can still feel the hug we shared when I said thank you. And see the tears in her eyes as she hurriedly walked away from us. I would love to know her story. Why she blessed us like she did.

I had taken the boys to Walmart to pick up more clementines - Walmart has the best price on them and they taste amazing. I have spent $32 on clementines in the last few weeks. We all love them and it's one of those little special things I've decided I'll just attempt to keep on hand this season.

So anyway. Walmart. On our way to get clementines I took a detour to the Christmas aisles. We walked up and down the aisles simply looking. When we got to the singing/dancing stuffed animal section the boys asked me to play one for them. So I did. And then I played another. And another.

The singing/dancing animals are quite clever and the boys were thoroughly delighted. They were laughing, dancing and singing along with the songs and anyone who happened to walk down the aisle would stop and smile at them, laugh with them and a couple even twirled a little dance for the boys.

I enjoyed the moment, watching the boys so completely enamored with the singing and dancing and before I knew it thirty minutes had passed. A well dressed lady who had been at the far end of the aisle for quite a while came closer and started talking with the boys and myself about the stuffed animals. After standing with us for awhile she told me she wanted to buy them each their own stuffed toy - which two would the boys like the best?

I couldn't believe the kindness of a stranger, wanting to treat my children to something they were so obviously enjoying. It touched me deeply.

She didn't tell me much about herself, but as we were heading to the checkout together she told me she wanted to buy it for me as there weren't many people who would stand with their children and just enjoy the singing stuffed animals. And that she liked that.

And that was the true gift. Those words encouraged me. She was like a personal cheerleader, in the middle of Walmart, saying You Go Mom. Treasure Your Children. Enjoy Them. Enjoy What They Enjoy.

It was special.

And I love that every Christmas when we pull out our Jingle Bell singing, ear waging dog and Jingle Bell singing, fake snow whirling something-or-other I will always be reminded of the kindness of stranger and her gift of encouragement and the gentle reminder to just enjoy the children enjoying what they enjoy.

Oh, and sorry to anyone who might head to our Walmart to buy a dancing singing stuffed animal. We kindasortamaybe drained the batteries on a couple if them.

Sharing the story of the gift on Tuesdays Unwrapped.

Button Wreath

I love this. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Paul doesn't. And while I normally can be swayed by his dislike of things, I like this too much to really care that he doesn't like it.

And he cares about me too much to actually come out and tell me he doesn't like it.

He simply told me "It's. Uh. Interesting."

I know exactly what that means in Paul talk; "It's pointless. And kind of ugly."

But I still like it. A lot.

It was inexpensive to make (price break down is at the bottom of this post) and easy enough that it could be a project for a child old enough to not endanger themselves with pins =)

And in case you don't know what it is, it's a wreath covered with buttons. 234 buttons to be precise. Not that I spent the time counting the buttons. But the box of push pins I bought came with 240 pins and by the time I was finished with the project there were 6 pins left. So that told me how many buttons I used :)

Remember the sewing machine that I was given? And how it came with hundreds of buttons? Well, I think thousands of buttons would be more accurate. I used over 200 buttons all from the stash of stuff I was given and I barely put a dent in the pile of buttons I have!! That is a lot of buttons!

This is really simple to make, though it does take a good bit of time to pin each button in place. It took me about an hour to complete and I did it while watching a movie with Paul. Maybe it would have gone way faster if I hadn't been distracted.

Supplies needed to replicate this Jessica loved and Paul hated wreath:

• Styrofoam wreath (I used floral foam stuff as that's all the Dollar Store had. I don't recommend it!)
• Wide Ribbon
• Push Pins
• Buttons

1. Cover the wreath with the wide ribbon - it doesn't need to look perfect as most of it will be covered by buttons. 
   
2. Cut the length of ribbon you want for the wreath to hang from and attach to the top with push pins. I just held it in place with push pins until I had picked out what buttons I wanted to hang on the top. If you know what you want right away then use a push pin with a button and you'll save yourself from going back and adding buttons to this area later.
3. The next step is the easy and long part! Add the buttons to the wreath by putting one pin in each button. You'll find some buttons have larger button holes (even if they look like they're the small size!!) so make sure the pin doesn't go straight through the button hole. 

While I put them on randomly I did pay attention to make sure there wasn't a cluster of one color and/or size in one spot. With the assortment of buttons I had on hand it wasn't too hard!

Check out some of the cool buttons:

 

This project was very inexpensive - I spent $1 on the wreath and $1.50 on the push pins and the ribbon and buttons I had on hand. Now I just need to find the right spot to hang it!

Note: My original idea was to use a cone and make a tree out of buttons, but the Dollar Tree didn't have any.

Family Picture, Take 2 - 7

I have been able to go through all the pictures we took yesterday and these are the ones that I love.

Well. There's one more I love. But it's being used for our Christmas card. So you'll see that one later.

My guys make me laugh.

 

Family Picture, Take 1

We attempted our family picture tonight, and while there were better pictures taken, I kind of like this one.

Judah took the camera remote from me (can you see it in his hand?) and he took a whole bunch of family pictures for us :) Such fun! 

But even though I like this one I don't like it enough to do anything with it other than smile at it. And I'm not overly fond of the other pictures we took either, so we'll probably be trying this again on Sunday. I know I am cutting it close, but I'm determined to get family pictures done and in the mail for Christmas! The lady at the post office told me I have until Monday =) 

Chocolate Covered Chocolate Centered Sugar Cookies

These are amazing. A lot of work, but absolutely amazing!!

I have a freezer full of discounted Halloween chocolate that I bought with plans to convert into Christmas baking, and while these are the only things I've created with the Halloween chocolate these will remain the ONLY things I make with the Halloween chocolate - they are that good.

To start off I whipped up a double batch of sugar cookies. I found a really yummy recipe on allrecipes.com, but you can use store bought sugar cookies if you don't feel like making your own.

I used 100 Grand and Butterfinger mini chocolate bars and cut them into halves.

I then wrapped some of the sugar cookie dough around each piece of chocolate and baked.

For the baking time I just followed the instructions on the regular sugar cookie recipe.

Once the sugar cookies had cooked I let them cool and then cut them into quarters.

I then melted some Hershey's Dark Chocolate bars I had also picked up after Halloween and dipped each quartered sugar cookie into the melted chocolate.

Good diet food? I think not.

I let the chocolate sit on wax paper to set and eventually moved them to the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, to set overnight as they weren't getting hard on the counter.

The fridge did the trick and by morning they were the most perfect chocolate covered centered sugar cookie you ever did have!

Linking up with Tasty Tuesday

Homemade Ornaments

A few weeks ago I signed up for an ornament swap hosted by The Crafty Crow - if you have never been to that blog I highly recommend it! I check it daily as it is full of creative craft ideas suitable for children of all ages. It is a great resource if you enjoy doing craft activities with your children.

The ornament swaps theme this year is Fairy Tales (not Disney related!) I had the hardest time thinking of what I could make that was Fairy Tale related - and when ideas finally hit I couldn't narrow it down to just one idea!!

The character in the top image is a Fairy King. Or perhaps an Elf King. Either way, he will capture the imagination of any child. I kind of like him a lot and am tempted to keep him for our tree.

The second style of Fairy ornament I made was a Fairy Godmother wand. It has a sparkling star ornament at the top and a stick covered in sparkling silver ribbon with a beaded base and Christmas related charms hanging off of it. I liked the Fairy wands so much I made four of them! Each one with a different color scheme, but all similar enough that I didn't take a picture of the other three.

 

The third style of ornament I made is a scepter. With a glittering bronze head and silver ribbon covered stick it is fit for royalty. I added a few beaded details and a sparkly Christmas tree to the rod.

These ornaments were so much fun to make and super cheap too! Most of the supplies were scraps of things I already had on hand and the sparkly pieces that top each hand made ornament were bought at the Dollar Tree - 3 for $1! So the 6 ornaments I made cost me a total of $2 and then the scraps I already had.

Judah's Laugh

Paul was dancing by the door, in his underwear, doing ballerina moves.

And Judah can count to ten properly, but he chooses not to when he realizes he can get to ten faster by skipping a bunch of numbers =)

A Winner

We have a winner from random.org! The "Mango" family who blog at The Old White Farmhouse were picked. Congratulations, I hope your family enjoys the cd! 

Don't forget - if you are interested in buying these for yourself or as gifts you can use the code PJMORRIS09 to get 20% off your purchase!

Sewing Machine

I am so excited! A lady from church had an extra sewing machine and heard I was looking for one so last evening she brought the extra sewing machine over for me. It's beautiful!

It's an old machine, but has been kept in amazing condition and I just love it. It is built into a cabinet and all of the drawers were stuffed full of goodies - as well as a few additional boxes of sewing related notions!

I was so excited going through everything last night - it was such an exciting treat!

There are hundreds of different buttons.

 

Lots of thread, elastic, fasteners, needles and cute random things.

 

Pinking shears - I think there are 4 pairs between all the drawers. I love the old boxes.

"Old" meaning older than me.

This charming sewing box was also included - it is also full of thread! I don't think I'll ever need to buy thread :)

I was pretty much just as excited about the treasures in each of the drawers as I was about getting my own sewing machine! I think the machine and I are going to be good friends. I just hope the machine cooperates.

And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.  John 17:3

Gingerbread Man Cookie Countdown

I saw an image somewhere that inspired this idea - a Christmas cookie countdown. I don't know how our ginger bread men will fare over the next 22 days - they have been wrapped very well with plastic wrap so I am hoping they don't go stale. But even if they do go stale, what little boy cares about stale cookies?

We made some gingerbread cookies (I'll share the recipe we used later, it's so yummy!) and cut out enough gingerbread men to count us down til Christmas day. Judah helped with the entire process - mixing, rolling, cutting, and of course dough sampling!

After the cookies had cooled (I actually left them over night) I wrapped each cookie in red plastic wrap. If I had to do it again I would just use sandwich bags - cutting 24 pieces of plastic wrap was a pain!

I put a small piece of tape on the bottom part of the plastic wrap to make sure it stayed tightly sealed, and then with the top part I twisted it tightly and tied a piece of white ribbon around the twisted piece of plastic wrap. I did that to each of the 24 cookies.

I then tied the other end of each white ribbon to a wide 12 foot long ribbon. About every 6 inches I tied a cookie, trying to make sure the knot ended up on the backside of the ribbon.

When everything was tied in place I took the ribbon to the tree and draped it over the tree like so:

In case you can't see where it starts here's an arrow to guide your eyes! 

The plan is for Judah to enjoy one cookie per day as we count down til Christmas day. If we like this idea and decide to repeat it next year then I will let each boy pick their own shape and we'll have twice the amount of cookies on the tree. This year Wesley is happy to eat the head of the gingerbread man while Judah enjoys the rest of it.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway that ends on Saturday!

Tin Foil "Stained Glass" Ornaments

I plan on making these with Judah soon. It's super simple and you can really do so much with these - change the shape, use glitter, add trim to the edge - whatever you think of! I posted this idea a couple years ago, so I am just copying from that post.

You will need 

a piece of stiff paper

 cardboard or card stock

tin foil

hot glue

Sharpie markers

hole punch

ribbon

Directions:
Cut paper to desired ornament shape.
Drizzle hot glue over the stiff paper to make sections.
Once dry cover with tin foil.
Color the sections in with colored Sharpies for stained glass effect.
Use the hole punch to make a hole to place the ribbon through. 

 

If so desired color the 'glue dividers' with a black Sharpie. I don't really like how that looks, so I'll be leaving ours plain.

Snowman Floats

I read about Snowmen Floats a couple months ago in a magazine and tore out directions for them planning to try them out this holiday season - then I lost the recipe! It was very simple and something close to my adapted version of Snowmen Floats.

I use ginger ale and peppermint ice cream - Walmart has green tea ginger ale and that is what I have been using - it's so yummy! But really any ginger ale will work. Put a scoop of peppermint ice cream in the bottom of your glass and then pour the ginger ale on top. Garnish with a candy cane if desired

I like to keep certain food on hand at all times in case visitors come by - this holiday season I have decided that peppermint ice cream and ginger ale will be a constant in our freezer/pantry so that we can make these Snowman Floats in an instant. Served in pretty glasses I think it looks so festive! And while it might not qualify as the cheapest thing you can serve to company it is not too expensive and it certainly gives a lot of bang for the buck!

Linking up with Tasty Tuesday

Giveaway - Seeds Family Music

I received this Seeds of Praise cd a couple of weeks ago in the mail and while it took a little while to adjust to the new songs we now love this cd just as much as the other two cds! I really can't rave enough about this music - catchy enough for kids and tasteful enough for adults. We really do enjoy listening to it, and the content of the songs is straight out of scripture. Love it!

Since each cd comes with two identical cds I am giving away the second cd from Seeds of Praise. Simply leave a comment letting me know you'd like to win. I will mail it to anywhere in the world, and if you have won something from me before it's ok to enter again =)

This Giveaway will end on Saturday, December 5th.

If you would like to order some of these for yourself or as Christmas gifts you can use the coupon code PJMORRIS09 to receive 20% off your order if you order through the Seeds Music Store.

Christmas Ideas

A week or so ago I sat down with Paul to talk about the upcoming Christmas season. We decided on a few things that were important to us and hopefully we'll stay focused and have a memorable and peaceful holiday season. I've written them down in my Household notebook. It is nice having talked about it together and having the ideas written down.

I received December's Southern Living yesterday and it had a similar idea - pick three key words and write them down in a public place. Then when you have the opportunity to do something use those three 'ideals' to help you determine whether you should do it or not.

Our Ideal Christmas List -as it's labeled in my notebook- is:

• peaceful
• spent at home
• having family and friends over
• a lot of baking/cooking
• creating lasting memories/traditions
  

As you can see it's a simple list, but it is also a very focused list for us. From that list I made a much more detailed list of activity ideas that match our Ideal list. Ideas on that list include:

• Bake Gingerbread men
• Read Christmas books in front of the fireplace
• Play games in front of the fireplace
• Put up the Christmas tree together
• Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights
• Eat popcorn and hot chocolate for dinner
• Make a Christmas craft
• Read the Christmas story
• Make a Gingerbread house from cardboard boxes
• Watch a movie (on the laptop) in the back of our car
• Make 'snowmen floats' (peppermint ice cream and ginger ale)

I have set up two baskets under our Christmas tree.
The one in the top picture holds activity supplies. I thought it would be much more likely that we'll do activities if the supplies are already put together. It's obviously not holding everything we would need, however it has some fun items already, such as:

• Nutcracker 'dolls' for when I read them that story
• Marshmallows for the hot chocolate
• A coloring book of the Christmas story 
• A few different craft items
  
  
  
  
  The second basket holds all of our Christmas/winter related books - I have been scouring our local thrift store for more books to add to the collection. Most of these books have come from there. The boys favorite is a pop-up book of the angels announcing to the shepherds the birth of Jesus Christ - they love pop-up books!
  
  The I Spy book came from some friends and Judah is the perfect age for that book now, and it's a favorite too!
  
  
  
  
  

I had wanted to do a Jesse Tree this year, but I don't think we will. Instead we will just use our nativity sets to tell them the story of Christ's birth over and over again throughout the month. This morning I let them play with one of the sets - after I had told them the account of Jesus' birth, using the characters to act out the story.
While Judah was playing he said to me;
"Mommy, this wisemen is hungry. I think he wants to eat this sheep."

And then he proceeded to act out the wiseman eating the sheep.

I'd never thought of it before, but I suppose they probably did eat the sheep =)