Christmas Spirit

I know it's been awhile since my last post, but don't worry. I didn't forget. :) I've actually been trying to finish up a few things so I would have something to write about. Since our Thanksgiving Tree turned out to be such a success with the kids, I decided I needed something along the same lines for Christmas.

Landon was mad cause I didn't let him play with the glue stick, then I made him take a picture. I'm a mean mommy.

My sister mentioned the other day that she just wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit/excitement this year. I was thinking how often we all feel that way. Especially with the over-commercialized society we live in. I came to the conclusion that my Christmas Spirit and excitement is largely dependent on me. Sometimes I have to make myself get the tree and decorations out and go through the motions before I really get into it. Plus, it's not really about the tree and the decorations anyway, right? But let's be honest, those things do help the Christmas Spirit along. :) So I resolved to have my tree up Monday after Thanksgiving. Well....that didn't happen, thanks to certain in-laws and a Twilight Marathon. (Yes, it was the longest 48 hours EVER...) My tree went up last night with Christmas music playing in the background and the kids will help me decorate it tonight. I started thinking about a week ago what I could do that would help get myself and the kids in the proper Christmas Spirit. I know many people do and advent calendar. I pondered this for a short time and decided to be honest with myself. I don't have that kind of energy or dedication.  I'm sure we will do many of the traditional things like looking at lights and building ginger bread houses, but I didn't want to be stuck to something on a night when I got home late or just didn't have it in me. So I went a simpler route. Fast, cheap and easy! Just my style.

I started by making these mini containers and filling them with candy and stickers. I used tiny chocolates and a big sheet of Christmas stickers that I cut apart so there are two in every container. They are easy to make. I just made a tube out of scrapbook paper and sealed each end in perpendicular directions. I didn't spend much time making them fancy and I used my plain paper. My kids are little and they just want to rip something open. Maybe when they are older and appreciate it, I will put more time and money into it. :)

25 containers with candy and stickers

The next thing I did was go on a Christmas book shopping spree. Guess where I started...? Salvation Army! A few months back I found The Polar Express in almost brand new condition for a quarter! Didn't find anything that exciting this time around, but I got a few. I have 11 books now and have ordered some on Amazon and Deseret Book that I'll get before these are done. I have a good variety of fun holiday stories and more spiritual, "true meaning of Christmas" type stories. I wrapped them up and will put them in a special box under the tree. (So they don't get confused with real presents as we get closer to Christmas.) Every night, starting tomorrow, they will pick one mini container and one book to open. Then they can eat their candy while we read our Christmas story for the night. I think this will work out perfect since they get a story before bed anyway, it fits right into our routine. I hope through the years I can add to my Christmas book collection so we don't have the same stories every year. Although, I still love the classics mom read to us every year. :)

 

I am excited to start our newest Christmas tradition. I love books and want to pass that on to my kids. What better way than to sit down every night by the tree for some Christmas Cheer!

Here we go again!

Ok, so I decided to bring my blog back to life. I know, what was I thinking?! Well, I have several motivators:
First of all, I am one of those people that needs an outlet. Actually, I require several. If I only have one, it fills quickly. I'm hoping this will be one of the places I can go to release whatever crazy thoughts I have in my head. :)
Second, as wonderful a tool as Facebook can be, it has become very impersonal. I don't really need to be wasting time anyway, and I for sure don't need to be wasting it doing something so unproductive. I am also grouping Pinterest in this category. (I have several friends who may kill me for this statement...) I love Pinterest, don't get me wrong. However, I suspect that many people are like me, finding great ideas that never get translated into anything other than a picture on their page. Not that blogging will necessarily fix this, but I'm hoping it will motivate me to action.
That leads me to my next reason, I have many projects in various stages right now. Some almost done, some in early stages and some still in the complex maze of my over-active brain. I hope this blog will give me some accountability to finish my many project ideas. If I don't, then I will have little to blog about. Of course, I can just talk about random stuff, nobody is better at that than me. (Like right now for example.) But that's not fun for anyone other than myself. :)
Lastly, I need to better myself. I have recognized things in myself that I'm pretty sure I inherited from my dear father. I can easily slip into periods of depression. But I have discovered my depression does not manifest itself in sad, sorry for myself thoughts. It comes through lazyness and disinterest. I can go days doing literally nothing. Once I get started, however, I enjoy being busy and feel satisfied after a productive day. So I am going to try and share my journey to improve myself by being a more productive and involved wife and mommy. Maybe somewhere along the way my little world will help or touch someone else. I have found many other blogs helpful and comforting in different ways. So I started thinking, "We all have things to contribute, these people have just taken an extra step to share. Pretty sure I can do that too!"

At least I'm going to try. Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving Tree

 Everyone has holiday traditions. I am trying to establish some worth while traditions while my kids are young. I know a few of my family's traditions have been some of my best childhood memories. The Thanksgiving Tree is something that we didn't do every year when I was younger, but I remember very well the years we did. When we were teens, I'm fairly sure 'zit cream' made it onto the thankful tree. :) So I started it this year with my kids and hope to make it an annual tradition. I started by thinking I didn't want to cut 60 leaves out of paper, so I asked my sister if she had a leaf on any of her Cricut cartridges and I lucked out! I used her Cricut and construction paper for the leaves and the letters.


The tree trunk I drew on a piece of newsprint paper that I happen to have a large roll of. I cut the tree out and glued it to two poster boards that are taped together. And there you have it, a tree!

 

 We did two leaves each the first night, then one each every day until Thanksgiving.

This was after the second night. The first night I wasn't done putting it together, so they did leaves and I finished it after they went to bed. (Landon looks a little creapy in the picture...)
 

I didn't want any repeats, so it would challenge us to come up with new things every day. But with a 4 and 2 year old, it's hard to tell them they can't be thankful for mommy or daddy cause it's already up there. So we already have a few doubles. But that's ok. They are learning to express what they are thankful for. I was just letting Landon color his, but the other night when daddy gave him his leaf, he clearly said, "Meemo" (kids name for my mom). So daddy helped him write it. It has even been something I can use throughout the day. I remind Caroline to be thinking about what is going to go on her leaf later. She has had a few days she didn't want to wait, she was so excited to write what she was thankful for!

This is what our tree looks like after one week with one week still to go. I was trying so space out the leaves by color, but since I wanted them to be as involved as possible, I let that go and they get to glue them up wherever they want. :)

I encourage everyone to spend some time with your family talking about what you're thankful for and what's really important, before Thanksgiving gets here. Let's take advantage of the season and spend as much time as we can being grateful!