Christmas Will Be Here Sooner Than You Think

Did you know that Christmas is less than five months away?  Whenever I think about that, I get really stressed out.  This is the first time that I am going to have to get the kids things on my own, and I have no idea where the money is going to come from.  My only option is to start buying things now, and hiding them from the kids.

One of the things I know I want to get for Kasi is art supplies.  She can sit for hours with a pencil and paper and create the most beautiful pictures.  She loves drawing out designs for clothes, as well as pictures of animals. Heck, she likes drawing just about anything.  I am curious to see what she would come up with if I got her some paints and canvas' for under the tree.  

I have no idea what to get for Ryan and Boo, though she likes to draw, too.  I have several of her creations hanging on my fridge right now. One of them is a tribute to me, which I absolutely love.  I know some day she will outgrow making me pictures, and that makes me especially sad seeing as how she is my youngest.

Four More Days!

I can not believe there are only four days until Christmas day.  This is the first year, in many, many years that we have not had to borrow money to get the kids their gifts.  Sure, it's not going to be a big Christmas, but each kid is going to get exactly what they asked for, which doesn't happen very often around here.

We have lots to do the next few days, too.  On Christmas Eve, we are going to visit some of my husband's cousins, and then we are going to my sister's house to exchange gifts with my dad.  Christmas Day will be spent with my mom, of course, which I am really looking forward to. 

I am also looking forward to seeing what Junior and the kids have for mt under the tree.  It's been many, many years since Junior and I have spent money on each other, letting the kids pick out gifts for us.  We decided that we will worry about "real life" stuff like car insurance and changing our cable package after the first of the year.  We have until February to pay for our yearly car insurance policy, and I think I have until March to decide about the cable.  It's nice to put those things on the back burner for the next week or so, and not worry about money.  Or even worry about anything.

We are dedicated to enjoying this Christmas, stress free. 

Brandi's Teacher's Christmas Gift

Did you follow that?  Since Brandi is my only kid who still wants to give her teacher a gift, I decided to make it special.  As some of you know, Brandi is in an all girl's class, and the room is done in pink and black prints.  This is what I came up with:

br

I know the picture isn't the best...my camera broke, and my mom left her's here over the weekend, so I tried using hers, and, well, it's not like mine at all.  That said, I think Brandi's teacher will like this.

2010 Ornament For Ryan

Christmas wouldn't be complete without the kids yearly ornaments.  This year, Ryan ended up with a cute little tree, complete with snowflakes and berries.  Is it my most creative ornament ever?  Not even close.  But I have been so busy, he's actually lucky he got an ornament at all this year.

Just A Little Christmas Sign

Cute, right?

Making Sugar Cookies

This year, I put the girls in charge of making their own cookies. I bought some bagged sugar cookie mix, handed it to them with a big bowl and a wooden spoon, and let them go at it.

They added the butter and egg, and started trying to mix with the spoon. After about thirty second, I saw little hands mixing the dough, and it came out perfect.

It was then time to get it on the cookie sheet, and start the decorating. They had a ball! They made some that had the sprinkles on the inside, and they called those their "surprise" cookies. They were delicious!

I am glad I let them do it all on their own, too. Next year they are going to want to try and do more, and I am going to let them. It will be interesting to see what they will want to make!

No Christmas Cards From Me This Year

The day after Christmas, I took down the tree and packed up all my Christmas decorations. I will admit that I was glad to have the space back in my living room. I have this one snowman thing that holds all the Christmas cards we get every year. I stick both the card and the envelope in it, so that I don't lose any one's address. I was going through the envelopes as I was packing the snowman and noticed that a bunch of them had really cute custom clear address labels on them. I say every year that I am going to get some, but for some reason I never do. There are so many different designs and stuff to choose from, so I know I can find one that I really like. I really like the ones where you can put little characters for each member of the family. I wonder if they have fat stick people?

The sad thing is that I never sent out Christmas cards this year. Lack of money played a big role, plus it took me a while to get in the Holiday spirit, and by the time I was, it was too late to send them out. I guess everyone will just have to wait until next year to see how much the kids have grown.

Candy Cane Cupcakes

Can you tell I was in charge of dessert on Christmas? lol! Here are the cupcakes that I made. I was piping the frosting on them about 12:30am Christmas morning, while waiting for Santa to come. I put little mini candy canes in the tops, and they came out so cute. I would say they tasted good, but I didn't eat any. I was actually pretty impressed with how little I ate during the past month. I usually taste everything, but this year I resisted, and was rewarded with a loss instead of a gain this month. I was shocked, but happy.

I have more baking pictures to share soon, so keep an eye out!

Brownie Houses And Brownie Men

I finally found a use for my new gingerbread pan...I made brownies in it!

They came out great, and as I was about to mix up the frosting to ice them, inspiration struck. Since we are all peanut butter freaks, I decided to try and decorate them with that. I just put some peanut butter in the microwave and melted it a little, then added some powdered sugar and microwaved it a little more. I put it in a piping bag and went to town! Trust me when I say they tasted even better than they look.

More Cookies

I made a batch of my flourless peanut butter cookies with chocolate, and added some holiday sprinkles to make them a little more festive. I really like making these cookies, but my mixer doesn't. For some reason, every time I make these, the beaters pop out of the mixer as i mix the ingredients. I usually end up mixing it by hand, which is kind of sticky and frustrating. But, they are worth it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chips cookies. I love them warm, right out of the oven when they are all gooey and delicious. These are not necessarily a "Christmas cookie", but I only make them this time of year. The ones I made today came out extra good, and I have already eaten too many. Thankfully I had to fill a few tins to give out as gifts, so I couldn't eat them all.

And trust me, if they stay in my house, I will eat them all.

Failure

Junior bought me the cutest cookie pan. It has gingerbread houses and gingerbread men shapes where you can put cookie dough. I am thinking I should have used gingerbread cookie mix instead of sugar cookie mix, because the sugar cookies just didn't come out right. I think they were too thick, so they didn't cook all the way through.

Since I am not a fan of gingerbread, I did what I did at Halloween and made some with brownie mix. Those came out great, and as soon as I decorate them, I will post some pictures.

Garbage

I am throwing away the ornament I made. I wish there was a way to save them, but I am coming up blank. I wish there was a way to remove the paint from inside the balls, but I have no idea how to do that. Any suggestions?

Now I have to come up with something else to give my 12 nieces and nephews. Well, I will only be seeing six of them on Christmas, so the rest can wait until after the Holidays. But, I still don't have any ideas. I need to try and find some type of craft for the kids to do at Brandi's party on Sunday, so I will be in Michael's and Hobby Lobby this weekend...maybe inspiration will strike there.

Again.

Frustrated

Remember the post I did last week about these ornaments I made for my nieces and nephews?

Well, I am a little ticked off right now, because all the paint it coming off. They look horrible.
There are streaks of no paint, and where there is paint, it looks like it pooled.
I am not a happy camper. I have not figured out how, or if, I can save them somehow.

Any ideas?

From One Tree To Another

It's taking forever, but the kids are still doing it. We'll see how long this lasts...

An Unexpected Gift

It took me days to get all the ornaments onto my Christmas tree this year. I just couldn't get into the holiday spirit. But, we got it done, and all was good.

Today I got a phone call from a friend of Junior's. He asked if we wanted his old Christmas tree, because they were getting a new one. Now, their old tree is about three years old, and they are getting rid of it because it is a pre-lit one and the lights won't light. (this is something Junior could easily fix, but i like my twinkle lights anyway, so no big deal) I was prepared to put the new tree away, and use it next year.

Oh, if only I got my way. Right now the kids are taking the ornaments from one tree and putting them on the other. I am staying out of the way. But, I am sure that before long, they will get bored, and i will be left doing all the work.

At least that is what usually happens.

Painted Ornaments

These are the gifts for my nieces and nephews. I took regular glass craft ornaments, and painted the insides. Then I wrote each kids name and the year on them, and there you have it. Simple, inexpensive Christmas gifts.

Now I just have to figure out how to wrap them...

Getting There

Here's a look at some of the decorations Brandi put up over the weekend. I helped with hanging the garland, but she put all the figures and stuff out. She had a ball! I remember doing the same thing with my mom when I was little, and I hope someday she can do the same with her daughter. Now to tackle the tree....

Tired Of My Ornaments Yet?

This one is just a simple blue and silver snowflake. I wish I had bought more of these, because I love the way it came out.

Maybe I'll make another trip to Micheal's this weekend. Wait, maybe not.

I hate shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving. The stores are way too crowded for me.

What I Want For Christmas

Have you guys started panicking about Christmas shopping yet? I know I have. The thought of spending money I don't have is enough to raise my blood pressure. Luckily, I don't have too many adults to buy christmas gifts for. We started a few years ago only buying for the kids in the family, and that has been a blessing. I do still buy for my mom and dad, and my dad's wife, but that's it.

Junior and I don't usually buy gifts for each other until we get our taxes back in February, but I found this really cute (pink) video camera online and I love it. It's a Winait DV-Q1 1080P Digital Camcorder 5.0MP CMOS 12.0MP Enhanced 3.0 inch TFT LCD 4X Digital Zoom(DCE014). I have no idea what any of that means, but the list of features is pretty impressive, and it only costs $161.99. The only thing that would make it more perfect was if it was purple. Now I have to work my magic and convince Junior that I need this for Christmas, so I can capture all the memories of our kids while they are still relatively young.

As far as christmas gifts for the kids, I am going to do a little shopping myself at lightinthebox.com. They have a good variety of gifts for boys and girls, so I am sure I can find everything I need for all my nieces and nephews. Paying wholesale prices is a great way to save money, and you all know how much I love saving money.

You can save money, too. Just go check lightinthebox.com, and see what you can find.