And She Wasn't Even Close to Being Six Years Old

Molly turned five this fall.  Even before her birthday, we were already agreeing on what we would buy her for her sixth birthday -- the American Girl doll Felicity (whom she always is mistakenly calling Fill-a-CITY).  Molly has often been found telling complete strangers that she will be getting Felicity for her sixth birthday.

While this is not a technically correct photograph at all, since Molly was sitting so close to me, I was glad to get her expression captured when she opened this surprise gift on Christmas Eve.  (Check out those big eyes!)

I hope that your Christmas was filled with fun surprises and lots of joy as well.

7 Quick Takes: December 18, 2009 (Volume 25)

~ 1 ~

Today I was so excited to finish up school with the kids before starting our Christmas Break.  The kids were excited too, but I think I might have been even more excited.

The house was kind of messy, and so when we finished school I told them we all had to clean up and as soon as the house looked good, Christmas Break would officially start.  I kid you not -- I have never seen them clean that fast in my life.

~ 2 ~

Speaking of Christmas Break, I'm taking a little blog break until after Christmas.  So, while I may be working some online off and on, I won't be writing for a little over a week.  I thought it would be wonderful to take a nice break.

If you're a blogger, do you plan on taking time off for Christmas? 

~ 3 ~

It would seem that this is going to be 7 Quick Takes -- The Christmas Edition.  So, let me just continue with that.

I downloaded the Relient K Christmas album - Let It Snow Baby...Let It Reindeer.  What a fabulous collection of songs!  If you like to rock out while listening to Christmas music, you just might love this album too.  The other day, I also downloaded Third Day's Christmas album, but I can't quit listening to Relient K long enough to actually listen to it more fully.

~ 4 ~

I actually heard Third Day's album when I was over at my friend Amanda's house this week.  We had a fabulous "school Christmas party" one day with her family and our family.  We did Christmas crafts, watched some Christmas movies, ate pizza (and carrots and apples), and just had a wonderful time.

I don't know how we would survive homeschooling if we didn't have such amazing friends that also homeschool.  (In fact, the day before that, in the afternoon, the kiddos and I went and played at another homeschooling family's house and had a fabulous time.)  We are so blessed to have a wonderful Catholic homeschool group in our area!

~ 5 ~

My Christmas cards have not yet been mailed.  I only just picked them up on Monday, and was very disappointed with how one thing on them came out.  Oh well -- what can I do now?

I do have my postage now though, so I have to get busy with working on a Christmas letter this weekend so I can hopefully get these darn cards to people before Christmas.

~ 6 ~

This week, we delivered lots of home baked goodies as Christmas gifts for religious ed teachers, church staff, several people at Eric's work, and so on.  I just love giving out tasty treats as gifts.  My kids, on the other hand, kept asking why we weren't keeping one of the goodie tins for home.  I stopped myself from saying, "Hey kids -- there's a reason that Daddy and I just bought an elliptical trainer."

~ 7 ~

And the angel said to them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you; You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

~ Luke 2 : 10 - 14

This post is linked to 7 Quick Takes Friday and Weekly Wrap-Up.

photos by: gold Christmas ball by krisdecurtis  /  Christmas baubles by Chris_J  /  Nativity by Loci Lenar

Fun Christmas Craft: Paint Stirring Stick Christmas Trees

At the beginning of December, we went to Home Depot for one of their kid workshops.  We were very bummed that instead of getting to make a small wagon (like for stuffed animals), they said they had run out of kits more than an hour before the workshop was ending. 

I thought about just leaving, but they gave an alternate craft to make.  I saw what their idea was -- a Christmas tree out of five paint stirring sticks.  I'll be honest here, that made me come pretty close to turning around and walking out.  But, we were there and I figured, "Well, why not?"

We used three small nails (should have used four though), a hammer, and five paint stirring sticks.  It's probably hard to see, but there are actually two sticks running horizontally on the bottom, with all of the other sticks sandwiched in between them at the bottom.  This craft was super easy to make and very quick.  The cool thing was that we also got to decorate them at home (as a school art project).  Quite frankly, the craft would have been incomplete without what we did next.

We got out our already assembled paint stick Christmas trees, craft paints, sponge brushes, cotton swabs, and Sharpie markers (which we didn't end up using, except for to write the kids names and the date on the back of the trees).

Each of the kids picked their own shade of green and painted the tree with the sponge brushes.  They also used brown paint to paint the small bit of tree stump at the bottom.  (I assisted with painting the edges for those that needed help.)

 

 

I let each of the kids pick five to seven different colors of paint and put them on their own personal paint trays (or leftover baby shower plates, if you want to be technical about it).  They then painted with cotton swabs.  It was fun to see that although I had a preconceived notion of how these would look, the kids each came up with their own designs.

I just loved the way that these came out!  The kids had a fabulous time working on these, and I got a lesson in not being so quick to dismiss an alternative idea.  Who knew they would turn out so cute?  In the end, I was glad they ran out of wagons -- these will be Christmas decorations we will cherish for a long time to come.

This post is linked to Frugal Friday.

Homebaked Christmas Goodies (2009 Edition)

I have spent the last few days busily working away in the kitchen.  While it has been a lot of work (especially all of the clean up), I have enjoyed it because I was working on my annual goodies for CCD teachers, church staff, some of the people at Eric's work (his boss, the employees that report to Eric, and one communal one for the other managers), and whomever else is in our life in any given year who seems to fit into the group of people that we give this type of gift to.  For instance, this year also included our tap/ballet teacher.

We had such a good time delivering all of the goodies today!  I love knowing that I am giving items that I took the time to make myself, and I like knowing that I was often thinking of those who would be receiving them while I was working on all the baking.  (I have to admit, during the longest stretch of working, it was also made a little easier with my iPod and the Relient K Christmas album.)

This year, I packaged everything in 8x8 foil baking tins that came with covers.  The contents this year included:

- Spritz cookies that were in the shapes of flowers/stars (take your pick) and Christmas trees (I used a cookie press on these)

- Cherry chip cake balls

- Chocolate truffles (I rolled each of these in either nonpareils, rainbow sprinkles, coarse blue sugar, or red sanding sugar)

- Peppermint Bark

- Fudge with walnuts

- Pine Bark (aka Cracker Candy)

- A baggie full of Holiday Snack Mix

I just love picking out the variety of things that I will pack up in the goodie baskets each year, and I really love the joy of delivering them!  To me, giving home baked goodies are not only a finer thing, but they're a frugal option when you need to give out many gifts.