25 Days of Christmas Activities!!!

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Every year I try to think of 25 fun activities for the boys to do before Christmas, and this year I went on the hunt for some new ideas. On Pinterest you can find a ton of cute ways for the kids to discover what the fun activity will be for the day, but we use our tried-and-true Christmas tree advent calendar that I got at Starbucks years and years ago.

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Here is our list for this year:


Decorate for Christmas and put up the lights!!!

Eat a red and green dinner

Read a Christmas book by flashlight

Make a treat to take to the neighbors

Read the story of Jesus’ birth

Have dinner in front of the Christmas tree and watch a movie

Have hot chocolate

Go see the Christmas lights

Have Christmas breakfast for dinner!

Make a Christmas craft

Make Christmas cookies

Camp out under the tree!!

Buy Christmas gifts for each other!  $10 limit

Movie night

Open presents with family!

Newport Beach Boat Parade!!

Go get frozen yogurt!

Visit with Santa on the Santa float and get a candy cane!!!

Make a gingerbread house

Go to Grandma & Grandpa's house

Christmas Day - Celebrate Jesus!

Stay up late 

Go to the mall and ride the Christmas train

Go out to eat

Have a Christmas play-date with friends

In each little box I place one of the items on a slip of paper, along with 2 Hershey's kisses (one for each boy) and a Scripture reading to read before bed (still working on those though).

What ideas would you put on your list?

The Magic of Christmas

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This whole month we have been talking to our children about the real meaning of Christmas, how it is better to give than to receive, how we are to be thankful for everything we have, how we need to keep our focus on Jesus...and it went well. Except my kids really want to believe in Santa Claus.  They are both at an age where they ask a lot of questions and come to us for the answers.  We still feel new to the whole Kid-Santa "thing", never knowing quite how to respond.

We have told them that Santa Claus was a real person a long time ago (Saint Nicholas), but he's in heaven now and so we just pretend that Santa comes into our homes and brings us gifts.  We have told them that Santa is a man in a costume. We have told them that mommy and daddy put presents out in the night.  But these kids, they want to believe in Santa Claus.

So, when Micah asked for a really expensive Star Wars toy for Christmas and I said we couldn't get it this year, he replied, "Santa can get it, mom. He can get anything."  Hmmmmm.... not sure what to do with that.  When I told Micah he was only getting 3 presents, because that's how many Jesus got, he replied, "No, mom. Santa gets me 3, and you get me 3."  No pressure.

As the day came closer, their belief in Santa seemed to grow, too.   They talked about him every day.  Jaden wanted to walk by him at the mall, but wouldn't let me get close to him.  Jaden started to ask me questions, too, and I found myself waffling - backtracking, if you will.  "Mommy, how will Santa get into our house since we don't have a chimney?"  I heard myself say, "Well, he's magic, so he just comes in through the back door and doesn't even have to open it."  Um, what did I just say?!

Their excitement was building as Christmas Eve approached.  We tried to avoid the topic of Santa, but the boys kept wanting to talk about him!  On Christmas Eve, we put the boys to bed around 8pm.  Jaden got out of bed every 5 minutes- I kept seeing his shadow on the wall - and he whispered, "I'm waiting for Santa!"  At 10:30pm, as I was watching television, I jumped out of my skin as I saw something moving under the piano bench. It was Jaden, trying to fall asleep under the piano so he could catch a glimpse of the man in the red suit.

At that moment, I totally caved.  I went and got the milk and cookies and put them on the piano bench. Then I went and typed up a letter to each boy, on the computer using homemade "Santa Letterhead", about how they had both been good boys but needed to remember that Jesus was the reason for the season.  Martin took bites out of the cookies and we went to bed.

In the morning, Jaden could not contain his excitement. At 7am we heard him running through the house yelling, "Santa came! Santa came!"  We opened presents and then I read the letters.  Jaden asked, "How did he know those things?!"  He held up a half-bitten cookie and asked if he could eat it.  Micah said, "Eww! Those have Santa's germs on them!"

Even though the kids recognized the wrapping paper, and all the gifts said "From, Dad and Mom", they still want to believe.  And I have to admit, it is a lot of fun.  As long as they know the true reason for Christmas, which they do, we decided to embrace their joy and passion for Santa this year.  It may have been last minute, but we came around :)

Last Minute Christmas Recipes

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This year we had 9 Christmas get-togethers to attend, and in the end I will have made a total of 12 dishes - Yikes!  I've been searching for new and different (but easy) recipes to make this year and thought I'd pass on a few.  Hope this helps if you're looking for some last minute recipe ideas!

Appetizer -

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Red/Green Tortilla Chips with Cranberry Lime Salsa

This recipe was easy and fast to make, and met with rave reviews.  

Spinach Artichoke Dip 

One of my favorites; serve it up warm in a bread bowl - so yummy!

Main Dish-

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I bought a smoked ham from Costco this year and it was really good. Definitely a good substitute for HoneyBaked Ham since that will run you about $80+, and Costco's was about $22.

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I also purchased chicken tamales from Costco and they were really good.  Another good main dish if you don't want to slave over the stove for hours.  They are not homemade but do taste like it!

Side Dish-

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Corn Casserole 

Easy and people love it!

Dessert-

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Andes Mint Brownies 

WOW. I have made these twice and had a lot of people ask for the recipe.  If you are in a rush and want to simplify this recipe, instead of making the first layer (brownies) from scratch, you could buy a mix of dark chocolate brownies and that would work too. Then make the second and third layers from the recipe.

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Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

This recipe has been on my blog before, but this one is always a winner!  A great substitute for pumpkin pie.

If you need more recipes, you can visit my past blog post on Christmas recipes here, or follow my recipe board on Pinterest. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Cooking!!

The Jesse Tree

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Each year I'm looking for creative ways to share the Christmas story with the boys, and I'm so excited about what I found this year. I will be up ALL night tonight preparing for it, but it will be worth it! This is one of those things that will be able to be used for years to come, and maybe even passed down from generation to generation.

I got this idea from Ashley at The Creative Place. I googled "Mini Advent Book" and came across her blog, which is amazing!   She created this cute Mini Advent Book for her kids, and last night I got started on it myself.

http://www.thecreativeplace.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, my envelopes are not turning out as cute as hers! :)

In the process of creating the envelopes for that project, I emailed her last night and she said she is updating the advent book to include the verses from The Jesse Tree. I first heard about The Jesse Tree last year from Ann Voskamp's blog A Holy Experience.  However, when I tried to print out the downloadable book, I didn't have enough toner for the 68 pages, and the content seemed way over my 3 and 5 year old's heads, so we didn't end up using it.

Ashley and I were writing about this dilemma and she referred me over to this blog, where the author had simplified the Jesse Tree for younger children.  Ashley had a great idea to incorporate the two ideas (the mini advent book & the Jesse Tree), and a new idea was born!

Now I'm working all night to finish the envelopes and stuff them with the Scriptures used from The Jesse Tree blog.  Each reading also has a corresponding ornament, so guess where I'm headed tonight? I'm going to be the crazy lady at Joann's at 9:30pm!

In addition to reading the boys a Scripture passage each night and putting a special ornament on the tree, we're also going to continue a tradition we started last year.  I have an old Starbucks advent-calendar "tree" that has 25 boxes. When all of the boxes are turned over, it makes a cute picture.

In each of the boxes I put a fun activity that we will do each day during the month of December.  My problem is going to be coming up with 25 different activities!! (Enter PINTEREST).

I think those two projects are going to keep me busy for awhile.  Thanks to Ashley at The Creative Place and Catherine at Our Jesse Tree for the great ideas!

5 Tips for Fabulous Christmas Pictures

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This summer I closed my photography business, and I have to say that I'm so excited to not have a rush of photo shoots coming up.  Although I enjoyed doing them, it was a lot to handle and so the slower pace this holiday season will be nice.

In fact, I'm so out of the photography mindset that I don't even want my own family to take Christmas pictures this year.  Pictures just keep piling up and piling up around here - so much so that I have 3 external hard drives FULL of pictures!  As we get closer to Thanksgiving, though, we'll see if I change my mind - I can't picture going a year without a family photo shoot :)

Speaking of family photo shoots, this is the time when many people start taking their pictures for Christmas cards.  Here are 5 quick tips for getting fabulous Christmas pictures, no matter who your photographer might be:

1) Get your outfits ready in advance (as in, not the night before or the morning of, but about a week or so in advance).  Choosing 4 colors is nice; it provides for some variety.  For instance:

Creative Clicks Photography

A good place to get some ideas is on Pinterest. Type in "family photo wardrobe" ideas and many selections will come up.

2)  Plan for morning or late afternoon. The lighting will be best at this time, and you'll avoid those harsh afternoon shadows.  Don't plan it too close to dinner when your kids might be tired and hungry.  However, between 4-6pm is usually a great time for family photos.

3) Keep it quick.  30 minutes or less is best.  After that, kids get squirmy, smiles start looking stiff, and everyone gets tired.  You should have a good selection of photos within 30 minutes; and really, who needs 100 photos anyway?

4) Take the most important pictures first.  If your #1 priority is a picture of just the kids, get those shots first.  Smiles will be freshest and the energy will be the highest.  If a family photo is your #1 priority, get that shot first and then do the kids afterwards.

5) Bring snacks, candy, stuffed animals, or anything that will make your child smile or laugh.  Yes, this is code for "BRIBE THEM."  It sounds terrible, but it works. I did a photo shoot with one family whose 2 year old daughter screamed almost the entire time - except for when they whipped out some marshmallows. Then she smiled big and proud for us!

These may seem basic to you, but you'd be surprised how many people aren't sure what to do, or come unprepared.  I hope these tips help you as you plan for your photo shoots this Fall!

Christmas Adventures

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I love the rain, especially when it rains during Christmas time.  Since we don't really have "seasons" here in Southern California, the rain is as close as we get to feeling like it's winter.  When "Stormwatch 2010" showed up on the news, I got a little excited.  It's never as bad as they predict, though, at least where we live.  Oh well....

Last Monday we were set to have my family over for Christmas dinner, and the power went out that day.  Normally that would make me happy (seriously, I think it's fun!) but I had the crock pot on and numerous items cooking.  Thankfully it only lasted about 20 minutes and everything got cooked.

Two days before Christmas, Jaden bit a huge hole in his last pacifier.  I have written for at least a year about our numerous efforts to get him off of the "binky", as we call it, but nothing (and I mean nothing) had worked.  When you have a child as LOUD as Jaden, the binky is a welcome respite to the noise and crying as it soothes him immediately.  I admit I was in no big hurry to get rid of it, as it has saved me many a headache.  But alas, he started to bite them and we only had ONE left.  He knew it was the end, and I think he had been prepared already for about a week since there had already been a small hole in it.

NICE, huh?!  He has now officially been binky-free for 5 nights!  He hasn't even asked for it once. However, the binky was the one thing that made him take his naps, and since it has been gone he has not taken one nap.  Oh well, you win some - you lose some.  At 3 1/2 years old, he finally did it!

On Christmas Eve we merged services with another church and had a candle-lit service.  It was the first night in over 5 years that we got to sit as a whole family together, since Martin only had to lead 1 song and not the whole service.

At midnight that night, Martin opened our bedroom window for some air, and when he went to close it, the wood separated from the window and it shattered.  There we were, at 12:01am on Christmas morning, duct-taping cardboard to our window.  Another fun adventure!  It is getting repaired this week, but the room has been a little cooler at night, especially because of the rain.

Christmas morning was full of laughter and wonder as the boys woke up at 7am, rushed out to the living room and opened presents.  Jaden got a new bike and took off on it like he had always been riding! (Unfortunately my camera malfunctioned and I lost the cutest photos and videos of the first time he rode - boo!!) :(

And no Christmas would be complete without our yearly bout with the stomach flu.  Jaden threw up in his Sunday School class, then a few hours later Micah got it, and then a few hours later I got it.  We've been in bed for about 2 days now, but thankfully I think it is passing now.

All of our Christmas decorations are put away now, and we are looking forward to the New Year.
I hope you had a beautiful Christmas!

Christmas on a Dime

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I'm so thankful for God's provision.  Our Christmas budget has always been very small, and we choose not to charge gifts on credit cards.  So I was a little worried this year when I saw that we weren't going to have anything in our cash envelope to spend on gifts, at all. Which would have been okay, really, since we have participated in Advent Conspiracy for a few years and appreciate less "things" in order to focus on what's most important.

However, this week alone I booked 5 photo sessions this month, completely out of the blue, which will give us a little pocket change to spend.  I still don't want to get carried away.  Yet my love language is gift giving, and I enjoy giving gifts to people immensely.

I read this great article about budgeting for Christmas and making sure that we don't overspend.  After reading it, I sat down to make my list of who we "needed" to give presents to, along with who we wanted to give presents to.  There are 21 people on that list total.  My budget for everyone and everything = $250.  To some people that might seem like a lot, while to others that will seem like very little.  But it equals out to approximately $10 a person, which includes our children.  That gets to be a bit....stressful.  Time to be creative.  (I struggle even writing what our budget is, because I know some people have nothing to spend, but wanted to give some perspective on what we're working with).

As I have done in year's past, I will make gifts for at least 10 of these people, and try to get the supplies to cost about $30 total.  This site has some GREAT homemade Christmas gifts (including the Scrabble Tile necklaces I made last year for everyone on my list).  I have found that people love homemade things and it means more than something store bought.  I can't divulge to you (yet) what I'm making because it's a secret :)

Another cheap gift idea is to give pictures.  I struggle with this one, because I'm surrounded by pictures and give them all the time, but I do think it's good to give updated pictures each year.  Whether they're taken with your own camera or you get them done (and try not to go overboard there, either), frames are pretty cheap and you can even buy them at thrift stores and repaint them yourself.  Nobody cares if they are professional or not - the important thing is that they are fun and creative.  Costco has the best prices on photo processing and gifts that I have found.  Even if you're not a member, you can use your family member's membership to order your prints online and have them shipped to your home, and many items ship for free!

Another idea is to have a Christmas lunch or dinner for your family or friends, and tell them that is your gift to them.  My friend Shannin did this, and shared how special it was that all of her friends and their kids came over.  The kids had a craft table and all took something home.  How creative is that?!

We are also focusing this year on giving with our children.  We received a catalog from Heifer International in the mail and went through it with Micah.  He decided that he wanted to give a flock of chicks to a family in need, and they're only $20.  We brainstormed with him how to raise the money, and decided to have a yard sale.  He will sell some of his toys, and we will use some of the proceeds to go towards this gift and towards our Christmas budget.

I think it's getting more important each year that we scale back the materialism and give more to people in need.  Let's show people we love them through our words and our actions, not "throw a bunch of plastic to our kids" and think it means something (I heard that phrase in a sermon recently) ;)  We don't need more stuff.  In our house, that means we scale down the toys and do 3 gifts per child.  Some of my friends only do 1 gift, if that.  If we change our unhealthy exceptions of what Christmas should be and honor God with our money, He will give us the best Christmas we could ever imagine.

How will your family honor God and scale back on materialism this Christmas?