Are You Smiling Yet? If not- You will be!

No one's looking, it's safe. Go ahead- Smile & have yourself a little giggle as you read about my life and the thoughts that come spilling out of my head. (Watch out for flooding though- my head's not as near as empty as my husband claims it to be!) If my ramblings don't make your day a little brighter nothing will! I promise I won't be offended if you laugh at my expense- I consider it an honor to spread happiness. Besides- if I can laugh at myself you certainly can too!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Count Down To Christmas Begins!

Our 2010 Advent Calendar:

100_0587

I had another boring simpler advent calendar started, but then yesterday Amy from Living Locurto posted a wonderful free download for this great Christmas Advent Calendar. So I scrapped my plans and pulled together things I had on hand to make this awesome one instead. Mine isn’t nearly as pretty as hers, but it’s a heck of a lot better than what I was going to make!

No pictures of progress because it was literally a last minute creation. (Which means I was finishing it when the kiddos got home from school.) I took foam board from the Dollar Tree and covered it in wrapping paper. Then I typed my activities on all the days, printed them on cardstock, cut & glued them on. Once I started that I realized I made my base board too small- but I shrugged off my perfectionist itch and carried on. I used Christmas stickers I had to hold the little folded activity cards closed. And then after I cut all the numbers out (while vowing to invest in a 2” circle punch soon) I used these “pop-out dots” things (like these) I had to put them on the front. I of course had to use the Star Wars Banner option at the top- I knew that would make me the really awesome mom.  ;o)

Since I only have one calendar & 3 boys, I had to write alternating names on the days so there would be no fighting on who’s turn it is to open each day. And I have a basket (which I forgot to take a picture of & am too tired to right now.) of small wrapped gifts for them to each open one daily. Some days it might be one small piece of candy (being the frugal mom that I am it’s confiscated leftover Halloween candy) or it could be something related to that day’s activity. They gifts are numbered & wrapped differently for each child, so there’s no doubt who gets what.  :o)

Here’s our Christmas Advent Calendar Activity List for this year:

  1. Make a CD of favorite Christmas songs!
  2. Make paper snowflakes and hang them from the ceiling!
  3. Family board game night!
  4. Put your shoes outside your bedroom door for St. Nicholas day!
  5. Color Holiday pictures & mail them to grandparents!
  6. Write  & mail a letter to Santa Claus!
  7. No chore day!
  8. Build a snowman!
  9. Do a good deed today & share it at dinner!
  10. Do a puzzle together!
  11. Read a holiday book together!
  12. Decorate the Christmas tree!
  13. Make & send a Christmas card to a friend or family member!
  14. Have fun doing winter word searches & mazes!
  15. Add this year’s handprint to the Christmas tree skirt!
  16. Go Christmas shopping for your family!
  17. Make a list of 10 things you are thankful for and hang it up!
  18. Watch a Christmas movie & eat popcorn!
  19. Make Christmas sugar cookies!
  20. Make an ornament  for the Christmas tree!
  21. Donate clothes & toys to needy families!
  22. Make gingerbread houses!
  23. Drive around looking at Christmas lights & displays!
  24. Watch Polar Express & drink hot cocoa!

I’ll try to take a picture each day & link it from this list to share & show how they all turned out. But that will be another day- for now I’m going to go bond with the hubby. Night all!

Giving Someone a Little Happiness from a Sad Event

Due to a recent death in the family, my husband’s SIL, I became the recipient of a beautiful plant (some kind of Lily I think). After shuffling it around the house for a few days I realized that we had no room for it- it was too big & our house is too small. That fact & my worry that I would kill it (I don’t have a good track record with real plants inside- I even managed to kill a fern once!) made me realize I had to give it away. I didn’t want to be callous by giving it away and wasn’t looking forward to explaining to the lucky friend how I came by it. 100_0574

I pondered my dilemma for a while and then thought of a way I would be comfortable with passing it on- by giving it to someone at a nursing home! I loved the idea of taking something that was a sad reminder and turning it into a joyful thing. I delivered it to our local nursing home & asked the nurse at the front desk to give it to someone that needs it, someone that doesn’t get much visitors or anything. She was very happy to do so. I left with a happy conscious & joyful heart knowing that I made someone’s day while at the same time kind of honoring a good person’s memory.

LinkWithin

LinkWithin