Christmas Stockings

I love my kids and my grandkids and there are NO GIFTS that I can buy to express to them how much I LOVE them! Homemade gifts do allow me to express a bit of Mom/Gammie love. So last Christmas I decided to make matching stockings for the whole family and this year I made two more for the newest grandbabies. This was a fun project and can bring Christmas cheer to all of them each year.   …

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The Blessing of Cousins

Last week, my sister and I did something very brave. We went on a road trip with 5 kids 2 and under. Her twin 2 year olds and 9 month old, and my two year old and 9 month old. Thank goodness she has a Honda Pilot! We have two mommies in the front, 3 kiddos in the middle, and her twins in the back.   …

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Christmas Cookie Exchange

Growing up, my mom attended an annual Christmas Cookie Exchange with her friends. Now that I am all grown up too, I thought it would be a fun tradition to start with my friends in my new home. Last year I hosted my first Christmas Cookie Exchange. It was so much fun to have a mom’s night in with my friends and celebrate the Christmas season.

Here is how I hosted my party:   …

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Peace on Earth

Adornaments

Christmas is here. The season is in full swing. Between all the decorating, baking, shopping, giving, partying, serving, wrapping, and Christmasing, it seems there is hardly a moment to breathe. The one word I would choose to describe my life right now… Busy. But I don’t want to be consumed with busyness. I love the Christmas season. I love getting together with people, the holiday cheer, the excitement sharing food, spending quality time, and spreading love. But how does Jesus fit into this busy feeling? Where is he in the chaos? How do we remember the baby in the manger amidst all the stuff? We put him FIRST. We orchestrate our life so Jesus isn’t just something we do, it’s the center of who we are.   …

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Christmas Cut Out Sugar Cookies

What could possibly be more FUN than decorating a batch of Christmas sugar cookies with 3 two years olds?image
One mandatory activity on the agenda this week while 5 of the 6 grand kids are visiting was to bake and decorate the famous Christmas Cut Out Sugar Cookies that I have been making with my girls for the past 25 plus years. So here is the secret recipe!
 

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Snowman Refrigerator Craft

Living in a foreign country for part of the Christmas season does not make decorating the easiest. This is when creativity (and Pinterest :D) comes in handy! I found a couple ways to make our tiny apartment Christmas-y without spending much money at all! For this craft, you will most likely have everything you need somewhere in your home! My favorite of my creative Christmas decorations has become our Snowman Refrigerator! Here’s how to do it!   …

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Keeping the Magic in Christmas

A few of the secrets to keeping the “magic” in Christmas…

I love Christmas, but as the MOM of a big family, most of the Christmas details are my responsibility. Our family traditions include gift making, cookie baking, cookie delivering, shopping, gift wrapping, decorating and more. When the girls were young, I wanted to share my passion for the holidays with them, so I made a decision to place sharing the Christmas “magic” togetherness time a top priority. That meant that some of the final products were not the “perfect” craft projects we now see on Pinterest but we had fun together and that created our “magic” each year.   …

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Polka-Dot Party

For Elliana’s 2nd Birthday we had a polka-dot themed party. A theme party is a great way to stay organized and have a lot of fun.

The idea started small from a pair of polka-dot pants and then soon became a spectacular polka-dot extravaganza!

We found the pants at Carter’s first, then picked out some fabric at Joann’s for personalized birthday shirts.   …

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The Best Gift

For me, Christmas time is all about giving! I love making and giving homemade baked goodies, jams and creative crafts. I love sending cards and receiving cards and catching up on the year in review from friends all over the world. I love Christmas parties, cookie exchanges, tacky sweater parties, gingerbread house decorating parties. I love everything about Christmas because Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus and Jesus is the GREATEST GIFT! A tiny baby born in a manger changed the world forever.   …

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