Where Is Christmas? Not At Walmart!

This is the most ridicules story I have heard. A wal-mart employee dies because of disrespectful, uncaring, selfish, and barbaric shoppers. This is not Christmas. Christmas is about love, caring of others, help in need, giving of oneself and being thoughtful. These shoppers didn't have any of this. They were just thinking of themselves. I was sad as I read the story about the employee, but disgusted and angry about the shoppers. How can buying a present be more important than someones life. It's just material, it's not a life. Then, some shoppers were mad because the security wanted to close the doors because now it's a crime scene. Some shoppers complain because they were in line all night. What? Not even caring that someone had died, doing his job, more concern because they waited in the cold night for a stupid bargin. I'm outrage. There are no morals here. These people need to learn about Christmas, because obviously they don't know what it is.

Jesus wouldn't want us to go chaotic for a gift, he'd want us to be with our love ones, which is the best gift anyone could get. Of course some people now a days believes the more gifts, the more expensive the better. That's were Christmas isn't in there hearts, it's just about material.

Giving a gift, is special, and yes that is the point of Christmas, is to give, but giving with love and care behind it, not a person's death, not fighting crowds and being rude to one another.

Make Your Own Gift Tags

Here is another idea on how to make your own gift tags with things around your house.

Materials:

Piece of Paper
Scissors or Cutters
Tape or Glue
Aluminum Foil
Hole Punch
Stickers
Colored Pen

1. Take a piece of paper and fold it in half



2. Then fold in half again


3. The fold it half again


4. Now unfold it


5. Cut along the folds with scissors or a cutter



6. Take a piece of aluminum foil, bigger than the tags, and wrap it around the tag as it was a present. Make sure the shiny side is facing out.





7. When you're all done, flip it around.


8. Now decorate anyway you want. Add a hole for the tie or not.

A Small But Merry Christmas

As I'm putting up the tree today, and listening to some Christmas music, it's really hitting me that Christmas is not that far away. I also realize how small it's going to be this year. Small with gifts, but I'm going to make it big with warm memories. I'm going to do all that I can to make it a happy Christmas for my boys. I love them so much, and of course as parents we all want the best for our children. Though, they're young and really don't know what Christmas is. My oldest, Tristan who is 4 is starting to understand, but still don't do the "I Want" speeches. Looks like I'm going to be only afford 1 gift each this year for them. Just writing that, brings tears to my eyes. But, I grew up with small Christmas' and you know, they really warm my heart when I think of them or look at the pictures from my childhood. My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they always made it great, even if it was just the 4 of us. I just hope I can give my boys those kind of memories too.

I was watching the news, and all those people standing in line for Black Friday, and spending lots of money on gifts, that makes you wonder if their child will appreciate it. I admit, at a different time, I was one of those shoppers. I also remember before I had children, I would go to the local bank, and pick 2 angels from the tree, and buy like crazy for those who would have small Christmas'. It felt so good to do something good, even though I would never meet those children, but I would think of them Christmas morning,unwrapping their gifts and hoping they loved what they got. Someday, I hope to do that again, someday.

For now, I'm going to make this Christmas as special as I can for my boys. They're only 4 years old, 22 months old and 9 months old, but there's always pictures for them to look back on.

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

I'm not really creative, as you can see, I need a little work. But here is our Thanksgiving Centerpiece for tomorrow. I should have got more flowers, but there's always next year.

All you need is

Pumpkin
Knife
Spoon
Floral Foam (or Salt Dough & Aluminum Foil)
Fake Flowers


1.
Take your pumpkin and cut off the top.


2.
Remove the top and gut it out.


3.
Place your floral foam inside.
I did not have floral foam so I made some salt dough and wrapped it up in aluminum foil.






Salt Dough Recipe
1 Cup Salt
1 Cup Water
2 Cups Flour

4.
Place your flower arrangement how you'd like it

My Top 10 Favorite Christmas Movies

10. Home Alone 2 - Lost In New York



9. Comfort & Joy



8. The Santa Clause



7. Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer



6. How The Grinch Stole Christmas - Ron Howard



5. Beauty & The Beast Enchanted Christmas



4. Muppet's Christmas Carol



3. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation



2. Home Alone


1. Little House on the Prairie - A Christmas They Never Forgot

Beauty And The Beast

This isn't really Christmas related, but in a way it is. Last week my mom and I went to our local school Christmas craft fair. They have about 50 vendors, it's big. We go every year, and every year the student perform some sort of musical. We never buy the tickets. Why? I don't know. But this year, it was Beauty & The Beast, my favorite Disney movie. So I convinced my mom to buy the tickets, she said it'll be an early Christmas present for both of us. I was ecstatic.

So last night my mom & I went to Disney's Beauty And The Beast. I have to give the actors and crew 5 stars. It was an awesome performance. The leads were all superb . They're singing, oh, was right on. I kept thinking some of these singers need to go for an American Idol tryouts, they were that good.

Over 4 years ago, my mom and I went to Pennsylvania on a bus tour, and one of the things on the itinerary was a dinner & theater, which was Beauty And The Beast. Those actors were older and professional, and I LOVED the performance there. But I have to say, the High School performance was just as good as those who performed at that dinner & theater performance. I'm still in WoW. My mom was hesitant at first, because being on a work night for her, she'd be awfully tired the next morning. But she enjoyed it and was glad she went. She said it was worth it.

Also I encourage any theater teacher out there, who don't know what to perform for their school, do the Beauty And The Beast! It's a great story, that everyone loves!

I really recommend everyone to check out there local school theater. Those kids work hard, and who know, may someday be famous! Plus it's great to get involve with the community!

Found a clip on you tube of the play...hopefully they'll be more.

Christmas Chain Advent

Today My oldest son and I put together a Christmas Chain Advent. Here is what you'll need...



3 pieces of construction paper. (May need more, depends on how many colors you'll be using to make the chain).
Tape or Glue
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
Marker


Step 1
Using 1 piece of construction paper mark 1 inch along the edge.
Turn it to the opposite side and mark 1 inch along the edge again




Step 2
Connect the 1 inch marks from left to right using your ruler



Do the same with the other pieces of construction paper until you have 25 1 inch strips.



Step 3
Now number the 1 inch strips. I use red & green so red was all odd numbers and green was all even numbers. But if using more than two colors pick your own pattern. This is how the chain will be connected.



Step 4
Cut out all the strips



Step 5
Take #1 chain and roll it in a circle



Step 6
Tape or glue the ends of the circle together



Now you have your first chain.



Step 7
Now with #2 slide it in the circle of #1, then tape the ends together to form 2 chains.



Step 8
Keep doing this until you have a chain of 25

Here is our finished chain..




Now on December 1st your child will rip #1 chain off, then on December 2nd your child will rip #2 off, and so on.

I put a little jingle bell on #25 just to give it more excitement for my son. Do whatever your imagination can think of.

Webkinz For Christmas Gifts - For Kids & Adults!

I've started some of my Christmas shopping. So far I got 4 gifts. I decided to buy some Webkinz for my niece & nephew. I also bought Webkinz for my brother & sister in-law. My best friend bought me one for my birthday this year, and yes, there fun to play with, even for adults.

What is a Webkinz?
Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code. With it, you enter Webkinz World where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!

I have a monkey. I bought my brother a crocodile, my sister in-law a koala, my nephew a skunk and my niece a pink pony. They're so cute, plus they're collector items! They have a huge variety of animals!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom just informed me that we set a date for our family baking day. This is where me, my mom, aunt & cousins get together to bake cookies, candies, fudge or whatever we want to cook that day, then exchange with each other after we're all done. I can't wait. I got to find something different. One of the cookies I'm going to back is Chocolate Chip Cookies in the shape of Gingerbread Men. I've just purchased the Gingerbread Cookie Cutter 6pc Set from Amazon.com since I don't have any cookie cutters. So we're going to be doing it on December 20th. I'm going to do a trial run when my cookie cutters come in and I'll post a pic afterwords.

Here is a recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. They come out great when using an airbake cookie sheet pan.

1 Cup Butterflavor Crisco
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Water
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Beat Until Creamy

Add

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 1/4 Cups Flour

Stir by hand. Add 1 6oz (or more for more chocolate chips) Chocolate Chips

Drop by teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10-12 minuets at 375 degrees

A Rich Christmas

Things are going to be tight this year. With me not working and the only income is from Adam, Christmas is going to be small. Small with presents that is, but that don't mean it's going to be a disappointment. I'm going to have the boys make some gifts for the family and how about those construction paper chains that we use to do as a kid. Tristan is 4 now, so I think he'll have fun doing that. Plus I'm planing on doing a baking swap. It's sort of like the cookie swap, the only difference is we all bake together. It's usually my mom, me, my aunt & my cousin that do this. We haven't done it in about 3 years. We all bring a recipe and bake/cook something and then when we're all done, we exchange what we made with each other. It's really nice to have the family together, even something simple as that. We usually end up laughing, and telling stories. Now my cousin and I have stories to tell about our children, heck they can help too.

I'm looking for more ideas of what a family can do during the holiday, and some homemade Christmas gifts. I already have one gift my sons are going to make for the family, but still looking for some more. The best thing about the internet, there are thousands of ideas out there!

Doing Holiday Pictures From Home

This year I've decided to do my own holiday pictures. Studio's are becoming more and more expensive, and with 3 little boy's I end up working up a sweat. So I got a green screen and the software for it and did my own, when my boys were ready...sort of. At least I didn't get stressed this time.

Now I have a Christmas picture to put in the Christmas cards. Check it out...



You can do it too...for all kinds of occasions.