Christmas 08

Christmas morning was calm. We all got to sleep until 7:00. I got my coffee and then Tristan came out of his room. As he walked down the hall, squinting from the bright light, I said look Tristan, Santa came. He said oh yeah. His looked so happy and surprised. Here he is with his hot cocoa yelling "Merry Christmas"


Shortly after, Brayden woke up. He was pretty happy & surprised too.



Here are some Christmas present moments....

A Wonderful Family

Christmas was very nice. I was afraid with limited funds, that Christmas may not be as exciting for my boys. But not true at all. My parents provided some lovely gifts that they all got to enjoy. We then went to my brother and sister in-laws for presents and dinner there too. My sister in-law did so much for my boys. More than I can thank her for.
I was touched by everything she gave us. But one thing that got me was she made those no-sew blankets for all three boys. Not small ones either. They will be able to use them for years to come.

Here is Brayden's



Here is Jayden's




Here is Tristan's

Yahoo Best Answer

Wow! I am very honored to get a yahoo best answer on Yahoo Answers. I've got them before with just everyday questions, but this one is a treat for me. It was about Christmas trees, and making them more decorative. My tree still needs a lot of help. But because of the doves, it got reconition. I hope to add more next year. Some one suggested squirrels, nuts, you know more woodland creatures. I've never had a theme before, but it looks like I'm leaning to a Nature Theme.

Here is the question link:
My xmas tree needs a makeover. see pic?

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.

The Chipmunks

I love this movie. Turning classic cartoons to real-life made this movie a future classic in my book. I actually went to the movie theater with my mom and nephew last year. It was a very snowy day. We actually got caught in a snow storm. I was surprised my mom still went, considering she hates driving in the snow as much as I do, but we went. It was a great movie. Though, if we do deside to go to the theater and it starts to storm in the future, we'll probably reschedule. Lucky for us, the storm ended when the movie finished. In this case, it was well worth it!

The Holiday Classics

I bought this collection about a year ago and loved it! It has 4 Christmas Classic TV shows on DVD. They are the shows that when I was a child would watch every year. We'd adjust the rabbit ears, add some tin foil and were able to somewhat watch the snowy, black & white TV screen. When I got older and watched it on video, I was amazed at how much I didn't see. Thank goodness for modern satellite and DVD's! This is a collection my children will to cherish as they get older.

This collection has Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer; Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town; Frosty The Snowman; Frosty Returns; The Little Drummer Boy; Cricket On The Hearth.

Christmas Planner Inspiration

Wow, I am so inspired to do my Christmas Planner. Haven't started it yet, but I'm going to start this weekend. I seem to over crowd my mind when I see ideas and then I don't know where to begin. So I've got to stop looking for ideas, and start doing my ideas.

A Chrismtas Planner will help keep the holiday in order and not as chaotic. Though I really want to share this video I found on YouTube.com. It's very inspiring and had motivated me to start my planner.

I hope it'll help those who seem to procrastinating too.

Christmas Music All Year Long!

Did you know that you can listed to Christmas Music all year long on your computer? Well I didn't. But I found a web-site that plays traditional Christmas Music all day all the time!

www.accuradio.com

Stocking Stuffer Idea - Cute Reindeers

Too Cute Reindeer Craft

I'm going to make these for the children I give to this year. I think they are so cute.

Materials needed:
Two standard-sized washcloths, tan and white
2 bars of bath-size soap
4 wiggle eyes
2 red pompoms
4 brown pipe cleaners
2 rubberbands
12 tiny jingle bells
Decorative cord or ribbon
Velvet ribbon for bow
Small bell for Rudy
Tacky glue
Blush make-up for cheeks


Directions:
1. Open washcloth and place it on the table with one corner facing you. This makes the washcloth a diamond shape.
2. Place the soap in the center of it.
3. Bring the corner facing you and the back corner up together. Roll the two corners backwards down to the top of the soap. <>4. Take the two side corners in your hands and bring together at the top this will form the ears.
Secure them together with a rubberband down next to the soap. Shape to resemble ears.
5. Fold one pipe cleaner in half and poke it between the ears and through the rubberband.
6. Cut another pipe cleaner in half and twist it around to make the antlers. Do this on both sides.
7. Now attach the tiny jingle bells through the ends of the antlers. Fold the pipe cleaners back to secure them on.
8. Tie a decorative ribbon, cord or bow around the bottom of the ears. The bow shown in the sample has a small bell attached.
9. Glue on pompom nose and wiggle eyes.
10. Put a small amount of blush on each cheek.

Crochet Christmas Baubles

Crochet Christmas baubles

Crochet baubles
Finished sizes: about 13cm in circumference (small bauble); about 16cm in circumference (large bauble)
Gather your supplies
Pellicano Perle No 5 mercersied cotton in White 7901 and Ecru 0608; Arista in Red 318, Soft Gold 303, Silver 301 and Soft White Gold 302; 2.00mm crochet hook; tapestry needle; scissors; 38mm and 50mm polystyrene balls

Tension: Check your tension before you start. If your tension sample is larger than recommended, use a slightly smaller hook. If your tension sample is smaller than recommended, use a slightly larger hook. Small bauble: Crochet first 3 rnds of pattern. Sample should measure about 3.3cm in diameter. Large bauble: Crochet first 4 rnds of pattern. Sample should measure 4.5cm in diameter.

Notes: When working on a new round, always crochet over thread ends. This saves time on threading ends in later. Tie a small knot at the end of Arista thread to prevent it from unravelling.

The beginning, 1st and 18th Rnds are all made using Pellicano. Rnds 2-17 are made using Arista. If you are making striped baubles, simply finish off thread at the end of the round and use another colour for the next round (join new thread to a stitch from previous round using a slipknot). The instructions will only tell you to finish off thread when changing from Pellicano to Arista thread but you may wish to finish off and swap colours at the end of any row.

Rounds 2, 3, 4, 15, 16 and 17 are made using htr stitches and therefore the stripes will be quite wide. Rounds 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 are made using dc stitches (if you would like your stripes to be even in width, work 2 rnds of dc stitches in the same colour to make the stripes similar in width to the htr stripes).

If you are choosing to continue crocheting in the same colour of Arista, disregard the 'joining a new colour' instructions.

Make sure when working the rounds that you do not crochet into the slip stitch from the end of the previous round.

Refer to crochet stitch diagrams and abbreviations by
clicking here

Here's how
Begin with Pellicano in colour of choice, make 5ch. Join with sl st to form a ring.
1st Rnd: 2ch (represents 1st htr), 11htr in ring, sl st in 2nd of 2ch from beg of rnd. Finish off Pellicano.
2nd Rnd: Using Arista thread in colour of choice, join thread to a htr of previous rnd using a slipknot. 2ch (represents 1st htr), htr in same st, 2htr in each htr to end, sl st in 2nd of 2ch from beg of rnd.
3rd Rnd: Using Arista in colour of choice, join thread to a htr of previous rnd using a slipknot. 2ch (represents 1st htr), 2htr in next htr, *htr in next htr, 2htr in next htr, (repeat from * to end of rnd), sl st in 2nd of 2ch from beg of rnd.
4th Rnd: Using Arista in colour of choice, join thread to a htr of previous rnd using a slipknot. Small bauble: 1ch (represents 1st dc), dc in each htr of the previous rnd, sl st in 1ch at beg of rnd. (36dc made in rnd, including counting the 1ch at beg as 1st dc).
Large bauble: 2ch, (represents 1st htr), htr in next htr, 2htr in next htr, *htr in next 2htr, 2htr in next htr, (repeat from * to end), sl st in 2nd of 2ch from beg of rnd (48htr in rnd, including counting the 2ch at beg as 1st htr).
5th, 6th 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Rnds, small bauble only: Using Arista in colour of choice, join thread to a dc of previous rnd using a slipknot. 1ch (represents 1st dc), dc in each dc of the previous rnd, sl st in 1ch from beg of rnd. At the completion of the 12th rnd, insert the foam sphere into the crochet and begin crocheting rounds 13, 14 and 15 over the top of the foam sphere.
5th Rnd, large bauble: Using Arista in colour of choice, join thread to a htr of previous rnd using a slipknot. 1ch (represents 1st dc), dc in each htr of the previous rnd, sl st in 1ch at beg of rnd (48dc made in rnd, including counting the 1ch at beg as 1st dc).
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Rnds, large bauble: Using Arista in colour of choice, join thread to a dc of previous rnd using a slipknot. 1ch (represents 1st dc), dc in each dc of the previous rnd, sl st in 1ch at beg of rnd. At the completion of the 14th rnd, insert the polystyrene ball into the crochet and begin crocheting the following rnds over the top of the ball.

Shaping top of baubles
Note: In the 13th Rnd of small bauble, the 15th Round of large bauble and in following rounds of each, make 2htr tog in a cl to decrease at top of bauble. (In 13th rnd of small bauble and 15th Rnd of large bauble, you will be crocheting into the dc stitches of the previous rnd. In following rnds, you will be crocheting into the htr stitches or htr cl stitches of the previous rnds).

To make 2htr tog in a cl to decrease: wrap thread around hook and insert hook into 1st stitch, wrap thread around hook and draw thread back through this stitch (there will be 3 loops on hook). Wrap thread around hook and insert hook into next stitch. Wrap thread around hook and draw thread back through this stitch (there will be 5 loops on hook). Wrap thread around hook and draw through all
5 loops on hook.








13th Rnd, small bauble only: Using Arista, join thread to a dc from previous rnd using a slipknot. 1ch, htr in next 2dc, *make next 2htr tog in a cl to decrease, htr in next dc, following the instructions above, repeat from * to end, sl st in 1st htr at beg of rnd.
14th Rnd, small bauble only: Using Arista, 1ch, htr in next st, *make next 2htr tog in a cl to decrease (repeat from * to end), sl st in 1st htr from beg of rnd (miss 1ch made at beg of rnd). Finish off Arista.
15th Rnd, small bauble only: Using Pellicano, join thread to the 1st htr from beg of previous rnd. 1ch, htr in next htr cl, *make next 2htr tog as a cl to decrease (repeat from * to end), sl st in htr at beg of rnd (miss 1ch made at beg of rnd). Finish off Pellicano. Follow instructions to make hanger.
15th Rnd, large bauble only: Using Arista, join thread to a dc from previous rnd using a slipknot. 1ch, htr in next dc, htr in next 2dc, *make next 2htr tog in a cl to decrease (following the instructions above), htr in next 2dc (repeat from * to end), miss 1ch from beg of rnd, sl st in 1st htr at beg of rnd.
16th Rnd, large bauble only: Using Arista, join thread to a stitch from previous rnd using a slipknot. (In this and following rounds you will sometimes be crocheting into htr stitches and sometimes crocheting into cluster stitches made in previous rnd. These instructions, therefore, ask you to crochet into the next st, rather than specify what that stitch will be. ) 1ch, htr in next 2st, *make next 2htr tog in a cl to decrease, htr in next st (repeat from * to end), miss 1ch made at beg of rnd, sl st in 1st htr at beg of rnd.
17th Rnd, large bauble only: Using Arista, 1ch, htr in next st, *make next 2htr tog in a cl to decrease (repeat from * to end), miss 1ch made at beg of rnd, sl st in 1st htr from beg of rnd. Finish off Arista.
18th Rnd, large bauble only: Using Pellicano, join thread to the 1st htr from beg of previous rnd. 1ch, htr in next htr cl, *make next 2htr tog as a cl to decrease (repeat from * to end), sl st in htr at beg of rnd (miss 1ch made at beg of rnd). Finish off Pellicano.

Hanger
Attach Pellicano to a stitch from the last rnd using a slipknot. Make 40ch, sl st in the top of the bauble in the last rnd. Finish off by weaving in all threads.

Tree Decorating

Well I just saw the coolest idea for decorating my tree. I'm going to try it this year, I just got to buy the dove's first.

Hang doves from the ceiling with strings of beads in their mouths as though they were flying in and decorating the tree. Use white thread to suspend the birds and pushpins to secure them to the ceiling. The beads are going to be attached to the birds’ beaks with hot glue or with straight pins. They can also be attached to the feet. The string of beads should be long enough to drape the end over a limb of the tree. Place the doves at different distances from the Christmas tree. The end result should look like the doves are decorating the tree with beads. Also I'm going to have one or two of the doves carrying Christmas ornaments attached to their feet as if they were flying in to place the ornament on the tree.

Here's an example...but when I get mine done I'll post it.

Create a Holiday Gift Container

The Correct Way The Post Office Would Like You To Address Envelopes

Forget everything your fourth-grade teacher told you about flowing capitals and indented addresses. Here is how the Post Office would like to see your cards addressed:

MR AND MRS STEPHEN EWER
P O BOX 1234
ANYTOWN WA 98765-4321

The rules are:
(1) use block capital letters,
(2) do not use periods or commas,
(3) use proper postal abbreviations and (4) use the nine-digit zip code, if you know it.
Missing Zip codes? The Internet makes it easy. Find the USPS Zip Code Locator at http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp .
Get a list of state and addressing abbreviations at http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/usps_abbreviations.htm.

Today's software can often go a step further and add a postal bar code to the envelope or label, but CEO hesitates to raise the ire of the Purists to quite that extent. Let's just say if you're on the Geek Cool side of the fence, it's a nifty touch, and the Postmaster will thank you.

Time to write out that Christmas card list

Today I'm going to write out my christmas card list. Instead of racking my head after Thanksgiving and being in a hurry, my cards will be ready to be mailed out the first of December!