Less than 10 Days until Christmas

Everyone is raving about how the year has flown by.  I didn’t know the year had wings.  I’m so funny!

If you haven’t started getting ready for the big day, you better get a move on.  I am going to fill you in on all the stuff we have been doing at our house in the lead up to Christmas Day.  My organisation is (as always) a bit special.  A few readers will browse this week and think: “well, der, I did that weeks ago and I can’t believe there would be anyone who hasn’t done that yet!”  If that is you, then just laugh at the silliness of all those not so perfect and definitely not organised people out there.  Other readers will pop in to AGT this week and think, “oh dear, I forgot to do that!” There might be some colourful adjectives thrown in for good measure but the sentiment will be the same. 

I'm starting with trees (and decorations) and cards.  These are usually the first Holiday paraphernalia to hit the store shelves and it is usually the best place to start.  It is the easiest, in my opinion, part of getting into the Christmas spirit.  I will also add, that you can usually skip the seasonal cooking, kid craft and entertaining without being considered a Scrooge as long as you have a tree and send out a few cards. 

I tend not to give too many cards at Christmas time.  I have a bit of a “thing” about it.  We will go there another time, shall we?! We shall.

Christmas Cards

If you’re going to the trouble of giving out cards and you only give a few then you might as well make an effort.  On the other hand, most cards have pride of place for about a month and then they hit the recycling bin, so don’t waste too much time on it.  

I made a few cards with my Junior Soldiers this year.  The boys like to get crafty and I have to keep them busy!  Also, it gave them a reason for writing out Bible verses that I wanted them to learn.  Mwahaha… I’m sneaky!

We started with some blank door hanger templates (compliments of the BFF) and folded them in thirds.  One third had a big hole (where it would wrap around the door knob), the other two appeared to be in half.  We cut the first third (the one with the hole) off and then the halved remaining card made a perfect blank slate.  We drew pictures on the front fold of the card, or should I say D and J drew pictures.  We also used old Christmas Cards and cut out various shapes of the images on them.  I tried to steer the kids towards Joseph and Mary and Jesus pictures.  I focused on stars, shepherds and wise men as well.  Our Bible verses were matched to the Advent Candles so the words HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE featured.  The kids gave their cards to people in our church and the photos of their cards were a bit “special” so unfortunately you will have to get the idea from my photos. 

First we have a Button Tree.  The boys sorted the buttons into colours for me and then I just used PvA/craft glue to attach them to the card. 

Next you can see (my personal favourite) the Dove card.  The Dove and the words were on a larger card and there was a lot of space.  I cut the main images and just stuck them on to our baby cards with a regular glue stick.  It isn’t perfect, but I’m going with “the kids did it” on this one.  If that doesn’t work, I was distracted because all of my creating was happening in between assisting the boys, tidying, catching glue before it hit the carpet and setting up my laptop for movie time.  AAAHHH!!

I will fill you in on our very creative version of a Christmas Tree tomorrow.  The BFF outdid herself yet again.  Gifts and wrapping will appear the day after.  I have told you all about shopping for gifts last year.  So, this year the focus will be different. 

Happy Holidays!! J