Tag: Christmas

I had no idea that as a parent, Christmas would come with so much work and stress!? Christmas shopping. Wrapping. Planning Christmas dinner. Hosting it for 20 people. Cleaning the house to make it respectable for visitors. And to top it all off my husband’s birthday is a couple days before Christmas too. Ahhhhh!!

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not much of a baker, but I find decorating cupcakes SO MUCH FUN! Maybe it’s because it reminds me of doing crafts, and I love doing crafts! I’m a mom and I’ve ooo’d and awe’d over my fair share of stick figure creations. But it’s not like anyone in my family is going to pick up my crafts and admire them… at least, not nearly as often as I’d like them to! (ha!)

Do you remember making these candy cane reindeer in school? Isn’t it funny, how something can be so simple, but we forget about it for YEARS? And then it pops up on Pinterest and you’re like “Oh yeah! Those were awesome!” And you find yourself making a late night trip to Michael’s after the kids have gone to bed because the dollar store and Walmart didn’t have any brown pipe cleaners when you ran errands earlier in the day. So then you have to buy 100 brown pipe cleaners, because the respectable 25 count pipe cleaner packages were out of stock. No? Is that just me? (What the heck am I going to do with 100 brown pipe cleaners!?)

Do you give Christmas gifts to your kids teachers? Or your coworkers for that matter? At the office I work at, a few people give small token gifts to everyone at Christmas time. On Christmas Eve, we normally work a half day, and it’s always so fun coming in and finding a small treat or two on my desk. Things like mini Toblerone bars, small boxes of chocolate, or even mini chocolate bars (hmmm… chocolate, I’m noticing a theme, now that I think about it!).

I always leave Christmas wrapping to the last minute. I love Christmas, I love buying the gifts, I get excited about hiding the gifts so no one can find them. And theoretically I love the idea of beautifully wrapped Christmas presents with gorgeous ribbons and bows. But when it comes down to it, it’s usually late on Christmas Eve and I’m scrambling at the last minute to wrap all the presents. They usually end up wrapped from the same giant roll of Costco wrapping paper (it’s a good thing that stuff is double sided!) and then I take a Sharpie and write the names right on the wrapping paper. How fancy am I?!

Have you seen these reindeer cupcakes floating around on Pinterest yet!? They are the cutest cupcakes ever! I got the idea from With Sprinkles On Top and her post says she got the idea from a magazine clipping. They are so easy to make and they look so friggin cute!!

If you follow my Facebook page, you might have seen last week that I posted a meme with a really excited Will Ferrell from Elf as the image, and the text, “JUST 10 FRIDAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!” (You can see it here if you missed it!) I counted on the calendar and it’s true! There are only 10 more Fridays until Christmas! How crazy is that!? I had every intention of turning these play-doh tubs into monsters for Halloween, but when I saw that meme, I totally changed my mind and went for the Christmas theme.

It doesn’t matter who you are crafting with, these adorable paper plate Christmas crafts are lots of fun!  Rudolph, Santa and Frosty – perfect for both big and small kids alike!  I think I see some holiday crafting in our near future!   Leah would absolutely love gluing the cotton balls to Santa!

You know that delicious golden brown colour on a warm, gooey marshmallow after you’ve roasted it over a campfire? It’s pure deliciousness! Except of course, if you’re anything like me, you probably lit the first two marshmallows on fire before you got that perfectly golden brown one. You know the sudden panic when you realize your marshmallow caught fire, but your stick is so long that it takes some serious effort to figure out how to get it anywhere near your mouth to blow it out? Good times!

Do you end up with tons of candy canes during the holiday season?  I still have candy canes in my cupboard from last Christmas, in addition to the ones I bought this year.  We eat a few, put them in the cupboard and then they seem to get lost and forgotten.  That’s why I love the idea of doing creative things with candy canes.  These candy cane hearts are super cute, and the best part is that if you don’t get around to making them at Christmas time, they are great for Valentine’s Day too!