Decorate a Christmas Tree....

This cute little craft was found on Easy Toddler Crafts.com.

It's a little paper tree with ornaments that you can cut out and have

the kids decorate....I thought it would be a good way for little ones to practice

cutting with scissors, but as it turns out the little ornaments were tiny and even hard for me to do.

But still, if you want to cut out all the little pieces and let the little ones "decorate" their own tree, this is a super cute way to do it.

You can glue the finished product to a sheet of scrapbook paper.  You could also frame it for future use (makes a sweet little keepsake).  Another idea would be to laminate it and use as a

holiday place mat.  Or perhaps, mod podge it to a canvas....the possibilities are endless.

voices of christmas past....

Thanks to the timehop app for these fun reminders....

*****

heard from the other room...

"Oww, I'm telling Dad on you!"

"Sorry Nathan, it was an accident...you can shoot

me in the eye to make it even."

*****

"I would like to get all sappy since it's Christmas...

but it's not Christmas in this house unless someone is

fighting, screaming is going on, someone throws a tantrum or two

and someone takes another ones toy and breaks it.....

Merry Christmas everyone from our wild crazy bunch to yours!"

*****

"kids still hyped up on sugar, playing hide and seek in the dark

with their nerf guns....when Nathan says 'I can't find anyone,

so turn on the light so I can see.'

bwhahaha....kind of defeats the purpose of hiding in the dark, eh?"

*****

"Sounds like another Juliani Christmas....fighting over toys and games, bickering sisters,

too many cookies consumed.  Nerf darts and discs flying through the air, crying after stepping

on army guys and legos, half eaten pieces of chocolate laying here and there,

wrapping paper everywhere, toys scattered about waiting to be put together,

game pieces getting lost....I'm ready for nap!"

*****

"hmmm, can the kids go back to school now?"

*****

"Overheard this a minute ago - 

'Stop texting me so much....and anyway you spelled 'butthead' wrong."

*****

"Well, that sounds about right...

Nicholas: 'Mommmmmm, there's nothin' to do.....'"

Ready or Not....Santa is Coming to Pennsylvania!

Here comes Santa Claus....

Here comes Santa Claus....

Right down Santa Claus Lane.....

I saw this little book and thought it was super cute and just had to get it.

You can find them for all the states and even some specific towns and cities as well.

Such a cute idea for Christmas and a little reminder that Santa is on his way......

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

Sharing a Few Cute Christmas Books

Georgie the Gingerbread Fairy

Written by Tim Bugbird and illustrated by Lara Ede

Georgie the Gingerbread Fairy is a sweet rhyming book with bright, colorful pictures.

The story is about a little fairy who bakes gingerbread and all the fairies love her shop.

But, then a new, sparkly, glittery store opens next door and takes all of the Georgie's business.

Georgie decides to close her store because "gingerbread was so last year and out of style"

Soon, the town started to smell.

The new store had a plastic, unappealing smell that wafted through the air.

This prompted Georgie to come up with a new plan...

a wonderful smelling aroma spray of what else?

Gingerbread.

Now both stores are able to coexist and all the fairy residents are happy at last,

with their sparkly, glitter goods and a fresh smelly gingerbread town.

What Santa Can't Do

Written by Douglas Wood and illustrated by Doug Cushman

New York Times bestselling team of the books

What Grandmas Can't Do, What Moms Can't Do, and What Dads Can't Do.

Sure, Santa can do a lot of things, but

What Santa Can't Do 

gives a new spin to all that Santa cannot do.

There are lots of things that Santa can do, like find every house in every country, 

but he can't find his own pipe or slippers.

He can remember everyone on his list,

but he can't remember the grocery store list that Mrs. Claus wrote for him.

He can't shave, because no one would know who he was.

He can't touch his toes.

He can't wear shorts and a t shirt or even sandals.

He can't snicker, or giggle, or even chuckle...he can only "ho ho ho!"

There are lots of things Santa can't do....but in a lot of ways

he's just like you and me.

He can't wait until Christmas!!

The Great Christmas Crisis

Written by Kim Norman and illustrated by Jannie Ho.

The Great Christmas Crisis 

is a wonderful reminder to make sure you save a little cheer for yourselves this year.

Sometimes, we get so busy spreading the cheer and good things to everyone that we tend to forget about ourselves.

This book serves as a reminder to save some cheer for you and take a little time to relax and enjoy the holiday season as well.

One Special Christmas - Book Review & Craft

One Special Christmas was written by M. Christina Butler and illustrated by Tina Macnaughton.

This sweet book is a touch and feel book.  The red hat and thread feel like velvet.

When Santa gets sick on Christmas Eve, little Hedgehog is asked to help deliver the presents.

Little Hedgehog dons his red toboggan and sets off to help...

along the way, the sled crashes and Hedgehog loses all the presents.

With the help of his friends, he uses his little red hat as a bag to help gather up all the presents.

Once the friends and bag of gifts are back in the sled, they set off on an adventure.

The hat catches on a branch and it starts to unravel.

As the hat unravels, the presents start to fall out of the bag.

Luckily, their good friend Badger gathers the gifts with the help of the red string.

All the presents get delivered just in time for Christmas.

Little Hedgehog was happy to help Santa, but also sad that his new hat was ruined.

But, his little furry friends weren't the only ones who got a special gift that night....

Hedgehog did too...

a brand new red toboggan from Santa.

For this little craft you will need:

a toboggan/hat template

construction paper

red yarn

glue

glue the template to a sheet of construction paper

Spread glue all over the template and glue the yarn to the hat 

easy and super cute craft to go along with the equally cute holiday book.

*Disclosure: I was given the book One Special Christmas for review purposes only.  The opinions and craft are my own and were not influenced by Tiger Tales.

Christmas Elf Craft

nathan's christmas elf

made with scrapbook paper

you will need

several different sheets of christmas scrapbook paper

 one paper plate

pink or flesh colored paint

two wiggly eyes

one button

one pom pom

red yarn

scrap ribbon

glue

we used a square for the body

and painted a paper plate for the face

we cut the inner circle of the plate for the face

and used the edges of the plate to cut out pointy ears

then, we used a sheet of scrapbook paper to make a hat

and a fun elf collar

we also cut two long strips of each paper

for the arms and the legs

we folded the arms and legs in a zigzag pattern

we painted the plate pink

and glued on the ears, the eyes, a button for the nose,

and some yarn for the mouth

then we glued all the pieces together

we added a pompom and a cute festive ribbon to the hat

and another small rectangle to the square as a belt

it came out super cute!!!

see, i just knew hoarding all that old christmas and holiday

scrapbook paper would pay off eventually - hehehe!

Popsicle Christmas Tree Ornaments

easy peasy popsicle stick tree ornaments

we used various sizes of green craft sticks

and various odds and ends (beads, sequins, buttons, pom poms and ribbon

I think this is pretty much self explanatory - easy to make.

Painting Christmas Trees

We painted these Christmas trees with pompoms.

you will need:

Christmas tree cut outs

various paint colors

pompoms

clothes pins

(attach the pompoms to the clothespin)

this was super fun

I made one too.

Dip the clothespin/pompom into the paint and dab on the paper.

we also printed out some candy canes and stockings to paint.

we got the templates at firstpalette.com

We are off to a super fun start of a whole month of holiday crafty fun....

hope you'll continue to join us!