On the twelfth day of Christmas: Our Christmas Elf!

I can't finish up our contest without spotlighting Bernard, our Christmas Elf, so here's another repost from last year:

 I should probably begin with the story of how Bernard came to visit our family.  But it's a little long, so grab some hot chocolate and sit back and enjoy...

When my girls were quite young, their cousins told them about an elf that visited their family each Christmas.  My girls really wanted to have one of their own, so they wrote a letter to Santa asking for our own personal elf {your kids can too if they want to ask}.  And sure enough, Santa sent us an elf.  We got the book "The Secret of The Elves Elite" by Bill Cakmis to clarify all the rules of having a Christmas elf.

The story tells about how a long time ago, when the world was a smaller place, Santa was able to keep up with all the children and their behavior.  But eventually as towns grew, he needed help.  "So Santa gathered the hardest working elves he could find.  From that group, he selected the best of the best.  Of all the elves at the North Pole, this elite group of elves slept the least, worked the hardest, and produced the finest toys in all of Elfdom.  They were: The Elves Elite."  Santa sent his elves elite to watch the children and see if they deserved toys at Christmas.

The book told us that "just as the last ornament is placed on the Christmas tree each year, your elf is sent by Santa to find out where you live and to watch over you."  It goes on to further explain that "The Elves Elite are special because they are filled with the mystery of Christmas.  When one is touched, the mystery is lost." Therefore, the elves are not to be touched.

For 9 or so years now, we've had an elf visit. 

Bernard visits us each day starting when the last ornament is on the tree.  He watches to see if we are being good and it keeps my kids on their toes!  Each morning, he is in a different location, peeking down on us to make sure we are being good.  This makes each day a new excitement to find out where he is hiding.  The kids favorite spot is when he hides in the refrigerator, since it's cold like the North Pole.    {He is also very good at taking letters to Santa for us, which is handy!}

What a wonderful tradition it has been.  So if you haven't yet got your elf elite, write to Santa Claus right away!

In more recent years, the book, "The Elf on the Shelf" has served a similar purpose and it is very popular right now!
 

 

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On the eleventh day of Christmas: Homemade Guess Who?

Here I share a Christmas gift I made a few years back.  We bought the typical Guess Who by Hasbro and then printed family pictures in the same size of the photos from the game.  I pulled the originals out and popped in my family photos.  I also laminated the photos for safe keeping.  In the above version of Guess who, there are also the same pictures as playing cards, so I actually printed 2 of each picture.  Amazon now sells a slightly different version of Guess Who, which you would want to adapt to.  The grandparents loved it and the grandkids love to play it too!  Perfect chance to get the two to play together :)  A little personal touch is always my favorite!

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On the tenth day of Christmas: Grandpa Time Tickets!

Last year I posted about our homemade Christmas and it was hands down the most meaningful Christmas we have ever had.  In fact, ever since then, my kids come up with very creative homemade gifts for each other intermingled with store-bought gifts.

Last year, my uncle passed away and when I was over at their house after the funeral, I saw this wonderful homemade Christmas present idea hanging on tree.  Intrigued, I asked about it.  Every year, he gave each grandkid a "grandpa time" ticket.  They got to spend one-on-one time with him doing an activity.  

As I thought about it shortly after the funeral, I thought how those times were much more precious than any present could be a substitute for.

What a great idea for grandparents or parents!

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On the ninth day of Christmas: An ornament a year for the Christmas Tree

The Christmas tree dilemma I have all the time stems from a tradition I grew up with and love.  You know the amazing Christmas trees out there - the ones that used to only be the fancy department stores or at the town ice skating rink?  The perfectly lit up ones with matching decorations that fit a theme.  I LOVE looking at them.  I love seeing them at our local Festival of Trees and what creativity people have used.  However, over the years, those trees have become more the norm around me and I see less and less homemade ornaments, popcorn strands and classic trees.  So my dilemma lies in loving the idea of a beautiful dressed tree and wanting to celebrate the simplicity of Christmas and my children.  Last year, I finally gave in.  I had all the fixings for a GORGEOUS tree and we kept all of our homemade decorations in their boxes and proceeded to decorate the fanciest tree we'd ever had.  When it was all done, something was missing.  And we all knew it.  It wasn't our tree.  It didn't hold our ornaments that we had collected over the years and the love that those ornaments represented.  SO.. we actually pulled everything down and re-decorated our traditional tree and it was magical.

In this post I'll share another tradition I grew up with -- I know Christmas has evolved into glorious trees and fancy decorations.  But my parents had a tree that was a little different than the rest down the street.  Our tree had every branch heavily weighed down with ornaments of all sorts, sizes, and styles.  What made this tree so special was that every ornament had a story behind it. Below is their tree.  But growing up, this had 200 more ornaments!

 Each year, the children got one new ornament.  An ornament that represented a passion, talent or activity they had been a part of that year.  It may have been from a family vacation.  One year I got a piano for my passion of music and another year, I got a constitution because we were studying U.S history in school.

 Here is perhaps the oldest ornament on the tree, one my mom received from my grandma growing up.

 And this reflects my dad's love for The Wizard of Oz since he remembers this classic film coming out.

I adore this ornament because my aunt who passed away hand made them for our family when I was younger.  What a treasure!

We each had a notecard that we kept a list of the ornaments, what year we got them and what they represented.  Each child kept their ornaments in their own tote to pull out and decorate each December.

When we got married, we each took our collection of ornaments with us to start our own tree with. My kids LOVE looking at my ornaments and asking the stories behind them.  And I love glancing over at our tree and seeing the handmade ornaments and stories we have made of our own.

Now perhaps you can't part with your beautiful decorated trees, and I can see why not.  They are so visibly appealing.  If that's the case, I suggest possibly having a second tree.  It can even be a smaller kid's tree that the kid's keep in their own room. The kids can have ownership to their tree and their season by placing their ornaments up and enjoying their childhood joys as well.  And if you don't want the undertaking of an ornament a year, undoubtedly you will collect ornaments over the years that children make at school or receive as gifts. 

I promise, it will mean the world to your kids!

Some of our homemade ornaments are here and here.

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On the Eighth Day of Christmas--Christmas Cookie Recipes and Cookie Exchange

We love making (and eating) Christmas cookies this time of year! One of our favorite traditions with friends is an annual cookie exchange.

For a cookie exchange, a group of people each make a certain number of cookies (usually several dozen, depending on how many cookies you want to take home). If you have a small group, you can coordinate to make sure no two people bring the same type of cookie. With a larger group, people can just bring whatever type of cookies they want and you will probably have a good enough variety. Then, you get together at a party... you can have other treats or fun activities at the party as well. We have sometimes paired this with a white elephant game or a yummy Christmas breakfast. Then, before you leave, you take home as many plates of others' cookies as you brought. For example, if each person brought 6 dozen cookies, then each person takes home 6 dozen different cookies that others brought. You can keep these cookies for your family, but what we usually do is redistribute most of these cookies among plates to deliver to other friends or neighbors. (I make sure to sample at least one of every type of cookie, though!) We take our kids out and if we are brave we do a little caroling, too, as we deliver cookies. One elderly neighbor last year was blown away. "In all my years, I've never been caroled to before," she said. It was fun to see her delight at the cookies and the simple rendition of Jingle Bells that my kids sang for her.

So, below are a few of our favorite cookie recipes that we have made for our cookie exchanges and for delivering to neighbors (and eating ourselves):

Gingerbread Cookies
(You can cut these into the shapes of gingerbread men if you want!)

Ingredients:

1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. molasses
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 c. softened butter

2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. ground cloves
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground allspice

Instructions:
1. Mix brown sugar, molasses, egg and butter in a large mixing bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, stir together remaining dry ingredients. Then, add dry ingredients to the other mixing bowl and blend. Dough will be very stiff, so you may need to use your hands.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
5. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Place cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated oven.
7. If you desire, you can frost and decorate these, just as you would frost and decorate sugar cookies (see below for icing recipe).

Sugar Cookies

You can't forget our all-time favorite sugar cookies! Pull out those Christmas cookie cutters and try out this delicious and easy sugar cookie recipe.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
(Rolo cookies)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter, softened
2 t. vanilla
2 eggs
30-36 Rolos
2 T. sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add sugar, brown sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Mix together until well blended.
3. Add flour, cocoa, and baking soda, and mix well.
4. Refrigerate and chill dough for 30 minutes.
5. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place 1 Rolo in the center of each dough ball.
6. Form the dough ball around the majority of the Rolo.
7. Roll each dough ball in sugar.
8. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 7-10 minutes.
9. Let cool on pan for 1 minute then take off and place on cookie cooling rack.


Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 c. pumpkin
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Blend shortening, sugar, pumpkin, egg and vanilla.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt.
3. Add dry ingredients to blended mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Drop by spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees

Icing:
Boil together 3 T. melted butter, 3 T. milk, and 1/2 c. brown sugar for 2 minutes. Add enough powdered sugar to make icing easy to spread. Spread on cookies immediately.


Chocolate-dipped Oreos

Ingredients:

Oreos
Chocolate chips
Crushed candy canes

Directions:
Melt chocolate chips over a low heat, as in a fondue pot. Dip oreos in melted chocolate. Top with crushed candy canes.

Variations:
If you buy double-stuff oreos, you can put sucker sticks in the middle to make them oreo pops. You can also add different embellishments on top, such as sprinkles, or drizzled white chocolate or icing in a contrasting color.

What other types of cookies and treats do YOU like to make this time of year? I'd love to hear your comments!

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On the seventh day of Christmas: "The Last Straw" - a simple family service tradition of secret pals

Every year as  child, I looked forward to December 1st.  My family started the tradition of burning a candle, one number per day until Christmas.  We pulled out Christmas decorations and the house transformed into a magical place.  But my VERY FAVORITE thing about December 1st was my hearing my mom read "The Last Straw"by Paula McDonald.  Back then, it was simply on a piece of paper, bent and wrinkled from years of reading it.  Since then, it has been made into a book and it is my favorite picture book.  How in the world, I didn't mention this in my last post of favorite Christmas books, I don't know!

In a nutshell, the story is summarized by Amazon this way:

"Christmas is supposed to be a season of love, warm feelings, and happy hearts. But with the Children's constant bickering, pretty packages and a sweet-smelling tree don't come close to filling the McDonald home with the true spirit of Christmas. Then mom remembers an old tradition of building a soft bed for the Baby Jesus, one straw at a time. Each time someone secretly does something nice for another family member, he or she gets to add a single straw to the manger. Soon the children's quarreling and negative feelings subside and the homemade crib is overflowing. But for one family member, a required act of kindness becomes more than he can take. The Last Straw is true story. The McDonald kids are now grown, but the story lives on in other homes around America, where the tradition of putting straw in a manger is a cherished way to teach youngsters the real meaning of Christmas. So gather your loved ones around and share this heartwarming story about how one family rediscovers the true spirit of Christmas. It may forever change the way your own family celebrates the holiday season."

What I loved most is that my family then each put our names on a folded piece of paper and put them in a basket.  We would draw another person's name and they would become our secret pal for the week.  The week was full of beds being made, treats left out, sweet notes, glasses of water by the bed side, and whatever other creative things we could come up with.  The next week we would re-draw names and start again.  

I remember so fondly this month as we grew closer as a family because of the last straw activity my mom made a tradition.  My kids love it as well!  So I highly recommend it to anyone wanting a little more Christmas spirit in their homes this holiday!

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On the sixth day of Christmas: Christmas Countdowns!

I know this is a re-post from last year, but it's our favorite tradition.  So I don't want our new readers to miss it! 

7 or 8 years ago I started a tradition with my kids that quickly became a favorite. Right after Thanksgiving we make our advent chains.  On the paper link chain, my kids cut, write, and staple it all themselves. They love it and I love it! Inside each chain, we write one thing we want to do each day for the season. I love this because it helps me from forgetting all those little things you want to do. They love it because it gives them something to look forward to every day of the month and naturally it helps them countdown the days until Christmas. So here's a list of our days this year. Some things are the same every year. But others vary.

1. Christmas Family Home Evening (Lesson about the Meaning and Origin of Christmas)

2. Dance to Christmas Music

3. Write letters to Santa

4. Draw a Christmas picture

5. Watch a Christmas movie

6. Go to The Festival of Trees

7. Carol around the piano together

8. Secret Service

9. Visit Santa (which has always been followed by a family lunch out with kid's free coupons from school)

10. Make an ornament

11. Christmas Readathon around the tree

12. Make and frost sugar cookies

13. Christmas story go-around ...  I start a story and then at some point would stop, where my oldest picks up and then stops.  Then the next oldest picks up the story and then we continue on to the next child and eventually it comes back to me. Last year, we made up a very creative story together all about visiting Santa at the North Pole, magic mittens, and special elves.

14. Act out the Christmas story- My kids play whatever role they want and I get to play everything else!

15. Make Gingerbread house - this year it really evolved into a gingerbread village... my kids were at this for hours. It made a great family night!

16. Write letters to the friends and family away

17. Go see Christmas Lights

18. Act out a Christmas Play

19. Write a Christmas Story 

20. Make Snowflakes

21. Tell family stories by the fireplace

22. String popcorn and hang it on the tree

23. Color Christmas coloring pages

24. Make up a Christmas game

25. Open presents!

Happy December!

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On the fifth day of Christmas: 20 Favorite Children's Christmas Picture Books

** So sorry this is late!  I had a child get sick yesterday afternoon and my whole day was changed, I'll post 2 today!**

Being an elementary teacher and fan of children's literature, I LOVE the opportunity Christmas allows for us to delve into Christmas books, both classics and new finds.  Rachel posted the nightly routine of the Christmas candle where they read books, sing songs and enjoy each other's company.  A few year's back, I started giving my kids a new Christmas book on December 1st to kick off the season and start our annual candle burning.  The best thing is you can get these books the year prior on crazy good after Christmas sales!  What I love most is that these children's books tell so simply the true meaning of Christmas amidst all the chaos and hub-ub of the season.

** As a side note, one of our newer traditions is having a cousin book exchange for Christmas.  The cousins each get to pick a name and give that cousin a book to treasure.  My kids look forward to it every year!

Below is a list of 20 of my favorite children's Christmas books.  And this only scratches the surface.  We love our Christmas book collection:

1. Christmas Oranges
A delightful story about Rose who comes is transferred to a new orphanage the cold and heartless.  The other children work together to make Christmas the best Rose has ever had with something as simple as an orange.


2. Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect
A perfect little tree named Small Pine opens his heart to birds, rabbit and deer in the forest and ruins his perfection.  But the queen sees deeper with in him as this story tells why Christmas trees aren't perfect.


3. The Polar Express
 One of the top Christmas stories for years now, but there is a reason for this!  It is a classic tale of a boy's journey to the North Pole where he learns to believe in all of the magic of Santa.



4. Olive the Other Reindeer
A clever story playing off of the familiar song "Rudolph" and the phrase "All of the other reindeer".  This dog, Olive, ends up joining the reindeer at the North Pole in a very fun story for all ages.



5. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
A scrooge-like Jonathan Toomey is transformed during the Christmas season by a young boy and his mother who ask Jonathan to carve a Christmas nativity.

6. If you take a Mouse to the Movies 
A Christmas take on the ever-so-popular "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" series.




7. Snowmen at Christmas
A perfect book for kids of all ages that answers what snowmen do when we aren't looking - full of delightful pictures.


8/9. The Christmas Alphabet and The Night Before Christmas
Popup books that even wow me as a mom!  My kids find such delight in this author's books.


10. The Jolly Christmas Postman - A very fun story that takes you through the postman's path in all of our common fairytale figure's town.  Readers get to even open the letters, pull them out and read what's in the mail!

Other favorites:
 How the Grinch Stole Christmas
 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
 Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale
The Legend of the Candy Cane
  Santa's Favorite Story
  Mortimer's Christmas Manger
Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest
 Christmas Day in the Morning
 A Christmas Dress For Ellen
The Last Straw (added this extra one when I wrote this post)

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On the Fourth Day of Christmas--DIY Santa Costume

Last year, my son really got into pretending to be Santa. All season long, he wanted me to pretend to be asleep while he delivered me toys. He asked me one day for a Santa costume. It just so happened that we had an old red sheet lying around that I could use for the material. So, I decided to whip something together. Here's what I came up with:

For the shirt of the suit, I used this free art smock pattern. I didn't add any embellishments, I just used the basic pattern for the sleeves and body of the shirt. I left out the elastic bands in the wrists of the smock and just hemmed the wrists regularly.

For the bottoms, I just followed a basic pajama pants tutorial to sew some pants. I used my son's own pants as a pattern and it was very easy.

Then we just added a belt, rain boots, and hat that we already had, and my son was one happy Santa. He loved it and wore the outfit almost every day all Christmas season.

If you want to go all out, you could also take these basic ideas and expand, adding faux fur around the cuffs of the sleeves. But as this was a spur-of-the-moment project, and my 3-year-old didn't complain, I just left it as it was, a simple red suit made from an old sheet.

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On the Third Day of Christmas: Gingerbread Houses, Graham Cracker Nativity, and Candy Trains

My kids love it when we pull out all the sweets for them to create their own holiday creations such as the classic gingerbread houses. The key to making gingerbread houses with you kids easy is pre-assembling the houses and letting the icing harden the night before. Then the kids can just focus on decorating the houses without worrying about the houses collapsing. Below are two recipes for "royal icing" the frosting you can use with gingerbread houses that hardens and "glues" the pieces together

Royal Icing
Ingredients: 3 T meringue powder, 6 T water, 4 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
Instructions: Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7 to 10 minutes, or until icing forms peaks. Tip: Keep icing covered with a wet kitchen towel at all times. Icing can dry out quickly.

Or if you don't have meringue powder on hand (which I usually don't), you can also make royal icing with egg whites:

Royal Icing Recipe #2
Ingredients: 3 c. confectioners' sugar, 1/4 t. cream of tarter, 2 egg whites, beaten
Instructions: In a bowl, sift together confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar. Using electric mixer, beat in 2 beaten egg whites for about 5 minutes or until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape.

Using your frosting as the "glue" assemble houses from gingerbread or graham crackers and candy!

In addition to gingerbread houses, we have also tried other variations on this classic candy craft. Last year, we made nativity scenes out of graham crackers, frosting and candy. We were inspired by the instructions here for a graham cracker nativity. However, we let the kids have their fair share of creativity, so you have to be very imaginative to see that the white marshmallows are sheep and the chocolate marshmallows are a shepherd with a candy cane staff.

And finally, almost every year, my kids beg to make candy trains. These are so simple and don't even require the heavy-duty frosting that gingerbread houses use, so you could just buy a can of frosting for the store. We have done this several times for our kids' Christmas parties with friends and it is a huge hit. Mini candy bars make excellent train cars, round candies such as smarties or lifesavers form the wheels, and an upside down Rolo or chocolate kiss can make a perfect funnel.

On the second day of Christmas: Free Emails, Videos, Letters and Text Chats from Santa!

One of the most magical childhood moments I witnessed was when my kids got an email video from Santa.  The response was so sweet and full of childhood innocence.  The website we get our videos from each year is http://www.portablenorthpole.com/ where messages are completely personalized with pictures, specific gift requests and personal details and the best thing is it is free!  Have fun seeing the magic I do each year when my kids receive these messages.

Another cute site is http://www.freelettersfromsantaclaus.com/ where letters are personalized and available to print right from home!

And one more up to date communication with Santa is Santa Talk ( http://mysantatalk.contentai.com/) where you can "chat" or rather text back and forth with Santa from your home computer or mobile devices.  This is pretty creative and quite impressive how the responses are.

And finally, you can give back yourself by having your kids write to Santa.
Drop off letters to Santa at any Macy's store by depositing them in special designated Santa Mail Letterboxes. For each letter received, Macy's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million.  How cool to know where to drop those Santa letters off to!

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On the first day of Christmas: H is for House Lesson Plan #2 with a Christmas twist...

In my rotating preschool, I was in charge of H is for House, but it landed in the holiday season.  A perfect chance for me to fancy it up with Christmas fun.

Music Time: We sang some fun Christmas songs and some house songs listed below as well

We learned about all kinds of houses and their opposites by learning the song,
 Houses, Houses Everywhere!
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle)
Houses can be made of bricks.
Houses can be made of sticks.
Houses can be big or small.
Houses can be short or tall.
Houses here and houses there;
Houses, houses everywhere!

Houses can be very new.
Houses can be older, too.
Houses can be low or high.
Houses! Houses! My, oh my!
Houses here and houses there;
Houses, houses everywhere!

Build a House(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Build, build, build a house
With doors and windows, too
Add a roof to keep it dry.
A home for me and you!
Home (tune: BINGO)

There is a place that I call home
And house is it's name-o
H-O-U-S-E
H-O-U-S-E
H-O-U-S-E
That's what I call home!
{They loved taking out one letter each time by clapping!}

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Science/Social Studies: Learned about houses of other cultures and animals and played a matching game.  In the matching game, the kids had to match up an animal to it's "house" (bird to a nest, fish to an aquarium, child to a house, etc).


Storytime:

•  How a House Is Built by Gail Gibbons

•  The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton 

• Hansel and Gretel by Rika Lesser

Craft Time: We made our own holiday shape houses and counted up how many of each shape was on it.




Math: We learned about patterns by drawing Christmas lights on various houses in specific patterns (AB, AAB, ABB, etc). Then we made our own "christmas light" patterns with fruit loop necklaces using only red and green fruit loops for Christmas. On the Holiday house above, the kids also had to fill out a paper that said how many circles, hearts, squares, rectangles, etc.  The kids had to count their shapes.
 

Snack: Along with healthy treats including reindeer carrots, clementine oranges and red and green food (tomatoes, celery, grapes, strawberries), the kids made homemade gingerbread houses to take home

I have found a bunch of GREAT and healthy snacks for preschool, Christmas parties, after school snacks or just for fun.  You can see them on our pinterest board here: http://pinterest.com/mommylessons101/healthy-christmas-snacks/

12 days of Christmas gift from us!

As a Christmas gift from us, we will be doing a 12 days of Christmas countdown with a new post once a day for 12 days.  Full of Christmas lessons, crafts, goodies and ideas.  So keep an eye out beginning Saturday.  As an extra bonus, we will be doing a Christmas giveaway at the end of our countdown, just in time for the holidays when we all could use a little extra cash.

We will be giving away a $10.00 Amazon gift card on December 13th, with enough time for you to buy those last minute items.  

So how do you enter?  Here are the ways you can earn an entry and there are lots!

1.  Like us on facebook - there's a link on the upper left side of our homepage and leave a comment below that you did.

2.  Follow us on pinterest - also linked on the upper left side of our homepage and leave a comment below that you did.

3. Like and comment on any of our 12 days of Christmas posts on facebook (that's 12 entries!) 

4. Comment on any of our 12 days of Christmas posts on our blog (12 more entries!)

5.  Comment below about you favorite Christmas tradition.

Yeah, that's 27 possible entries because Christmas is 27 days away.  You can start entering today even before our countdown starts.

Merry Early Christmas and enjoy our little gift to you.  It all begins December 1st!

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