CHRISTMAS CRAFTING AND FAVORITE SPOTS IN MY HOME...

 This year we weren't doing Christmas with our kids until January 2, so I was a little slow to get motivated to make things!  I did make a couple of batches of gingerbread cookies and a cookie bowl as well.  I have made these since the kids were small but hadn't done it in a while.  I decided to test my skills again...  Finally on December 23 I got busy with the saw and paint after being inspired by a cute Santa I saw in a store...so here they are!

You shape the gingerbread dough over a foil wrapped bowl and bake.

Cooled and ready to fill with goodies!

I always cut out tiny holes with a cookie cutter before baking so I can thread pretty ribbon through it.

So cute!  I usually fill it with some other goodies as well and wrap it in cellophane paper.

Now on to wood crafting...I had some thin wood and cut it into triangles with DH's help.  He also drilled the holes.

I had fun painting them into Santas!  

No wrapping required

Next, a few of my favorite scenes in my home right now!

The tree, complete with an old wagon, toy car, and teddy bear.

My mantle this year

Entry

My kitchen tree

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

HOME MADE CHRISTMAS GIFTS...

This year I wanted to do something with maps.  For one reason, we have several that are leftover from vacations that I felt I would never use again!  I also wanted to do something with our state shape because I love the t-shirts and other things I have seen like this.  So here's what I came up with:

 State blocks - really easy when you have leftover wood pieces.  I sanded the edges, used spray adhesive to glue the state shape onto the block, then added a little heart sticker to indicate the area where our relatives live.  

 I also made these Santa ornaments from some seed pods in our yard - painted them, and added a jute loop with hot glue.  I collected the pods in late summer.

These pencil cups are for those in our family who don't live in OK - just made from cans, spray adhesived the map strips, then also did a 2 inch strip inside the can.  

I didn't get a good picture of the homemade gifts from the extended family - we didn't have a big get-together this year but I will tell you the other gifts were Home-made spaghetti sauce in a jar, a little tree made with musical note-paper, and a garland.

Now for the Grand Finale!

My kids (and their spouses) made me a beautiful gift!  They recorded a few songs on a CD!  My daughter-in-law did the artwork - a watercolor snowflake!  Love hearing their beautiful voices whenever I want.  

CHRISTMAS GIVING GAME...

This Christmas we ended up hosting three parties - yes, I planned it that way!  My philosophy is if you decide to do one, you might as well do more!  Once the house is decorated and cleaned you really don't have to do much more for the other parties.

We wanted to play a different game - no, we didn't throw out Dirty Santa.  We played this one in addition to it.  We always like to warm people up with a few fast games, before Dirty Santa comes into play and some people turn crazy!

I found this game on Pinterest and we just added to it.  I supplied 20 dollar store-type gifts, wrapped. (With the first party we actually only played this game with $5 generic gifts they brought) With the Roll the Dice game, after playing it with two groups of 20 people, we found both times as we went round the circle taking turns rolling the dice to see whether you would pass the gift right or left, or open, etc. there seemed to be one number you either got stuck on, or hardly ever rolled.  So after two rounds, we would declare the next person to roll a ________, whatever had not been rolled much, would be the end of the game.

The TWIST we added after the end and let everyone open, if it wasn't already, was this:  We gave the "Christmas is about giving" speech.  We told everyone they just thought the gift they just opened was theirs.  Now, we will go around the circle and give your gift to someone you think would like it.  We went one at a time, so everyone could see what the mysterious gifts were they had been feeling as they went around the circle.  It was fun and added another dimension to the game.  Some men who got kitchen-y gifts were giving theirs to the ladies and the ladies who ended up with a beef jerky stick gladly gave to a man.  :)  There were a few toys in there for the one pre-teen and he raked in several gifts as a result.  The few who didn't get one were okay with it, you see, they didn't have their gift very long anyway.  For the first party where they supplied the $5 gifts, we did say to look around the circle to see who didn't have a gift yet so everyone did take a gift home.

Hope I explained it well!  It was kind of hard to take pictures while keeping the game going!

HAVE FUN PLAYING YOUR CHRISTMAS GAMES!

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES...

We just finished up all of our Christmas on January 1!  How about you?  Lots of family is a blessing, and sometimes a challenge to see when you can all get together.  We did some ordinary things and some not-so-ordinary things for the holidays:

TIME WITH THE KIDS

 Christmas breakfast, church, and presents

 A night in Bricktown at Legacy Grill and Mini-golf

"OLYMPIC CHRISTMAS" FAMILY PARTY AT MY AUNT'S GYM

My cousin and me partnering on this one - I'm underneath!

HOMEMADE GIFTS WITH THE HUB'S FAMILY

Special t-shirts, ornaments, reindeer chow and wood blocks

I made these - they said joy on the back, 

then I also made a few others with sticker words on them.

 Now it's time to get on with the new year!

CHRISTMAS CRAFTING...

 Recently during a cold spell, The Hubs and I went through a shoebox of playing cards from my Mom's house, then we also went through our decks.  We counted and matched and threw out incomplete decks.  Our married kids had both told us they needed some playing cards so we were able to give them some of the numerous ones we had.  The rest of the incomplete decks I saved to make all kinds of things with the help of Pinterest!

 

Ornaments, little boxes and photo mats

It was a fun Christmas Eve afternoon activity after all the presents were done!

GETAWAY...

I would normally NEVER take a pleasure trip in December, but I'm growing up! No kiddos to get to school or wake up or look after at all, means I'm going out of town with The Hubs more. We went to Austin area recently and what I enjoyed most (besides not cooking and cleaning) was seeing the Christmas lights!  I had to restrain myself and just take a few pictures but here's an idea of just a few we saw.  Thank goodness this was a drive-through attraction - the cold hit down south, too!

This was the coolest thing at the end!  The lights are set up to blink also, so I felt like I was going through a wormhole (sci-fi language) some of the time!  

YES

LAST CHRISTMAS POST I PROMISE...

My side of the family has been having theme parties the last few years...my cousin hosted this time and it was a Masquerade party!  Kinda fun and fancy.

At home on Christmas morning we had a good time with all our kids - lots of funny gifts. 

I couldn't resist that mug since he loves big coffee mugs - all the ones I would use for soup!

Probably the prettiest sugar cookies I've ever done, so they deserve a look.

Houseshoes were the gift I decided everyone needed this year!

He asked for "swag" stuff - so I wrote SWAG on a bucket and filled it with junk.

At my Mom's on Christmas day...I was excited that I found a way to wrap my sister's step ladder - and it was almost as big as she was!

Finally, an afternoon with the Hubs family - and the big news from my nephew and his wife that they are expecting their first baby!!!  They're on the right. 

Such fun family times that are not to be taken for granted!  I hope you enjoyed your various holiday activities and are ready to begin a wonderful new year!

CHRISTMAS DECOR 2015...

This post is just for my reference so I don't have to think next year if I don't want to...