Christmas 2014

Christmas for us is always hectic. I'm pretty sure last year was the ONLY year I have ever been able to actually sit home on Christmas Day and enjoy it and that was only because I myself cooked a small family dinner. Since I have divorced parents that means 2 dinners automatically then of course there is Berracs family which makes 3. This year we ended up with a total of 4 dinners, 2 on Christmas Eve and 2 Christmas Day. 

Needless to say although im extremely thankful for family I would much rather be able to enjoy Christmas with my kids at home and watch them play with their toys while they are still young because let's face it one day they won't want toys, they won't believe in Santa, they will eventually be grown and scattering visiting each dinner for a moment trying to 'please' everyone. For the time being I would actually like to ENJOY Christmas but reality is NO ONE ever seems to understand that.

Christmas Eve we were not home until 9pm, Christmas Day opened presents and rushed off. Not home until 9pm again. May I add I HAD to work Christmas Day (night shift), and the 2 following nights with that Sunday spent catching up on sleep and Monday returning to work for second shift. I normally don't work that much but we have to pick and choose holidays to work so it's fair to everyone.

Anyways, as you can tell I didn't get much time to enjoy with my kiddos at all. Again, I am thankful for such a wonderful family and I hate to whine and complain but it's just exhausting and not fun. Not to mention the kids hated not being able to play with their stuff.

ASIDE FROM ALL THAT the boys had a lovely Christmas Eve night and Christmas. We spend Christmas Eve night looking at Christmas lights for free that Buffalo Trace Distillary puts on every year. Once we arrived at home the kids opened their Christmas Eve gifts which consisted of Christmas pjs, pop corn, pop corn bowls, sprite, candy, cookie mix. We ended up making cookies for us and Santa of course, getting dressed in warm Christmas pjs, watching a Christmas movie and pretending we were at the movies with our beverage, popcorn and snacks.

After they drifted off and I was ready for bed I set up my phone to 'catch Santa' (thank you caught Santa app). When they woke up the first thing they done was check my phone where they found awesome Santa pictures!

That caught Santa app was the best thing ever and it's really nice for younger kids questioning his belief but wouldn't think twice that technology created the picture. I also had another app that showed elves walking on our floor and Santa leaving our house with his reindeer. I believe it is called Santa cam FX.

The kids loved seeing the Santa pics and enjoyed opening their presents. Braxton even said Santa brought him TOO many presents. I'm unsure which toy was Braxtons favorite but I do believe Brooxs' favorite was the easy bake oven which he is STILL waiting to use (yes we have been that busy). Unfortunately Berran slept through the entire Christmas morning so we have no footage of him. I finally opened 2 of his presents, shoes & Baltic amber necklace so he could wear them that day and then several days later he opened the rest. 

It's so exciting doing Christmas every year and seeing their faces light up with joy and still believing in Santa Claus yet knowing that it is a celebration of Jesus and that we give gifts just as baby Jesus was given gifts when he was born. After all when Santa is questioned I say but we believe in god and cannot see him, correct? Because seeing is NOT believing. Believing is what we feel in our heart.

Newborn ornament keepsake

What you'll need:

•big plastic or glass (I used plastic) ornament. This is not your standard size ornament it's a little bigger. I found these at walmart for .98.

 

•Paint Pen/Sharpie Marker

 

•Newborn hat, bracelet and a picture cut into a small square.

How to:

•on one side of ornament write babies name and birth info. Let dry.

 

•stuff the ornament with the hat first and then add the bracelet and picture to the opposite side from the baby's name and info. 

 

•Arrange the bracelet and photo how you'd like and hang on the tree.

 

I love this because otherwise these items would be hiding away in a box all year. Now, these items are on display once a year and adds a special touch to the tree.

Easy no sew DIY Christmas shirt

This is a cute easy cheap shirt idea I done a few years back. 

What you'll need:

•plain colored shirt. Mine was purchased for around $4 at walmart.

 

•2 brown, 1 black, 1 red, 1 white, & 1 green (or dark brown) felt sheet. These are really cheap and can be found at walmart.

 

•fabric glue/adhesive 

 

•scissors 

 

•piece of cardboard or something thick

How to:

•I used the initial idea so we done the letter B for Braxton and Broox. You may also do a normal reindeer head if you'd like.

 

•Cut out the letter or rein deer head and the ears out of brown. 

 

•Cut the antlers out of green or if you'd like you could do brown.

 

•Cut big circles for the whites of eye and smaller circles in black for the pupils.

 

•Also, with the black you want to cut smaller ears for the Inside of the brown part of ear and smaller mouth piece for the inside of the red lips.

 

•With the red cut out the nose and the mouth/lips.

 

•place cardboard or thicker material inside of shirt to avoid glue seeping and sticking to the back of shirt.

 

•After everything is cut and cardboard is inserted then position felt on shirt how you'd like to get an idea how it will look before you glue.

 

 •Antlers should be on the bottom so apply adhesive and glue those down first. 

 

•Then Glue the ear pieces and the head.

 

•After that glue on the eye whites, pupils, nose, red mouth/lips and the black center of mouth.

•Let dry

Snowflake picture ornaments

What you'll need:

•snowflake ornament (or any other ornament you'd like) I bought a pack of 6 from the dollar tree for $1.

 

•pictures

 

•Foam paper or something thicker to glue the picture on. I bought a pack of glitter foam paper from the dollar tree it was maybe 12 in a pack for $1.

 

•Glitter glue (optional) I wanted to add a little something to the edge of the circle

 

•Spraypaint (optional) if you'd like to change the color of your snow flake.

 

•Mod podge 

How to:

•cut your pictures out in a circle. as you see mine are not perfect.

 

•using your picture as a guide place it on the foam and cut just enough so it shows around the edges. You may cut 2 for each picture if you'd like one on the back to write the year.

 

•use the mod podge and glue the picture to the foam and let dry.

 

•if you want to change the color of your snowflake spray paint both sides and let dry.

 

•once dry use mod podge to glue the foam piece with picture onto the center of the snowflake. If you want to add one on the back glue it on as well and let dry.

 

•once dry apply mod podge to the snow flake and foam/picture. Let dry then do the opposite side. 

 

•Once completely dry tie on the string and hang on the tree.

I got this idea from http://thecraftingchicks.com/2013/12/snowflake-photo-ornaments.html

It's the most wonderful time of the YEAR!

Now I know I'm about 2 weeks late with this post but I have spent the last 2 weeks with sick kids and a sick me. I've been extremely tired and extremely busy. So here I am at work catching up on my blogging so I can bring you some good DIY posts this week. I hope you all are looking forward to trying some of these ideas out and I'm hoping to see some of them on my instagram feed here soon!

 

I love December how about you? I'm sure we all feel the same way about December. It is such a beautiful month with all the holiday cheer. The decorations are spectacular, everyone has their best scented holiday candle burning, the trees are decorated. Everything really puts everyone (me at least) in a good mood.

 Sadly along with December comes money spending. Luckily I had some extra cash last month and got majority of my shopping done at that time and then I ordered a few items online. I cannot wait until Christmas morning I know the kids will be pleased. 

 

It is always fun playing Santa year after year and I love that my kids still believe. Last year Braxton was questioning Santa being real and he didn't believe the elf on the shelf was real either. At that time I told him he didn't have to see Santa at night for him to be real but if you want Santa to visit you then you must believe otherwise you will no longer receive presents from Santa. With this I also enforce that just like we believe in god and we cannot see him that is how Santa came about was from the birth of baby Jesus and how we believe in god. We believe in both Santa and god to keep the holiday spirit alive in our house hold.

 

With that said i'm finishing this post up at home and the baby is hungry so i'm hurrying off.

Sending positive holiday wishes to all my readers!