Have an Elfish Holiday

So you can make your self into an elf…and talk too.

Click here to see my elf and make your own!

Some Fun Christmas links

Here are some fun Christmas links…have fun!

• Santa Blog
• Flickr Christmas Photos
• Cartoon Network Christmas card maker
• Some Awesome Christmas printables
• All Things Christmas labels, cards, lists, gift certificates, and wrapping paper, oh my!
• Free Christmas coloring pages
• Christmas Everything…no…really…everything…
• Organizing Christmas Book Pages…so you can stay sane during the holidays
• Printable Christmas stationary, labels, and postcards…very nice

So check them out. They are free, funny, and fantastic.

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is the yummiest time of the year.  I really love traditions that involve food.  But I love Christmas in general.  I always have. I was the one that always hung the stockings by the chimney with care (well, more like up on a nail on the wall with care).  I even wrapped my own christmas presents.  My parents just put my presents in big boxes.  There is one tradition that my parents had that I still do today.

We made chili on Christmas Eve.

Yea, I know it seems like a silly tradition.  But it was something I did look foward to at Christmas time.  It would cook all day ( my mom always made it from scratch…i cheat…mine is from a can…but it is chili).  She would make extra spicey for her and my dad and would make a whole other separate pot for me and my brother.  When my brother got a girlfriend that didn’t eat chili, I thought she was going to pass out.  But fear not.  My mom found a white chicken chili recipe for her…and it is delish.  But she will not give it to me….dang her…dang her to heck.  I really love this tradition and I wanted to share it. 

What kind of traditions do you and your family do?  What traditions did you do as a child?  What do you think would make a fantastic tradition?

It’s Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas–

So while I was out and about on the blogosphere, I found Santa’s Blog. It isn’t fancy, but I don’t thing he has the time to be blinging his blog. But you must check it out. It is sssssssssooooooo cute! Now go and check out everyone else and their christmas!

Winter Bazaar–snowflakes

Hello everyone.  ok…I love christmas.  I wanted to decorate the house and for little to no money.  My hubby was kind enough to show me and our oldest son how to make snowflakes.  I had a step by step picture I hope I can describe for you as to how to make them.  They are so easy but kind of time consuming.  I did have about 15 different snowflakes to show you but our daughter was kind enough to rip them up…oh well.

1. Get a regular piece of typing paper.
2. Fold it in such a way that it goes over itself, meets on one side, and makes a point.
3. Fold it over again to make a triangle.  You will have some excess on the bottom.
4. Now cut that excess off.
5. Fold one of the bottom points over so it meets in the middle.  The top point should still be at a point.  The bottom point should be hanging over, so to speak.
6. Do the same with the other bottom point.
7. Now flip it over…and where you see the paper edge…cut the excess bottom points off.
8. Now you are left with an even smaller, yet thicker, triangle.
9. Now start cutting….you can cut any design you want….experiment.  I just took a picture of the one I made.
10. Now you can unfold it and TADA….you have a magical snowflake.
11. I included pictures of the snowflakes that survived my daughter’s hands.

Now go and see what other Christmas goodies you can do over at Scribbit’s blog….well…Christmas is over 2 weeks away…you may have time.

Tis The Season To Spread Some Joy…

Christmas is the time of year to reach out to your fellow man…to do alittle good…to be friendly to both strangers and family. The best way to do this (with your computer, that is) is to network.

No matter what time of year, I love to network. With some of the networks, I just have a basic profile. With a select few, I am quite involved, or I try my hardest to be. Through all this networking and reaching out to my fellow man, I have found my favorite network platform.

It could be myspace. Maybe facebook. How about friendster. Nope, none of those.

My all time favorite is Ning. This is a fantastic site. Not only can you visit Ning and find a group on anything, you can go there and start your own group. I, myself, am the member of 8 groups and 3 waiting approval. I have even started a group about having multiple births to go along with my blog about the same.

Let us try some terms and find out what we come up with, shall we…

• Ning’s most popular networks at the moment
• Art networks
• Networks relating to business
• Education networks
• Networking moms
• And don’t forget the dads
• How about alittle marketing
• The state of Iowa
• And last, but not least, family

Check out any of those groups, or you can do a custom search for the group you are looking for. This is also a great way for families to keep in touch, share pictures, and have it totally private. You can make the group by invite and approval only. So no peeky-peeky by anyone not wanted.

And if you are into networking, like me, then this networking platform is a one-stop shop. You can join several groups, from working moms, to stay at home business, to marketing, to gaming, to scrapbooking, and only have to stop by one place. And you can invite your friends and family so you can just go to the one network to find everyone you ever wanted to network and reach out to.

So, go and spread some christmas cheer…and you will never guess…christmas has some networks too.

Social Bookmarking

Gingerbread house decorating–internet style

My shewhoblogs buddy bleeding espresso had a gingerbread house posted on her blog. So I checked it out and it took me to this wonderful artist who had several activities for kids and just fantastic work…so, of course, I just had to post about her.

Jenny B. Harris is just a fantastic artist. Click on her name to go to her main page and then go from there to learn more about her, find examples of her work, and even her blog…i love the blog…love bloggers in general. I just love the site.

Click on the gingerbread house to get to the activities page and go nuts. I did do a gingerbread house, but I was so excited about the site, I forgot to save it. Oh well…that just gives me another reason to go back. I hope to see you all there!

Social Bookmarking

WINTER BAZAAR

I love Christmas.  Well, I love all the holidays.  My husband, not so much.  But I like to think he loves that I love Christmas.  Anyway, when we got together, I wanted to have a Christmas tradition that was just for us…a new tradition.  We actually stumbled on this one bored and quiet night.

CHOCOLATE COVERED POTATOE CHIPS

Oh, they are so good.  They are simple but are time consuming–and so worth it.

• Start with good quality rippled potatoe chips…must be rippled.
• Then get some chocolate.  I use 1 bag of chocolate chips with one tablespoon of crisco.
• Get a little basting brush.  Go on…get one.
• Melt the chocolate and crisco in a double boiler…or a big bowl of slowly boiling water with a small bowl that fits on top of-but not in big bowl-for choc. and crisco.  Don’t forget to stir once in awhile so chocolate doesn’t burn.
• While choc. is melting, pick out the best and biggest chips to use.
• Lay out wax paper…you will need alot of space for the choc. covered chips to cool.
• Once melted, take chip, dip only half way, and brush off excess chocolate.
• You can vary anyway you want–more choc. covering–more choc. on chip—etc.
• You should let them cool before you eat them but I bet you all the chocolate in the world you can’t wait.

We make this every year and they never seem to last to Christmas day.  Once you make them, you will find out why!  Now go check out Scribbit and find more awesome Christmas traditions…who knows…maybe you and yours can find a new tradition to start.

Tis The Season…

Tis the season…for commercials…for keeping up with the Christmas Joneses…for getting that oh so special toy that every other kid is getting…for getting overwhelmed due to family…aaaahhhhhh…Christmas.

I love Christmas. I love the lights, the presents, the thought of giving presents, decorating the tree, sending cards, all the cute little knick-knacks…everything. But what I don’t like is how commercial this time of year has become.

When I was shopping for Halloween candy, I saw Christmas lights out. WHAT?! Even before Halloween…are you kidding me! Tis the season for giving, not for getting every penny out of us consumers. And besides, Christmas is not supposed to be for consuming…it is for giving. It is to remember that Baby Jesus was born and died for our sins. It is to remember that family down the road that doesn’t have heat or enough food. It is to remember that little ‘ol lady that just wants someone to have a cup of tea with her.

I feel for the Christmas season. It is slowly but surely turning into something ugly. I wish I could see giving instead of selfishness. I miss spending it with family instead of competing with thy neighbor. I wish I could see what Jesus would really do instead of how short people can be in rush hour.

Tis the season…I wish. I love the Christmas season. I hope that people can remember what Tis The Season means and get back to the traditions that made this time of year great.

Social Bookmarking

Winter Bazaar

Alright everyone, tis the season to get into christmas.  I love Christmas.  I think it may be my favorite holiday.

When I was a kid, my parents would take us to Hallmark to buy a Christmas ornament every year.  Yea…we have alot of ornaments.  I did manage to collect all of one plate series and a doll ornament set.  But now that I have my own kids, I wanted to do ornaments but I wanted to be more craftsy about it.

This year we are doing something simple, due to the fact that my 2 oldest are only 5 and 1 1/2.  So we are doing cookie cutter ornaments.

This is very simple and your kids can help you every step of the way.  So go to almost any store–a craft store would probably have a bigger selection.  Find some fantastic Christmas cookie cutters.  Now you have to go and find some gotta-have-it ribbon.  Let your kids each choose their own ribbon.  Don’t forget the puffy paint to label whose ornament is whose.

Then, when you get home you can put these together, lickity-split.  Just help your little ones cut the ribbon and tie it to their cookie cutter ornament.  Label and let dry and there you go.  Simple and awesome.  Now go and see what other artsy fartsy stuff is at the Winter Bazaar!