Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

The Best Christmas Treats to Make with Kids

The Best Christmas Treats to Make with Kids during the holidays. These are great treats to make and eat and to share with neighbors, family, and friends at Christmas.

I love Christmas treats. There are several I feel are must-makes every year. This year, I decided to have each child choose a treat to make each Monday evening to go with our family night. This has been fantastic because it has spread the treats out over the month rather than us having them all in one week. We are slowly enjoying them rather than binging on them.

These five treats are easy enough to make with your children.

Fudge

Fudge can be hard, but there are easy fudge recipes out there. I love to add different extracts to the fudge to change the flavor. Chocolate, mint, almond...it is all yum. Here is a link to my favorite fudge recipe:

Top Christmas Albums to Listen To

Top Christmas albums to listen to. A great variety of family friendly Christmas items to listen to this holiday season.

I love music in general, but I have a special love for Christmas music. I know it can seem silly to own several albums of songs that are essentially all the same, especially when the music is listened to for a little over a month a year, but I can't get enough!

These are my 17 favorite Christmas albums. If you have a favorite singer or group, there is a good chance he/she/they have a Christmas album you can add to your collection. These 17 are also great additions. They bring the warmth, love, and joy of Christmas. There are varying music styles and decades represented here. I even have some choir and some instrumental.

Right now, our overall favorite is anything from Pentatonix. We love them in general and especially love their Christmas music. This post contains affiliate links.

Top 17 Christmas Movies to Watch With Your Kids

Top Christmas Movies to Watch With Your Kids this holiday season. A family-friendly Christmas movie list.

I love snuggling up with my children in December to enjoy a Christmas movie together. It somehow brings an extra measure of wonder, delight, and magic to the season. Here are our favorite Christmas shows to watch each year as a family. This post contains affiliate links.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

This is fun for all ages, but idea for your toddlers, preschoolers, and younger children. It isn't super long, so you ca fit it in your evening and still make bedtime. It is cartoon-ish (not the dreaded "real people"), so that makes it more popular for the younger crowd. It also has fun singing and a great message of accepting others as they are.

Frosty The Snowman

Frosty is again fun for all ages, but the same target age range as Rudolph. This is another short movie. It has the same benefits as Rudolf does.

The Polar Express

The Polar Express is our one must-see movie each December. Young children like it, and the adults still fully enjoy it. It is a cartoon. It has fun music. It brings the feeling of magic at Christmas with it. It is a longer movie, so I recommend this be a fun weekend event. We love to pop popcorn, print off some Polar Express tickets (just google it and print the images you find), and get some movie theater candy. We all get in our pajamas, sunggle in, and enjoy the show!

Light The World This Christmas

I always try to be as done as possible with the list of Christmas tasks before December 1 hits. I want to be able to enjoy my family and enjoy the reason for the season. What better way to celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ, than to focus on serving others in the days leading up to the celebration of His birth?

Last year, we participated in the Light the World service ideas, and we plan to do so again this year. The idea is to serve in 25 ways in 25 ways.

You can download and print the calendar here.

Here are videos and details for all of the days. These help give you ideas and ways to execute service on each day. You have loving neighbor, helping children, forgiving, feeding the hungry, giving to others, comforting the sick, focusing on things that matter...there are just so many ways to help you focus on the reason for the season and help bring light to others this season!

Watch my Instagram account to follow how we are implementing these ideas. And please don't feel like you have to do every single day of this to do it at all! Things come up, so don't let fear of "failure" stop you from doing it at all.

Inexpensive Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Inexpensive Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Christmas. A list of ideas for stockings for children. 17 different items you can use as stocking stuffers this Christmas.

Do you know what I reeeeaaalllly dislike in my house? The cheap little toys you get that end up breaking in a day. A lot of those types of toys are obvious candidates for a stocking stuffer. You can fill a stocking up fast and inexpensively! I can't bring myself to be the source of the cluttery toys, however. I also can't bring myself to spend a thousand dollars on stocking stuffer items (I exaggerate...a little). I want stocking stuffers that are useful, inexpensive, and I won't want to throw away the next day.

Here are some stocking stuffers I always go-to (this post contains affiliate links):

Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Children This Christmas

Notebooks

Notebooks come in all sorts of sizes, so no matter the size of your stocking, you can find a notebook to go in it. Notebooks are also very inexpensive. Check the dollar store and other local stores you like to turn to for inexpensive notebooks. Our dollar store also has nice drawing pads. Always price check against Amazon, also.

Coloring Books

Along the same line, if your child enjoys coloring in coloring books, those are fun stocking stuffers. Not all of my children have been into coloring books, so it isn't something I have always used, but I do have some who love to color in a coloring book. Be sure to look at Amazon for some good deals on coloring books, especially the adult coloring book style. They have a lot of options for under five dollars.

Post-it Notes

I am not kidding. My kids think they are in heaven when they pull out Post-it notes. A whole pad they can use however they want to! You can get them at the dollar store or often somewhere like Walmart or Target for even less than the dollar store. You can often find good deals on a package of post it notes that you can then split up among your children.

Christmas Gift Guide Ages Birth-12 Years Old

Christmas Gift Guide Ages Birth-12 Years Old. Perfect Christmas gift ideas for your children from your baby on through your preteen.

I am very thoughtful and intentional about what gifts I get my children. I want to get toys that will last--nothing that will break right away. I prefer toys that I can pass down from child to child. Here are some ideas for you as you are choosing gifts for your children. I have broken them down into age ranges. I also have some other toy posts that I will link below. Also, don't forget to do a book! I always do a book for each child.

Baby-24 Months Old Gifts

2-4 Years Old Gifts

4-6 Years Old Gifts

6-8 Years Old Gifts

8-12 Years Old Gifts

For children in this age range, experience gifts are great! Memberships, punch passes, gift cards to a location, tickets, etc. You can also start to buy things like furniture to be gifts. Kaitlyn wants a desk in her room, so that will be her gift this year.

Family Time

Veronica said: "Every year my husband and I alternate families for the holidays. One year we do his family for thanksgiving and mine for Christmas, and then the next year we swap. It helps not to have to visit everyone for every holiday with three kids!

If we aren't in our own home for Christmas we do our own little family Christmas before we leave for our road trip. We take the day off work, open presents, cook ham, and eat pie. It makes it so we don't have to use up room in the car for presents. It also let's us make our own family memories, and focus on enjoying the traditions of family members while we visit in their homes."

Stephanie said: "We discuss logistical plans in October, before all the emotions of the holidays set in. The rotation is pretty set (with priority going to any event with our grandparents as our time with them is limited), but it's still worth discussing to ensure we're both on the same page."

I have never found it harder to have the Christmas spirit than I have as a mother. Ironically, I have never so desperately wanted that feeling in my home as I have as a mother. Christmas time as a mom is just different than it was as a child. You have so many details you are trying to attend to that it can be hard to find time to recognize what you feel. That is why I do all I can to have as much ready for Christmas as I can before December hits. I have a great idea for this year, though! If you are looking for a way to bring the Christmas spirit into your home this season, I think you will love this idea, too!

It is called #LIGHTtheWORLD. The idea is that Jesus Christ lit the world. He said that He is the light of the world. He also said that we are the light of this world. This Christmas initiative has 25 ways to light the world in 25 ways. Each day of December, there is a different theme for the day based on the life of Christ. There is a list of ideas for you to fulfill that theme, or you can come up with your own!

I love this intensive focus on Christ each day. Each day of the month leading up to His birth, we will be focusing on Him each day. We will be trying to emulate Him each day. What better way to bring in Christmas, and what better way to give a gift to Him? "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

Today is December first, so the first day. The theme today is "Jesus lifted others' burdens, and so can you." So today you would think of a way you can lift a burden. Do you have a neighbor who needs help shoveling a sidewalk? A friend who could use an hour off from her kids? A neighbor in need of a meal or some other treat? There are so many ways to serve.

You can find the full list for the month here.

Watch Instagram for our updates on what we do each day. I am excited to see how this impacts our Christmas this year.

There are SO MANY resources for you on the Internet. I will be using the ones found here. If you Google "#lighttheworld printout," you will find many more ideas.

Here is to a brighter Christmas!

Getting Ready for Christmas in 4 Steps

Getting Ready for Christmas in 4 Easy Steps. All of the preparation for Christmas broken down into four manageable steps so moms can easily prepare. How to get ready for Christmas early.

Just last week, my great-aunt posted a rant (in the nicest way possible; she is a sweet woman) on Facebook about her frustration with Christmas items being up in stores at the same time Halloween items are up in stores.

At the risk of frustrating my aunt further, today I am talking Christmas gifts. This is absolutely the time of year I start planning Christmas, and I am often done shopping and have my Christmas Cards ordered by this point. This seems impressive to some. I am not a procrastinator at all and I like things done early. A big reason for this is because doing things last minute stresses me out and I basically freeze up if something has do be done spontaneously. It is really about me being able to cope well.

I like to give thoughtful and meaningful gifts. I like to not fill my house up with things I will just throw away in a few weeks. I take my time thinking about gifts and I choose with intention.

Merry Christmas {Christmas Break 2015}

Merry Christmas to you all! I am thankful for this time of year because of what it means to us. It means that Jesus Christ was born and that He lived and died for us. I will be taking two weeks off to enjoy some time with my family. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! I have linked some of my most popular posts from the end of 2011 for you to peruse if you want some posts to read over the break. Many of these should be quite helpful to you for this time of year as you fit in last minute gifts and visiting with family over the break. I will be back January 4, 2016!