Tag Archives: Christmas

Christmas 2010 Highlights

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Going to the Telecom Tree on Christmas Eve with the Family.

Then, heading over to join the big crowd outside the house in Oriental Parade, to try and make enough noise to make the sound activated Christmas lights light up.

Watching the Nativity scene in the Joy to the World DVD on Christmas morning on our bed with the kids.

The kids made Christmas presents for the family this year. I loved seeing the excitement of the giver and receiver. A lot of thought and effort was put into the making of the gifts over the past couple of months. It was really special to see the kids show genuine appreciation when they received the presents. Probably one of my favourite parts of the day.

Our special banquet breakfast (lots of favourite food and drinks – kind of like our tradition of the birthday breakfast in bed, but we get to enjoy it all together, and it is at the table…rather than the bed….hehehe.)

Visiting family and loved ones.

Looking 4 months pregnant after finishing the amazing Christmas dinner that my mother prepared!

From our family to yours…may you have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

5 Great Finds: Wellington Advent Calendar, Christmas Treats with the Wow Factor, Free Holiday Treats eBook

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WELLINGTON ADVENT CALENDAR

Check out the online interactive Wellington Advent Calendar, to see what new treat is in store for you everyday. (I love how the art work includes some of the iconic places around Wellington.)

Don’t worry, you haven’t missed out on the previous specials. Most of the offers are valid from 1 Dec-24 Dec.

For more information: http://advent.wellingtonnz.com/

CHRISTMAS TREE CUPCAKES

Karen Tack, co-creator of Hello, Cupcake? and What’s New, Cupcake? books, has a great 3 tier Christmas Tree cupcake video tutorial on jellybelly.com [via craftgossip.com].

For more information: http://www.jellybelly.com/ideas/recipes_trim_the_tree_cupcakes.aspx

CHRISTMAS CAKE POPS

What can I say, Bakerella has some serious skills! She has made some amazing Christmas themed Cake Pops. I want to eat them so bad!

For more information: http://www.bakerella.com/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas/

Bakerella uses a baked cake as the base for her cake pops.

For a no bake version, check out this video tutorial using oreo cookies by My Little Cupcake!

CHRISTMAS PUDDING PUFFS

I made these mallowpuff puddings last year, and they were a hit! They are simple to make, delicious and so cute!

For more information: http://jugglingmotherhood.com/2009/12/15/in-the-kitchen-christmas-pudding-puffs/

LIST OF RECIPES AND OTHER GOODIES

Download your very own free Holiday Treats eBook from life….your way. You will have plenty of recipes to keep you busy! (I like the section in there, about how to run a cookie swap.)

For more information: http://food.yourway.net/free-holiday-treats-ebook-printables/

In the Kitchen: Quick Christmas Cupcakes

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The school lunches were seriously lacking the other day.

Since I had a bit of time up my sleeve, I quickly whipped up a little Christmas treat.

  • Mix up your favourite cupcake recipe (I used the Edmond’s cook recipe and used “No Egg” egg replacement since my daughter would be bringing her one to Playcentre).
  • Put half of the finished mixture in another bowl.
  • Mix in green food colouring in one bowl, and red in the other.
  • Put a spoonful of green into one side of the cupcake liner, then put a spoonful of red into the other side.
  • Don’t be too precious about how they look before they go into the oven, because the mixture automatically fills in any gaps and flattens out and rises.

RAINBOW CUPCAKES

You can mix up different colours and make a treat the kids love. They are so pretty that I don’t even ice them.

(These cupcakes were done with egg, so they seemed to rise better – even after a thorough mixing by a 3 year old!)

EDMONDS COOKERY BOOK CUPCAKES

125g butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 cup milk

  • Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy
  • Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
  • Sift flour and baking powder together.
  • Fold into creamed mixture.
  • Stir in milk.
  • Place in patty tins. (The recipe says it yeilds 18. I do 9 muffin size cupcakes with this recipe.)
  • Bake at 190 C (380 F) for 15 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly touched. (I keep an eye on it from 12 minutes onwards)
  • Transfer to a wire rack.
  • When cold decorate as wished.

When the cats away, the mice will play….

This is what happens when you leave a 6 year old and 3 year old to lick the bowl…..handprint art on my cook book!!

Family Traditions: Counting down to Christmas

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What’s a girl to do when she decides the day before, that she wants to do an Advent Calendar for December?!?!

First…go on the internet and drool over all the wonderful projects that
she can’t do because she hasn’t allowed enough time.

Next…decide on something simple, age appropriate and Christ centred.

We are going to be putting together this Navitity scene by adding to it each day.

We will also be doing different activities each day…reading about Jesus, random acts of kindness, showing love to family members and friends in different ways, crafts, baking etc.

Happy 1st December everyone!

(Go check out Katherine Marie Photography’s blog, she is counting down to Christmas by doing a Random Act of Kindness each day!)

5 Great Finds: Mini Calendars, Online Pumpkin Patch Sale, Felt Finds, Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas, iTRY

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DIY MINI CALENDARS

This makes a great gift for Grandparents and loved ones. I made one for my dad last year, and filled it with photos of the kids…he mentioned this year how much he liked it (and he’s not one to gush about presents).

Big Huge Labs

This is the one that I used last year. Once you are on their site, you basically upload the photo of your choice, choose the month and year and then it produces a picture file for you to save. One month done. Super easy!

http://bighugelabs.com/calendar.php

Shutter Sisters

Shutter Sisters provide a Photo Calendar template every year! Space for nice large photos and a simple design that doesn’t distract from it. Nice!

http://shuttersisters.com/home/2010/10/23/2011-photo-calendar-templates.html

oscraps.com

I love the fonts used in this calendar template. It says that it costs $4.99, but go down to the bottom where it says “Downloads” where you will find the zip file that you can download for free.

https://www.oscraps.com/shop/product.php?productid=25360&cat=287&page=1

For help with assembling the CD Calendars just go to this site: http://bighugelabs.com/calendar-instructions.php

SUPER SALE AT PUMPKIN PATCH ONLINE (NZ & AUST)

Pumpkin Patch is offering another 20% off ALL online purchases….including sale items!! There are some amazing deals. Free delivery as well. Sale ends this Friday.

For more information: http://www.pumpkinpatch.co.nz/

http://www.pumpkinpatch.com.au/


CUTE FINDS AT FELT

There are so many things to drool over at Felt, the New Zealand website of quality handcrafted goodies.

Here are a couple of bargains at $20 each:

This jewellery roll by cestlavie is lovely, and would be handy while you are on vacation during the holidays.

This nappy wallet by salubrious would make any new mother feel stylish and organised.

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

This year our children are making homemade gifts to give to each other. The Handmade Guide Ideas provided by Skip to My Lou could come in very handy if the kids get stuck on ideas!

For more information: http://www.skiptomylou.org/handmade-gift-ideas/

FREEBIES DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR (NZ)

NZ Post has recently launched a new service called iTRY. All you need to do is sign up and then select which freebie you would like to try, and then it will be delivered to you.

For more information: http://itry.co.nz/offers/index.html

5 Great Finds: Advent Calendar, Jewellery, Iphone/Itouch App, Home Organisation for Holidays, Toilet Paper Tip

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AMAZING ADVENT CALENDAR

I would love to have an advent calendar like Brooke’s from  Inchmark [via Homemade by Jill]. I wonder how many hours it took to put it all together??

For more information: http://inchmark.squarespace.com/inchmark/2008/12/22/advent-part-three.html

GREAT STOCKING FILLERS

Need something extra to put in the Christmas stocking for a loved one (or to put in your own stocking?!) Simple Serendipity’s Etsy shop [via eighteen25] sells jewellery which is $5 US or under!

Take this beautiful piece of jewellery which is $3 US:

With shipping to New Zealand ($3.10 US…more than the earrings…ha!) it would still only cost me about $7 or $8 NZ…crazy!

For more information: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleSerendipity?ref=pr_shop_more

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5662990/etsy_interview_with_simple_serendipity.html?cat=

http://simplespeaks.blogspot.com/

FUN GAME FOR IPHONE/ITOUCH

I feel it would be neglectful, if I didn’t warn you that you may get addicted…you and your hubby may stay up late trying to out score each other.

Ok, now that is out of the way….Scramble is a free game that you can download to your itouch or iphone. It’s where you try to make words out of letters that have been supplied, in the time limit allocated. To make a word, the letters have to be touching.

You can play solo, challenge a friend (a number of you can play the same game on the same itouch/iphone and see who gets the best score, or if you both own a itouch/iphone you can send a challenge to a friend. In order for them to find you, or you find them, you need their “number” and they need to have a name set up under their profile) or you could verse others live online.

I don’t feel like I excel at it…but it’s so much fun! If you get addicted, let me know, and we can play a couple of games!

For more information:

USA: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-scramble-challenge-edition/id329756985?mt=8

NZ: http://itunes.apple.com/nz/app/word-scramble-challenge-edition/id329756985?mt=8

PREPARING YOUR HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Tara from Deal Seeking Mom and Mandi from Life…Your Way have teamed up to give us the help we need to get ready for Christmas, in a series called Preparing Your Home for the Holidays.

Some of the topics included: kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and more!

For more information: http://organizing.yourway.net/category/preparing-your-home-for-the-holidays/

EXTRA LENGTH TOILET PAPER

I never thought I would endorse toilet paper…but here I am!

With a family of 6, we churn through toilet paper. Quite often several empty toilet rolls would end up “next” to the rubbish bin?!?! Not a great look!

Then I tried the Purex Mega Roll and I haven’t looked back. We buy one pack of 4 rolls, and that will last us a week. In the past we would use at least 8 rolls. So now, instead of putting 6 rolls of toilet paper in each bathroom cabinet, we just put in 2 mega rolls…saves a heap of space.

Love not having to look at empty rolls on the ground, love not having to change them so often, and love that it is good quality.

You may want to give extra long toilet paper a go!

More information: http://www.brandpower.com/nz/spotlight.asp?id=762

Disclosure: No freebies or payments involved in any of these recommendations, I just love sharing my great finds!

5 Great Finds: Gross Treats, Technology Tip, Pear Pillow & Apron Tutorial, Christmas Organisers

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GROSS TREATS

This are soooo neat, but sooo gross! Katherine from Katherine Marie Photography has posted a bunch of photos of the Halloween treats she made.

I just don’t know if I could make myself eat some of them, even though I KNOW they aren’t real!

For more information: http://katherinemariephotography.com/blog/archives/7242

UPGRADING THE POWER OF YOUR  MOUSE

Don’t you just love tips to make your life easier? My most used keyboard shortcut is probably Ctrl-Z to undo. Now I have a new one, which I am loving.

Go to Technology…Your Way to check out what happens when you “middle click on your mouse”…I like it!

For more information: http://technology.yourway.net/quick-tip-use-middle-click-simplify-your-life/

 

Image by William Hook

CUTE PEAR PILLOW

Tiffany from Lemon Tree Creations has been featured in 5 Great Finds in the past.

Who could forget her pillows she made using iron transfers:

For more information: http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2010/04/pillow-ideas.html

How about scanning a page from your favourite children’s book?

Or a scanned page from your favourite page in the Bible?

How about your own family pillow? Love it!

Now you can check out Tiffany’s [via My Backyard Eden] latest pillow tutorial, to make a pear pillow.

For more information: http://lemontreecreations.blogspot.com/2010/10/pear-pillow.html

APRON TUTORIAL

I have been on a look out for a new apron, and so this tutorial caught my eye at Martha Stewart [via Skip to My Lou]. I am a fan of Ink & Spindle‘s hand printed textiles and I just love the simple lines of this apron.

For more information: http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2010/06/apron-tutorial.html

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2010/11/02/10-free-apron-patterns/

CHRISTMAS ORGANISERS

Are you feeling a tad overwhelmed with Christmas preparations? Jenn from My Delicious Ambiguity has listed a bunch of Free Christmas Organisers that you can print out!

Flylady’s Holiday Control Journal is another great tool to use to manage the Christmas Chaos.

All the best!

For more information: http://www.mydeliciousambiguity.com/2010/11/some-free-printables-to-help-organize.html

http://www.flylady.net/images/HCJ2003.pdf

http://jugglingmotherhood.com/2010/05/15/5-great-finds-barretts-pillows-invites-motherhood-cards/

My 5 links for the week

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http://www.zenfamilyhabits.net/2010/01/rock-your-family-in-2010/ – I like this post and the simple ideas it suggests to bring the family closer during this next year.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=37455554 – I know that Christmas is over, but I saw this and thought this advent calendar was sooo cute!

http://www.organizingyourway.net/resolutions/31-days-of-organizing-for-a-better-2010-happy-new-year – Some great ideas to help you with your new years resolutions.

http://cmphotographynz.blogspot.com/2009/07/jamie-and-paul-mouton_30.html – This is my hubby’s talented cousin’s photography blog. Check out some of my fav photos!

http://www.nicknz.co.nz/Games/ – My daughter showed me this game, and I had a blast on it! Once you follow this link, select “Burger Bustle” where you are the waitress seating the customers, taking their order, serving their food and cleaning up after them. (ummmm…I know we kind of do that as mothers, but in this game you don’t have anyone spilling food on the floor, and you don’t have to cook a thing!)

My 5 links for the week

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http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/PARENTING_TIPS/sibling_rivalry.html – If you are finding that the holidays are bringing out the worst in your children, this article might help.

http://rainbowchildcraft.blogspot.com/2009/12/run-run-run-as-fast-as-you-can.html – Don’t you just love these gingerbread men with a bite taken out of them!? It’s my fav decorations for 2009!

http://memoriesoncloverlane.blogspot.com/2009/08/tutorial-on-how-to-make-blog-banner.html – I love it when people share their knowledge. Here is a tutorial to make your own “professional” looking banner for your blog. I am still trying to figure out Picasa, then I would like to give this a try!

http://lazymomtofour.blogspot.com/2009/12/cooking-make-your-own-peppermint-bark.html – These look soooo good! I’m so glad she shared her recipe with us! I just wish I can try some now!

http://thelongthread.com/?p=5450 – Instead of throwing away your Christmas cards, recycle them into next years gift tags. This post shows you how! So easy!!

www.vistaprint.com/free-photo-flip-books/gallery.aspx?pg=72

Merry Christmas 2009!

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Merry Christmas everyone!

Hubby and I enjoyed listening to carols and christmas stories as we wrapped presents and filled stockings.

I am filled with gratitude for the gifts we have received from the Lord and Saviour.

I am grateful for this season to reflect upon and celebrate Christ’s birth.

I will see you all when I come back online next week.

Inspirational Poem: The Night Before Christmas

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“T’was the night before Christmas and all through the town
Not a sign of Baby Jesus was anywhere to be found.

The people were all busy with Christmas time chores
Like decorating, and baking, and shopping in stores.

No one sang “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed”.
Instead, they sang of Santa dressed-up in bright red.

Mama watched Martha Stewart, Papa drank beer from a tap.
As hour upon hour the presents they’d wrap
When what from the T.V.
did they suddenly hear?
‘Cept an ad.. which told of a big sale at Sears.

So away to the mall they all flew like a flash…
Buying things on credit…
and others with cash!

And, as they made their way home from their trip to the mall,
Did they think about Jesus? Oh, no… not at all.

Their lives were so busy with their Christmas time things
No time to remember Christ Jesus, the King.

There were presents to wrap and cookies to bake.
How could they stop and remember who died for their sake?

To pray to the Savior…
they had no time to stop.
Because they needed more time to “Shop til they dropped!”

On Wal-mart! On K-mart!
On Target! On Penney’s!
On Hallmark! On Zales!
A quick lunch at Denny’s.
From the big stores downtown to the stores at the mall,
they would dash away, dash away, and visit them all!

And up on the roof, there arose such a clatter
As grandpa hung icicle lights up on his brand new step ladder.

He hung lights that would flash.
He hung lights that would twirl.
Yet, he never once prayed to Jesus…
Light of the World.

Christ’s eyes… how they twinkle!
Christ’s Spirit… how merry!
Christ’s love… how enormous!
All our burdens… He’ll carry!

So instead of being busy, overworked, and uptight
Let’s put Christ back in Christmas and enjoy some good nights.”

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

My 5 links for the week

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http://lilmagoolie.wordpress.com/ – I am loving this new blog I have stumbled across. Maddie has got a great eye for finding things all over the web that you just want to drool over! From crafts to home decor, she covers it all!

http://www.felt.co.nz – It’s like a New Zealand Etsy!! yay!

http://www.purlbee.com/ – For all you crafters out there who want a project that will make you look like a pro..go to this site, they have some awesome ideas.

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/snowy-ornaments – I happened to catch Martha Stewart’s Christmas Special the other day. I just love this ornament that she made! Maybe I can attempt it with the kids?

http://www.centsationalgirl.com/2009/12/jingle-bell-christmas-card-display/ – I am needing some ideas about how to display our Christmas cards. This post has quite a few good ideas….anyone have any tips?

Family Traditions: Our Special Tree

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Kindness Tree, Good deeds Tree, Goodwill Tree, Service Tree whatever you want to call it (we don’t actually have a name for it!) this is a tradition that we started in our family that has really brought the spirit of Christmas into our home.

The idea came from the first day of my advent calendar I once had: “Gather 24 ornaments for your Christmas tree and place them in a basket under the tree. Each time you complete an act of service, put an ornament on the tree.”

I took a spare little tree we had, and the spare decorations we weren’t using on the main tree and placed them in our family room. Whenever we noticed someone doing something nice for someone else, we would say “go and put an ornament on the tree!” The kids love it, and I love catching the kids being good!

Just this morning, my 7 year old was feeling sad about something, so my almost 3 year old came over to her and rubbed her back and mumbled something in toddler-speak, it sounded something like “oh, are you ok?”. So we told her she could go and put an ornament on the tree (Which is great, because she has a real fetish with ornaments! 2 years ago she crawled and pulled off all the ornaments off the bottom of the tree. Last year she took bite marks out of the styrofoam ones. This year, she picks them off the tree like apples and carries them in her wicker basket!)

So if you are upgrading your tree and decorations, this could be a wonderful way to make use of those items! You could even make and advent tree with numbered ornaments or a Gratitude tree where you would say what you were grateful for, then put an ornament up. The possibilities are endless!

In the kitchen: Christmas Pudding Puffs

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Photo by Juggling Motherhood

Want the “wow” factor the next time you bring a plate to a Christmas function? Try making these delicious treats using MallowPuffs (or equivalents).

I saw the recipe by Simon Holst in the Little Treasures magazine a year ago, and thought they were the cutest things! I made a tray of these for the Family Home Evening we had last week at my friend’s house.

Photo by Juggling Motherhood

Christmas Pudding Puffs

Ingredients:

MallowPuffs (or equivalents)

Jaffas (or some sort of red candy)

Spearmint leaf lollies (I found these at The Warehouse)

Icing – You can either use melted white chocolate, or make your own icing with icing sugar. I used the icing sugar version. As I assembling each “pudding”, I would put it straight into the fridge to allow the icing to harden so the “holly” wouldn’t start sliding off.

Icing

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tbsp boiling water

1 cup icing sugar

1-2 tsp extra water if required

Put the butter in a medium-sized bowl, add the boiling water and stir until the butter has melted. Sift in the icing sugar, then mix to make a soft, smooth icing. Add 1-2 tsp extra water if required, but don’t make the icing too soft or you won’t be able to stick the decorations on.

Assembling the “puddings”

Spread about a teaspoon of icing on each MallowPuff then decorate with a couple of spearmint leaf lollies and a jaffa or two!

(I used 1 packet of jaffas, a packet of spearmint leaves and 3 packets of MallowPuffs and it made a huge tray full.)

Photo by Juggling Motherhood

I don’t think my kids have ever seen a traditional Christmas pudding!

Fun Kids Activity: Christmas Bingo

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Christmas Bingo is a simple game that can be pulled together relatively easily and cheaply. The great thing about bingo is that it is a game that can be enjoyed by little children, as well as big adults!

Our family was assigned to run a game at our friend’s Family Home Evening that we were invited to. After surfing the internet, I came across crayola’s site with this great bingo game!

http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/search.cfm?txt_search=christmas

If you want to be tricky and make a larger bingo playing card, follow these steps:

1. I printed all the 5 playing cards onto white paper.

2. Then I cut out the bingo portion of the page.

3. I worked out the right percentage to enlarge the bingo game to the width of the paper. (If you have a copy function on your multifunction printer, click on 100%, then I clicked on Zoom, then I increased the percentage to around 122% – I have a preview function on my Canon MP520, which was helpful to see how big the enlargement was going to be.)

4. Then I copied the enlarged version onto red and green cardboard paper. (Obviously you can use any coloured card. I copied each playing card more than once, as we had over 10 people playing the game.)

5. I also copied one more enlarged version of the bingo game onto some white card and cut it out to make the “calling cards”.

If you want to use this game again, I would recommend laminating it. For counters you can use cut up bits of cardboard. In our family we use a variety of “gems” as counters that we have collected over the years.

The winner received a mini candy cane :)