Handmade Holiday Gift Idea

Do you ever have a craft idea and when it all comes together you are just giddy? Well, this plastic cloche ornament was one of those moments for me. I was searching and searching to find some tiny glass bell jars or cloches to make ornaments. Of course I am a little on the cheap side and didn’t want to pay very much, plus I wanted my kids to be able to use them to make ornaments and not feel like they cost to much to let them glue Legos or pipe cleaners inside. Then I was wandering the aisles of Dollar Tree and duh, it hit me.

I spied some plastic wine glasses with removable bottoms and presto this fantastic ornament idea was born. I am certain I am not the first crafter to have this idea and I am not sure why I never thought of it before. But if you are as excited as I am, then run, don’t walk to Dollar Tree and pick up a 6 pack of these plastic wine glasses and some of the plastic snowflakes I glued to the bottom.

(The Santa ornament above has the removable wine glass base glued onto the bottom of the ornament. Genius! You can use all the pieces! That makes it stand up on it own. Don’t add the ornament hanger and you can just display it on a mantle.)

I do want to warn that E•6000 glue is smelly and you will need to help your child with the gluing part. I let my kids pick out all the pieces and show me how they wanted them assembled, then I glued for them. Only my eight year old was able to do it herself.

Supplies:

• Plastic Wine Glasses (mine are from Dollar Tree in the party supply section)
• Plastic Snowflakes or (use the removable bottom from the wine glasses)
• E•6000 Glue
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Assorted items to put inside (birds, Santa, bottle brush trees)

How To:

1. 

   Using either a plastic snowflake for the ornament base or the removable bottom from the wine glass, glue down the pieces you are using to form a scene inside your ornament.

2. If you are using the base of the glass, you can either put it right side up or upside down. Either way will work.

3. 

   Complete gluing on all items that will sit inside the ornament. Let dry.

4. 

   Place glue around edge of glass and stick down to base of ornament.

5. 

   Add glue to the stem of glass and tie ribbon around glue to create an ornament hanger. Let dry. Then tie ribbon into a loop.

    

6. Glue on additional embellishments to the outside of ornament. I got my rhinestone mesh to create the pretty blue bling around the bottom of my bird ornament from HERE.

The post Handmade Holidays | Plastic Wine Glass Ornament appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? We had a great time decorating the tree over the weekend. Everyone is old enough now that they can help hang the ornaments. It’s a special and magical year for us and I love that all of my kids are so into the Christmas spirit. This week I helped my 4 year old make his handmade gift. He stamped these spice bags to give as gifts to his brother and sisters. This is really easy to do, but will keep a 4 year old busy for a chunk of time.

My son was so excited to finish stamping the bags and then fill them with CANDY! I bought some Brach’s classic candy mix, somehow it just tastes like Christmas and Grandma’s house!

Supplies:

• Spice Bags
• Stamping Ink Pads
• Stamps
• Candy

How To:

1. Lay bag flat.
2. Choose stamp and ink it up.
3. Stamp onto bag. Continue to add stamps to build a cute scene!
4. Fill with candy or treats.

The post Handmade Holidays | Stamped Spice Bags with Candy appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

My 7 year old son made these drinking glasses to give as gifts to his siblings for Christmas. This is a really great kid craft! This year we are working on a new tradition. I am helping each child make a handmade gift for everyone in our family. Making special gifts makes my kids feel so excited and proud and since he loves to draw this was a natural fit. So you’ve seen what he made, don’t spill the beans to the rest of the family! Want to help your child make glasses like these? Read on to find out how simple they were to make!

I wanted to tell you a little more about my son’s choices of drawings. He drew a bunny for his older sister who loves bunnies, ninja’s for his brother, a crown for his little sister, a deer for Dad and an Astronaut for himself. There was one more glass for me, but he wrapped it so I couldn’t see it! I am so excited for him to give these to everyone! Plus now we will know whose cup is whose and I won’t have to keep washing them because we don’t know who drank out of what cup!

Supplies:

• Glass Markers – found at Michaels or Jo-Anns
• Glasses
• Drawings of what you want to draw
• Tape

How To:

1. Wash and dry glass.

2. 

   Measure your glass and cut a piece of paper so it will fit inside your glass. Use that paper to draw your picture on. Slide paper with picture into glass and use a piece of tape to secure picture temporarily to glass.

3. 

   The easiest way we found to draw on the glass is to lay it on a paper towel in your lap. Once glass is lying flat, draw your picture by following the lines of your paper sketch you see through the glass.

4. Let dry according to marker instructions. Hand wash.

The post Handmade Holidays | Painted Drinking Glasses appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Christmas seems to be just around the corner! My kids are so excited to make Christmas related crafts. I came up with these easy to make Holy Family figures for my daughter to create and display in her room.

The creation of this Holy Family incorporates a few natural items found outside. We used a dried milkweed pod for Jesus’ bed and acorn tops for their halos. Here in Michigan the milkweed pods are still hanging on the stalks and are all dried out, just waiting to be picked and used in a craft.

Supplies:

• Red and blue and light blue felt
• 4×4 piece of cream fabric or muslin
• Brown ribbon
• Milkweed pod
• 3 acorn tops
• 3 sizes of peg people/game pieces (I found mine at Michaels in the wood section)
• Acrylic paint for faces and hair
• Gold paint for halo
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Craft glue

How To:

1. Paint the faces and hair on each peg person, let dry.
2. Paint the acorn tops gold, let dry.
3. To create baby Jesus’ clothes, lay him on the piece of fabric. Trim the fabric to be slightly taller than the height of the peg body. Fold over all raw edges. Put a small line of glue on the peg body and roll the fabric around Jesus to create his clothes (all raw edges are tucked under). Glue the remaining edge down. Let dry.
4. Glue the gold acorn top to Jesus’ head, let dry.

5. 

   To create Mary’s clothes, cut out a blue square of felt. To get the correct size, when folded the felt should be the same height as the peg body. With the felt square folded in half trim off the corners to form a circle. Cut a small X in the center of the circle. Slide the felt circle over the peg head.

6. 

   To finish off her dress, pinch each side of the dress together. Place glue in between the layers. Use a clothespin to hold it in place while it dries.

7. Cut Mary’s veil out of lighter blue felt. Glue the veil onto her head, let dry. Glue gold acorn top over veil, let dry.

8. 

   To create Joseph’s clothing, cut out a red rectangle of felt. To get the correct size, when folded the felt should be the same height as the peg body. Cut a small X in the center of the felt. Slide the felt rectangle over the peg head.

9. Use glue to hold the felt clothes in place, let dry. Tie a ribbon around the middle of his body to make a belt. Glue gold acorn top onto his head, let dry.
10. To create a stable my daughter used construction paper, toilet paper tubes and tape (lots and lots of tape!). Have your child use their creativity to create their own stable for the Holy Family.

The post Advent Activity | Holy Family Figures appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

This is a quick craft you can do with your kids during the holidays. This festive wreath is perfect to wear on a coat or backpack to show some holiday cheer!

Supplies:

• 9 x 12 Stiff Felt Sheet (found by regular felt)
• 3/4″ Green Pom-Pom Balls
• Mini Pom-Pom Balls in Assorted Colors
• Red Ribbon
• Coil-less pin (found in jewelry section, also used to make friendship pins!)
• Scissors
• Glue

How To:

1. Draw a circle on the back side of the felt. Cut out circle with scissors, I used scalloped fabric scissors.
2. Glue 6 or more pom-pom balls onto right side of felt circle. Let dry.
3. Glue assorted mini pom-pom balls onto green pom-pom balls. Let dry.
4. Make small bow from red ribbon and glue to wreath. Let dry.
5. Add coil-less pin to back of felt.
6. Pin to coat, backpack or shirt and spread some holiday cheer!

The post Advent Activity | Pom-Pom Ball Wreath Pin appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I know a porcupine really has nothing to do with Christmas, but my boys love to make things out of pine cones, so this is perfect. They had so much fun creating these little critters to hang on the Christmas tree. (Yes, the little one has a tiny pebble glued on its head…) We are still laughing at them!

How To | Porcupine Pine Cone Ornament

Supplies:

• Pine Cone
• Googly Eyes
• Black Pom-pom ball
• Small Piece of Brown or Black Felt
• Embroidery Floss or Ribbon
• Craft Glue
• Scissors

How To:

1. Cut a 6 inch or so piece of ribbon or floss. This will be use to create the ornament hanger. Tie it up around the pine cone and then tie it in an open loop so it can hang from a tree branch.
2. If your pine cone has a stem on one end carefully break it off. This side will be the face.
3. Cut out a face size circle from the felt. Glue on googly eyes and a pom-pom ball nose.
4. Glue entire face to the end of the pine cone.
5. Cut out 4 small feet from felt. Glue those in the appropriate spot to make feet.
6. Hang on your tree and laugh at your funny new friend and ornament!

The post Advent Activity | Porcupine Pinecone Ornament appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

I wanted to show all of you the Snowman Family Frame we made yesterday for our Advent Activity. I love it, it looks so cute on the shelf with all the other Christmas decorations. We have been able to keep on schedule for our Advent Activities this far. How about you guys, are you able to keep on track? Some nights are a bit tricky and we have to do some catch up the next day, but the kids don’t know what day I planned the activity for, so it’s all the same to them!

If you want to create one of these Snowman Family Frames for yourself, or make one to give as a gift, you can find the instructions for it here: ChildMadeTutorials. She does a great job of explaining it and has lots of pictures. Just a hint, I found my frame at Dollar Tree, I can see from the picture she has the same frame. So if you are doing your crafts on the cheap, like I try to do, take a look at Dollar Tree for this frame. It is deep inside, but looks pretty much like a normal frame and is in the same section.

Stay tuned, tomorrow you can see the Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer we are making and it includes a Free Download Template to cut out your own pieces. Also, don’t forget to like us on Facebook!

The post Advent Activity | Snowman Family Frame appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Are you getting ready for the countdown to Christmas? I am getting everything prepared here. My kids look forward to the Advent crafts and activities we do every year while we count down the days of December!

If you visited here last year you have probably seen my Jesse Tree for Kids Ornament Tutorial. We are looking forward to reading our Jesse Tree book again this year and hanging up our ornaments. It was so fun to pull each one out day by day as we made our way to Christmas. (Hopefully this year will be a little less crazy than last year, we had a brand new baby in the house!) If you would like more information about the Jesse Tree Tutorial please click here.

I am also introducing a new book this year, The Advent Storybook – 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas by Antonie Schneider. If you have small children they will enjoy following little bear and his long journey to Bethlehem. I really can’t say enough about how perfect this book is for small, pre-schoolish age kids. (See the link at the bottom of this post.)

You can download a supply list of the craft supplies you will need if you follow along with our Advent Activities.

Click Here to Download: Advent Countdown 2011 Master Supply List

***********************************************

ADVENT COUNTDOWN CALENDAR

Nov. 27th

• Light Advent Candle and Recite Advent Prayer
• You can craft your own Advent wreath with your kids – visit this post

Thurs. Dec. 1st – Calista’s First Birthday

• Set up Fisher Price Nativity Set
• Color Your Own Nativity Sticker Scene from Oriental Trading Co.
• Create Cards with Colored Stickers to Send to Soldiers
• SEND CARDS TO: postmarked by December 9th, more info at American Red Cross
  Holiday Mail For Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456
• Read The Nativity Pop-up Book by Francesca Crespi
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Sun and the Moon (Creation)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 2nd – Visit Santa at the Mall (My daughter has school off this day!)

• Hang Stockings and Decorate Mantel
• Read The True Story of Santa Claus by Paul Prokop
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Apple w/ Snake (Adam and Eve)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed
• Watch Christmas Movie and Have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate

Sat. Dec. 3rd –

• Decorate Our Christmas Tree
• Trim-A-Tree Activity – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Tale of Three Trees retold by Angela Elwell Hunt
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Noah’s Ark w/ Rainbow (Noah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 4th –

• Make Christmas Cookies with Family
• Light Advent Candle and Recite Prayer
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Camel (Abraham and Sarah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Mon. Dec. 5th –

• Make Beaded Nativity Story Charm Bracelet from Oriental Trading Co.
• Read The True Story of Santa Claus by Paul Prokop
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Sheep (Isaac)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Tues. Dec. 6th –

• Open Stocking Gifts from St. Nick (German Tradition)
• Everyone Choose a Toy to Donate
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Ladder (Jacob)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Wed. Dec. 7th –

• Make Mitten Snowman Frame – everyone decorate their own snowman. I was inspired by this blog.
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Coat of Many Colors (Jacob)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Thurs. Dec. 8th –

• Make Bird Seed Pine Cones (My kids love to do this every year!)
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Silver Chalice (Joseph)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 9th –

• Make Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer – Free Download (Toilet Paper Tube Reindeer Template)
• Watch Rudolph Movie and have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Whip (Moses)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sat. Dec. 10th –

• Cut and Color 3-Dimensional Christmas Houses – Free Download by Rebecca Bischoff (Cut and Color 3D Christmas House)
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Sheaf of Corn/Wheat (Ruth)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 11th –

• Light Advent Candle and Recite Prayer
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Jar of Oil (Samuel)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Mon. Dec. 12th –

• Decorate Nativity Sticker Scene from Oriental Trading Co.
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Slingshot (David)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Tues. Dec. 13th –

• Make Porcupine Pine Cone Ornament – how to will be posted on blog
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Crown (David the King)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Wed. Dec. 14th –

• Make Snowman Sock Ornament – how to will be posted on blog
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Temple/Pillars (Solomon)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Thurs. Dec. 15th –

• Make Magic Reindeer Food – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Raven (Elijah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 16th –

• Watch Christmas Movie and have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate
• Make Truffles to Give to Friends and Family

Recipe from Kraft Family Magazine
Ingredients:
- 2.5 pkg. (20 squares) Baker’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
- 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
- Multi-colored sprinkle or nuts to decorate tops or Powdered Sugar or Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Directions:
• Melt 8 chocolate squares. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy; stir in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm.
• Shape into 36 balls. Place on wax paper-covered tray.
• Melt remaining chocolate. Use fork to dip truffles; return to tray. Decorate (see below), then refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Decorate the tops with finely chopped nuts or sprinkles. Or, coat truffles with powdered sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder instead of dipping in chocolate.

• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Bear (Elisha)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

 Sat. Dec. 17th –

• Make Pretzel Hugs

Recipe from Becky Higgins as seen in CK Magazine

Directions:
Put a layer of square pretzels on a cookie sheet and place an unwrapped Hershey’s Hug (or substitute a Rolo) over each pretzel. Bake at 200 degrees for eight minutes. Remove them from the oven and place a red or green milk chocolate M&M in the center. Let the cookies cool.

• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Candle (Zachariah)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 18th –

• Make Hand Print Snowman Ornaments – following directions on this blog.
• Light Advent Candle and Recite Prayer
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Olive Branch (Mary)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Mon. Dec. 19th –

• Make Snowman Poop – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Tablet w/ Stylus (John the Baptist)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Tues. Dec. 20th –

• Write and Mail Letter to Santa – Fill-in the Blank Santa Letter Free Download (Letter To Santa)
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Baby in Manger
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Wed. Dec. 21st –

• Paper Maché Christmas Bulb Using Child’s Artwork – how to will be posted to blog
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Shepard
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Thurs. Dec. 22nd –

• Wrap Up Handmade Ornaments for Friends and Family from Kids
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Fri. Dec. 23rd –

• Watch Christmas Movie and have Popcorn and Hot Chocolate
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol Angels (Herod)
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sat. Dec. 24th –

• Put out Magic Reindeer Food – find download in my SHOP
• Read The Jesse Tree book – Jesse Tree Symbol The Brightest Star
• Read The Advent Storybook before bed

Sun. Dec. 25th – Christmas – CELEBRATE WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!

The post Advent Activities | Countdown for 2011 appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Each year, for the past 3 years,  I have tried to do 24 days of activities with my kids to celebrate the Christmas and Advent season. This year we will be focusing on the Jesse Tree. I would love for all of you to follow along with us and enjoy the spirit of the holiday by teaching your children about the Jesse Tree.

We will be reading from a book each day of December to learn the history and stories of the Jesse Tree and then then we will add a symbolic handmade ornament to our own Jesse Tree. The book I will be using is called The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean and can be ordered from Amazon by clicking on the link below. The book is appropriate for ages Pre-K and up. The stories are adapted from the Old Testament and they read like a bedtime storybook.

I have a Jesse Tree Ornament Tutorial available for download in my Store. Please consider purchasing the tutorial if you want to make your own ornaments with your children. (You can read more info. about tutorial at bottom of this post.)

The tree we will be hanging our handmade ornaments from (shown above) can also be found at Illuminated Ink.

I look forward to reading and enjoying this book and our handmade ornaments for many Advent seasons. My kids are already excited because they have seen me creating the ornaments for my tutorial and they are looking forward to reading the stories from the book and hanging the ornaments on our special tree each day in December.

Jesse Tree Ornament Tutorial Information:

The tutorial comes as a downloadable .pdf file. It includes a detailed photos and instructions for each handmade ornament symbol that corresponds to the book The Jesse Tree. The tutorial also includes a master list of supplies and ornament templates for your use. Most of the ornaments can be made by children ages 5 and up. A few of the ornaments require more precise cutting, younger children may need some help.

Please consider supporting me and my blog by purchasing the downloadable tutorial. – Thanks

TO PURCHASE TUTORIAL CLICK HERE or visit the STORE: Jesse Tree Ornament Tutorial

************************************************************

The post Advent Activity | The Jesse Tree for Kids appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.

Here is a recap of the last 2 weeks of our Advent Activities. Some of the details (which I should have blogged immediately have been forgotten already.) I have definite baby brain at this point and am having trouble focusing on anything other than getting out baby stuff and preparing for the arrival! More on that in a different post…

Christmas Cookies are always fun to make and this years gathering didn't disappoint. Lorelei remembered having red hot reindeer noses from last year and insisted I help her put one on her nose. Allan thought it would just be funny to try and smear frosting all over his nose instead. Both were really good at decorating the cookies, we kept most of the sprinkles on the table and they didn't eat too many. One of our plans was to surprise Dad (Papa) this year by making a gingerbread man
shaped cookie using his mother's original cookie cutter. Imagine our surprise when we brought the borrowed cutter home from Aunt Nancy's house and realized that Mom (Grandma Edith) already had one identical to it. The background story is that each year Papa reminisces about the perfect sized and shaped cookie cutter that his mother had… None the less we all had a good laugh about it and we made lots of cookies using it this year.

Christmas Cookie decorating was on Saturday and the following day we lit the pink advent candle at dinner time.

 On December 15th we colored pictures of Poinsettia's after nap time.

 On the 16th we talked about the role the shepards played in the birth of Jesus. 
We colored a picture of Shepards tending their sheep and after dinner Dad helped Lorelei create a sheep ornament out of yarn and felt.  Allan was invited to join in, but he just wanted to play by himself and didn't seem to care about the craft project. If you would like the instructions for creating your own woolly sheep ornaments they can be found here.

On the 17th Lorelei had her own Christmas party with her dolls. She lined them all up and they ate snacks on the couch. Allan went about his own business. One of his favorite Christmas activities it knocking the Fisher Price

nativity set onto the floor for me to pick up later. (Maybe he enjoys

watching me moan and groan as my pregnant self crawls around looking under the end table for missing pieces.)

On the 19th we had a movie night. Both kids were excited for 
the event. Steve made them both a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Allan kept saying it was yummy, but I am not even sure he took a sip of it, must be it looked and smelled good. Lorelei drank all of hers and his. We all watched The Polar Express for the first time of the year.

I really wanted to do an activity every day leading up to Christmas. Some of the days got away from us and if the kids were keeping themselves busy I let them play so I could concentrate on my freelance work. I don't have to feel guilty about that right?…

So we jump to the 22nd. Steve was home for the rest of the week of Christmas and it helped me have more time to finish my work. He took Lorelei outside with him while Allan was napping. She played on the big snow hill out by the building and when Steve was done plowing the driveway out he helped her build a snow tunnel through the hill. Just as Allan was 
waking up Lorelei was heading in, but I dressed Allan up and Steve was a good sport and went back out to play in the snow for awhile with him.

Now we move to the 23rd, which for us was Christmas Eve. We wrote Santa a note
asking if he could visit us a day early so that we could go and see Grandma and Grandpa George and the rest of the George family on Christmas day. Before bed they each wanted to open a present, so we let them swap the gifts they bought for eachother. Lorelei got Allan a Pluto stuffed animal and Allan got Lorelei some Tinkerbell story books with a picture viewer. Afterward, we put out our milk and cookies and sprinkled reindeer food on the porch before bed. There was a lot of excitement in the house. Lorelei kept asking if Santa was going to come "right now after we go to bed." The answer was yes, as long as they went to sleep good.

Of course the morning of the 24th was a flurry of unwrapping… Lorelei came in our room as soon as she was awake and told us Santa had been there and left us presents. We had to go and gently wake Allan up so that we could start opening gifts. Lorelei was eagerly waiting to start ripping. Santa had wrapped Allan's and Lorelei's gifts in different color paper making it easy for them to tell which gifts were theirs. Lorelei was almost done unwrapping all of hers, while Allan was only just getting
started. Santa even left a present for each of them to give to Mom and Dad as Lorelei had requested on her list. It is always one of the highlights of my year, watching both of them so excited about Christmas and its magic.

Allan was most excited about his barn and tractor. Lorelei was excited about her Fisher Price digital camera and Coco Calypso and Sea Berry Delight Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

We spent most of the day lounging around and playing with toys. We had pizza and bread sticks from Big Chuck's for dinner and then got ready to go to the Children's Mass at church.

The mass is another good memory. Toward the beginning Father announced that
the children could come up to hear a story during the Homily and afterward they would get a piece of candy. Lorelei immediately whispered, "I want to do that" in my ear. When it came time I was so very nervous for them to go up there and listen to the story. Allan was by far the youngest one up there. Both were at the very back of the group of children gathered around to hear the story. Allan couldn't see, so at one point he crawled over another little girl's legs and found a spot closer. Oh, did that make me nervous, I wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he sat still in his new found spot. Lorelei also petted the same little girls coat because it had a fuzzy leopard print. I didn't hear any of the book Father Mike was reading, all I could do was pray that neither of them did anything embarrassing. We made it through the story and then Father handed out candy to each child. Lorelei got hers and came back to the bench, but Allan was the very last one to get his and we sent Lorelei back up to help him. As soon as he had the candy cane in hand his face got a big smile and he came running down the center aisle back towards us. I heard a few chuckles from the congregation. During the rest of the mass Allan kept whispering to me about when we could get doughnuts.

On Christmas Day we headed to the George's house to celebrate with the family. We had another semi-relaxing day there. Lorelei used her new camera to take pictures of everyone and everything. It was really pretty fun to see what she shoots. Allan got a 2-wheel bike from Grandma and Grandpa George and Lorelei got an American Girl Ruthie Doll. She was so happy about that doll. She thanked Grandma for it numerous times.

 The day after Christmas we celebrated at the Smith family house. Lorelei got a 2-wheel bike from Aunt Amanda (0r Santa Manda) and clothes for her American Girl doll from Grandma and Papa. Allan got a wagon from Aunt Amanda and a Shake-n-Go Raceway from Grandma and Papa.

The Cusacks' came over for dinner and the kids got a really fun gift from Aunt Nancy
and Uncle Doug. They have been dancing in front of the TV watching themselves ever since. Lorelei know how to work it all by herself.

The next morning/afternoon Grandma and Amanda watched the kids while Steve and I took a little trip to the mall for some shopping and had lunch by ourselves. That evening we loaded all the loot and finally headed home to recover from Christmas.

That night at 3am our power went out and poor Steve hauled buckets of water up and down the stairs for the majority of Sunday morning and early afternoon until Nick arrived with a generator for us to borrow. Of course an hour later the power was restored at 3:30 pm. Good thing Nick came though becuase the sump pump also quite right after we started using the generator and luckily he had an extra one on the truck.

So that my good friends is our Christmas in a nutshell. I hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The post Advent Activities Rewind appeared first on Alanna George | The Craft Nest.