Christmas Nostalgia

I was going to post about the cookies I made for my kindergartner's class, but there just isn't much to say other than I got the idea from Bakerella, and hers, naturally, put mine to shame. So I'm going to babble on about something different as I show you the photos of my messy process.



I'm a fairly traditional person when it comes to the Holidays. I get especially nostalgic around these times and find comfort in celebrating the Holidays the way I did as I was growing up. I prefer the classic sound of Burl Ives over most any modern Christmas song and the cartoon version of the Grinch will always win my vote over the movie remake.


When I was a child we would open Christmas presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Christmas Eve. When they passed on and we made families of our own, my parents took over the tradition. Then they moved away to Kentucky, and so I have somewhat taken over that tradition by having my siblings and their families over for Christmas Eve dinner. We also take turns having Christmas breakfast every year, which is a tradition I thought I could do with out, but found out I missed the year we didn't do it.


We also read the Night Before Christmas just after setting out cookies and Coke for Santa. The girls will be dressed in their Christmas PJ's as we tuck them in. When Santa fills the stockings he always includes a Lifesavers book and he will place the items asked for in front of the Christmas tree in a grand display.


When the kids wake up, they will come get us first before finding their way to the treasure. My Aunt will come over to watch us open presents and to exchange gifts with us.


It is pretty much the same every year, but I wouldn't change a thing.

How about you? Do you stick with traditions or do you change it up every year? What are your Holiday must haves/do's? Is there a tradition you just can't let go of?

This reminds me, I need to dig the Christmas Story DVD out of the closet. I surely can't let the season pass by without watching it!

Holiday Havoc

My house is in total distress. There are bits of felt, strings of frayed fabric and stray pieces of wrapping paper scattered about the house. The Mr. is climbing the walls because of the mess, but it doesn't make sense to clean it all up real good when I'm just gonna mess it all up again every few hours.

I'm cramming in the sewing machine time in between baking batches of cookies. I've taken just about everyone else's Christmas pictures but our own. So when I had an hour to try to set up the tripod and a makeshift spot in the living room, the light was crap and nobody was in the mood to wait for me to adjust things accordingly.
Once again I've over-booked myself on the volunteering department. I love to volunteer, I just need to learn that magic little word every now and again, to save not only my sanity, but that of my family as well. I did volunteer for two easy items at two of the kids' Christmas parties. Yay for chocolate milk and candies to decorate gingerbread houses!

Most of the handmade projects are awaiting the final touches. I ran out of elastic and so I now have six pair of PJ's, six pair of doll PJ's, and four skirts to put elastic in before I can wrap them up.
I haven't taken many pictures of the finished projects yet. So I can only share with you a couple for now.



I had enough fabric scraps left over to make matching PJ's for my youngest child's' doll. When I showed the oldest, she said she wanted matching PJ's for her favorite stuffed bear. So I ended up making matching PJ's for each kid and their doll or stuffed animal of choice.
This weekend is cram time for sure. The kids will be spending the weekend with my sister, and I plan to finish things up and work till my fingers bleed. Of coarse, this is after the four Christmas parties, cookie swap, co-op, two teacher conferences, orchestra concert and finishing up teachers gifts for the last school day of December...

How about you? Do you over do it during the Holidays? Do you over extend yourself throughout the year as well? Have you learned that magic little "no" word? If so, can you teach me?!