Merry Christmas
From my Home to Yours
I hope you all enjoy this wonderful day of peace and love with your families
As we celebrate the birth of our Saviour.
Tag: Christmas
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Advent Activities
Growing up we had this really fun advent calendar. It was an embroidered Christmas Tree Wall hanging. Days 1-25 were on the tree, with a place to tie a candy cane. Each day we took turns untieing a candy cane and counting down the days to Christmas.
The past few years, we have done something similar. We have a wooden calendar with doors that open, for each day from December 1st until the 25th. In the past we have put little candies, or toys inside for the Princesses to enjoy. This year, we decided to change it up. Instead of items, each day has an activity inside. We want to get back to the Spirit of Christmas, to remember why we celebrate, and to make some family memories. Already this year, I have seen a difference in everyone’s attitude’s. We are less concerned about when we can go shopping, and are smiling and laughing more as we spend time together.
I know it’s already December 3rd, so here’s a quick picture catchup of our first 2 activities.
December 1st – Put up the Christmas Tree, and decorate.
December 2nd – Ward Christmas Party (a ward is what we call each small area of our church, you can visit LDS.org to learn more about what we believe).
We don’t have every day set yet, but we do have many ideas of what we’d like to do. So here’s a little run down for anyone interested in some fun family activities this Christmas season.-Attend concerts. For us this is easy with Mark being the band director of two local bands. We’ll be enjoying some Christmas music from the community band on the 8th, and from the High School band on the 15th.– Bake. We plan on doing a lot of baking this month. But we will have one specific night set aside to bake things for our neighbors, and one night to make cookies for Santa. I also found these really cute “cookies” to make for Santa’s elfs – mini donuts out of cheerios!
– Sinterklaas. This is a tradition from my childhood. My dad served an LDS mission to The Netherlands, and incorporated this into one of our celebrations. It is the Dutch equivalent to Christmas. Sinterklaas comes on the night of December 4th, and leaves a gift in the children’s shoes. Instead of cookies, the kids put carrots or hay in their shoes and a bowl of water for Sinterklaas’ horse. This will be the first year our family will celebrate, and I am so excited for it!!– Look at lights. We’ll be heading down to Salt Lake City one night to walk around Temple Square and see the lights there. Another night we’ll be going up to Ogden’s Christmas Village.– Tonight we are having a pizza party and watching The Polar Express. We’ll probably do something similar a couple more nights, but with different Christmas movies.– Read Christmas stories. There are so many children’s books you can read with your kids that have a focus on Christmas. Check out your library, or bookstore to add some to your collection!– Christmas Caroling. We’ve been teaching the Princesses “We wish you a merry Christmas”, and they are very excited to go caroling to our neighbors.– Find a yule log. I’ve never done this before, but a friend of mine does! This is our first year with a fireplace, so I want to take the family out to the mountains one day and search for a yule log. It sounds like so much fun!These are just some of my ideas. I’d love to hear some of the things your family does to celebrate the Christmas Season. -
Heely’s, the shoes with wheels Review
“Heelys are the original shoe with wheels in the heels that allow the user to transition from a walk to a roll by shifting weight to the heel. Users can also transform Heelys into street shoes by removing the wheels.”I am having a hard time getting used to these wheeled shoes. Heelys sent me a pair to try and out, and I was pretty excited to act like a kid again! Turns out my balance, especially when pregnant is not very good.
I love the look of my Heelys. There are so many different styles to choose from, and sizes range from kids to adult. When Mark and I got married, he had a pair of Heelys and I just laughed at them, because to me they were a kids shoe. I’ve learned differently. I personally think it would be a blast to get some Heelys for the whole family. You see families biking together, roller blading, and going on walks. I think the next new thing will be Heely family outings!
When I pulled my Heelys out to try out, I showed Princess V. You can’t really see the wheels, so at first she wasn’t too interested. Then I started rolling them around the floor. Her eyes about bugged out, and she excitedly exclaimed “MOM do those have wheels?!!” followed by “Can I try them?” I have a hard time saying no, so of course I let her try them on.
That is the look of pure joy! She then insisted I try them on as well. Sorry no picture. I will be using my Heelys more as a street shoe until I have a bit more of my balance back. I may find next summer that going for walks with the stroller is more fun with my own set of wheels!Click here for Skate 101 – Video’s for how to’s, tips, tricks, and safety with your HeelysClick here to shop for HeelysDon’t miss a thing by following Heelys on FacebookHang out on Twitter with HeelysAnd watch more vidoes on the Heelys youtube channel*I was provided with a pair of Heelys shoes for my honest review. All opinions are my own. -
Holiday Decorating
Last week the Princesses were begging me to put up the Christmas tree. I was baffled, because Halloween was just barely over! But how can you resist 3 cute faces, wanting to help decorate a house? So we put up the Halloween stuff, and out came the Christmas decor. We did compromise though, the tree is still packed away! We don’t have a whole lot of Christmas decor, so I’ve been browsing pinterest for some more inspiration. Check it out!
Aren’t these all gorgeous?! I wish I was hosting a holiday party so I had a reason to cover the chairs all pretty. The window display I’m changing up a bit and we’re going to hang paper snowflakes in our bay window, with some help from the Princesses.
I suggest you check out Trulie Scrumptious for some more fun holiday inspiration!
Are you getting crafty this holiday season? Do you pinterest? I’d love to see what you’re inspiration, just post a link in the comments! And while you’re here, don’t forget to enter the Best Gifts of 2011 Giveaway – just click the button in the left sidebar. Happy Holidays! -
Christmas In July Giveaway Hop
Giveaway CLOSED
Welcome to the Christmas in July Giveaway Hop hosted by Just Married With Coupons, Matter of Cents, and Money Saving Michelle.
Thank you so much for stopping here at Home Maid Simple where we blog about turning our House into A Home. I’m going to make this short and easy for you. First off the prizes you can win! One winner will receive all 3 prizes provided by my sponsors.
From Cha Cha’s Treasure on Etsy a Memory Verse Pillow of your choice(valued up to $35): And for a limited time she is offering my readers a 30% discount on everything in her shop! Just use coupon code: IMPRESS
From PureAyre, a 14oz and 4oz bottle of Pure Ayre for Home(valued at $9.95)! Pure Ayre was featured on ABC’s Shark Tank the beginning of April. This product is truly amazing, and I use it all over my home.
(note, you will only be receiving the 14oz and 4oz, not the gallon!)
And from Diana Fletcher, Life Coach, a copy of her book Happy on Purpose: Daily Messages of Empowerment and Joy for Women (valued at $14.95). I have loved reading this book!
That’s a total value of up to $60!! So now that you know what you can win, enter using the following methods below. Leave one comment per entry –
– Follow this blog via GFC (left sidebar)
– Follow HomeMaidSimple on twitter
– Like Home Maid Simple on facebook
– Comment on any other non-Christmas In July blog post.
– Subscribe to email newsletters (top right sidebar)
– Subscribe to the RSS feed (top right side bar)
What? Not enough entries for you? You can earn up to 12 more entries! Visit my sponsor posts and follow the directions for the extra entries there!
Good luck and Happy Hopping!! Giveawy ends July 31 at 11:59pm est. Open to US only!
*disclaimer: I was provided with products from the sponsors. All opinions shared in the sponsor posts, and here, are my own.
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The Stockings Were Hung – DIY Cardstock Chimney
When you live in an apartment, or even a home for that matter, without a chimney – it’s pretty simple to DIY it for the holidays.We have lots of little kids, but back when we only had three girls – all under 4 – it seemed important to have a place for Santa Claus to get inside. Thanks to popular rhymes and stories, Santa NEEDS a chimney.This DIY Cardstock Chimney is so easy, anyone could come up with it on their own. This is more to show you how we brought the magic of Christmas alive, despite our modest living conditions at the times.The Stockings were Hung by the chimney with care. In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be here. Share on X
Our 2010 cardstock ChimneyA little card stock, marker, and creativity can go a long way!What you’ll need for your DIY Cardstock Chimney:Cardstock – red, orange, yellow, blackBlack permanent markerOn the red cardstock, draw lines to create bricks. Tape the Black Cardstock to your wall. Fit read brick cardstock around the black.
Cut flames out of orange and yellow cardstock. Attach to the black.Hang your stockings with care and wait for St Nicholas to appear.The tradition has lived on, and in 2018 Rosalina took it upon herself to turn our Piano into the chimney.She even included the logs and a few presents on the side.
Our 2018 DIY chimney was made by 7-year-old Rosalina.
