Time Capsule Ornament

Time to put away the holiday decorations!

This post is actually way over due, but hopefully you’ll forgive me anyways! 

Every year, Travis and I write a little holiday love letter to each other.  However, the love letters are not to be read for a whole year!
These letters will more than just profess love, they may also mention how grateful we are to have each other, and clues as to what stage of life we were in at the time we wrote them.  Perhaps even mention of a holiday memory that we don’t want to lose.
These letters are put into a handmade ornament to wait out the year with the holiday decorations in storage;  just to be found when it comes time to redecorate.  (The picture was taken on the day the ornament was made.  Not all of the final contents are shown.)

This year’s ornament was made from all recycled components except the label.  We used:

• Mentos gum container (If you scrape the surface of the sticker with a blade, the painted surface comes off like a lotto ticket, leaving behind a glittery, holographic-looking background!)
  
• A ribbon scrap to hang by (saved from making bows for presents)
  
• Foam letter stickers left over from Halloween to make the snowman
  
• Gift tag label the March of Dimes sent me

It hangs on our tree, slowly collecting random embellishments, stickers, ideas, recipes, and such to be used next year.  It will be packed up in the first week of January with all the other holiday decorations.  Then it will sit in storage until Black Friday when we decorate again.  At that time, we will read the letters (and scrapbook them), use the ideas to come up with a theme, use the embellishments to make gift tags, ribbons to make bows, and so on.  Just to start the whole process over again for the following year!
This year’s favorite throw in is a little heard of organization called Christmas Commandos.  We found out about it too late to participate this year, but we would like to see into it next year.  Christmas Commandos are escorted by police at midnight, Christmas Eve, to the homes of children spending their first Christmas after the loss of a parent.  While Santa is stuffing the stockings, the Christmas Commandos hang presents from a tree in their front yard (or in case of no trees, places them on the porch.)  Isn’t that neat?
If you do this project, I would love to see it and hear about what you filled it with! 

Bath Time Fluff

How was your holiday?  Mine was nice.  A little more stressful than usual since we had to celebrate with both families on the same day this time.  Travis and I have decided that will not happen again.  Next year, if the Henthorne’s celebrate on Christmas Day again, then we’ll just celebrate with them the following year.

So anyways…

I told my mom about my favorite lotion.  (Actually, I told everyone about it!  I was determined to drop hints until I got a refill!  LOL)  So one of my Christmas gifts this year was a hand arranged basket, from Mom, with the complete Vanilla Lace collection from Victoria’s Secret!  AHHH!!!!!  Lotion? Check!  Hand cream? Check! Body spray and perfume?  Check and check!  Body wash?  Oh so fabulous!

So now, all I needed was a fluff of fabulousness!  So here’s what I did:

  I picked 2 new sponges out of my cleaning supply drawer. (I bought a bag of mixed sponges and scrubbers when we moved.)  One is very dense, and would likely be great at polishing my skin.  The other was very porous and fluffy, so I thought it would create a great lather.

  I used my straight edge pocket knife to cut the dense sponge into 4 equal pieces, lengthwise, and the porous sponge into 5 equal pieces, crosswise.  Then arranged them in a checker board pattern with the mid-section of every piece lined up together (like in the picture.)

  Then I wrapped a scrap piece of ribbon around the middle, tied half of a square knot, and pulled tightly before completing the knot.  As a last touch, I tied the ends of the ribbon together for it to hang by in the shower.

  And, yes, it is just as fabulous as I hoped it would be!  YAY!!!

Santingo-Free Christmas Game

This is my first post using a new blogging method called Windows Live Writer.  I am hoping it will allow me to create my posts offline, and then post the finished work at a later time when I have internet access.  If anyone has any hints, tips, or tricks for offline blogging, please do share them with me!
Ok, on with the show!
I created a game that I thought I would share.  I named it Santingo.  Ya know…a mix between the names Santa and Bingo.  I don’t know if anyone else has thought it up, too.  It is so simple, I wouldn’t doubt it.  The cool part is that it is really 2 activities!  The first activity is having each child assemble his/her own game card.  The second activity is actually getting to play them!

Directions (Activity One):
1. Print a Santingo game card and clipart set for each child.
2. Supervise each child as they cut out his/her game card and clipart blocks. (Or cut it out for them.)
3. Provide glue sticks for each child to glue the blocks in the order they want them on their card.
4. Allow to dry, and the game is ready to play!
How to play (Activity Two):
· Ride around a neighborhood with lighted decorations.
· When you see a present decoration, mark out the present icon on the game card. Do so for each icon as you see them.
· The goal is to be the first to get a straight line up and down, left and right, diagonally, or each of the 4 corners. Then call out “SANTINGO.”
· To mark out the icons, you can use a crayon.
· If you laminate the card, you can use stickers to mark the icons. The stickers can be removed after the game is over, and the cards can be reused!
 
This game would be great to play if you have a local Festival of Lights like we do.  It would also be fun to play in a different town than your family is used to, but it can be fun in your own town, too.
We will be playing on Christmas Eve with Travis’ parents and little sister.  What better way to tire us out in time for Santa to come, huh?  LOL
Please do let me know if there are any problems printing this game!
Happy Holidays!