Christmas Ornament Books

We have been sharing our favorite Christmas traditions lately and I wanted to take a quick second and share mine with you. This is one of those I have remembered as a child and am passing on to my children, actually my mom is passing it on to my children and I am helping with it. Here is how it started:

When I was growing up my grandma started a tradition for all of her grandkids. She loved to shop for Christmas ornaments, so each year she would buy each of us a really nice ornament to hang on the Christmas tree. Some years we would each get the same one and other years she would shop individually and get one that reminded her of us. We absolutely loved this! We always knew what to expect from her and we knew it would come in the mail a couple of weeks before Christmas so we could hang it on the tree that year. They were really nice ones and the whole family would ooh and awe over them. We knew that one day, when we were all grown up and married, that they would hang on our very own Christmas trees. My mom was sad when the day came that each one of us packed up our ornaments and she had to start over with her tree. This tradition also helped my grandma because she didn't have to keep up with all of the things we did like and all of the things we didn't like growing up (since it was always changing and their were so many grandkids). It was so much more personal than money and they get to stay with us forever. I love, to this day, pulling out my ornament box and hanging them on our tree. My grandma was going to stop this tradition once we got married, but I sweetly convinced her that I loved it way too much and she couldn't just STOP! So, we still get an ornamnet each year.

My mother has continued this tradition with my children. I am proud to say that my kids love this tradition just as much as I did growing up.

Here is where the helping from me comes in. There is always a picture involved in anything I do. So I had to turn this tradition into a picture book. I started this when my oldest got her first ornament. There was a little story of why my mom picked each one and I wanted them to remember it, plus between the three kids, I wanted to keep the ornaments belonging to the right person. So I take a picture of each ornament every year and put it in a book and then journal the story. Here are some pictures of the books:

Two of them are the same because I bought two at the same time. The third one is different because I didn' t think of getting three of the same book. The two that are the same are just normal flip photo books with two different types of ribbon on them to hide the "normalcy" of the book. Here's what the inside of it looks like:
It's just a 4x6 picture on the left side and the page on the right is the story typed up on some cardstalk. I usually add a little something scrappy to the journaling page. The other book is a paper book I found one Christmas at Michael's in the dollar isle. I had to get creative with this one because their wasn't anywhere to put pictures in it. It just had plain white cardstalk paper inside with out any sleeves or pockets to hold anything. I decided to use my scrapbook scraps to put the pages together. I cover the white cardstalk with paper and then cut out another scrap (smaller) and staple it to the page. That serves as my envelope to hold the picture. Then I cut out tags and use my 2 in. square punch to size the picture and stick that on the tag. I flip the tag over and type up the story. It's a fun little book that I have been happy with.

These books will go with my kids when they leave the house, along with their ornaments. They will know the story behind each ornament and I will be able to remember which ornament belongs to who. It's so nice to have a meaningful Christmas tradition. I enjoy looking back on each Christmas and having a gift to remember. I also love that this gift will never get tired of and eventually end up in the garbage, like toys and other things do. Instead, we are creating a family keepsake that my children will inherit and their children will inherit. I hope my kids love putting their ornaments on their own tree someday just as much as I do.

Christmas Traditions

So I'm a little late, but I thought I'd go ahead and post a few of our Christmas Traditions!

My favorite Christmas tradition came about by accident. When I was about 7 years old, we began a tradition of making my parents breakfast in bed Christmas morning. It sounds very sweet, but it was really quite self-interested. Mom and Dad had a rule that we had to eat breakfast before we could open our presents! So when the kids woke up at 5 am, we excitedly examined our wrapped gifts, checked out the contents of our stockings, and then trooped off to the kitchen to make breakfast for mom and dad. At first it was just a bowl of cold cereal and a glass of orange juice on a tray, but we got more complicated as the years went on. French toast was the very first thing I learned to cook on my own, all because of our Christmas morning tradition.
Last year we had Christmas morning in our own home (the second time in the seven years we've been married), and my husband helped the kids make me breakfast in bed! So I'm hoping that this is a tradition that will continue for generations.... :)

Another of my favorite Christmas traditions is a classic: the kids acting out the Christmas story on Christmas eve, dressed in old sheets, curtains and towels toga-style. As you can see, last year baby Jesus was a doll with a pink checkered bonnet - you pick your battles, right? We also include Samuel the Lamanite's prophecies -- my little nephew nearly exploded with excitement when he stood tall on Grandma's coffee table and yelled out, "Repent!" And of course, all the other grandsons had a blast pretending to shoot at him with imaginary bows and arrows.

When we're with my parents, we also read "Davey and the First Christmas." It's a sweet old children's story my mom's family read when she was a kid. She had memorized it, so at first she would just recite it to us, because the book has been out of print for years. But a few years ago, she found a copy on ebay! So now we read from an original 1950's edition pop up book with a game on the back. :) It's a classic. I googled it and found the story here if you want to read it.

We also do Christmas Eve pajamas, a silly gift passing game (where you pass the gift to the left or the right every time you hear the word left or right in the story), several years we've done a 12 Days of Christmas Secret Santa, and we always do lots and lots and LOTS of singing around the piano. All told, I think it's the music that makes Christmas Christmas for me. The Christmas music starts after Halloween in my house, decorations go up the Friday after Thanksgiving. My husband rolls his eyes, but helps me anyway. :)

Anyway, there's a few of our traditions I love. Two years ago, in an effort to feel a little less frantic, I used bits and pieces from www.organizedchristmas.com. Some of it is a little over the top for me personally, but it's always nice to start with a ready-made plan, so you're not reinventing the wheel. You might check it out if you're a list person. :)

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is such a fun time of year. I love the feeling in the air, the caroling of the bells, the hustle and bustle of people in the stores. It's a time to make memories, a time to remember, and a time for traditions.

My husband and I have been married a little over two years, so this will be our 3rd Christmas together. Thus far, we have spent Christmas with our families, but one day we will want to wake up in our own beds for Christmas morning and have our children experience being in their own home for the holidays. Combining Family traditions has been fun, and it will be interesting to see what of those traditions we will want to carry into our family. Some are to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas, some are goofy games, but all are cherished memories. We have a few traditions, it's hard to just pick one to share, so I will broaden it a little and tell you about what we eat!

* Christmas Eve we have Fish and Chips (Fish and French Fries) for dinner because that is what the Savior ate. My dad has always been a big fisherman, so we have a good fish fry! It's an easier dinner so we can get to bed earlier.

*For breakfast we have Homemade Cinnamon Rolls that I make the night before from an amazing cookbook I got from one of the Arlington, VA. Ward...here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Rolls

2 1/4 C. hot water
1/2 C. butter
3/4 C. evaporated milk
1/2 C. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. dry potato flakes
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. yeast
4 C. flour
4-5 (more) C. flour

~Combine hot water, evaporated milk, and butter. Add to the above the sugar, salt, and dry potatoes. Add one at a time and mix the (4 C.)flour, eggs, and yeast. Mix for about 4 minutes. ~Add remaining flour (4-5 C) until it pulls away from the side of the bowl. Place in bowl and allow to rise until double (about 1 hour).
~Divide dough in half (or thirds, depending on pan sizes). Roll out; spread with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture (1/2 C. sugar and 2 Tbsp. cinnamon). Roll up and cut with a string in 1 inch slices. Place in pan and allow to rise about 1 hour.
~Bake at 350* for 12-15 minutes. Frost while still warm.

Buttercream Frosting

6 Tbsp butter
4 1/2- 4 3/4 C. powdered sugar
1/4 C. milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

~In a small mixer bowl, beat butter till light and fluffy. Gradually add about 1/2 of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in the milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in remaining powdered sugar, then additional milk, if necessary, to make frosting of spreading consistency.

A Christmas Treat

For my Christmas post (better late than never), I have a fantastic recipe which makes an excellent and a not-so-ordinary replacement for a typical plate of Christmas cookies to give out to friends and neighbors. Last year I gathered all necessary ingredients, assembled them in layers in cute decorated Christmas bags (you could of course use jars or whatever), printed off directions sized to fit on a business card and tied them to the bags. I even made extras to have handy when carolers and unannounced visitors came to our door. Here goes:

Cranberry Waffle Mix

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. dried orange peel
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries (coarsely chopped)
Layer ingredients in order listed.

DIRECTIONS
1 recipe Cranberry Waffle Mix
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk or orange juice
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3 TBSP. butter, melted

Preheat waffle iron. Place contents of the waffle mix in a bowl. Stir until well blended. Whisk together buttermilk, milk (or o.j.), egg, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture and stir until just moistened. Stir in melted butter. Add addtional milk (or juice) 1 Tbsp. at a time if batter is too thick. Cook in waffle iron as directed.


They make very yummy waffles!! Enjoy!

Blog Slacker...

I must say that I have been somewhat of a blog slacker lately, but..... it is all for good reason. Our family has been spending some quality time with the Moes Family.(Krysta's family) They were without power for quite some time so they decided to join us. We had a blast, but neither one of us spent much time at the computer. So... I must apologize to my angel sisters for slacking. I asked each one of them to take the time to post a Christmas Tradition, and I haven't followed through on the task I presented. So... here is mine.

Not only is this one of our Traditions, I also think it is a wonderful way to save money and cut down on some of the expectations that our kids have at Christmas.

We give our children 6 gifts from Santa, and 6 gifts from us. We have a short little poem that explains this, here it goes:

Something to wear

Something to read

Something you want

Something you need

Something to play with

...and something fun indeed!!

This a wonderful option for our family. Our kids know they are only getting two toys, two outfits, two items on their wish list(wants), and two surprises that are up to us. (fun indeeds) It also helps us cross off some of the needs that they may have, like our son got a back pack last year, and our daughter new mittens. They also know that they are getting some new books. Which I think is so important.

I love this idea because it cuts out all the fluff, it makes shopping easy, and my kids know what to expect.

To make it fun... I have made up tags that I recycle from year to year. They say what is inside like... something to read. This saves me so much time. All I have to do is tape the tag on. I found these adorable tags in the $ section at Target, and then some of them I made with rubber stamps. Our kids like to line up all their gifts once they have opened them and see what each gift is;this is my something to wear, something to read, and etc. You could also make them guess which gift it is.

When that is all said and done, then they have two family gifts to open, a game and a movie. Then we always do some treats in the stocking. This has helped my sanity at Christmas time. I am so thankful for this idea.

I guess you could say this is not only a tradition, but also a way to cut out some of the unnecessary of Christmas.

Christmas Tradition

I love Christmas. I think about it all year long. A couple of years ago I realized that we didn't have much money and there was not really much to buy gifts with. At first I was so upset, then I realized that wasn't really what was important. I decided I would do the best I could, decorate my house with what I had, and love the season for what the season was. This year changed my attitude and my relationship with Christmas. Because of grandparents and other family, the gifts ended up working out and my kids definitely had more than they needed. As I recorded in my "Cut the Crazy out of Christmas" binder; "This was the best Christmas ever! And we truly know that Christmas is more than gifts- it's feelings and relationships."
We have quite a few traditions in my family. And we are lucky enough to be able to live close enough to both of our families that we can spend time with both families. One of our favorite traditions is so much fun! Every year my mom has a "Grandma" party. She invites all of us over, but it's mostly for the grand kids. We usually eat and then the kids decorate cookies. While we are busy the door will open up and in will walk Santa. The kids love it and I love to see the "awe" in their faces! Santa has ornaments for each of us and everyone has to sit on Santa's lap- even Grandma-Great. The ornaments are always handmade or represent something big that happened to each individual that year. It could be a hobby, a major milestone, or perhaps just a favorite character or activity. It is so fun!
We also try to act out the nativity. We all dress up as the different characters and someone reads the scriptures. This is often a highlight of the season! Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry. What a joy this is!
This isn't a tradition, but I have to mention it because it was so good! Last year my husband's mom did "The 12 Days of Christmas" for us. She gave us two big boxes full of presents and we could barely wait to open them. Everyday there was a gift for us to open. They were all based on "Memories" from past Christmases (sp?). Some of them were memories we all had and some were from when my husband was young. They were all fun for us to hear about and remember. Some of the presents cost very little but all came from the heart and were accompanied by a card explaining the gift. This was the highlight of the season, it took the "anxiety" out of "waiting to open presents" and it brought us all closer together.
Above I referred to my "Cut the Crazy Out of Christmas" binder. This is a wonderful tool that my friend Debbie Raymond and her friend Norma created. It is a wonderful system that helps you decide what is really important and keep track of all the important details. After I started using this book Christmas was changed for me! It is so much less stressful and so much easier to "keep it all together". Debbie is teaching a class on this binder. I was able to have a little bit of input into this class (based on my experience using it) and after hearing all their ideas, I truly believe it is going to be a WONDERFUL class! Go check it out, and I would suggest, take the class, if there is anyway you can!

Christmas Traditions and Family History

This week we are going to share more about our Christmas Traditions so that if there is anything that sparks your interest, you have time to get a few things ready in time for the season. For me there is always decorating the tree and the mantle in my new home. I finally got the Nativity set that I have always wanted (thanks to the extra cash from publishing my scrapbook pages). But for me, I like to share more about my family with my family. I've always shared photos I've scanned and fixed, but in the past 2 years I have a new focus.


Well, for those of you who don't know me yet, there are a few hobbies that I love and that take up my spare time:
#1 Digital Scrapbooking since 2002 (see my son's birthday invite and treat bag in the Oct/Nov 08 Digital Scrapbooking Issue)
#2 Family History (since 1985 - thanks Dad!)
#3 Gardening (since 1994 - I studied Landscape Architecture for a few years in college)
#4 Crochet (since 1986 - thanks Grandma!)

It's really nice that the first two go together so well! My dad is a convert to the church and joined in his early twenties. This has left the work of family history up to him. So at the ripe old age of 9, I started helping him (it's never too early to get your kids involved). I had good eyes and tiny fingers and that allowed me to find the right microfiche in the family history center at the church in Enterprise, Alabama in record time.

Over the years, things have kind of evolved and my Dad and I are always corresponding back and forth about family stories and new finds. Together we've collected about 13,000 names on his side of the family alone. We are currently working on getting their temple work done before we research any more. So that means that I have some time on my hands to record stories, edit photos, and compile things in a way that my children will enjoy them!

Last year I got the idea to make Chapter Marker pages for my family, after reading through Becky Higgins Family History Scrapbooking Book. Scroll down to June 5th to see a little more about it.

Here is what I did...
I made a page with a photo and a summary about that person. When they were born, who their parents are, brothers and sisters, where they grew up, their occupations, who they married, their children, where and when they died (if they've passed away).

This first one is of my Dad. I used his high school Senior photo. The rest of the pages are what go in the album after the chapter marker page. You may have seen the Almost Drafted Page in Lisa's 50 Moments Book. And then I added in a page about my Dad and the old helicopter he used to fly in the Army, after his Chapter Marker Page.

Here you can see the one I made of my Grandfather, my Dad's dad. I added his birth and death year to the bottom of his photo as well.

And this is my Dad's Mom's father - I didn't have a formal portrait of him, so I just used one that I thought was very 'him'.


I gave my sister and her husband an 8x8 scrapbook album with all the pages I completed last year, my brother also received an 8x8 album, and my parents received a 12x12 album filled with pages. This is one of the things that makes Digital Scrapbooking so wonderful! I can make instant copies of all my pages in a variety of sizes.

So what did my family think of their family history scrapbook albums? Well, everyone cried a bit, my sister talked about it in church, my mom showed her copy to every friend and neighbor she could find. What are they getting this year, more family history - I received another huge box of photos from out of my Grandmother's storage unit. I've been working to scan and prepare more photos for their pages. They are definitely getting CD so that each person has a copy of this precious work - just in case my computer dies or my house floods, or...anyway, you get the picture!