Catori is just a little over 2 years old now and it is so fun to watch her get excited about all that comes with Christmas. Last year she enjoyed herself and was temporarily interested in her new toys, but didn't fully grasp what was going on or exactly what we were doing. This year the magic of the season has grabbed a hold of her and she is so thrilled to see the decorations go up in the house, Christmas trees, the never ending holiday displays in the stores, sounds of the season blasting through our radio and most especially the lights! Oh how she loves the lights dancing around on the houses as we drive down the streets. Her gasps and shrills and shouts of "mommy look!" is so adorable it has made me fall in love with this time of year all over again. Kids can somehow change the way you look at everything and allow you to experience it through a fresh set of eyes. I never really decorated my house for Christmas before her. Okay, I had the old hand-me-down 'charlie brown' tree I had acquired somewhere along the way, old decor my mom or sister had given me they no longer used and a generic stocking with no name. I guess I never really saw the reason to go through all that work and trouble of decorating when I was usually gone traveling for work and there was no one else to enjoy it with me (other than my little Yorkie dog of course). Ha, it makes me laugh when I think about how my mom and sister just could not fathom how I could go through the entire Christmas season with out so much as putting a wreath on my front door. I'm assuming that's why Lori gifted me with one a few years ago, which I am extremely grateful for because it is extremely easy to put up and just as easy to take down and store again until next year. I lived this way all through my 20s and even into my 30s without a pinch of remorse. All of that has changed now that I have a family of my own and others to share it with. The sparkle in my daughter's eyes and excited giggles as she dances around the living room to familiar Christmas tunes is all the motivation I need to blast this place with Christmas joy and then some! Funny how things change. Not only have we decorated the house and will be venturing out to buy our first ever real Christmas tree, we are devoting our entire month to having fun creating holiday crafts, decor and memories to last us years to come.
Here are a some fun ones we have attempted so far over the last few days. Some allow Catori to be involved more than others, but she enjoys the end result just the same.
Classic Santa Sack Puppet:
You can get creative and make your Santa any way you would like. Here are the shapes and items we used to make ours if you'd like and example or template.
1 sheet of Red, White and Black construction paper
1 small brown paper sack
handful of cotton balls
2 small black buttons
paint if you'd like to make rosy cheeks
glue - you can use a stick, but bottle glue works better when applying cotton
(I had to paint the sack and background of face because there was a large black bar code on the bottom of our sack but it's not necessary)
Cardboard Christmas Trees:
I found this idea on Pinterest from www.remodelista.com. There wasn't a step by step on how to make them, just a lovely photo of some they had displayed. So I figured I'd give it a try and post a tutorial on it.
You will need...
a few pieces of cardboard
a writing utensil to trace with
a good pair of scissors
scrap book paper or paint to decorate
- draw out a Christmas tree in any size you desire
- trace a second one to match so that they can be assembled
- cut a slit in one of the trees half way up starting at bottom
- cut a slit in second tree half way down starting at the top
- after decorating trees on both sides and they have dried, slide one tree into the slit of the other forming the 3d tree
Christmas Countdown Board:
Not sure if I'm the only one, but if you have any of these over used dry erase boards, don't throw it away just yet. No matter what I did, I could not get that marker to come off. So much for easy erase markers.. sigh. But the great thing is, chalkboard paint can turn almost anything into a new treasure! We decided to make this one our Christmas countdown board. Every morning, we change the number of days as the excitement rises!
Make it sparkle:
Since I told you how I hadn't really taken the time to decorate much in the past, you can imagine my holiday boxes to unload are somewhat limited. And since we don't have a special 'Christmas decor' fund set aside, that means we get to be extra creative around here. Displaying my nativity scene that my mother gifted me years ago was of high importance. I want to allow Catori to embrace and enjoy all of the fun & mystery that comes along at Christmas time, but sharing with her that true meaning of why we celebrate and do all we do is top priority. I needed a little something to display above the nativity so I could devote a special place to it alone. So..a sparkly 'oh come let us adore him' seemed like the sensible thing to do.
white colored pencil
bottle of glue
glitter
cheap frame (I found a package of 10 various small sizes at Michael's for $9.99!
- draw out whatever saying it is you desire to display
- carefully trace letters with a very thin line of glue
- generously sprinkle glitter over words
- let sit until completely dry then dump excess glitter back into bottle
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