Twelve Days of Christmas Books: Day 12 Birth of Jesus

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 12th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

12 Holy Bible

11 Nights Before Christmas

10 Fancy Festivities

9 Animal Christmas Books

8 I Spy Christmas Tree Games

7 Santa Stories

6 Nativity Activities

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

ObSeussed's Number One Christmas story is the birth of Jesus.

We like to read it as a family every Christmas Eve.

It can be found in the Holy Bible.

If you don't have a copy, you can get it on Amazon or read it online here in the book of Luke.

Did you know you can get the Holy Bible on Kindle?

Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men. Wishing you JOY this Christmas Season.

I heard this years ago and I always remember what your priorities are:

J-Jesus

O-Others

Y-Yourself

Merry CHRISTmas.

11th Day of Christmas Books: The Night Before Christmas

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 11th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

11 Nights Before Christmas

10 Fancy Festivities

9 Animal Christmas Books

8 I Spy Christmas Tree Games

7 Santa Stories

6 Nativity Activities

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

When I was a little girl my mom helped me memorize the whole story of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" by Clement C. Moore. It was so fun to learn and remember each Christmas. I still remember much of it, with a little help.  There are so many different versions available now. 

My favorite version is the one by Mary Engelbreit.

The illustrations are so vibrant in Engelbreit's classic art style. I found a lesson plan to go with this book at Pivotal Points.

My daughter loved the rhyming poem and pictures but did not like to see that Santa smoked a pipe "with smoke that encircled his head like a wreath." We've recently had several discussions about smoking not being healthy and that it can make you sick. She was very worried that Santa would be hurt from smoking. I told her this was an old story and that he probably doesn't smoke anymore now that the doctors told him it is not healthy. Have any of my readers come across similar issues when reading older books?

These are some of the other versions of the Night Before Christmas: The Teacher's, Librarian's, Pirate's, Soldier's, Nurse's, Dinosaur's and Cajun Night Before Christmas.

See some of them below on the Amazon link (see disclosure on my 'About' page.)

Also, don't forget about The Nightmare Before Christmas, by Tim Burton.  There is a great children's book about the story (see Amazon link above).  Here is the life-size Jack Skellington we made for Halloween. See more about Jack and the book here.

10th day of Christmas Books: Fancy Festivities

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 10th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

10 Fancy Festivities

9 Animal Christmas Books

8 I Spy Christmas Tree Games

7 Santa Stories

6 Nativity Activities

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

If you haven't heard of Fancy Nancy by now you must either live under a rock, or you don't have a little girl in your house.  The children's book character, Fancy Nancy, loves to turn the ordinary into extraordinary.  

Here we are at our local library storytime Fancy Nancy Party.  They made fancy masks, gave everyone a bling necklace, had fancy cookies and lemonade in tea cups, had the girls do a fashion walk down a red carpet and dance to fancy music on the stage.

Make sure to add glitter and bling to your holiday decorations and festivities this season just like Fancy Nancy's Splendiferous Christmas.  Nancy says splendiferous is the only word that "describes how magnificent, joyous and sparkly Christmas morning is."  She wants Christmas to be fancy with a special tree topper but when things go wrong her grandpa teaches her how to "make eggnog out of broken eggs."

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas

The Fancy Nancy book series by Jane O'Conner, illustrated by Robin Glasser, helps introduce new 'fancy' vocabulary to young readers. My 7 yr old and I have loved this series for 4 years. The original hard backs are a little hard for her to read because the font is too fancy but all the easy reader books have been perfect for her.


The Fancy Nancy collection seems to be growing every month with new books popping up every time I go to the store. We are adding Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique, The Delectable Cupcake and My Family History to our home library this Christmas.

We bought the cupcake one from our school book fair the fashion boutique from Amazon online after Thanksgiving and the Family History one from our local Barnes and Nobel. I've also seen them in our Scholastic book order, at Target and Wal-mart - I told you they are everywhere.

I'm so excited for the family history one because our family does a lot of research and it introduces some great vocab for young readers, like 'ancestors'.

I am also excited for 'The Delectable Cupcake' as I am crazy about cupcakes, see the Cupcake Conference.

Wishing you a Spendiferous Christmas!
 
Here are some more Fancy Nancy items you can click on for more details.

9th Day of Christmas Books: Animal Christmas Books

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 9th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

9 Animal Christmas Books

8 I Spy Christmas Tree Games

7 Santa Stories

6 Nativity Activities

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

This is the bear we saw at Yellowstone this summer. We did not want to get any closer.  This poor bear will probably miss Christmas this year while he is hibernating. 

But the bear from Bear Stays Up (by Karma Wilson) won't miss out because his friends come up with all sorts of activities to keep him busy, in the end the friends fall asleep and Bear makes a surprise for them.

My kids love these books that tell of winter animals experiencing Christmas for the first time. It is a great time to explain hibernation.
Another favorite is Froggy. We love the entire Froggy book series by Jonathan London. Froggy's Best Christmas is about he and his friends that normally miss Christmas but they get to have fun experiencing the festivities all together for the first time.

The Mitten, by Jan Brett, has amazing illustrations. ACTIVITY: You can go to Barnes & Nobel online right now for Storytime where you can hear Jan Brett read this book to your kids.

This next book is a favorite from my childhood.  We all love the Little Critter book series by Mercer Mayer. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad is a classic Little Critter tale where he tries to help his parents for Christmas, but always seems to mess up.  I had this on cassette tape when I was a child and still have it but need to find a cassette player so I can play it for my kids. It is a darling story.

This is a funny book that is part of the Moostache series by Margie Palatini.  This is Mooseltoe (Moostache at Christmas time).

Here are some other Christmas Animal Stories I need to check out.

Humphrey's First Christmas by Carol Heyer. The illustrations look beautiful.(Plus my high school mascot was a camel named Humphrey.)  (Spoiler Alert:) It is a story of a stubborn camel who wants to find his blanket, but ends up giving it to baby Jesus in the end. Great message for your children about giving.

The Crippled Lamb, by Max Lucado.  I love reading the special messages in other Max Lucado books and this one looks amazing about a crippled sheep that feels out of place but has a special role on Christmas Eve, helping children learn that we all have a special purpose in life.

8th Day of Christmas Books: I Spy Christmas Tree Games

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 8th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

8 I Spy Christmas Tree Games

7 Santa Stories

6 Nativity Activities

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

Do you see what I see? 

Family Fun Activities:

I SPY CHRISTMAS TREE GAME

Sit with your child and look at your tree together. Describe ornaments to see if they can find it. "I spy a penguin, or I spy a santa on a sleigh." Take turns and try to be very descriptive with colors, shapes or objects they are not familiar with.

CHRISTMAS PICKLE

Have you heard of the Christmas Pickle? It is a old German tradition, read more about it here.

We have a Christmas tradition that whoever finds the pickle ornament first on Christmas Eve, gets to open the first present.  One year my mom couldn't find the ornament so she hung a real pickle for my kids to find (see picture below). I do not recommend doing that.  You can buy an ornament like the one below or select another special ornament of yours to be the hidden one. Or print the free one I designed and cut it out to hide it. 

Free Printable Pickle Ornament to hide



I SPY CHRISTMAS BOOKS:

I Spy Books are a favorite around our house.  The Christmas I Spy books keep our kids entertained for hours. They especially like searching for the Seymour wooden boy in the 'Can You See What I See' book by Walter Wick. They also love the Look-A-Like series.

Linking to Tip Me Tuesday at Tip Junkie

7th Day of Christmas Books: Santa Stories

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 7th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

7 Santa Stories

6 Nativity Activities (say that quickly 6 times)

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

I found this Santa Baby suit a few years ago and stored it with our Christmas decorations. Our new baby happened to be the right size for it this year so I took him to see Santa.

SANTA BOOKS

We love reading books about Santa.

One in our collection is 'Santa's Toy Shop'. It is a classic little golden book.

I adore the new version of "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."  I need to add that to my collection.

SANTA MUSIC

Everyone remembers the classic 'Santa Baby' song by Eartha Kitt (see below at Amazon) but have you heard the Missy Piggy Muppet Version? It is a great silly version for kids.

SANTA MOVIES

We always have to watch the classic TV shows 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town', 'Rudolph' and 'Frosty the Snowman' so we got the 4 disc Christmas Classics set a few years ago and it has been well used. It also comes with a CD of the soundtrack music.

SANTA ACTIVITIES

FREE Personalized video from Santa: This year we found Santa will email your child a personalized video with pictures of them and other details.  Our kids were amazed to see where Santa lives and to find out he has a new reindeer.  You can see my son's video here for an example (probably won't stay posted past Jan.) but you can create your own at the Portable North Pole.

SANTA'S MAGIC KEY

We don't have a fireplace or chimney so we found an idea online that we have used. The Magic Santa Key.  You leave a key for Santa to get into your house. There are some cute printables with poems to go with this at The Idea Room.

Check these out at your local library or bookstore first. See Amazon disclosure on my 'About' page.

6th Day of Christmas Books: Nativity Activities

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 6th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

6 Nativity Activities (say that quickly 6 times)

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

Our family enjoys books and activities about the Nativity during the Christmas Season. After all, it is the Reason for the Season. 
I created this wall hanging Advent Calendar with pockets that hold little 1 inch ornaments. The kids take turns adding an ornament to the tree each night before bed.
I found the ornaments, mini 2-foot tree and tree skirt at Big Lots. The first 12 ornaments are a festive set with Santa, snowflakes, snowmen and more. The ornaments I put in the last 12 pockets are from the Nativity so as we get closer to Christmas we discuss each figure and what they represent. The baby Jesus ornament is in the 25th day pocket so we can add it to the tree on His birthday and remember Him.

I hand stiched the numbers onto felt with embroidery thread, then I sewed the pockets on using an applique stitch. I keep the ornaments in the little box after Christmas.

FAMILY FUN ACTIVITY:

We try to act out the nativity on Christmas Eve as we read the story from the Bible. We use towels on our heads for a quick costume, although my mother-in-law just bought some simple animal costumes from Oriental Trading for us to use this year.

We also love the Little People Nativity set so the kids have a hands on activity to retell the story. (See below with books.)

BOOKS:

Here are some great Nativity books that we have in our collection.

5th Day of Christmas Books: Grinch Cookie Recipe

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 5th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

5 Grinch Cookies

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

I went to a Cookie exchange party hosted by the gracious Jen of Tatertots and Jello. Of course I wanted to make something festive so I made Mount Crumpit Melt-a-ways.  This is a melt-a-way butter cookie recipe from my husband's family, I just re-named it. And, I'll admit, my husband baked the cookies. His family are the best bakers. I did make the frosting, only after calling him for advice while in the process. It really isn't very hard, I'm just not the best cook.  They taste delicious and Melt in your mouth, thus the name.

Grinch Christmas Cookies Recipe, Free Printable

Remember to Read How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss for the Twelve Days of Christmas Books.

See Amazon disclosure on my 'About' page.

Linking to:

Pleasant Home's Cookie Exchange Party

4th Day of Christmas Books: Nutcracker

Celebrating The Twelve Days of Christmas Books

On the 4th day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

A Nutcracker

3 Mitten Trees

2 Snowman Earrings

and the Berenstain Bear Family.

The Nutcracker is a magical holiday story. My sister and I normally go see the ballet each year. This year I decided to bring my daughter for the first time.  I was so excited for her to see a real ballet.  She enjoyed it but she leaned over to me in the middle of it and asked "Why aren't they talking?" I didn't think to explain that in advance. She has attended several theatre shows lately and was expecting the performers to sing and talk. Once I explained that the dancers and music ARE the show she seemed to enjoy it more.

We attended the Nutcracker by Ballet West of Salt Lake City. It was a magnificent production.

I love doing activities that bring characters to life to encourage reading.

Here are some books you might like to add to your Christmas collection.  The Nutcracker Ballet by Mara Conlon is a play set that the stage pops out and it has paper dolls you can move around as you tell the story.

KID CRAFT IDEAS:

Make your own Nutcracker out of a Pringles can. See Kaboose for more details.

The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle has a great tutorial to make Nutcracker Cookie Ornaments.

Or an amazing gingerbread creation of a scene from the Nutcracker can be found at Cake Power Kids.

3rd Day of Christmas Books: Mitten Tree

On the third day of Christmas Books, obSEUSSed gave to me

3 Mitten Trees

 2 Snowman Earrings and

the Berenstain Bear Family

You may ask, What is a Mitten Tree?  It is similar to an Angel Tree or Giving Tree at Christmas time to help collect donations for those in need. It is inspired by the book The Mitten Tree by Candace Christensen (see below).  Here is our Mitten Tree just getting started. I had a box to collect blankets, sheets and jackets. We actually had 3 Mitten Trees set up in different rooms to let the kids decorate as they brought donations.  

I read the book, The Mitten Tree, to the children at church after Thanksgiving.

We talked about giving secret service, like the woman in the book who would knit mittens and leave them on the tree by the bus stop to surprise the children leaving for school each morning.

We had several moms and women in our neighborhood that hand-knit mittens like the woman in the book. Other kids saved their money and bought knit mittens at the store. You can find 2 pair for $1 at the dollar store and Target.  The kids would each tell an act of kindness as they put a donation on the tree. 

I know that serving others has brought joy to my life and I hope to instill that in our children.

I sent home flyers to remind the families to look for a specific list of new or like-new items needed by our local homeless shelter.  You can use this FREE graphic I created to customize it for your own event.

You can right click on it, copy it, paste it in Word, adjust the size, then add a text box over it (format it to no line and no fill) to add your own words, a list of needed items and dates of the donation drive.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for an annual family pass to Thanksgiving Point in Utah from ObSEUSSed. Contest ends Friday at midnight. Click here for details.



Second Day of Christmas Books: Snowman Stories and Earrings

The Second Day of Christmas, ObSEUSSed gave to me:
Snowman Stories and
The Berenstain Bear Family

Our kids get so excited for the first day of snow. We've had a few good storms so far and made a few snowmen but it has all melted. We are hoping to "Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow" so we can build more snowmen.

Snowmen All Year is written and illustrated by Caralyn and Mark Buehner, who reside in Salt Lake City, UT.  The snowman gets to experience swimming and the 4th of July Fireworks (pictured at Sugar House Park) and trick-or-treating. Such a fun book for younger children.

Here are a few of our other favorite Snowman Books (and the classic movie I remember watching in Grade School).

KID CRAFT:

Character Snowman: If your kids like a certain character, try to model your snowman after them.  We love the Cat in the Hat so our snowman always wears a striped stove pipe hat and striped scarf. 

WATER COLOR PAINT: Have your kids look at a picture of their favorite character and try to replicate it with water colors.

I painted the first picture with my children's water color set.  It is a large 12 by 20 inch picture we have framed that hangs in our reading room.

SNOWMAN EARRINGS:

My daughter likes to help me make these. We've made them for grandmas and her school teachers. We get out all the supplies then she assembles them and I add the hook.

Tools Needed:

Wire Cutters

Small Round Nose or needle nose Pliers

Supplies Needed: (Get extras so you can make more than 1 pair. Look around your bead shop for anything that might work for these. They don't have to look just like mine. Get creative.)

Findings

2- Fish Hook Ear Wires (I like Sterling Silver) can be found most places beads are sold, like at Joann's.

2 - Headpins 1.5 inches (look like a strait pin without the point)
Beads
3- Faux pearl beads, white. 2 larger (8 mm) 1 smaller (6 mm). They often sell assorted size sets.

2- Red Rondelle Spacer beads for the scarf, these would be pretty from Sunset Crystals.

2- Black Saucer (or Rondelle) beads (8mm) for the hat rim (here are some on Etsy) I used a rock chip.

2- Black Short Tube Beads for the top hat -sample at Artbeads (or a cube) something like this at Joann's.

Instructions:

1. Take the headpin and put the two larger pearl beads on, then the red rondelle (scarf), then the smaller pearl bead (head). Now put the black saucer bead on (hat rim) and the black tube bead (top hat).

2.  You only want about 1/2 inch of the headpin above the snowman so if there is more, use the wire cutters to trim it. Use the pliers to Bend the top of the headpin in a 90 degree angle.

4. This is the tricky part. Use the round pliers to pinch the head pin and use the needle nose pliers to wrap the tail of the headpin around the headpin towards the beads until it is all wrapped with no overhang.
5. Use the needle nose pliers to open the circle on the bottom of the fish hook earring finding.
6. Connect the headpin loop and the fish hook circle. Then use the pliers to close the fish hook loop. Here is a great video for a simple way to connect the dangle beaded headpin to the fish hook earring.

You can wear your snowman earrings all winter long, not just before Christmas. These make great teacher gifts.

Utah readers: Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a Thanksgiving Point family, annual membership ending this Fri.

Merry Grinchmas!

Linking to:

Tatertots and Jello, Weekend Wrap-up Party

Tatertots and Jello, Homemade Gift Ideas Party

Today's Creative Blog, Get Your Craft on Tues.

Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday
Funky Polkadot Giraffe, Too Cute Tuesday
Blue Cricket Design, Show and Tell Wednesdays
Sassy Sites, Free for All Friday
Fancy This Fridays on Truly Lovely
Sweet Jeanette's Very Merry Christmas Party Link-up
Skip to My Lou, Made by You Mondays

First Day of Christmas with Berenstain Bears

The 12 Days of Christmas Books:
I'm going to attempt to share our favorite Christmas books for the Twelve Days of Christmas. We have 3 huge baskets of them so I'll try to share the classics.

For the First Day of Christmas ObSEUSSed gave to me:
The Berenstain Bear Family

Our 5 and 7 year olds love Berenstain Bears right now. They have a variety of Christmas books.

One of the classics we keep out all year is The Bears' Christmas with lots of fun rhyming. It is part of the Dr. Seuss Beginning Reader collection and is the same size as all the Dr. Seuss hardbound book series.

We just picked up the Berenstain Bears Trim the Tree the other night at Barnes and Noble during Grinch night. The one we got has lift-the-flaps so the kids are loving it.
We also like the Joy of Giving because it helps our kids realize that giving to others can bring them happiness during Christmas too.

I love how all the Berenstain Bears books have morals to the stories. We are on a quest to collect any we find at used book stores. We often find them for 50 cents. I love the newer print ones too that you can grab at the store for under $5.00. Check your library for copies first. Then if you like them shop at your local bookstore or online for a copy. Here are some you might enjoy.



If you live in Utah, remember to enter to win a family pass to Thanksgiving Point from ObSEUSSed by clicking here for more details.

Merry Grinchmas!

Family Fun at Thanksgiving Point Giveaway

CONTEST CLOSED, THE WINNER IS:

Jokilyn who said: Love to go to the Dino Museum, Holiday Lights or Farm Country!
Congrats Jodi! I will contact you by email then send the pass to you in the mail.
Thanks to all those who entered.
-ObSEUSSed
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Thanksgiving Point is a wonderful place for family fun in Utah.
Keep reading for details on a Thanksgiving Point annual pass giveaway at the end of this post.

We welcome Spring each year by visiting Thanksgiving Point to view the Tulip Garden. Grandma comes from Brigham City and we take a picnic lunch while we enjoy walking around the gardens. Here are some pictures I took from this past spring.

Our kids love feeding the large fish in the coi pond and smelling the tulips in the fragrance garden. We also love the garden carousel area.

You may wonder why I am mentioning spring time in the middle of winter.  Well, I just had the opportunity to visit Thanksgiving Point last week during a Holiday Preview for local bloggers.  I got to see a whole different side of the venue.  We took a tour through their magnificent Emporium, sampled food from their Harvest restaurant (see the Seussalicious butternut squash soup below), and took a trolley ride to view their holiday light display.

KID FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES AT THANKSGIVING POINT

I can't wait to go back and take the kids through their holiday lights display. You can drive through, staying nice and cozy in your car or take a ride on their heated Trolley bus.   They also have reindeer by the watertower. Santa visits at certain times too.

The Emporium store was beautifully decorated for the holidays with a wonderful kid section featuring whimsical trendy toys, clothes and books.

Farm Country, is great in the spring and warmer months with a petting zoo.

The Museum of Ancient Life featuring Dinosaur exhibits, a fossil dig and Mammoth Screen 3D Theater and Megaplex Movies.

What I'm most excited for is their new Museum of Natural Curiosity coming soon. They are currently raising funds to build the largest Children's museum in Utah. It sounds amazing and I hope to take my children there in the future.

Disclosure: When attending the Holiday preview for bloggers I was given an annual family pass and an extra one to give away to a reader of obSEUSSed. All the opinions in this post are my own.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY:

One winner will recieve a Thanksgiving Point Property Membership (valued at $175) good for one year. See all the benefits here.

To enter: Please visit Thanksgiving Point’s website and come back here to leave me your email address and a comment telling me what area you want to take your kids or grandkids to the most by midnight (MST) Friday, December 17 (so I can try to mail it to you in time for Christmas). Winner must have a valid U.S. address. 

For extra entries (please leave a separate comment & your email address for each entry):

• Tell me your favorite Christmas Children's book
• Follow obSEUSSed through Google Friend Connect (see right column)
• Like obSEUSSed on Facebook
• Like Thanksgiving Point on Facebook
• Follow obSEUSSed on Twitter

BLOG HOP GIVEAWAY:
Here are some other great Utah bloggers doing this giveaway if you'd like more chances to win.

Michelle from A Little Tipsy, (see more about her in my previous post today)
Tauni at It's a Tradition,

Sassy Scoops List:
Camille at Make It Work Mom,
Emily at Is This Really My Life?,
Stephanie at The Daily Blarg,
Vanessa at I Never Grew Up,
Kalli at My Life as a Kalli
Sharon at the Savvy Grandma
Shelly at House of Smiths,

Jill at Jill Can Blog
Hannah at Sherbet Blossom
Jenny at Formerly Pfread,
Quinn at The Artistic Mom,
Julee at Mommy's Memorandum.
These others will likely post their giveaways soon: Veronica at Welcome to my Chaos, Elisa at Mormon Mommy Blogs, and Crazyland: Tales from the Motherboard, Rebecca at Blue Cricket Design, Jen at Tatertots and Jello.

I'm looking forward to visiting Thanksgiving Point this coming year and hope others will join me.

I'm so glad you stopped by, pull up a chair and stay awhile at obSEUSSed. Take a look around my blog and come back often for more Seusstastic ideas on kid crafts, family fun and children's books .

A Little Tipsy Creative Ideas and Tips Blog Swap

Hi There! I am so excited to be here on obSEUSSed today! Victoria has such great ideas for the kiddos!

Michelle, from A Little Tipsy here, taking the wheel for the day!

Nope not drunk (what a relief you will not be taking your tour with a drunk driver), I may or may not be a bit clumsy though.

A little about me, I am a SAHM with one crazy 3 year old boy, a 5 week old baby boy, and a big geek for a husband (don't worry, he calls himself a geek). I love keeping busy and sharing all my projects and adventures whether they be Home decor, holiday projects, or discovering how to get permanent marker off granite counter tops.

So, enough about me...here are a few of my favorite projects.

I am so excited that it is finally time for Christmas activities and music! Christmas (or should I say December) is my favorite holiday. Here are a few fun things for the holidays.

Christmas Art Project



You "Light" Up My Life String of appreciation lights



Magnetic Nativity Advent




Easy Neighbor/Teacher/Co-worker gifts

Chocolate Dipped Candy Sticks



I'm kinda sorta known as the treat girl. I am asked to bring dessert to every family gathering and even have a feature on my blog called Cereal Treat Sunday. Here a fun little recipe with a holiday twist.

Chocolate Candy Cane Crunch Cookies



The Christmas season is all about giving and my blog is no exception. I love hosting giveaways and have a lot of really fun ones lined up for December so be sure to check in often! Right now we are giving away a Thanksgiving Point Annual Pass!

Well, I guess that about wraps things up. Thanks to Victoria for swappin' it up and thanks to you for letting me be your tour guide today. Watch your step on the way out and don't forget to come visit soon!

-----------------------

Thanks Michelle for swapping blogs today!  I adore your blog full of fun family friendly crafts and activities. Michelle always has amazing tips, that must be why she is called "A Little Tipsy." I met Michelle last week at a Thankgiving Point bloggers night out. We are both giving away an annual pass so be sure to enter.

Merry Grinchmas!

ObSEUSSed's Family

With a blog called ObSEUSSed, I couldn’t go through this season without mentioning the Grinch. We got to take pictures with the Grinch this year at my daughter’s school fundraiser. Barnes & Nobel donated a percentage of their profits to their school while the school provided Grinch and Dr. Seuss themed activities. The kids sang carols, went on a Dr. Seuss scavenger hunt around the store, made whimsical Who hats, listened to their principal read Dr. Seuss stories and took pics with the Grinch.

 

One of our favorite holiday traditions is reading "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to our kids and watching the movie. I love discussing the message of the story with my kids.
Play "How the Grinch Saved Christmas" game at Seussville.com
Grab the book or the movie at your local library or online (Amazon disclosure on About page.)



  

Seuss Landing Grinch

Seuss Landing Grinch



Use ornaments and candy as decor. Drip icing off side for icicles.

We went to Grandma’s house last week to decorate gingerbread (graham cracker) houses. She was so thoughtful and found Grinch ornaments for me to use on our houses. I plan to pull them off to use again next year as I work on creating a Whoville Christmas Village. (I’m so excited collecting things to create this from scratch.)



 Graham Cracker Houses have been a tradition for our family since I was a little girl. We would make extra and take them to neighbors.

Graham Cracker House Tips:

• Use a dull knife to saw the graham crackers into the shapes you need. Saw one square in half diagonally to create the triangles on the top of house. Then use all squares or all long rectangles (the whole graham cracker) for creating your sides and roof.
• Face candy canes together to create a heart or a door. See the roof on mine.
• Drip Icing off the roof to create icicles.
• Use a pie tin for easy transportation and don't forget to decorate the yard. Coconut looks nice as snow.
• Pick up decorative candy or ornaments at the dollar store to add to your house.
• Don’t try to use store bought canned frosting for these- they will not stay together. Here is the recipe my mom always makes that is nice and soft to start with but dries or sets up quickly.

Use a Pie tin. Let your kids get creative.

ROYAL ICING
(Also known as 7 minute icing or frosting)

3 egg whites (room temp)

4 cups powdered sugar

 ½ teaspoon cream of tartar

Beat all ingredients at high speed for 7 to 10 minutes. (Easy if you have a Kitchen Aid.)

This icing is for putting things together such as gingerbread houses and sugar molds. It dries hard and fast. You need to keep it covered with a wet cloth or a tight fitting lid when not being used. It will keep several days in the refrigerator but you should let it come to room temperature before using. Re-beating will not restore texture. Yields about 2 ½ cups icing.

If you want colored icing, put a dab of Wilton cake color paste on a toothpick and run through a cup of the icing. Stir it good. Keep adding a drop at a time until you get the desired color you desire.

Note: You can use meringue powder instead of egg whites.





Our Cindy Lou Who when she was two.

 You Can Create your own Who at Seussville.com and play many more games.

Remember "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.



GIVEAWAY UPDATE:  I attended a Holiday Preview at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah last week and am giving away a 1-year family membership. Click here for details to enter.

Linking to:

 Somewhat Simple's Strut Your Stuff Thursday and Winter Holidays Link Party

Tatertots and Jello, Weekend Wrap-up Party