I’ve idolized my grandmother for about as long as my memory serves. She has taught me how to load a mean dishwasher, place crisp sheets on a bed just right, organize a household, cook, etc. There was one Christmas, however, that she has stood out in my memories. It was the Christmas my Grandma patiently taught me to make crafts. Grandma does some serious senior scrapbooking, but her crafting is legendary.

Traveling over the river and through the woods accurately describes going to my Grandma’s house this particular year. I was 9 years old and Christmas held every promise in the world for me. After 10 hours in the car with 3 other siblings, I was ready to get out and enjoy the wintry scene laid before me at my Grandparents house.

As I entered the house, the smell of cookies and bread met my nose. Nothing beats the aroma of homemade goods…especially Grandma’s. The dining room table is what caught my eye though that day. Set up for us kids were ruby red, emerald green and crystal beads. Grandma explained that she wanted to teach us how to make Christmas ornaments for the tree. Any time with Grandma was deeply “treasured” time, and I desperately wanted to get started.

For hours Grandma sat with me and my siblings and helped us thread beads onto our wire. We made candy canes, stars, bells, etc. Every single ornament was uniquely designed by our own hand. When we finally finished our task, we placed the ornaments on the Christmas tree and hit the lights. I still can picture those little ornaments to this day. The colored light that burst through the beads was nothing short of magical.

We didn’t have many material possessions that Christmas, but it didn’t matter. We had a Grandma who cared enough to spend quality time with us. As I sit with my own two sons now and reflect on that winter day so long ago, I can’t help but want to try a little harder. Taking time for crafting with kids, teaching them to use their hands and imaginations is invaluable. Showing them how to invent and create different crafts and projects will help in their development. Life has seemed to speed up a bit and it’s hard to get away from those every day distractions that face us. For me, it’s time to get back to the basics. It’s time to give my kids their own memories to smile fondly upon in years to come.

Are your children anxious for Christmas to get here? The closer it gets to Christmas, the more wound up the kids get. Don’t tell anyone, but I think I’m just as excited as the kids.

Do you remember Christmas when you were a kid? The wonder and excitement increased daily as that special day drew near. The real magic of Christmas is in the memories that it creates. Some of my fondest memories involve simple inexpensive things that we did with (and for) our kids when they were young.

Going out to select our Christmas tree was always a great time. We’d sing Christmas carols in the car all the way to the Christmas tree farm. With saw in hand, we’d troop out into the field in search of the perfect tree. Sometimes it would take hours, but we loved every bitter cold minute of it.

One year, we selected a particularly large tree. It was so big; I couldn’t carry it to the car. We had to ask the farmer to help us carry it out. The farmer arrived a few minutes later with his 16-year-old daughter in tow. Together, the two of them carried the tree all the way out to the car. Imagine my embarrassment as I watched a young girl and her father carry the tree when I couldn’t. The family still gives me a hard time about that and calls me ‘wimpy’ whenever we get together for family Christmas gatherings.

Make an effort to create memories that will last a lifetime! It doesn’t have to be expensive. Our annual Christmas tree excursion is an example of the fun things you can do as a family that can bring a lifetime worth of laughter.

Get involved with your kids, do crafts, projects, and activities with them. I recall one activity; using nothing more than an inexpensive piece of cloth, we created a gift for our five-year old. It was a simple inexpensive gift that we made for less than a dollar. The real value in the gift was a wonderful story that we crafted about the object. Her squeals of delight and the look of absolute amazement on her face as she discovered it on Christmas morning was priceless. What’s more, she was the envy of her neighborhood friends when she showed them her precious treasure!

You can create lasting memories in many ways. For starters, there’s a great website for young children. It’s called Santa’s Place. It’s a daily journal of Santa’s activities that started on October 1. In it, Santa talks directly to your child (or grand-child). He asks them questions, fills them in on how the elves and reindeer are doing, sings songs, etc. Your children will love you for it!

Remember when you were a kid, and how anxious you were for Christmas to get here? Things were less hectic then. People did more things together as a family. Today, in many cases, both parents have to work and time is at a premium. Many kids spend as much time with the baby-sitter as they do with their own family.

During the Christmas season, make it a point to plan some special activities as a family. Forget about those chores around the house. The laundry will wait and there is nothing good on TV.

One nice Christmas activity is looking for a Christmas tree. Do some research and locate the nearest Christmas tree farm. Dress everyone warmly, pack two or three Christmas CD’s into the car, and hit the road. Crank up those CD’s right away and make sure everyone sings along. Don’t be afraid to have fun. Use a funny voice, make a few funny faces, tickle someone, and most importantly LAUGH.

When you arrive at your destination, grab a saw from the proprietor and head on out. Sing your favorite Christmas carols as you trudge along in search of the perfect tree. If your family is as picky as mine, it will take an hour or more. Again, don’t be afraid to have fun. The funny memories you create today will make your kids laugh for years to come!

After securing the tree, sing Christmas carols all the way home. Have a contest to see who can do the best Santa imitation. See who can come closest to guessing the total number of needles on the tree. (Pretend you know.)

The real magic of future Christmas gatherings will be based on the memories that you create now. Some of my fondest memories involve simple inexpensive things that we did with (and for) our kids when they were young.

Make an effort to create memories that will last a lifetime! It doesn’t have to be expensive. Our annual Christmas tree excursion is an example of the fun things you can do as a family that can bring a lifetime worth of laughter.

Get involved with your kids, do crafts, projects, and activities with them. I recall one activity; using nothing more than an inexpensive piece of cloth, we created a gift for our five-year old. It was a simple inexpensive gift that we made for less than a dollar. The real value in the gift was the wonderful story that we crafted about the object. Her squeals of delight and the look of absolute amazement on her face as she discovered it on Christmas morning was priceless. What’s more, she was the envy of her neighborhood friends when she showed them her precious treasure!

You can create lasting memories in many ways. For starters, there’s a great website for young children. It’s called Santa’s Place. It’s a daily journal of Santa’s activities that started on October 1. In it, Santa talks directly to your child (or grand-child). He asks them questions, fills them in on how the elves and reindeer are doing, sings songs, etc. Your children will love you for it!

There are some things that you can’t put a price on in life; like the light in a child’s eyes during the holidays. Feelings of anticipation, love, and hope grace the air as Christmas creeps closer and closer. Anything we can do as parents to amplify those feelings in our children, will help spread that priceless Christmas cheer all around us.Creating a countdown calendar for Christmas packed with goodies and a mini sized surprise is just the thing to celebrate the season. As adored as Christmas crafts already are, this one in particular is loved by all ages of the family. Starting in November, get your supplies ready for making this project. Kids can definitely help, but it’s also fun keeping it a secret and watching their little faces when you reveal the calendar.With a poster board, fabric, small envelopes, Christmas paper, and a good set of instructions you are ready to start your project. Finding just the right paper, ribbon and other supplies is the fun part. There are so many options available at Christmas to choose from! You can design the calendar to coordinate with your home decorations, or aim it more towards pleasing the wee ones of your family. Once the calendar is complete, you can start stocking it with surprises of all sorts. Most stores carry small Christmas chocolates, mints, candy canes, or other goodies. You can also write up fun activities, service projects, other Christmas crafts, movie nights, etc. to fill the days up. Kids love one on one time spent with their parents. To top off the perfect Christmas calendar, type up a story, poem or quote to share with your family, each day. Right before the kids are tucked in for the night, have them open an envelope and see what’s inside. Most years, the Christmas rush seems to consume us. Taking a few precious moments to enjoy Christmas each evening will help our kids feel the full effect of the “holiday spirit!” Christmas will be that much sweeter when it finally arrives.

There is always one teacher from your youth that sticks out in your mind. One person who went that extra mile and not only taught…but touched. This teacher for me was Mrs. Allen. Gray hair and a pointy chin, Mrs. Allen was loved the moment she was met.She taught us everything we needed to know educationally… and then she showed us how to do all sorts of fun crafts; Christmas crafts to Easter crafts to just-for-fun crafts. We made things from popsicle sticks, glitter, glue and crayons. We learned that we could invent at 9 years old! The sky was the limit, and every day held another adventure. I remember one such craft that I still have in my possession over 20 years later.The morning was particularly cold, even for northern Utah. The snow was high and Christmas was on its way! My mom had sent me to school that day with a miniature sized picture of myself. A freckled little girl, I had never thought myself as beautiful. As I held that picture though, I remember the feeling of pride at how well my school pictures had turned out that year. I was anxious to take it to school for whatever project we were attacking next.After completing our daily work, Mrs. Allen handed us a white foam ball the size of a softball. She then asked us our favorite Christmas colors. Mine were most definitely red and silver that year. Two neat little baggies of red and silver sequins were then placed on my desk. At that age, anything that shined captured my attention fully! Mrs. Allen then told us we would be making a Christmas ornament that would take several days to complete.Each day I would come to school, so eager to continue working on my craft. Using little silver pins, I remember carefully sticking each sequin into my foam ball. I had come up with a terrific idea for a pattern and couldn’t wait to see it completed. When I came to the middle of the ball, Mrs. Allen gently helped me pin my miniature school picture onto the front. After that final sequin was put in place, we wrapped them in tissue paper to present to our parents. There was never a prouder little girl than I, that day.Mrs. Allen loved crating with kids and the kids loved Mrs. Allen because of it. My ornament, roughed up with time still holds my little school picture neatly pinned on the front. I don’t remember much of what was taught that year, but I do remember Mrs. Allen teaching us to make crafts. Her passion for art and using imagination rubbed off on a young girl and has stuck with her through the years.

Oh no! I hear you cry! Not already, surely?

Sorry! But I did see my first chocolate Santa in the shops today (hiding sheepishly behind the chocolate pumpkins!) and I remembered how all the advance preparation I did last year left me more time than I dreamed possible for playing with the children and indulging my taste for champagne cocktails on Christmas Day. In fact, my freezer and I will become extremely intimate in the next couple of weeks as I start to put together all the Christmas food my family expects to have and squirrel it away until needed.

One splendid timesaver I’ll share with you is to prepare your roast potatoes whenever you get a spare half hour between now and the big day. No, I haven’t completely lost the plot, even though Christmas preparations have been known to have that effect. Just peel them, cut them, parboil them, cool them down under running cold water, allow them to dry off then whack them in a bag in the freezer and forget about them. On the day, just tip them, separated but still frozen, into your hot cooking fat and stick in the oven for an hour or so. Perfect. Do the same with the parsnips too.

I digress. The point of all this is to urge you to take the same approach to your Christmas decorations.

Shop bought decorations can be just fine but……wouldn’t it be fabulous if you could say “(the children and) I made them!” when visitors gasp in awe at your creations? Why decorate your place with the same Christmas decorations that everyone else has when with a little forward planning you can create something unique? Making Christmas decorations doesn’t have to be complicated or even madly time consuming – especially if you get cracking now and you have a guide to start you off.

Once you have made, say, a glorious Christmas wreath you have the skills to experiment and design your own.

Christmas Crafts is an eBook that takes you step-by-step through making a range of decorations from the wreath to candy canes, with comprehensive instructions and lists of materials needed. I discovered it last year and the children and I spent some happy – and sometimes highly comical – evenings as the nights drew in making boxes full of Christmas decorations. It became a real family affair and, in spite of the fact that we have more than enough now, I’m being pestered to get the materials ready again!

And I shall. We can always give the surplus away as gifts!

Christmas is the time for giving. So how long is the list of people you need to buy gifts for? What is your budget?

If your budget is tight, you could spend more time and less money by making presonalized christmas gifts for the girls, using cardboard. This project is kind of tricky, so I suggest you try one pair first to see if you are up to it and whether you like the results.

You will need cardboard, pencil,pen knife, paint,needle,thread, vial of tiny beads,a pair of earring findings hooks.

1. Draw a dozen pairs of stars in varying sizes on cardboard. 24 stars altogether to be divided into 2 equal sets. The smallest star should be at least 2 cm wide.

2. Cut out these stars and paint them a shiny silver or gold or any pretty color depending on the look you want. Divide these stars into 2 equal sets. Work on 1 set at a time.

3. Take the first set, divide it into 3 subsets of 4 stars. Each subset should one of the 3 largest stars in this set.

4. Take one subset of 4 stars. Thread a needle and pierce it through the spike of the largest star. Tie a knot to secure this star. This will be the bottom of that earring strand.

5. Pass the needle through a 3 tiny beads.

6. Run the needle through the center of the second largest star in the subset and secure it by running the needle through a point in the star. Tie a knot to secure this star and pass the thread through 3 more tiny beads.

7. Repeat 6. for the other stars in the subset.

8. Pass the needle through the eye of the earring finding and back through the top bead of this strand, securing the strand to the earring finding.

9. Repeat steps 4 to 9 for the other 2 strands. Once done, you have a single chandelier earring.

10. Repeat steps 3 to 9 with the other set for the matching earring.

Adding Eucalyptus branches gathered from the yard can add a wonderful dimension to your Christmas tree when you embellish the clustered branches with aerosol spray snow for a wintry-white feel without ever spraying or changing the color of your tree itself.  This project would be especially great for an artificial tree to add a sense of natural freshness to it.  Your guests are sure to pull up a comfortable chair to marvel at the winter wonderland and your frosted tree branches.

Begin by wiring eucalyptus branches in bundles of three.  You can also use any other type of branches as long as they have a slender leave look as the eucalyptus does.  Next, spray the branches with aerosol snow covering most of it, including any seeds still left on the stems, yet allowing some of the natural color of the leaves to show through. Allow the frosted branches to dry for about 30 minutes, and then repeat the same spraying process on the other side.  Once the branches are fairly dry to the touch (they will still feel a little moist), secure them to your tree with floral wire, making sure that the wider end of your frosted branch cluster is pointing outward away from the tree, therefore creating dimension.  To give your project a natural look, don’t forget to secure the stems of your frosted branches to the inner portion of the tree as if they were actually attached to the trunk of the tree. 

Note: Place a tree skirt or sheet around the base of the tree prior to securing frosted branches to tree. You are finished and can now enjoy your unique and classy Christmas tree decorating tradition.

Supplies:

This craft idea is sure to make a colorful and festive splash to your Christmas home décor, or as the perfect hostess gift.  In addition, by using a small strand of clear Christmas lights, it can also make a nice holiday night light in your guest bathroom. 

Begin by stuffing your Christmas basket or container with newspaper to a height of three quarters of the way up. Using a hot glue gun, apply hot glue to the bottom of one large pinecone and hold firmly against the newspaper till glue bonds.  Repeat the process using one large artificial red apple and one large artificial green apple.  Continue the above steps alternating between pinecones and apples until the bottom of the basket is full.  Once the glue has dried and items have adhered to the newspaper move on to step 2. 

Start a second layer this time using medium and small size pinecones and apples.  Hot glue items to your larger size pinecones and apples until glue bonds firmly in place.  Note: you will need to check pinecones and apples making sure none are loose before adding lights.  Next, wrap and tuck 1 strand of miniature size clear Christmas lights around the pinecones and apples.  The eraser end of a pencil works great for tucking the lights in place between the pinecones and apples.  Remember to leave about a one foot leader of the light cord hanging at the back of the basket so lights can be easily plunged in to an outlet.  Next, using your ribbons listed below (3/4 inch or smaller) tie a bow around the handle on the left side of the basket.  To personalize your basket, hot glue a 3-D foam letter sticker around the top of the handle. Cinnamon sticks would also add a nice smell and could easily be hot glued in to place.

Supplies:

By taking your common indoor/outdoor light strand and combining it with some light colored plastic ornaments, you can make your house the envy of the neighborhood during the Christmas holiday season with a unique and festive light garland that most folks would not have even considered putting together. 

You will want to start out by prepping your ornaments first.  If you don’t have any that can be spared for this project, you should be able to find starter craft making ornaments at any of your better craft stores or online.  You want to drill a hole large enough on opposite sides of each other on every ornament to be able to feed your strand of lights through, but not so large that the lights easily fall out.  You can make a pilot hole to get started with a smaller drill bit.

Then, just feed your strand of lights through each ornament, evenly spacing however many you made to give a nice coverage to the tree.  I decided to not go overboard, since these were larger size ornaments, and my Leyland Cypress they’d be hanging on might not take too kindly to so much weight.  I spread 16 ornaments over the 5 foot tree.  That’s it.  Hang and enjoy your festive light garland, and store it away as is for the off season ready to hang again next year.  You may want to try using a multi-display type of light strand to vary the light show.

Supplies: