Christmas, Pt. 1

Christmas came early this year since we weren't going to be at home on Christmas morning...

Lovely oogles her new sewing kit. 

Entertainment for the car...Don't judge me by the mud marks on my door.  They weren't there the last time I cleaned....

Christmas, the next morning.  I decided I like a 12-days of Christmas kinda thing.  They spend so much more time "bonding" with their new toys/gifts. 

Can you tell?

And this pic just made me laugh.  Snugglebug will hate me one day when she realizes how many people will have seen this pic.Whuut?

And for those of you truly detail-oriented, you may have noticed the pink basin in the background of above pics.  That's because after Lovely oogled the sewing kit and emptied it, she said, "Ohhh, I wonder what goes in first.  I know; this.  Now, what should...I feel like I'm going to throw up."  She acted perfectly well prior to this, mind you.  But, she stood, ran to the throne-room, and got sick.  She got a fever afterward, but she only was sick once and was better by morning, thankfully.

And then I got sick in the car.  Yay, me!  But, it was gone within a few hours.  Snugglebug felt sick, too, but my Canadian lovin' in-laws told her to drink buttermilk.  Get this:  it worked!  She escaped the illness!

Have a merry illness-free Christmas!

2011 Teach Gift: Yummy Hand Scrub

I would LOVE to take credit for this easy, simply yummy smelling hand scrub, but alas, I found the idea here.  After racking my brain, I could not come up with a decent gift for my daughters' teachers and (since I've subbed there a lot lately), the aides.  And then I found this.  Can everyone say ahhhhhh. (I realize that is a question, but a question mark displays a bit of anxiety, so I chose to use a period because it's a done deal of relaxation.)

First, I ran to Walmart and scoured the aisles for glass containers.  I finally found some for $1.95.  Next, I bought some sugar, some ribbon, some 3D stickers, and Dawn Hand-Renewal dish soap (which I happen to use anyway.)  The recipe called for mulling spices, but because I am ignorant in the spice department, I rejected this ingredient (especially after I called my mom and her only answer was to "google it."  I know what they are now, but I'm still rejecting them.  I'm suborn like that.) Sooo....

I poured some white sugar into the containers:

And then I dumped the sugar into a mixing bowl and added the dish soap until it seemed like a consistent gooey mess.  Mix well. Then, because I rejected the mulling spices, I opted for peppermint because who doesn't like peppermint during the holidays?  I thought I was being all original 'n stuff, but then I found an alternate "gardener's hand scrub" on a link from that website.  It used peppermint.  Go figure. 

I managed to pour most of the concoction in the jars...

And then I decorated them all pretty-like.

I added tags that said "(insert girl's name) Hand Scrub.  Made with sugar, spice and other things nice." And then Lovely proceeded to tell everyone they are candles. hmph.

For the main teachers, I placed each in a cute holiday bag, along with an eye mask, a mesh sponge in their favorite colors, and an old-fashioned ribbon bookmark with a pretty charm on it and my daughters' names with the year in puff paint.  I added a card last, and wrote a cute (and likely corny) poem that listed the various objects in the bag. 

Now, can I do the same thing next year if they are still in charter school?

Christmas Traditions

We don't have many out-of-the-ordinary Christmas traditions (or at least what I would consider so), but this is my one tradition since I was a very little girl.  My mother would put a pile of Christmas records on the record player in the foyer, and I would sit in the living room on the old, uncomfortable green sofa that weighed a ton and was therefore never moved from the house (until it was sold, I believe).  The room would be dark, the Christmas lights would be flashing in multi-color brilliance, and the flames of Christmas candles would flicker in the dark.  It may have been 80 degrees outside (it was Tucson, after all), but it was Christmas.  Anyway, without further ado:



Merry Christmas!