This Christmas was really great for me. For whatever reason, it helped me put in perspective some struggles I have been having with my faith. I am going to post about that and some other things that have been going on with me – including an update with The D’s situation – but for now, here is a song that really spoke to me this Christmas.

Relient K, Celebrate the Day

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You’ve touched my life
Because here is where You’re finding me, in the exact same place as New Year’s eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We’re less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I’ll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might really live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life
Pray for You to save my life
Pray for You to save my life

To make these adorable Christmas Mice, gather the following ingredients:
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Hershey’s Kisses
Oreo cookies
Maraschino cherries, with stems
Sliced almonds

Melt the chocolate chips, using whatever method you prefer – a bowl over a pan of hot water, a microwave-save dish, or the really cool chocolate melting thingy the kids got me for Christmas last year.

Meanwhile, separate the Oreos and un-wrap the kisses. (This is a good kid-friendly step).

Drain and rinse the cherries, and spread on paper towels to dry.

Once the chocolate is melted, dip a cherry in, holding it by the stem, and turn to coat. Let the excess drip off, then press an unwrapped Hershey’s kiss bottom-to-bottom with the cherry and set it on the creme-side of an Oreo half. (Use picture as a guide.)

Next, take two almond slices and place them between the cherry and the kiss, to look like the mouse’s ears.

Once chocolate is set, you can make eyes using red decorator gel or, as I did, put the left over melted chocolate in a ziplock bag, snip the corner, and pipe on chocolate eyes.

This was a fun treat for the kids to make. I can’t wait to give them to our relatives on Christmas.

Little E looked at the large group of mice on the table and said, “It looks like a whole army of mousies!” (He does know the word mice, since we have three as pets, but mousies is just so much cuter, so I don’t correct him!)

Army of Mousies

::sudden overwhelming feeling of panic sets in::

I have found that the best thing to do when planning for a big event is to take some time to sit down and write out some lists.

Here’s what I am going to go do, after I post this.

• Print out some Christmas stationary. (From this site)
• Make a nice cup of tea.
• Hole-punch the stationary and put it in my binder.
• Make a cleaning list.
• Make menus.
• Gather recipes (or a list of recipes to gather).
• Make grocery list.
• Make a list of gifts for each person (bought and yet to buy)
• Make a list of what I need to make or finish making (for gifts).

Whew!

That may sound like a lot, but once I make my lists (and check them twice?) I know I will have some serious peace of mind.

One idea is to paint them with stained glass paint. That is a pretty project, but the paint is expensive and Little E is really too young to use them.

Instead, I bought small bottles of fabric paint. It was a project that all of the kids could do. Easy enough for Little E, but the older boys could use it to make more advanced designs.

The ornament on the left I painted and filled with an iridescent tinsel. I had some from years ago, but I am told that they no longer sell it. I think crumpled tissue paper would look nice inside, too. We just left most of ours empty, which also looks nice.

Another fun idea is to fill the ornaments with feathers and glitter. This one I made years ago used pastel feathers, but you could also use red or green to make it more festive.

These ornaments are a fun thing to do because the possibilities are endless and the project can accommodate all ages.

Well, last night, I made a batch and this morning, Little E and I punched out the shapes with metal mini cookie cutters.

We had such a nice time!

The older boys were outside, so it was just Little E and I. I would have taken pictures, but he likes to walk around in just his underwear, so I thought the better of it. (I also went out and bought him some long johns today.)

Anyway, I have some tips to share, in case you decide to try these yourself.

When you are spreading the marshmallow mixture in the pan with an offset spatula, spray the spatula with cooking spray first.

After the mixture is dried, sprinkle it with powdered sugar before cutting to keep stickiness to a minimum.

Also, instead of spraying your cutters with the cooking spray as the website recommends, dip them in powdered sugar instead. I found that worked much better.

I found that my marshmallow was sticking to the parchment, so before I cut any more shapes out, I picked up the parchment, flipped the whole thing over and peeled the paper off, scraping with the offset spatula. Then I sprinkled powdered sugar on my cookie sheet and placed the marshmallow on it. This way, when I cut the shapes, I did not have to peel each one off the paper.

I hope that makes sense.

Basically, the one important tip: dust everything with powdered sugar. I put some in a small sieve and just kept it nearby.

It was a sticky process, but the results were worth it. (And Little E had a blast cutting out the shapes with me – and eating the scraps!)

And imagine how nice it was for the boys to come in from sledding to a nice cup of hot cocoa with homemade snowflake marshmallows.

Recently, I ordered my cards online. It was a very convenient way to order them. I just uploaded my photo, selected the card, typed my message, and paid with my debit card.

I chose to pick mine up at the store, but you can have them delivered, too.

I bought mine through walmart.com, but many other grocery and drugs stores offer this service as well.

I was a bit discouraged by the lack of cards that reflected the reason for the season, if you will. There were a couple of selections, but they were too elegant to fit well with a picture of my goofy kids.

My solution? I chose a simple green and red design that said “Merry Christmas,” with a sprig of holly. Then, in the section where I would normally type our names, instead I wrote “For unto you was born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (I didn’t have room for the full quote.)

When I got my cards home, I wrote our “from” message with a metallic permanent marker. It is much more personal looking than the typed message would have been.

The cards turned out great. I was able to choose a design that matched our pictures, the card has a Christian reference, and I added a personal touch with the handwritten signature.

Technically, it counts as homeschool because we learned a lot of facts about reindeer. Not to mention the home economics lessons.

She had on Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart, who make pop-up books. Not just pop-up books, but amazing pop-up books.

They showed their latest books: Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy and The Chronicles of Narnia Pop-up: Based on the Books by C. S. Lewis. These books are unbelievable. They would make great gifts for the hard-to-shop-for person, especially a Star Wars or Narnia fan.

They also have a book called, Winter in White, and they showed us how to make a reindeer pop-up card, which you can learn how to do here.

Can I just take a moment to say that I love that my boys will take a break from burping, farting, wrestling, running around, jumping on the furniture, and kicking each other to watch Martha with me.

What more could a mother ask for?

I mean besides a girl.

I hate to sound like an advertisement, but I love this thing and I think it makes a great gift.

I bought one for Bob once, for the office, and we ended up getting one for home, too.

You pour your mug of water into the top and push a button. Within just a minute or two, your water is ready to dispense. Then, you just place your mug under the spigot and press a lever. The water drops down into your cup.

I absolutely love my hot shot. It’s great for those times when I am so busy with the kids, I barely have two minutes to make tea.

(It also comes in white.)

You need a chunky, fragrant potpourri, a string of battery-operated rice (LED) lights (or other lights), and a glass bowl or other container, such as an apothecary jar. I used an old floating candle bowl I had in the cupboard.

We have an artificial tree, so for this project I bought a box of Yankee Candle Balsam & Cedar Potpourri to give us that “real tree” smell in the room.

First, line to bottom of the bowl with some of the potpourri. You are going to need to cover the lights, so make sure you save plenty for the top.

Next, put the lights in the bowl, arranging them so they are not all clumped together. It will look best if you have the tips of the lights poking out through the pieces of the potpourri. Add more potpourri as necessary to get the look you want. Place the battery pack in the center of the bowl and be sure to save some potpourri to cover it with.

Last, you will need to add the rest of the potpourri to the top of the bowl to cover the lights and battery pack. You want to conceal the batteries, but also make it easy to turn the lights on and off.

I put in pieces of evergreen first, then placed some of the pine cones on top. This way, the spaces between the cones did not reveal the light cords and battery pack.

Here is the finished project.

You can view the video instructions here.

In my search for the link to that video, I also found that Family Fun has a simpler, yet less elegant, variation that does not use the beads. You can find that here.

Here is one I made last year.

These make a wonderful gift for relatives, packaged in a little box like ribbon candy.

Be sure to check out all of my Christmas Things.