Stained glass cookie ornaments

We made some very cool stained glass cookie ornaments today. I found the recipe here. Here is B crushing up the Jolly Ranchers. Out of the oven.

And on the tree.I also thought they'd look nice on the mantle next to B's votive holder.

I love this picture!

This darkest day of the year

brought comfort for an injured hand in the form of stuffed animals, Mrs. Pigglewiggle, beeswax, ice, Hershey's kisses and hugs (and mama's kisses and hugs).It also brought candlelight as a reminder that even in the darkest days the sunshine always returns.

And it brought poetry:

Welcome to you, Old One

Welcome to the snow and ice,

The bitter cloud of your breath,

The pillow-feathered snow

Welcome you in, this Winter day.

May your blessing hold us,

May your chills avoid us,

May the bright promise

Of each clear day

Remind us of your gifts.

Old One, cold one,

Though we fear your storms,

Yet we welcome you

Into our winter hearts,

With your cleansing breath,

To blow away the old year

And usher in the new.

John Matthews: Invocation to the Old One

Hope you're surrounded by warmth and family on this darkest day of the year. Welcome back sunshine!

Look who's watching us. . .

Yesterday we made some ornaments for the birds. We took some small aluminum pie tins and filled them up with cranberries, orange slices and water. We added string to hang them from and put them outside overnight to freeze. Voila! These are some of my favorite ornaments to make-they're easy, they look nice and the animals get to eat up the fruit when they melt.

What we've been doing the last couple of weeks. It's a long post!

Well, yes, we've been doing some relaxing and looking out the window hoping for snow. We did get a little bit of snow (maybe 3 inches) but then it rained and now we only have patchy snow.

But mostly there's been a lot of busyness. The good kind of busyness. The kind that doesn't include running around to malls. Well, I did make a trip to Kohl's to cash in on my $10 gift card that they sent me in the mail. I got a $26 pair of slippers that were on sale for $12.99. So, I got them for $2.99! Woohoo! I'm still excited about it mostly because I went in with my gift card and didn't buy anything else. Supreme self-control. Love those gift cards! But that was it for mall trips. Excellent. What have we been doing instead of hitting the malls? Well, there has been card writing. Shrinky Dinks (I LOVE these) and ornament painting.


Salt dough ornaments.

Oobleck and homemade silly putty.

The trimming of the tree.

Aaaaawwwww.

Playing with gingerbread playdough.

Making votive holders out of cans. These were later decorated with Sharpie pens.

We also talked about why the water in the can expanded when frozen and pushed out the bottom of the can.

There were gingerbread cookies, The Gingerbread Doll story and we read about the history of gingerbread.

Fun with the advent calendar. This is what they found when they woke up on the morning of the 10th. I've also left little messages, water marbles (a big hit), Shrinky Dink ornaments and cookie cutters.

More Shrinky Dinks. These are addictive!

J made a Shrinky Dink necklace for a Jewish friend.

Look what they got one night for Hanukkah! So, they've also been watching a lot of Looney tunes at night. Candle lighting and potato latkes and Hannukah stories and music.

Hope you're having a festive holiday season too!

Crafty Crow ornament swap

The kids and I are participating in the Crafty Crow's ornament swap this year. The theme is fairy tales. So, this is what we came up with: We took our gnomes, dragon and king and placed them amongst our polymer water marbles and polymer snow. We used our scarves in the background. What do you think? I think they came out well. Each ornament is a little different but they all have pictures of our little magical scene with a message on the back. They were supposed to go out today at the very latest but they needed some finishing touches. Hopefully they'll make it out tomorrow.

And here is a cute little gnome we received in the mail today from a family in California. He seems very at home on our tree!

My all-time favorite Christmas book

I have very fond memories of my mom reading stories from this book to me and my two sisters when I was a child. I loved seeing the animals at the farm snug in their beds waiting for Christmas, the little bear who had a golden heart and wanted more than anything a golden sled, the polar bear who gave up his fur to make beards for Santa's helpers . But, my absolute favorite story was that of The Christmas Tree Lamb. The lamb that had spent many Christmases on trees and being played with by little girls. He was a well-loved lamb and through the years had become shabby, had lost a couple of legs, an eye and his bell. Well, I always thought that we had that lamb. We also had a sweet little shabby lamb that came out each Christmas. I miss that lamb!

The last few years we've had our own little Christmas lamb that I'm hoping will be as well loved as the lamb I had as a child. This book has made its way into the hearts of my children while bringing back so many memories of childhood. Of course, I don't think anyone can read these stories quite like my sweet Irish mom but I'm sure giving it my best shot! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season full of warmth and tradition.

So much goodness

Do you ever feel so full of happiness that you think you just may burst? Well, that's how I feel right now. Life is good. Very good. I love this time of year. . . the celebration of loved ones, the Christmas scents and the holiday fairs. Here's a little look at some of the happiness that's been going on.

B and J making birthday cards for their Papa who is celebrating his birthday tomorrow. J is very excited about her creation.

A few days ago we had a hard day. J decided that it really should have snowed by now and she bombarded me with questions of this sort:

When is it going to snow?

Why hasn't it snowed yet?

Will it ever snow this year?

And statements such as:

It's never going to snow.

I don't like this warm weather.

I want it to snow!!!


I told them we just had to make the best of it and I went inside and made them smoothies. Things seemed to turn around after that.

We tried to make lip balm. The kitchen was filled with the scent of beeswax and coconut oil. Mmmmmmm. The lip balm turned out too waxy and I need to add olive oil and sweet almond oil but it didn't phase me. It was fun making them anyway. I'll try again in the next couple of days.

I took J out last night to the International Festival . We had a lot of fun looking at the various crafts, listening to music and watching the belly dancers. J also got a maple crepe with whipped cream and sprinkles for dinner. You can't beat that!

These are a couple of pictures J took last night with her camera.

This morning I got to have another date with my daughter. We went to two craft fairs. First we went to a fair at the elementary school in the neighboring town. J played musical numbers. When the music stopped she had to stand on a number and if your number was picked you won a cake. She played twice and she won on her second try. This is the cake she picked out. She was VERY excited.

I picked up these cinnamon vanilla candles. Don't they look nice? Well, I guess they don't look that pretty but they sure smell good!

Next, we headed across the street to the Waldorf School's fair. Julia went to kindergarten there and it was fun to take a little walk down memory lane.

Here she is decorating a gingerbread star. That didn't last long.

She also made an angel to hang on the tree (we should be getting that tomorrow).

Lots and lots of goodness. Goodbye for now!