a christmas decoration brag post

Ilsa's favorite ladybug ornament

Notice that The Doctor has decided to pay Christmastown a visit...typical because aliens always invade on Christmas on Doctor Who.

Ingrid's special ducky ornament

The tree...the new camera does a good job without a flash

The advent calendar -- I dug myself into a bit of a hole with this. I set the expectation last year of a little treat in each pocket every day. It's hard to be creative 25 days in a row and to not break the bank, too!

Cuteness

Our beautiful HABA nativity set. The newborn Jesus has yet to make his appearance. We hide it until Christmas Eve. I see the traditional penguins are paying a visit, as well.

Yeah, I guess that I'm bragging, but I think our house looks pretty good this year :)

paper Christmas stars

I have become mildly obsessed with Froebel stars this past week. These three-dimensional stars are also known as German or Danish stars, which probably have other names as well, are a traditional Christmas decoration in Germanic and Scandinavian homes.

I have had really good success using plain white craft paper on a roll. I had tried using standard 12x12" scrapbooking paper taping the joint, but it looked tacky. Apparently good quality wrapping paper also works well.

I don't believe the video tells you the supply needs: you have to cut the strips at a ratio of 1:20 or more; so, if you decide you want the strip 1 inch wide, you need the strip to be 20" long.

I'll post when I have a few that are complete: dipped in wax and glittered.

I found this beautiful version made out of sheet music over at the Abbie's Road blog. She gives good directions as well.

In the meantime, here's a great YouTube video demonstrating how to make them. (Part II is linked at the end of this video):

i'm baaaaaack

We just got back from a long Thanksgiving trip to The Great Green Pacific Northwest. Two weeks up there was refreshing. Smelling fir and pine in the moist rainy air is just what I needed to kick-start the Christmas season. Driving to my parents' home from the airport one of the first things that Ilsa said was, "LOOK AT ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS TREES!" Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. I couldn't kicked myself. I forgot the camera.

christmas joys & christmas toys

Just a mere 13 weeks until Christmas! This is when we really need to hunker down as a family and make an purposeful decision to NOT make this Holy Day a toy grab for our kids. However, there is an aspect of the celebration that as parents, we do believe, warrants a celebration of gift-giving. So. What to give?

The girls have been asking for a dollhouse. Have you priced nice, wooden dollhouses (not made in China) lately? Maybe this will be a combined gift for the girls, with a few little furniture pieces for each of them. I love the Plan Toys modern "chalet" dollhouse, but I don't think the girls would dig it. They aren't modern like their Mama. But isn't it cool!? It actually comes in two pieces, and the staircase is movable, too, so both girls could play with their own part.

I'm sure they would love this one, too, and it's a bit more traditional. However, I'm sure what THEY want is pink, flowery, princess-inhabited and plastic. They don't know this, but we really don't want to buy any more plastic junk, and no more battery-operated anything. (I'm not the only Mama who thinks along these lines, either. What prompted this post, was a visit to a fellow Well-Trained Mind Mama's blog about this very topic.)

christmas tree ocd

Every time I take down the Christmas tree and decorations, I pack everything away in such a way that the ornaments would be safe should we move...who knows when the PCS orders will arrive, huh? So this year I went above and beyond.

I took an inventory of our ornaments (we have some really nice ones that parents have given us...Radko's, etc.) that I plan to enter onto a spreadsheet in Excel. Then I labeled every single little box that each little individual ornament goes into so that every ornament has its own little home. All of the breakables are in one big old Rubbermaid bin, and all of the others are in another big old Rubbermaid bin...and those are all individually wrapped in ziplock bags and labeled with a Sharpie.

We have a lot of ornaments. So far, we have more snowmen than anything. Teddy bears are a close second. 85% are probably that shiny blown glass kind. We have about 10 "Our First Christmas" ornaments, and about 10 "Baby's First Christmas" ones. The most beautiful ornament has to be the Radko 4 Santas from 2005 when we became a family of 4. Our strangest ornament has to be the little wooden salmon. There's a tie for most sentimental: Chad's little sparkly smily faces that he made in gradeschool, and my little soldiers and drums.

x

if anyone cares...toy decision

Surprising, but true. I craftily showed the picture of the castle dollhouse to the girls. Neither of them were thrilled. So goodbye dollhouse, hello....LEGOS! We decided to do individual gifts after all. Ingrid saw some LEGOs at the store and went nutso. I even found a set that had pictures of duckies on the front (bottom right, just from the center). That sealed it. The box is in Chad's trunk until I can wrap it.

shopping local

Shopping locally is all the rage for "socially conscious" shoppers this year, but economics has to play a role, too. For example, there is a local independent toy store here that I just love. They have stuff there you can't find anyplace else. The shop keepers sprinkle pixie dust on the children and blow bubbles (they're not weirdos, just a lot of fun). There isn't a licensed cartoon or movie character in sight. Stuff is built to last. And unfortunately, the prices will break your bank account, too.

See the poll to the right about Christmas gifting? I would love to get the girls this princess dollhouse/castle from Melissa & Doug. Amazon.com is selling it for $57 with free shipping and no tax. The sweet, independent toy store is selling it for $125 plus tax. I would consider it for $57 (as a gift to both girls). I can't and won't consider it for $125. I've looked for used ones on eBay and Craig's List, but they must be awfully popular -- only new ones are available, and Amazon's price was the best by far.

Online retailers seem to have the edge over "brick and mortar" much of the time. But I have found independent online stores with great prices, too, and I try to patronize them as much as I can. They're local to someone, I guess. So what do you do? Shop local or go for best price no matter what? Oh and by the way, I found it at my local We Be Toys (TRU) for $99...so they're not always the best price, either.