Don't save it all for Christmas

These lyrics say sooo much of what's on my heart at the holidays...  Don't let it stop just cuz Christmas is over. "Find a way To give a little love everyday Don't save it all for Christmas Day"  So as we head into the season, don't go stressing, trying to shove everything into these few short weeks. Celebrate Jesus, enjoy the truths of what this season is about. And remember, you've got EVERY day to share love and to share Jesus and to share the hope that is in your heart.

Dont' Save It All for Christmas Day

Don't get so busy that you miss
Giving just a little kiss
To the ones you love
And don't even wait a little while
To give them a little smile
A little is enough

How many people are crying
Some people are dying...
How many people are askin’ for love

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
To give a little love everyday

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
Cause holidays have come and gone
But love lives on
If you give on
Love...

How could you wait another minute
A hug is warmer when you're in it
Oh Baby that's a fact
And saying "I love you's" always better
Seasons, reasons, they don't matter
So don't hold back
How many people in this world
So needful in this world
How many people are praying for love

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
To give a little love everyday
Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
Cause holidays have come and gone
But love lives on
If you give on
Give love…..

Let all the children know
Everywhere that they go
Their whole life long
Let them know love

Yeah, and give a little love everyday

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
Cause holidays have come and gone

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
To give a little love everyday

Don't save it all for Christmas Day
Find a way
Cause holidays have come and gone 

Christmas Calendar

The idea started brewing last year but at the time I just couldn't find what I was looking for, and I ran out of time to get it together before Christmas season began. So here I was again heading into this year and collecting some new ideas of what I wanted to make.

A Christmas calendar. 

With pockets that include a daily family Christmas activity. 

Instead of a countdown I decided to make it forward like a calendar. Countdowns are tricky to keep track of what day you're on, and this will make it easy to continue if/when we miss days.  I don't want to put the pressure on to do something EVERY SINGLE DAY, because with that adds stress and guilt and that ruins the season faster than anything. But it's there for us to TRY to do every day.  To make fun family memories.

Besides mini photo books, I'm also in love with sewing felt.  It's so quick and easy--you don't have to worry about edges and hems. It's like paper crafts but instead of gluing you use the sewing machine. These were inspiration, but too much work in my opinion.  Too much detail for my skill level.

this was last year's idea

And here is what I created.  Though I still need to add the word Christmas at the top area somehow. Not sure what I want to do with that. But at least it's ready for use.

I put this completely together in part of an afternoon. Super easy and quick. It's just simple and functional but that's my style.  The scrap I cut off of each row so it fit the black piece was just the size I needed for the hanging tabs at the top.  Here's a peek at what some of the cards are in each pocket. There are tons of ideas for these on Pinterest. But this is what I thought was a good mix of serving others, learning the true meaning of Christmas, and simple holiday fun.

Download PDF HERE.

I got out my pocket calendar so I could see what we have going on each day and placed the cards in pockets accordingly.  Can't wait for December to arrive!

P.S. The Christmas Board Game is THIS.

And the Christmas dice game is something like this:

Update: And here is the finished product!! Hooray!  I'm already getting a few new activity ideas for next year... like doing Advent candle lighting and reading on each of the Sundays, or picking a common carol and studying the lyrics or doing copywork with them, or decorating the tree in portions, starting with lights and gradually adding and learning about some of the symbols we put on etc.

Fall ABC Book

I've been doing some mild crafting lately and one thing I'm beginning to love more and more are small photo books.  Something new I want to try doing with the kids each season is to make a photo ABC book, and together if possible on our photo walks.  We have our list in hand that we write up in advance, and it's like a scavenger hunt as we look for each item.  Here is our first book.  Not all the letters are complete but I left open spots so we could come back to them later.  Here are some seasonal alphabet books to help give you ideas of what to include for each letter.

MOST of the pictures I took myself but there were a few I just found via Google because they were not things available at the time (ie cider donuts, frost, Thanksgiving)

These are some of our pictures, but I strongly encourage you to make this an adventure to do WITH your kids. They especially love the pictures with THEM in it!  =)

 You can download the book cover here.  Just cut out and glue onto construction paper.

Holiday kindness

Thanksgiving and Christmas. The two times of the year to be thankful and generous.  Or so it seems. I don't want to spend this season being bitter, but it really REALLY irks me that it's the only time of year we are intentional about gratitude, and being thoughtful and giving to others.  I LOVE seeing friends' thankful posts each day on Facebook, but can it PLEASE continue throughout the year? I LOVE that at Christmas people share cookies and give little gifts to neighbors and teachers and pastors and everyoneandtheirdog, but can it PLEASE continue throughout the year?  I love that people clean out and are generous with their time and money and quick to volunteer but can it PLEASE continue throughout the year?  Otherwise it all seems utterly meaningless.  What can we do to challenge ourselves to give thanks and think of others year-round?  Be intentional, make time, make it a REAL part of your life, not just a season.

First world problems.

Pinterest. It's so great right?  We want our homes looking great and organized but lately I've been wondering where it stops???

Revamping closet doors because they're boring or "ugly" looking. 

Covering thermostats with fancy decor.

Jazzing up air vents.

 

Hidden storage so we can have even more STUFF hidden in every nook and cranny!

 Hiding washer and dryer so we don't even have to LOOK at them!

Pinterest is GREAT for learning how to save money, be resourceful, stretching our creativity, be healthy, and provide tools for training and teaching purposes.

BUT man oh man, many other things are such first-world problems!  How many people could we reach and help if we instead used some of those same effort and resources toward those who are struggling to even live??

What are we doing getting lost in details that seriously don't even matter?  Organization is good, healthy and natural is good, saving money is good, but fancy is just not necessary. 

Thoughts???

Makeover project!

I didn't realize how long it's actually taken for this project to be brought to completion until I looked at the dates on my BEFORE pictures! (March!!)

So here's the story...
we've been wanting a second nightstand in our bedroom.
I'd seem some ideas on Pinterest.

I happened upon this free desk out on the consignment store's sidewalk.

I rearranged car seats and heaved the desk into the back of our car and brought it home and took it on as my own personal project.

Kevin helped me with the beginning steps though. We ran it through the table saw, cutting off the desk portion, and then flush-cutting the remaining parts.

I did some sanding on the laminate top and hauled it upstairs to see how it looked so far.

And there it sat for months and months and months apparently. Cuz now it's November.

Next I did a couple coats of primer.

I knew it wouldn't match the current woods, so I wanted something just altogether different and chose to paint it 2-toned. It was going to be the wall-color on the drawers and a "something darker" for the base. The "something darker" turned out to be a pinker shade than I was expecting... Is paint EVER the shade you were actually expecting???  And the wall-color for some reason was hard as a rock in the can, even though it had never been opened. So I instead used a similar color from the bathroom paint.  Replaced the hardware and ta-da!

The top handles are a slightly smaller size I couldn't find, so I might add ribbon as handles? Or not. Who knows.

A mostly-free project I consider complete!

As for the extra drawer we cut off on the desk part, I plan to paint it purple, back it with fabric, maybe add a shelf in it and hang it on the wall for Hannah to put some little knick-knacks. A combination of this pinterest inspiration:

and this one: