12 Days of Christmas Ideas With Your Children

The 12 days of Christmas is almost here. We KNOW you are just begging to have one more thing to do in the 12 days before Christmas. Right? Right. Hear us out. We did this as simply as humanly possible because we know time (and money) are tight AND because it is a great way to slow down amid the rush and have some fun with your kids. Or you can do as we do and put it together with your family and gift it to someone either one day at a time or all together. So read on for our suggestions and how to's.

First up the wrapping. We used lunch sacks and ribbon to make it easy. We did this one for our kids so we didn't need to make tags but if you did, make it easy on yourself and use stamps or the sticker gift tags that you use for presents. Because we didn't use tags and our children can't read, we wrote on the bottom of the sacks what was in the sack so we can pick which one gets opened each day. 

These are the items we used for our 12 days.

Starting at the top left:

Plain old white paper and stickers for Santa Letter Writing

Gingerbread Boys made from felt and stray buttons either to just play with or put on the tree.

Jingle bells again to play with or put on the tree.

DIY puzzles to make your own puzzle of whatever you wish.

Clothes pins with red pom pom noses to make reindeer ornaments

Candy Canes to Eat.

Christmas Book

Marshmallows in glass jar aka Snowman Poop

Brown Bag of Oats to take to feed the Reindeer at Santa's Workshop

Popsicle Stick Star Ornaments to make together.

Felt shape cutouts to decorate a felt Christmas Tree

An ornament wrapped up to gift to someone of your choosing.

Gingerbread Boys: Trace a cookie cutter, cut out, add a face and buttons, sew together and stuff.

Place marshmallows in a glass jar. Add buttons and a black piece of foam, felt, or fabric for the hat and ribbon for the scarf. Snowman is made.

Packs of 6 bells can be found at the Dollar Store. Add ribbon of your choosing.

Every child loves a candy cane.

Very little artistic talent needed to create a felt tree for the kids. Simply cut a large triangle out of fabric and add felt ornaments of any size shape and color. 

Brown paper packages tied up with string are a few of our favorite things. Set aside and you are ready for the 12 days of Christmas with your littles.

Should you be feeling some extra love and want to "gift" the 12 Days of Christmas to another family here are a few more suggestions for you.

Sprinkles for Cookies or a cookie mix 

Candy Canes

Popsicle Stick Star Ornaments

An Ornament to give to Someone

A Holiday Book

Holiday Banner to make together

Jingle Bells

Foam Christmas Trees to decorate

Santa Suckers Treat

Plaster of Paris Gingerbread men to make into ornaments

A clear ball to turn into a family ornament of their choosing. Memories from the year written down.

DIY puzzles

Homemade ornaments

Pinecone and bird seed to make bird feeders

Wood Ornaments from the local craft store that are unfinished. Usually run 40 cents each or less.

Nativity Set (which we'll post about later this week. You can do just a nativity set for the 12 days of Christmas and we LOVE it.)

Happy Gifting!
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DIY Snowflake Christmas Ornaments

I'd never thought of baking cookies to decorate my Christmas tree with but once I finished up my tree trimming and noticed that it was pretty bare looking I scoured the Intraweb for recipes of gingerbread ornaments. They turned out beautifully and have held up for 3 years. The best part of making these little gems is the time you get to spend with family (sounds like a cheesy Hallmark movie, but the more helping hands the quicker these puppies will be done). After 3 years of using these ornaments I need to coat them with a thin layer of Modge Podge so the icing will not crack off. Get creative with your design, I loved the more simple and clean design, maybe that's was because I didn't want to mess up the cookie.

Here a few tips on making the cookies:

1. Don't forget to cut out a small hole in each ornament before baking the cookies so you have somewhere to tie them to your tree!
2. Make 2 batches of icing: one looser than the other. Use the firmer icing to trace out the contours of the ornaments, and the more fluid one to fill them.
3. If you want to correct a line made with icing, do it fast because the icing dries quite quickly.

Nick Malgieri's Gingerbread Recipe 

Makes about 24 large cookies, depending on the size cutter used (Source)

5 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 cup molasses
2 cookie sheets or jelly roll pans lined with parchment or foil

In a large bowl, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda. Stir well to mix.

Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until well mixed, about 1 minute. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating smooth after each addition. Scrape down bowl and beater.

Lower speed and beat in about half the flour mixture. Beat in all the molasses then scrape bowl and beater. Add the remaining flour mixture, about 1 cup at a time, and beat after each addition until it has all been absorbed.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and give the dough a final mixing with a large rubber spatula. Scrape half the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press it to about a 1/2-inch thickness. Wrap the dough securely and repeat with the remaining dough. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours or for up to 3 days.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Unwrap one of the pieces of dough and cut it in half. Rewrap one of the halves and return it to the refrigerator.

On a floured surface, roll the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Use a floured cookie cutter to cut the cookies. As they are cut, place the cut cookies on the prepared pans with about 1 inch between them on all sides. Repeat with remaining dough. Save, press together, and reroll scraps (they don't need to be chilled before rerolling).

Bake the cookies until they become dull and dry looking and feel slightly firm when pressed with a fingertip, about 12 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake the cookies or they will be very dry. Slide papers from pans onto racks to cool.

Store the cooled cookies between sheets of parchment or wax paper in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting cover.

Martha Stewart's Royal Icing
(Source)

1 pound of confectioners' sugar
2 large egg whites

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar and egg whites.

Mixing on low speed, add up to 1/2 cup water depending on the desired consistency. Mix until icing holds a ribbon-like trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.

Place the icing in different piping bags with a small tip for tracing the contours and a larger one for filling each shape.

Good Luck!!! And Happy Baking! 

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Tot Tip Tuesday: December DIY Advent Calendar

We love Advent Calendars. Who doesn't? Other than the amount of work they take to put together, they are a great way to bring little pieces of the season into the everyday, and show your creative side all at the same time. Whether you have littles (or bigs) at home, are putting one together for someone, or if you are a child at heart, here is one we put together and a few ideas besides. 

• Small canvas bags can be purchased online for under $10. Use a sharpie and a stench to draw the numbers.
• The numbered tags below where from 1 piece of scrapbook paper. We cut them out and wrote messages to the recipient on the back that corresponded to the little gift that went inside the canvas bag.
• We love to bring the outside in, so we used branches and string to display this advent calendar and it looked quite festive next to the tree. 
• Different gifts for each day can be placed inside and be as simple as small candy treats or more elaborate based on what you want to do. For this set we used a small gift for each day with a memory, christmas quote, and on some days a piece of the nativity set with a corresponding scripture.
• Remember you can simplify it by doing simply a piece of candy for each day. Or add events in such as light seeing, christmas cookie decorating, gingerbread houses, Christmas movie night, etc. 
• If December 1 has already past don't worry you can still start one up. Either put together a quick one or get something ready for December 13 and do the 12 Days of Christmas instead, which is a little easier to do as you only have half the days.

Happy Tuesday! 

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Tot Tip Tuesday- Thanksgiving Books, Buns, and Baking

Books, Buns, and Baking top our list for fun things to do with the kiddos this week. 

Best Turkey Books

 First off books. We love reading with/to our kids but sometime the same old books get pretty old. Enter, holidays and the perfect reason to change books and have fun with the holidays. Here are a few of our favorites that are somewhat silly and perfect for the season. While we read all of these stories to our toddlers (we simply tell the story and point out pictures with the ones with more words and a deeper story). We have broken it down to ages we feel they would fit best if you are looking for that type of thing.

Age 5 and Under

10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnston and Illustrated by Rich Deas

*Bright pictures, simply rhymes. 10 fat turkeys falling off the fence one by one.

The Turkey Ball by David Steinburg

*A simple rhyme book telling of turkeys getting dressed up for a ball, dancing, and trotting home come morning. 

Count Your Blessings by Patricia Reeder Eubank (Lift the Flap and "find it" Book)

*Darling illustrations of Mom, Dad, brother, and sister bear, their home, and life in the forest. Each page talks about what they are grateful for and asks you to find different things in the picture. 

Age 6 and Up

A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman Illustrated by Jeff Shelly

*All the Turkeys have fled the town to avoid being dinner. One turkey falls for the plan to be a turkey model, and gets away in the nick of time leaving the townspeople to eat only veggies and wheat for Thanksgiving. 

A Turkey For Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting

*Mr. and Mrs Moose host Thanksgiving for their animal friends. Mrs. Moose wants a turkey for dinner so Mr. Moose and friends set out to find one. He ends up being a guest at dinner rather than the main course. (This is my 3 year olds favorite.)

T'was the Night Before Thanksgiving By Dav Pilkey

*Set to the Twas the Night Before Christmas Poem the story tells of children on a field trip to a turkey farm. Upon learning about what happens to the Turkeys before Thanksgiving each child smuggles a Turkey onto the bus and back home to be a Thanksgiving guest.

Funny Educational 

You Wouldn't Want To Be An American Colonist by Jacqueline Morley

*With funny pictures and witty one liners this book tells children the ins and outs of what it would have really been like to be an American Colonist. 

Turkey Baby Buns

If you have been on Pinterest you have seen some form of the turkey bottom onesie. We opted for sheer simplicity because frankly who has time for some of this crazy business. We used a white onesie and some orange/copper ribbon and a glue gun.  Cut a few ribbons to a similar length place it where you'd like and glue it on. Insta turkey tush. It will pull at the Grandparents heartstrings, and have everyone saying, "ahhh". We used a stamp pad and ink to add the gobble but you could easily leave that plain.

Baking with the Babes

Roll out sugar cookies. Yes, it will be a mess. Most likely a big one. But, when you tell yourself that going in and you'll make it back out. Think of the memories. Kids LOVE these. Use your go to sugar cookie recipe or if you don't have one you love grab a package of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix. You just add egg and butter. There is a variation recipe on the back for rollout cookies that is perfect. 

Best part about these is they ARE NOT turkeys. Hit IKEA for these forest animal cookie cutters. They are cute and cheap and if your kids love animals as much as ours do they will love stamping out cookies shaped as moose, porcupines, squirrels, foxes, and bears.

Frost and decorate as you wish. I think I'm still picking up pieces of dough and flour. Oops. :)

Happy Tuesday! 

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Tot Tip Tuesday- Trail Totes and Turkey Hunt How To's

While snow is currently falling outside the window, there is still time to take the kids outside to enjoy the fall weather and explore before Turkey Day. Our 3 Turkey Day Tot Tips today will take you outside and help bring outside in to your holiday festivities. 

Tip 1: Make A Trail Tote

To keep their minds off the cold, bundle them up and bring along a "Trail Tote" for them to collect treasures along the trail. We used the hanging flower baskets from our gardens. Simply tossed the dead flowers and rinsed them out. However, anything little hands can carry will work. Halloween buckets, Easter Baskets, any type of basket or bag will do the trick.  

Hit the trail and let little ones pick up what they would like and add it to their bucket. If you area allows for it try to find a few pinecones. We'll tell you why in a minute. Once home, or while on the trail let your little or not so little one show you what they found and find a way to make arrange it with them to show off their special treasures.

Tip 2: Make a Turkey 

If possible use something from your trail tote to make a Turkey of some kind. We cut out feathers from foam pieces and glued them to a pinecone and added eyes. Turkey done. You can also use fall leaves; real ones from the trail or your yard, or fake ones to glue to the turkey for a more natural look.

Tip 3: Go on a Turkey Hunt

Whether it is Thanksgiving Day to keep the kiddos out of the Kitchen or any other November Day, have the kids take their newly made Turkeys outside for a Turkey Hunt.  This will work in the yard, at a park or on the trail. Have one child hide their Turkey and let the other children try to find it. Taking turns, they can each hide and seek for as long as they are interested. Adults are more than welcome as the added walking will burn off all those pesky calories from Holiday treats.

Bonus Tip: Use those extra pinecones and trail finds for your Thanksgiving Day Centerpiece. Toss them in a glass container with pumpkins, leaves, or whatever else you have laying around and presto chango your table looks amazingo! Also if those cute little turkeys don't get used on a hunt they make excellent place card holders or decor for your Thanksgiving Table as well.

Happy Tuesday! 

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