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G3: 2013
This was the third year of getting a family photo and saving random family facts each month. This year's highlights included Mac not having to wear his brace anymore, me finally starting my teaching career, the cheerleading booster presidency (it may be me in name, but all three of us are working on it), Sean redoing the backyard, and you're just waiting for his 2013 running total too, right? It was 1,456 miles.
G3: December
This month...
- We spent six days with Sean's dad.
- I figured out I graded 2,592 assignments and tests this past semester.
- Mac was on holiday break for over half the month (he gets three weeks vacation).
- We did lots of merry making.
- Mac and I got new glasses.
- Sean and I drank lots of tea.
- Mac got his Christmas thank you notes done way before I did.
- And Sean ran 145.04 miles.
Make a Wish Kits...
We get to go places for Christmas Eve and Christmas brunch, so I have had fun putting together little hostess gifts for the last couple of years. This year I really had fun though. As usual, I turned to Pinterest and was reminded of this idea (from here). Next thing I know, for some reason, I decided there needed to be a collection of birthday candles too and that is how "Make a Wish" kits were created.
The sandpaper idea really does work. We used 150 grit paper and actually punched several circles out to include with each jar so that it can be used over and over. As the original source said, make sure your matches are the strike anywhere kind. Then for birthday candles I raided Target and Party City. As you can see, I pretty much could not resist any pack of candles I came across.
I figured now the recipients would have plenty of candles to choose from as their families celebrate birthdays in the coming years. A word of warning, the jars are super tricky to stack and get tied with ribbon, so you might want to wrap them up another way, but you're welcome to download a copy of the tag here in case you want to make up a kit of your own.
The best worst photos ever...
This is far from award winning photography, but it's the moment that matters...
We put a note in Mac's stocking to tell him we were going to get him an annual Disneyland pass so he could go together with his cousins next year.
Merry Christmas...
Sending along lots of wishes for a wonderful holiday!
Countdown to Christmas...
We'll be spending the day on a long list of cooking tasks, a couple last holiday traditions, and tracking Santa.
Wrapped up...
I finished the last batch of gift wrapping today. I can't believe Christmas is almost here!
I finished hostess gifts today too (I'll share them later this week after they've been given). Now the next Christmas crafting task is making thank you notes.
I'll be using these sheets to keep track...
You can download them here, Thank You Notes Planner Sheets, in case you need a place to keep a list too.
He got me...
With a seventeen year old we have no official need for an Elf on the Shelf, but it's still fun to see the idea other people come up with.
When I saw this I sent the link to Sean who said, even though we don't have little kids, we should get one next year to hide around the house anyways. Then last week this version was sitting at Costco for twelve dollars, so it came home with me. I have been teasing Sean that, so far, his ideas haven't been too creative.
Then I walked into see my desk this morning. The elf, which Sean insists should be named "Clarence", apparently dug out Mac's old train set from the toy cabinet and used the little holiday forest that usually sits on top of my computer monitors this time of year.
Nicely done Clarence.
Randomness...
1. As of one hour ago I finished grading my last batch of finals. I added up last week that I have graded over 2,500 things this semester.
2. Yesterday I started working on the spring semester.
3. I cannot believe Christmas is now less than a week away.
4. I have one gift left to buy and about a half dozen left to wrap and two to mail.
5. Sean is taking this to the faculty breakfast tomorrow.
6. Mac is the middle of the first of the three weeks he gets off from school. To celebrate his vacation, I scheduled him five different appointments this week.
7. Trader Joe's mini peppermint waffle cookies...yum.
8. I spent an hour on Pinterest tonight trying to brainstorm a good hostess gift for this year...nothing yet.
9. Did I mention I am done grading?
Tags...
I shared a few gift tags ideas earlier this month on Eighteen25.
You can see the instructions for making these seed bead shaker box tags here.
See it, do it...
I saw an idea to decorate gift bags in this awesome post of wrapping ideas. It was a great way to use up a little of all the fabric and ribbon and twine I just had to have at some point or another.
A little sparkle...
I have always hated glitter. Anything sparkly was kind of lost on me. Yet, somewhere in the midst of all this cheer mom stuff, I started to be drawn in...just a little. That's why our cards have a tree punched out of glitter paper.
Besides that detail, there is not much else. Super simple this year. I didn't even make my own labels. I ordered return address labels and hand wrote the addresses on gold envelopes. I was starting to regret that choice when I was intoxicated by sharpie marker fumes about halfway through the sixty I had to address.
These were all cranked out and in the mail last week. It's my favorite holiday task to get crossed off the list.
December Daily-ish 2013: 02
Here's the second batch of random bits of this month.
Christmas wrapping with scraps of wrapping paper filling the page protector and one of the tags I made to tie onto gifts. Then a Christmas shopping trip, a note Sean left me one night last week and other little details.
The low here was 35 degrees this past Saturday with a chance of rain, so I joked with Sean all week it was going to snow. I took a screen shot of the weather app on my phone showing the forecast and punched out a bunch of snowflakes. This is as close to a white Christmas as we'll probably ever get. Then our Christmas cards going off in the mail.
Relax...
There are two administrative assistants in one of the Sociology Departments I work in that needed a good gift. They have gone above and beyond helping me out this semester, doing things like ordering thirteen books from various publishers so I can prepare for a class next semester or checking every week to see if they can move a classroom for me so I don't have to make a nearly impossible hike between classes.
I decided to combine a few little things to make a relaxation kit for when they are on Christmas break. I gathered a pair of fuzzy socks, some chocolate, a holiday candle and tea. I made a little tag to tie things together so the items didn't seem totally random. Then I packaged it in a gift box with tinsel as the padding.
You can right-click to save the tag in case you would like to put together a little relaxation kit for someone who has been extra good to you.
Well Wishes...
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared every Wednesday.
Lots of tea and hot chocolate...
This morning it was fifty-five degrees in our house, so we finally relented and turned on the heater to take the chill off. We all like it this time of year when we can bundle up a little and drink lots of warm drinks. To be ready for all this drinking, I reorganized the shelf we have for tea and hot chocolate a few weeks ago. I am such a nerd, but it just makes me so happy every time I open the cabinet.
I have never really liked coffee, but I grew up drinking tea just like my mom and grandma. Sean finally decided he liked tea also after we had high tea at the Empress Hotel back in 2010. Mac loves when I concoct a pitcher of hot chocolate with the frother my mom gave us. I got some weck jars to store hot chocolate in and a couple of shakers for crushed peppermint and fleur de sel to make salted caramel hot chocolate (love this caramel sauce too).
This is my current favorite hot chocolate mix. I also am loving this holiday blend tea and this vanilla tea (I make it in the summer too).
I like to drink really strong tea, so I'll either use two tea bags or use a small little cup (this is the one I couldn't resist for the holidays...apparently it's a child's mug) to brew it in. It also keeps me from using the ton of sugar and half and half I like to have with tea.
Crafty Christmas Giveaway...
I have been lucky enough to share some craftiness on the Eighteen25 blog since this past summer and some of my fellow contributors have put together a fantastic giveaway filled with lots of crafty goodness...you can enter the rafflecopter here.
Thanks to Eighteen 25, The Creative Mom, It's Always Autumn and House by Hoff.
Details: The Crafty Christmas Giveaway will run from December 10 through December 17, 2013. Contestants must be a US resident, 18 years or older. Enter via Rafflcopter widget below. One lucky winner will win all 11 prizes. Once chosen, the winner will be notified via email, and will have 24 hours to respond with their mailing information. If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.
Merry Making...
Mac's been making requests for when we have the 12 Days of Christmas this year, so I figured we better have it. However, to ease up on the time crunch of December, we do not have daily activities...or twelve for that matter. We just have a bunch and we'll get to them when we get to them. I made quick tags with a card from this set. Here's a PDF of the tags... Download Merry Making Tags
I came up with a super cheesy name like, "Merry Making" and I wrapped up a few supplies. Oh and I made myself a cheat sheet so I remember what every number is.
Giveaway...
Making a card a week means there are a lot of extra cards around here, so I have packaged up a bunch to share with someone. Please leave a "pick me" if you would like them. I will email the winner on Sunday morning to find out your address...please make sure you have linked an email address that you check often.
Have a great weekend!
Merrier...
The house is much cozier this week...especially when the lights are glowing all evening. Christmas decorations are the best.
Well Wishes...
Well Wishes...a homemade card shared every Wednesday.
December Daily-ish 2013: 01
Last year I loved keeping track of little bits of the holidays. This year I have a blank album ready to be filled with more December Daily-ish (since there is no way I will get to it daily).
Then, over the holiday weekend, I sat down to flip through the old Christmas scrapbooks. There was our family Christmas card picture in 2002 and I wrote about that we chose the one we did because Mac threw his hand in the air like a cheerleader. That was the year he became completely enamoured with cheerleading. Somehow it's already eleven years later and he's the cheerleader he always wanted to be. Scrapbooking caught that little detail that's such a big part of our lives now.
That's why I really want to keep documenting...these little memories really can matter when you look back on them.
Wrapping...
With my crazy, plan-ahead ways when it comes to Christmastime I have been known to be wrapping gifts in late October...definitely by November...and no matter what there are gifts to go under the tree once it's set up on Thanksgiving weekend.
This year the tree went up and there were no gifts to be found. Heck, the heaps holiday wrapping paper just came down from the attic a few days ago. I tried to be laid back about it. I tried to remind myself it's no big deal and the gifts will be under the tree at some point.
And then I lost my ever-crafty-loving mind and wrapped and made tags all weekend.
I also added a few Christmas catagories to the sidebar, in case you want to peek at all the gift wrapping from the years before when I actully did start wrapping way in advance.
