Just Make Stuff

Merry Making 2017...

I came up with the "merry making" idea instead of twelve days of Christmas activities, since realistically we would struggle to keep it up for a dozen days. This way we can do any number, which I am really taking advantage of this year, as I have only prepped four things.

Mac was actually surprised this year that I am keeping this tradition going.  I told him no matter how old he is and as long and I am alive and all there will be some merry making.

Here are the tags for this year and, even though I am only doing four things, I made twelve... download merry making tags.

Merry Making 2016...

In 2013, 2014, and 2015 I had all this merry making done in the first week of December and now we are close to the third. I have been behind on pretty much everything this year, but thankfully there is still some time left to do a few family holiday activities. 

I am buffalo check obsessed this year, so I used it to make the tags and it turned out some of the wrapping paper (one & two) I had to have went right along.

Here are this year's tags and tracking sheet in case you're behind too.

Every little detail of merry making continues to be one of my favorite traditions and I can't wait for Mac to start tearing into these packages.

Merry Making 2015...

Organizing this merry making stuff has become on of my favorite holiday traditions. This year there are nine different little gifts or activities for us to do sometime before Christmas. I don't go in numerical order and sometimes we might do a whole bunch at once. 

Last year, I made everything green, so this year I managed to use every color but green. I put together tags that just got stapled onto envelopes and lunch bags along with some colorful matching striped paper.

I also made two planner pages. I write out what each number is in case I forget (which I usually do) and roughly estimate the days we will open it. I also made a notes page to keep track of anything else that I might need to keep track of.

Here are all printable tags, planner pages and the striped pattern...Merry Making Tags //Merry Making Planner Pages//Merry Making Stripes

And here are the 2014 tags and 2013 ones.

Merry Making...

It's back...my noncommital version of a Christmas countdown. Just some little activities, snacks, games or other traditions that are just wrapped up so that they are even more fun. I would go into more specifics, but occasionally there is one blog reader around here that I don't want to blow the surprises for. This year I came up with a dozen, but you can do any amount.  

In addition to making some tags and raiding every green wrapping paper I have, I made a cheat sheet again so I remember what everything is and can roughly sketch out dates.

If you want to join in on the merry making here are the tags and planning sheet...  Download Merry Making Cards   Download Merry Making Activity Sheet.

Here's last year's (with different tags to download), little sewn packages to tear into in 2012, and the original one way back in 2010.

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. 

Every last minute...

I'm sure I've shared before that December 23rd is one of my favorite days of the year...it's the ultimate in holiday anticipation. We have been lucky to really enjoy these past few days. We kept an eye on the sunset on the shortest day of the year. We've shoved a bunch of 12 Days of Christmas activities into one night...including more ornament crafting and frozen hot chocolates. Mac tried ice skating with his dad. There were cinnamon roll waffles and lots of time spent under blankets with dogs on our laps. We are in a uniform of pajama pants...even at Sears at midnight looking for a trifle dish (don't ask). And we are wrapping the very last gifts. 

I wish these cozy Christmas days would last as long as possible.

Halfway...

Our 12 Days are flying by and making life much more enjoyable. Every week around here should include the three of us sitting down with a coloring book for a few minutes...and sugar cookie baking. 

Hope you and yours are getting the chance to have some holiday fun too.

Snowball Toss...

We have been so lucky to get to have lots of 12 Days of Christmas fun so far. We have baked cookies, painted ornaments, purchased toys to donate and played a little game we came up with...

Considering we live a snow deprived existence here in Southern California, Sean really liked the idea of an indoor snowball fight with homemade yarn pompoms. As I went to gather supplies at the craft store last week I decided that my stack of coupons would instead be used on a few packs of time saving pre-made pom poms and a tin can to try to toss them into. Instead of a snowball fight, call it snowball toss and we've got ourselves a game. It was actually pretty challenging, but Mac and Sean were able to get several of the dozen snowballs into the can. I got all of one. I'll have to practice for a rematch.

12 Days of Christmas

It started tonight...12 days of family activities to celebrate the holiday season. We will tear into these each day to see what the plan will be...

There are also some extra supplies all wrapped up to go along with a few of the days...

As you can see, I had no fun whatsoever putting this all together. I really loved it when we did this back in 2010 and can't wait for another dozen nights of fun. 

12 days strategy...

During the last week of school I very carefully chose our 12 days activities so they didn't take too much time on our last busy school nights...stop at Starbucks on the way home from karate class...hang one more string of lights in Mac's room...or cut snowflakes.

Now that we're all on break we have time to get to the extra fun stuff. Try a new recipe yesterday and holiday crafts today.  Yesterday we made chocolate mousse cakes...

And today we camped out in the dining room with a good friend of ours and crafted for hours...we tried to make star ornaments, but our wire wasn't thick enough to bend properly...we stitched little embroidery hoop ornaments...and we made snowman canvases.

 

Chocolate and crafts pretty much made for the best weekend ever.

The artist...

Tonight's 12 days activity was to cut out snowflakes...we tried it when we got home from Mac's school holiday performance.

And we found out it's actually kind of tricky...we aren't master snowflake artists quite yet...we had fun trying though...

However we do have an official artist in the house...Mac won the cover contest for the holiday program...

 

He certainly made his craft-loving mom extra proud tonight.

The 12 days...

I mentioned last week that I was making Twelve Days of Christmas plans for when Mac got home from his cruise. As of tonight he is safe and sound and full of stories. Starting tomorrow we'll have a little family activity to do everyday through the 24th...

They're all tucked inside little sewn pouches to open each day...can't wait to have some holiday fun.