25 Days of Christmas Experiences

Well, I love counting down the days of Christmas, and advent calenders are fun but I wanted something more interactive. Something fun and exciting for my little one!! I decided that our Elf on the Shelf will from December first until Christmas have a little sign that says 25 days till Christmas and so on... Then we will have a bucket in which we can pick an envelope out or a wrapped package.

There are some things we will definitely doing on certain days, other things on the list will simply be done when we want. I will mark all the ones in envelopes so I know which is which. Example we cant make a snowman if there is no snow. Also, 25 days of Christmas is pretty demanding. I know some days when I get home from work make dinner get all that cleaned up and all that I am not going to want to do a Christmas craft.. This is the beauty of not having items on certain days!! One night that we are tired from everyday life can be the night we watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." It will be a wonderful fun Holiday season for my little one, as well as making it easier to spend good quality family time together :) Now for the list. This is what I came up with. I hope you like it and use it in your own family. Tweak it or leave it but no matter what I hope you have fun with it!

1.Write and mail a letter to Santa. You can get a letter post marked from the North Pole back and addressed to your little one from the USPS check it out HERE.
2. Have a dance party.. To Christmas music of course
3. Decorate a gingerbread house.. even sugar cones to decorate as trees outside the house.
4. Make a snowman
5.The evening of Dec. 5th leave your shoes out for St. Nick
6. Celebrate St. Nicholas day by doing a Santa craft! More info about St. Nick day HERE
7. Watch Rudolph and do corresponding craft. (I got foam diy ornaments from Michael's.)
8. Bake with mommy
9. Donate some old toys to make room for the new (good condition)
10. Watch Frosty and do corresponding craft (also at Michael's)
11. Make popcorn garland
12. Have a picnic next to the Christmas tree.
13. Make a red and green dinner
14. Make DIY ornament gifts for grandparents
15. Decorate cookies!!
16. Watch Polar Express and drink hot chocolate. Give the little one a bell :)
17. Adopt a family or soldier or give to Toys for Tots
18.Make paper snowflakes and hang in your windows
19. Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and drink Grinch Punch! Recipe found HERE
20. Have a snowman day. Eat snowman pizza (3 small round pizzas with Alfredo, olive buttons etc.) Eat powdered donuts, make a snowman craft.
21. Mommy Express!! Get kids in their PJ's and instead of going to bed, get hot cocoa and go for a car ride to look at all the lights in the neighborhood!
22. Leave something special for the Mailman :)
23. Watch Santa Clause is Coming to Town
24. Open Christmas Eve package! Include new PJ's for everyone, mugs for hot chocolate, popcorn, your families favorite Christmas movie, Have family time and watch the movie and eat your goodies, then read The Night Before Christmas book and send your little ones to dream land! If you have an Elf on the Shelf.. Make sure to say goodbye to him tonight!
25. Merry Christmas!! Go open your gifts :)

Christmas Crafting

I don't know about you but I love doing Christmas projects. Little things that will make the house sparkle just a little bit more, or make one more memory. Today I am going to share two things with you! I hope you like them!

The Christmas countdown of awesomeness!!! This thing was super easy to make!! I literally got a picture frame. Make sure to get one with glass and not plastic!! Cut my red background scrapbook paper to size, and got pretty sparkly scrap booking letters. stuck the letters to the paper made a white cut out framed in black and left that blank. Close up the frame and your done!! Seriously that easy. Just write with try erase marker on the glass over the white area. B loves watching me change the days as they dwindle down and it gets closer to Christmas!!

The second project I did was this Santa key! I love the idea of the key especially for those children that are very intuitive about how all the Christmas "magic" works. I got this key in the Jewelry aisle in Michael's. Then all I had to do was type out the poem, but a boarder around it and stick it to the tag. I also bought tags at Michael's plain white tags with a hole punch at the top. Then a ribbon went though the hole punched area so the key is able to hang on the door knob. I then made a bow and attached it and it was done. Super easy cheap and it actually turned out pretty cute! We leave it on the inside of our door for now, but Christmas eve it will be on the outside of the door so Santa can use it!! Below I am going to put two poems!! I chose to use the first one, but the second one is also really cute! The second is also better for families that have chimneys but still would like this as a decoration in your home. I hope you enjoy!

Santa's magic key

 

Our stockings hang upon a wall.
We have no fireplace at all!
You see the problem is quite clear.
Santa, how will you get in here?

We heard a legend. Is it true?
Of magic only you can do.
We’ll leave out any plain old key,
and mark “Santa” so you can see.

Your magic makes the key fit right,
so you can get inside at night.
Thank you Santa, here’s our key.
The milk and cookies are on me!

 

option #2

 

'Twas the night before Christmas
I'm excited as can be
This year my Mommy told me
About a very special key

You can shimmy down the chimney
Or tiptoe through the door
Use the magic in this special key
To find cookies, milk and more!

Please feel free to post comments or questions! Look forward to hearing from you all :)

Maybe Christmas doesnt come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more!

Its so true. Christmas in part is about gifts, both giving and receiving. It has become a main part of the holiday season. Shopping for all of your loved ones to see their faces lit with joy when Christmas morning comes. I am not here to tell you that it is or isn't the way to celebrate your holiday. Everyone an celebrate the way they choose and that is just fine by me. Although I think it is important in the  midst of the busy holiday season to slow down and enjoy your family. Enjoy the traditions that you start and follow through with them. Sit down and actually talk to your family members you don't see all the time. Yes, I know they are nuts and a little dysfunctional and maybe sometimes you feel like certain members should be on intervention or something, but hey, family is family. Love it or hate it you are stuck with them so make the best of it. :)

I made it my mission this year to have a really awesome holiday season for B. Some days that may mean just having hot chocolate with breakfast on a weekend day. Other times that may mean doing a fun craft, decorating cookies or making snow angels. I don't really care what it is, but I want it to be memorable for him. A lot of that has to do with our family traditions. Traditions like decorating the Christmas tree. We do it every year and we do it together! Every year we get out the ornaments one by one to hang them on the tree and explain where each one came from and why it is special... Something so simple but it is so awesome and teaches your kids a little something about you and your childhood if you have ornaments going back that far. Here is a little insight to Christmas decorating at the Robinson's.

 B putting on his first ornament by himself ever, he did such a good job (with the not breakable ones!

 B trying to select what ornament to take out of the big box next, this was his favorite part.

 B adjusting the Eeyore ornament from when I was young. He likes this one a lot :)

 I am explaining to him why this particular ornament is special to me! He may not understand everything I am telling him now, but if I tell him every year he will remember when its important :)

 Nothing like Christmas songs and hanging ornaments on the tree with your not so little boy!!

 My wonderful hubby!! He drank his home made hot cocoa during most of the tree decorating... But he always comes to the rescue to put the star in perfect position at the end. What a guy!

The final product! This is the last year for our little tree since we just moved into our house, so I am going to enjoy it before next year when we get a bigger one! This tree has been good to us :) and its so beautiful with all of the memories hanging from it!!

Well I guess all in all the Christmas season is not so much about THINGS but about MEMORIES. The people you are with and the things that you are doing together! Maybe try and bless your neighbors with anonymous gifts left on their doorstep, volunteer at a local food pantry, ring the Salvation Army bell, or adopt a soldier to let your family know that its not just all about the gifts its about giving and not just in materialistic ways. Its about the things that you do together even if its as simple as decorating a gingerbread house or driving around at night to look at the Christmas lights in your neighborhood.

I hope all of your Christmas season is blessed and wonderful. I hope you make memories and take part in traditions new and old! Tis the season, so why not enjoy it!! Please, as always feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions. You will be hearing from me soon!!

 

The Elf on the Shelf madness has started!!

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone, and it was wonderful!! However after Thanksgiving a very special friend comes to stay at our house for a while.... His name is Sebastian and he is our families elf. We introduced him this year with a North pole Breakfast of Junk food goodies and hot chocolate. Not your typical breakfast by any means and definitely not a healthy one, but fun none the less! I have to say I love this North Pole Breakfast idea a lot. I first saw it HERE. This ladies blog is awesome!! This was the set up when he woke up the other morning.. He walked in the kitchen and was very excited!

 His little elf was waiting for him to wake up and eat the yummy breakfast he brought from the pole :)

 This was the menu, and what told B what the breakfast was all about!

 Sebastian even wrote a letter to B introducing himself and letting him know why he is there.

 We at terrible food, cookies, Christmas tree cakes, powdered donuts and hot cocoa but it was great!!

He wanted to see the letter Sebastian wrote up close! It was really a great experience!

Then after we ate our breakfast, we read The Elf on the Shelf book, It explained to B why he cant touch his new friend, why he is around and for how long. It was a great experience and good kick off to the Holiday season! We have only been doing Elf on the Shelf for a few days now but its already a hit. Every morning B wakes up looking for his elf... Its awesome to see him so excited every morning and definitely makes it worth remembering to put the little guy in a different place everyday LOL Just wanted to share our North Pole breakfast experience. More elf on the Shelf mischief to come soon!!

What are you thankful for?

Thanksgiving is next week, can  you believe it?? This year has just flown by. Thanksgiving, what does it mean? Is it time for family, time to eat turkey, maybe time for some football? What does thanksgiving mean to you?

By definition:

Definition of THANKSGIVING

1

: the act of giving thanks

2

: a prayer expressing gratitude

3

a: a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness

bcapitalized: thanksgiving day

 

I think that everyone makes this holiday their own. To me its just a time to be together with your loved ones and get to spend that quality time!! Having good food with great conversation to go along with it. No matter how you celebrate remember to be thankful. It is always important to really think about the blessings in  your life. I encourage you to go around the table next week with your nearest and dearest and each say something you are thankful for. I hope everyone has an amazing holiday. You will be hearing from me soon!!

 

ABC Family's 25 days of Christmas

I don't know about you guys but I just love watching the warm fuzzy Christmas specials that are on TV. I am starting to plan out how to do B's 25 days of Christmas activities bucket and thank goodness ABC Family put out their 25 days of Christmas TV schedule! For those that would like to know here it is!!

ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas begins Saturday, December 1 through Tuesday, December 25! We've got tons of merry movies and premieres for you and the whole family, including the A NEW ABC Family Original Musical The Mistle-Tones. Check out what Santa is bringing you this year below!

Saturday, December 1
7a/6c Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
8:30a/7:30c Richie Rich's Christmas Wish
10:30a/9:30c A Dennis the Menace Christmas
12:30p/11:30c Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
3/2c The Family Man
6/5c Jack Frost (1998)
8/7c & 10/9c Elf
12a/11c Snowglobe

Sunday, December 2
7a/6c Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
8:30a/7:30c Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
11a/10c I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
1/12c The Search for Santa Paws
3/2c Jack Frost (1998)
5/4c Elf
7/6c & 9:30/8:30c Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Monday, December 3
5/4c 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
5:30/4:30c Rudolph's Shiny New Year
6:30/5:30c Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys
8/7c & 10/9c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
12a/11c Holiday in Handcuffs

Tuesday, December 4
4:30/3:30c Rudolph's Shiny New Year
5:30/4:30c Mickey's Christmas Carol
6/5c Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too
6:30/5:30c Jack Frost (1979)
7:30/6:30c Frosty's Winter Wonderland
8/7c Elf
10/9c Fred Claus ABC FAMILY PREMIERE
12:30a/11:30c Frosty's Winter Wonderland
1a/12c Jack Frost (1979)

Wednesday, December 5
2:30/1:30c Fred Claus
5/4c Elf
7/6c Home Alone
9/8c The Polar Express
12a/11c Home Alone

Thursday, December 6
4/3c Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July
6/5c The Polar Express
8/7c Disney's A Christmas Carol NETWORK TELEVISION PREMIERE
10/9c & 12a/11c Elf

Friday, December 7
3/2c Elf
5/4c Disney's A Christmas Carol
7/6c The Santa Clause
9/8c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
12a/11c 12 Dates of Christmas

Saturday, December 8
7a/6c Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
10a/9c Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
1:30/12:30c Fred Claus
4/3c The Santa Clause
6/5c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
8/7c & 10/9c Despicable Me NETWORK TELEVISION PREMIERE
12a/11c Santa Baby

Sunday, December 9
7a/6c Rudolph's Shiny New Year
8a/7c Snow
10a/9c Snowglobe
12p/11c Santa Baby
2/1c Santa Baby 2 Christmas Maybe
4/3c 12 Dates of Christmas
6/5c Holiday in Handcuffs
8/7c & 10/9c The Mistle-Tones A NEW ABC FAMILY ORIGINAL MUSICAL

Monday, December 10
5/4c Mickey's Christmas Carol
5:30/4:30c Jack Frost (1979)
6:30/5:30c Frosty's Winter Wonderland
7/6c The Year Without a Santa Claus
8/7c Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
9/8c Home Alone
12a/11c Home Alone: The Holiday Heist


Tuesday, December 11
5/4c Home Alone
7/6c The Santa Clause
9/8c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
12a/11c Chasing Christmas


Wednesday, December 12
5/4c The Santa Clause
7/6c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
9/8c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
12a/11c Christmas Do-Over


Thursday, December 13
5/4c The Mistle-Tones
7/6c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
9/8c The Polar Express
12a/11c Christmas Every Day


Friday, December 14
5/4c Pixar Short Films
7/6c The Polar Express
9/8c Disney•Pixar's Toy Story
12a/11c Pixar Short Films


Saturday, December 15
7a/6c Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
7:30a/6:30c Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat
8a/7c The Little Drummer Boy
8:30a/7:30c The Little Drummer Boy Book II
9a/8c Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
9:30a/8:30c Pinocchio's Christmas
10:30a/9:30c A Miser Brothers' Christmas
11:30a/10:30c The Story of the First Christmas Snow
12p/11c 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
12:30p/11:30c Frosty's Winter Wonderland
1/12c Jack Frost (1979)
2/1c Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July
4/3c Disney's A Christmas Carol
6/5c Disney•Pixar's Toy Story
8/7c Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 2
10/9c Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
11/10c The Year Without a Santa Claus
12a/1c Jack Frost (1998)


Sunday, December 16
7a/6c Richie Rich's Christmas Wish
9a/8c Home Alone: The Holiday Heist
11a/10c Home Alone 4
1/12c The Year Without a Santa Claus
2/1c Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
3/2c Disney's A Christmas Carol
5/4c Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 2
7/6c & 9:30/8:30c Disney•Pixar's Toy Story 3 ABC FAMILY PREMIERE

Monday, December 17
11a/10c Sons of Mistletoe
1/12c Christmas Every Day
3/2c Christmas Do-Over
5/4c Dr. Seuss on the Loose
5:30/4:30c Dr. Seuss' The Lorax
6/5c Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
6:30/5:30c Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Grinches The Cat in the Hat
7/6c & 9:30/8:30c Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas
12a/11c The Mistle-Tones


Tuesday, December 18
11a/10c The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus
12p/11c Frosty's Winter Wonderland
12:30p/11:30c Santa Who?
2:30/1:30c The Christmas List
4:30/3:30c Disney Prep & Landing
5/4c Disney Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice
5:30/4:30c Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
8/7c Home Alone
10/9c The Polar Express
12a/11c Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory


Wednesday, December 19
8a/7c Christmas in Boston
10a/9c Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
12p/11c Three Days
2/1c The Family Man
5/4c Home Alone
7/6c The Polar Express
9/8c Disney's A Christmas Carol
12a/11c Three Days


Thursday, December 20
7a/6c – 11a/10c Beverly Hills, 90210 HOLIDAY MARATHON
11a/10c Christmas Caper (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Shannen Doherty)
1/12c Secret Santa (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Jennie Garth)
3/2c The Mistle-Tones (starring Beverly Hills, 90210's Tori Spelling)
5/4c 12 Dates of Christmas
7/6c Disney's A Christmas Carol
9/8c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
12a/11c Santa Baby


Friday, December 21
9a/8c Christmas Cupid
11a/10c Snowglobe
1/12c Santa Baby
3/2c Santa Baby 2 Christmas Maybe
5/4c Holiday in Handcuffs
7/6c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
9/8c The Santa Clause
12a/11c Holiday in Handcuffs


Saturday, December 22
7a/6c Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
8:30a/7:30c Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
10a/9c Disney Prep & Landing
10:30a/9:30c Disney Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice
11a/10c Mickey's Christmas Carol
11:30a/10:30c Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too
12p/11c A Chipmunk Christmas
12:30p/11:30c Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys
2/1c Rudolph's Shiny New Year
3/2c A Miser Brothers' Christmas
4/3c The Year Without a Santa Claus
5/4c Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
6/5c The Santa Clause
8/7c The Santa Clause 2
10/9c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
12a/11c The Santa Clause 2


Sunday, December 23
7a/6c Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys
8:30a/7:30c A Dennis the Menace Christmas
10:30a/9:30c Unaccompanied Minors
12:30p/11:30c Fred Claus
3/2c Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
5/4c The Polar Express
7/6c & 9:30/8:30c Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas


Monday, December 24
11a/10c Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
1/12c The Polar Express
3/2c The Santa Clause
5/4c The Santa Clause 2
7/6c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
9/8c Home Alone
12a/11c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation


Tuesday, December 25
7a/6c Disney's A Christmas Carol
9a/8c A Chipmunk Christmas
11a/10c The Santa Clause
1/12c The Santa Clause 2
3/2c The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
5/4c Disney's A Christmas Carol
7/6c Home Alone
9/8c National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
12a/11c The Santa Clause 2

Looks like we are going to be having a lot of fun family nights in with hot cocoa and classic movies!!