Christmas in July

I have decided.

Are you ready?

I have decided I have a love/hate relationship with everything crafty.  Basically, I'm impressed by just about everything everyone else does,* but when I attempt something, I tend to see the outcomes as another word that starts with cr and rhymes with trap.  It's caused me to really hesitate before considering any project.

Regardless of this revelation, I opted to have a "Christmas in July" party on Friday night.  About nine of us got together and ate holiday food (dips and sweets), and made some ornaments.  I love having friends over, and I never stress (you can tell by my decor) in doing so because my friends are the best guests ever!

Instead of going nuts with decor, or going through my Christmas boxes in the basement to find even a few things, 

I just laid Hefty bags on our kitchen table and covered it with wrap to protect our work space. 

We were all so relaxed, I didn't take a single picture during the party.  Blogger fail.

I (can you believe it) showed them how to make mini-canvas print ornaments, and theirs turned out better than mine. Sorry, no photo available, at least not today, but soon.

My guests shared their ideas too.  We saw beautiful cross stitch, wine cork ornaments, and snowmen orbs.  My friend Amy worked on one of these for a while.  Then many of us made these glitter globes, they were the party favor, and I am so in love with them.  Wait, did you catch that?  I made something I actually like!

They're all over the internet, so I'm just adding this tutorial to the 'Net jumble.

Supplies needed:

Glass ornaments from Michael's or similar

Floor polish

Extra fine glitter 

Stickers

(and ribbon, though none of us did that, yet)

A picture note, this is what the floor polish I used looks like--

And though many on-line directions specifically mentioned Martha Stewart glitter, I used this which was much cheaper--

How to:

1) Remove cap from ornament and squeeze in an ample amount of polish.  There's no such thing as too much.
2) Holding your finger over the ornament hole, swish the polish around, and yes, it's okay if it foams.  Make sure all of the inside of the ornament is touched by polish.
3) Pour all the polish back in the bottle.
4)  Pour glitter in the ornament and holding your finger over the hole, move the ornament to spread the glitter around.  You may have to pour more glitter in.  (I did this step over the sink.)  Hold the ornament up to a light to check for glitter coverage, and again, add more glitter if needed.
5)  Cap ornament.
6)  Add sticker embellishment.  (These script letters were from the scrapbook section at Michael's.)

I was glad I selected silver because the letters tie in well with the silver caps.  I made a few more after the party for friends who couldn't come, and then I made the G for a tutoring family, the Joy for me, I plan to make these for my classroom helper moms come December, and I will be making more for my home.

Last year I added a lighted garland to this spot.  This year, I'm going to add some poppy red, bronze, and olive green glitter orbs to it.  I don't like to totally redo my home at Christmas, but I'd like to jazz this area at the top of our stairs up a bit.  Those colors will tie in with the scheme in the hall.

(An afterthought.  These are so easy, kids 7 and up could make them with supervision.  In that case, I'd recommend folding a piece of foil or similar over the ornament opening.  Child-sized fingers just wouldn't be big enough.)

So, there you have it.  Just when I make a definitive decision, a life experience challenges it.  Gotta love that!

*Oh, one craft I ran across recently that was beyond ridiculous?  A felt apron for a dish wash bottle.  Don't you just want one of those on your counter?  Eek!  (And nope, I won't link it, that is too mean!)

Llama, Llama, where's Mac's mama?

This disjointedness is brought to you by 

Mrs. 4444. 

Go on, click on over and see what's up there, 

you won't be sorry!

*****

 Christmas afternoon, I snapped this of  my brother and his dog Nutty on his aptly names sun porch. She's getting pretty old, I was struck by her powdered face and her gait, but she still adores Jeff.

When I said good-bye to her, I cried a little.  I believe I was truly saying good-bye.  

Yes, I've suffered worse losses, and so has Jeff, and so we have that perspective.  But that doesn't always remove the pain.  Does it?

*****

No, I have no "whiz-bang" gift photos to share, my husband and I don't exchange gifts.

*****

Mac did find the perfect fluer di lis earrings for me, but taking a photo of my own ear is a task I'm not up to.

 *****

On Monday night, I helped make dinner for the guests of Ronald McDonald House in Chicago.

By helping I mean I cleaned both before and after dinner.

The excellent cooking was done by my friends Jim and Helen.

*****

On Tuesday night, we went to Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo.  My friend Jenn is a dolphin trainer there.  The top picture is her at work in the water.

Then she tried to coax one of her pals out after the show.

We had a behind the scenes tour of the Seven Seas facility afterward (no photos allowed, too bad, those dolphins were up close on that side of the tank, and a photo of Jenn digging through a bucket o' fish would have been priceless.)

Afterward Jenn dried off and met us in the lit wildly but still dark zoo.

We made our way to the children's zoo where Cinnamon was waiting to pose for photos.

Jenn got us a little closer...

Mac with a llama,

niece Alice with a llama, 

but no Ellie with a llama.

Hm.

I did pet the llama, her neck felt like a rough tree trunk covered by fake fur.  Okay, I get that it was real, but it felt synthetic.

*****

I had minor "chick" surgery yesterday.  The thing I was most nervous about was the anesthesia.  I was full under, but I woke fast without getting sick.  Every staff member I encountered at Central DuPage Hospital was beyond competent.  What a good place!

Especially the nurse who wrote the name of the best pads on a post-it for Brad.

He has no qualms about buying such things, but I knew facing a wall of product would be daunting.

Heck, I have to search that aisle, but after the next couple of weeks, that should all come to an end.

*****

Did you know surgery has color coded socks?   

I teased the nurse and told her I wanted orange, but she said those were for cardiac (I think) care.

Notice the two grips on both sides of the socks, even if I walked on the top of my feet, I wouldn't wipe out.  Okay, maybe I would...

*****
Best thing about surgery?  All the Lorna Doone's I could eat afterward.  They even sent some home with me in a "bio-harzards" bag.  I plan on using that ziploc for lunch over and over.  It's an apt name for my kitchen skills.
*****

There's something deeply thought provoking and gratitude filled about driving away from a hospital with the knowledge that recovery would be swift, and, although nervous making, what I went through was nothing compared to what 99% of those people walking through those doors would experience.

So I'm ending this with not a fragmented thought but a very deeply rooted and solid one:

Thank you God for my good health and access to doctors and their staffs who help me maintain it.

Christmas Question of the Week

When do you take your Christmas decorations down?

Unspeakable Joy

Merry Christmas.

The Season is historically "off," but 

the Reason lives.

Thank you Jesus for the joy,

the comfort, and the love you continue to share with the world.

Hope without end.

Ornament crafted by my mother, Alice Elizabeth Weed Stewart, ca. 1967

A Classroom Christmas--Part II

At the end of yesterday's post, I asked you to return today to learn what the kids gave me.

You might remember we participated in Operation Christmas Child last month, and that was meant to be instead of gifts to me. 

They didn't listen.

Yep, I go some typical trinkety stuff, and some has already been delivered to Goodwill.

I also got a group gift of a nice gift card to a local mall.

But...

The three gifts that really touched my heart and that I won't forget are:

A gift of three ducks that will provide food for a family through World Vision,

A gift of cash to the town food pantry, along with a bag of donations,

A donation to the food pantry in the town where I live.

I cried when I opened each one.  Good thing I don't open the gifts in front of the kids.

Another spot on gift, a gift card to the Dollar Tree, where $20 is more like $50!  ;)  That one made me laugh! 

A Classroom Christmas

     This year has been the hardest school year ever.  Due to confidentially issues, I can not elaborate, but there are many reasons--and they go beyond the children.  I'm thankful for my peers, I think we keep each other sane.  Sane yes, but there's no avoiding exhaustion.
     We got out "early" this year for Winter Break, today is the first official day.  So, I didn't have time to do the many things I like to do in December. I didn't get to read the stories I usually read.
     One project we did get to was this one (go to Friday's post for a tutorial):

The kids made little yarn wreaths for their families.  I love that they all were a little bit the same and a little bit different.  I loved that I, the non-crafty and not so always patient one, was able to lead them all through this (and the wrapping) and not get cranky, not even once.  It was fun, something we sorely need in 4S!

Some kids were so excited, they gave their wreaths away the night they brought them home.  Others decided to wait and told me to NOT post this on my class blog.  So I won't.  It's not like I had a moment to take photos anyway!

Oh and we did read this:

I love it, and so did they!

Come back tomorrow for part two of "A Classroom Christmas."  I can't wait to tell you about their gifts to me.  (Does that sound greedy?  It's more of a humbling thing...)

Carded

We do not send Christmas cards.

There, I've said it.  

I used to.  But for a number of reasons, I stopped.

Brad and I have never discussed it.

We still get a few, and I love them.

How warped is that?

Question of the week, do you send Christmas cards?  

And if so, where is mine?

Image borrowed from here

Christmas Can Still Change the World

This is the Advent Conspiracy's video from 2008.  So it's nothing new, but some of it was news to me.  The dollar amounts are staggering stated, and the overall message is powerful.
(The rest of this post will make no sense if you don't watch the video first.)

Because of our ages and time in life--no small kids in the house and tighter finances, we don't do a whiz bang Christmas.
I'm okay with that, I still love this holiday and all the reasons for it--particularly the original one.
This year, we'll have Mac home and my niece Alice here.
Spending time together as family, baking and making things, only stockings for the "kids."

But the most impactful part of the video is the water part.
I watched it and had to donate.
Will you?

How does Jesus want us to celebrate?

(As a side note, I learned of this particular "cause" from a Jewish friend on facebook.  God at work through all of us with a church that goes beyond four walls.)

What Rule Do You Play By?

I have never been a fan of Thanksgiving.  When I was a kid, we went to my gramma's where I was often the only girl.  Boring.  Football was on.  Boring.  All day.  Boring.   The dinner was kind of beige.  Boring.  They used to tell me to color.  Boring.  (I do remember wearing fishnet tights one year, not boring!)

But, now I'm a little bit more into Thanksgiving, not the "tradition" of it, because I tend to do something every year.  This year we are having friends and family over, and so I have to be a little bit more on my toes.  Good thing we're off that whole week prior to me having to make dinner (and great thing that my guests are helping.)

ANYWAY, whether or not I'm into Thanksgiving is sort of not the point; I do feel it's a day to be honored and it comes BEFORE Christmas, it's not part of it.

( I had forgotten we painted the living room this year, no more green walls!)

I will not display a single Christmas decoration until the day after Thanksgiving.  That is my rule.  I usually don't listen to Christmas music until that day, but Brad found our Chris Tomlin CD, so I've been hearing that in his car, but it rings more like praise music than, say, Johnny Mathis or Andy Williams (my very first crush, at age 5 or 6).

If you don't have this CD, get it.  It's perfect.  

So those are my rules and I don't break them.

What are yours? 

(And that would be the question of the week!)

(Obligatory Andy Williams album, hubba hubba!)

"Monet Ugly" Monday

Last week, I revealed that in one aspect (the interrupt-his-wife-while-she's-reading-way) I had married my dad.  This weekend, I realized I AM my dad. My dad was a hard worker and  good provider, and by the weekends he was wiped out.  He'd nap both days, AND if he got sick it was always on the weekend.

We had a three day weekend, and I napped each day, and on Thursday night and all day Friday I was laid out with a sinus headache and slight fever.  (Or you could say I gave into it for those two days.)

Yep, I am my dad.

Anyway, Dad did get things done around the house, and I do too...sometimes.

In my more-awake-but-still-possibly-might-have-a-fever-stay-home-state on Saturday, when I wasn't napping or reading, I made something I'd been "going to get to" since I bought a slew of ornaments around January 15th:

It is "Monet Ugly," looks good from far away, which is perfect because I'm going to hang it here...

at the top of the stairs (and with a nicer ribbon and bow).  But up close, like up close a Monet is full of smacked on paint, it's full of blobs of glue. From far away, even with its lack of symmetry, I like it--and so does Brad!
     (After the photos were snapped I did add a few more ornaments.)
     Now this is NOT a DIY blog because I am NOT Martha Stewart.  Heaven forbid I guide you in creating anything.  But I can tell you that I made this from a styrofoam ring, which I then wrapped in in cheapo gold ribbon and adhered to with hot glue about 55 Meijer after Christmas 90% off ornaments. (I believe it could use more smaller ornaments, so perhaps in January 2012, it will be wearing some, but not until then. And probably not even then.)
     And yes, I did burn my finger.  I am a menace with hot glue.
     And yes, there are, um, glue boogers all over it.  But you can't see them.
     Tricky, eh?  And oh so Monet.

My After Christmas Strategy

     My Christmas decorations do not overtake my home.  I enjoy looking at blogs to see how others decorate their homes, and some people really go all out.  Their decor reminds me of what you'd see in a banquet hall versus what you'd see in a home.  It's pretty, but it's not homey.  Some people attempt to go with the latest trends, but in a way, the idea of latest trends for the holidays is upsetting to me as I love tradition.  I like putting out the same things year after year.
     A recent post here was about some of the ways I decorate our home for Christmas.  A few people other than us see it, but even it were just us, I'd do it all the same.  We have a Christmas party, family comes over, and now and again friends stop by.  What I like about me is I don't drive myself to Christmas perfection--the only perfect Christmas happened a bit over 2000 years ago--so I just have fun and enjoy the whimsical and spiritual things I display.  Each year it gets a little more elaborate, each year a little brighter.
     I do this by waiting until after Christmas a few days and going out to see what's left.  In other words, you will never catch me on the 26th out shopping the day after sales.  I also try to use things we already have.  However, two things I hope to do next December are to wind festive red ribbon around the ivory candles on the pedestal holders which bookend the buffet.(There are four, though you can't really see them here.)  I figured that's a more frugal way to brighten things up than buying four red candles.  I'll also take time to find and polish my mom's sterling candle holders for Christmas dinner--even though it's Usually just the three of us for that meal.

     I also have been stocking up on gold, silver, and pearly white ornaments to make a wreath like this one for our hall:

(directions found here)

     Admittedly, my last name is Stewart, but I'm no Martha, so this seems daunting. I'm saving it up until July when I have some time to do it right.  I even bought some great, wide silver ribbon with which to hang it.

     I'm a geek for my Christmas tree and ornaments.  My husband thinks I do a good job, and except for carrying the tree up around Dec 1 and back down on Dec 31, he stays out of my way.  He knows so many of the things I display have a memory attached to them, and he does also know that he is now part of those memories with ornaments we have selected together.

     Tonight, New Year's Eve, we'll look at our tree one more time and look forward to the coming year.  It's a romantic, blessing filled moment--and part of our holiday traditions.

Christmas Isn't Over (Q of the W)

     One of my facebook friends delighted in the fact that her Christmas tree was down and all was put away--yesterday.  This made me sad.  We had a quiet little Christmas, but I'm not ready for it to be over yet.  I'm still enjoying the little decorations we put up around the house...I think I've posted the tree and mantel, but here are a few more.  No need to alert House Beautiful!

Just put these up on the 24th.  Brad's grandkids made them. Next year, gingerbread kids so they contrast with the door more!

Ornaments every where, even some on the tree.

The Christ candle lit on Christmas Eve along with a reading from Isaiah.

Kitschy yes, but I love it, bought at Meijer just last week.  (It's really shiny, tacky!)

Remnants left from a candlelight Christmas dinner.

A bit of our front hall decor--finally my beloved Betsy Snowperson matches our wall color and curtain!  Oh wait, finally we have wall color and a curtain!

At the top of the stairs, an elegant Santa.

And...my blank slate for next year--I want to make a wreath for here (and remove the scarf I was too lazy to move before taking this pic...)  I'm going to make an ornament wreath out of silver and gold balls with a wide silver ribbon.  (Ideally...)

 Outside, we didn't do much, only decorated the door and put bows on the garage lights.  I love its classic understated feel though.
And I have some ideas for next year.  I don't do all new things each year, but each year I add something new.  We're planning a Christmas in July party to get some things made.

So, my question of the week:
When do you take your Christmas things down?
Is Christmas over at your house?

And if I didn't post a photo of the tree and mantel, well here it is.

"Although it's been said

many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you."

Belated Christmas Gifts

     My friend Adam posted a link for these bags on his facebook wall yesterday, and I had to check them out.  Apparently the designer has something to do with Glee, but I don't care about that.  What I do care about is:  1) these bags are adorable, 2) they are affordable, and 3) they are reusable.  The thing I LOVE about them is part of the proceeds go to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  So I bought ten.  It was quite a deal.

     My friends and I don't exchange gifts, and in fact this year, I have stuck to a tight budget and bought gifts only for some children and college students I know.  But...some of my teacher friends are getting late Christmas/Happy New Year gifts around Jan. 3.  So look out P.C., B.D., A.B., and M.N.  (The last two are for me.  Did I mention I like reusable shopping bags?)  We teachers are always schlepping something...

Snowfolk and a Snake

     As is typical of me when I am entertaining, I forget to or decide to not take pictures.  This was true of yesterday when Brad, Mac and I opened our home for our "Stewart" Christmas.  Through visiting, football watching, lunch and gifts, I didn't even take out my camera.  But, when they started creating things with Model Magic, well, then I had to capture some of our time together.
     It was meant to be a contest when all were done, but the fam got so invested in their creations, I just can't stand the idea of us judging them.  So here's some of our good, clean fun--save for marker on our fingers:

     The finished products:
      Mac's LSU man

      Brad's toast holding man

      Jim's snake?  Did he really not listen to directions?

      Jeff's candy cane man

      Brock's Santa

 Luke's hunting snowman complete with a snowman hunting dog

 Amy's classic snowman

 The Normal's group

      The clan, including my beret man from Thanksgiving.  He's happy to be surrounded by family, as was I!

     I figure I have about 360 days to figure out what we'll create next year...
     Happy Monday!