Homemade Christmas - Paper Gift box

Here is an easy, quick, and cute paper gift box that you can make! I like to make them for little things like gift cards, candy, jewelry, or any other little things that you need to wrap.

All you need is:

2 paper squares (One about 1/4" smaller than the other)
Scissors
Tape (optional)

I thought about doing a picture tutorial but it is some times hard to see the folds so I made a video for you all! This box take less than 10 minutes to make (The video is 9 min... and that is with me showing you!) The video is not perfect (my phone rings half way through) but does a pretty good job of showing you how to make it, so here it is! I hope you enjoy!

These Kids Today!

I remember talking to a friend at church shortly after Ethan was born. She has three sons and at that time the youngest was almost 2. I said to her, "I figure I can start getting some sleep in about 2 years." Her response was, "Yeah, just keep telling yourself that." I am here to say that Janann, you were right! Of course, by the time Ethan was 2, I had a newborn. That newborn is now nearly 2 and I'm still not sleeping! Part of the reason is because last Friday I had the brilliant idea to take the boys to the playpark. 5 minutes after we got there, Micah fell and busted his lip open on the steps. I comforted him and eventually Rachel came with her son and Micah was okay after that. Until he wanted to go back up the steps, then he got scared and I had to comfort him. Meanwhile, Ethan went down the slide into a huge puddle and as it was chilly and windy outside, Rachel and I were discussing which one of us would go home to get him new pants while I held Micah. Then we heard a crash and I know I heard a crack and Ethan was on the ground, clutching his leg and crying. I handed Micah to Rachel and ran over to see what was going on with Ethan. I couldn't see anything on his leg - no bruise, no swelling. But he couldn't stand up and he shrieked every time I touched or moved his leg. Finally I called Todd, who raced down Lakeshore going 75 mph and we ended up taking him to the doctor, who sent us for x-rays, which determined Ethan's tibia is fractured. I am not even kidding - my three-year-old broke his freaking leg. Apparently he was reaching for the fireman's pole at the park and missed. Our pediatrician put on a temporary cast that reached from toes to mid-thigh. It was a long weekend. Tuesday we went to an ortho who recommended a walking cast that goes below his knee. He can't walk on it yet, but hopefully he will in a few days. Yesterday he was scooting around in the playroom with his buddy, playing with trains. Oh, and did I mention that the weekend before this mess Micah had an ear infection? Poor kid had a fever, cough, runny nose, hurting ears, and he was throwing up. Last night his temperature spiked again, but today he's okay. I may never sleep again. I am thankful for my kids, though. I am thankful for their health, that the worst things they've had to deal with are broken bones and ear infections. I may not get a good night's rest until they're teenagers (wait...that will be an altogether different stress!), but hey, at least it's not boring! Oh, and maybe my pediatrician can finally get that Porsche he's been eying. :)

Movie Madness

Totally unrelated to Christmas, I'm wondering what you all do to preserve your DVD movies? We've been through two copies of CARS and I hate to go buy a third, just to have it scratched and ruined again. This is getting expensive!

So many of our favorite DVD's are now unwatchable due to imperceptible (sometimes quite OBVIOUS) scratches. Are you really just supposed to keep rebuying these things? I've copied our music and audiobooks onto the computer (see my recent post Our Listening Library is "Ripped!"), but you can't do that with DVDs...can you?

We've tried the scratch repair kits which, for the most part, do NOT work. We don't usually allow our kids to handle the DVD's, but when KID 1 occassionally does, he's very careful. The disks still end up scratched.

I've seen these things called "D-Skins" on the market, but they're expensive. Has anyone tried them?

How do you keep your DVD movies scratch-free?

For the Love of Santa

Alex first saw Santa after being in our country for only two weeks, and he was instantly drawn to him. We were still cocooning, and we weren't really supposed to let anyone else hold him, but Alex reached out for the kind old sole. We celebrate Santa, or more accurately stalk him each holiday season. As Alex grows, I hope to teach him that God gave us his greatest gift, Jesus, on Christmas Day. In that spirit, just as Santa gives gifts, we share our love with others by giving gifts for Christmas. I found a reprint of the infamous letter from dear little Virginia at http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/, and I thought you might enjoy reading it again today.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The answer was written by veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church, and was originally printed in the New York's Sun as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897.

Homemade Christmas Gift Idea - Car Roll

We are having a homemade Christmas at my house this year! It has been fun and challenging to make cute things for my son. There are TONS of girly toys tutorials out there to make but boy toys tutorials are few and far between. I hope to add one!

A Car Roll - it is the same idea as a crayon roll but for toy cars. (**Note** I have seen other car rolls out there... this is MY version!)

Here is what you will need:
3 - 13.5 X 7 inch rectangles of fabric. I used denim from a pair of old jeans, black flannel (for the road), and a car flannel
ribbon (yellow works great to be part of the road)
Sewing machine (with other sewing tools: scissors, thread, etc..)
Optional: Fusible fleece

1. Iron your fabric. Pick out which one you want to be the pocket, fold it in half and iron across the crease.

2.) Optional: I also ironed on the fusible Fleece to the top of the back side of the black flannel. This was to give the "road" a little more stability and cushion. In the end the denim is pretty sturdy so I don't know if this is totally necessary!

3.) Open your pocket and on the BACK side make vertical lines up to the crease at 3", 5.5", 8" and 10.5"

4.)Now we are going to set up our pocket: Place your pocket (folded back down) onto the TOP side of the black flannel.

Then, flip open the pocket and pin into place on the bottom half.

5. Sew on your vertical lines that you made, being sure to stop at the fold crease. Make sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of each line.

Here is what the back looks like:

6. Flip your pocket down and sew two line across the top of the black flannel to make a road. DO NOT sew on the pocket!!

a closer look:

7. Place your ribbon on your road. I used a measuring tape to make sure that it was straight across. Pin your ribbon in place.

8. Sew on your ribbon. I sew down each side.

Here is what it looks like now:

9. Cut off a piece of ribbon that is about 32' long and fold it in half. Pen it to where the yellow ribbon on your road is, with the length of the ribbon going onto the car roll. (This is going to be our tie)

10. Put the denim piece on top of the car roll (Right sides together)

Make sure that your tie ribbon is on the INSIDE... or it will come out backwards!

11. Sew around the outside edge of the car roll, making sure to leave a 3-4 inch opening to flip it right side out.

12. Flip the car roll right side out and iron on the creases of the seams. Top sew your opening closed and you are ALL DONE!

Put some cars in it and roll it up and tie it!

I think that my 22 month old son is going to LOVE it!

Perspective

How I keep perspective this time of year:

video

The Greatest Gift

I love Christmas. I really do. But sometimes I feel like I'm tying all of my holiday cheer into a beautiful red and green package, handing it to my family, and then realize there's none left for me. I start out with such good intentions of "keeping Christ in Christmas" at the beginning of Advent, but by the end of the season, after telling the Christmas story at least twenty times, after baking, making, shopping, wrapping, singing, decorating, and deflating...I feel like I've lost the Christmas spirit I began the season with.

It's as if my very efforts at making the season merry and bright are what sabotage the whole thing. How does that happen?

By January, I'm usually determined to become a recluse. I've been overstimulated throughout December with dinners, parties, service "opportunities," shopping malls, holiday events, and all the trappings of the season, originally conceived to get us in the "Christmas Spirit" in the first place.

This year, I'm pulling the brakes on this express train, lest it go barreling through all of my good intentions of happy holiday cheer. I really want to enjoy Christmas, rather than pass out from exhaustion on the big day, thankful that it's finally over (sound familiar?). This blessed season has so much to offer, but I'm learning to let go of some of the wonderful opportunities that present themselves in order to truly enjoy and appreciate a select few.

No more Christmas sabotage for me. Keeping focused on the Greatest Gift will be the greatest gift I can offer my family at Christmas.

How do you stay focused on the true "reason for the season?"