Harried Little Christmas?

It doesn't matter how low-key I try to keep things, it seems like it always gets a little crazy as Christmas approaches. We're not traveling this year, and we don't even send gifts to extended family, other than a little something to both sets of grandparents. I'm sure I have much less to do than many of you. Hey, I'm easily overwhelmed.

He looks like I feel! (Photo from flickr.)

Late last week I suddenly realized that I had almost a week less than I thought to make several gifts, because I hadn't been factoring in the kids being out of school starting Monday. So I've been working on that, and getting the teacher gifts together, attending Christmas programs and other events, and finishing up shopping.

Monday the kids had a snow day due to the weather so I pretty much got nothing done. Yesterday I ran a few errands and then took supper to Dixie and spent the rest of the afternoon with them. (Her daughter came home from the hospital yesterday morning and is improved, but full recovery will take several months. Thanks for your prayers.) On top of being gone all day, for our supper I roasted a chicken, which splattered fat all over the oven and necessitated cleaning it today. Just one more thing.

I must confess, though, that I'm actually kind of enjoying it. My house is a mess and the laundry is unfolded in baskets, and I haven't addressed the Christmas cards yet. But the decorations are festive, Christmas music is playing constantly, the kids are excited, the fireplace is cozy, and we actually had a little snow this week.

I hope you are having fun as you prepare for the festivities at your house!

One of the reject Christmas card photos; we could not convince the cat to be in the same photo with the dog.

Prayer Request

I have mentioned my friend Dixie numerous times. Her six-yr-old daughter, who is also Pinkerbelle's best friend, is in the hospital with pneumonia. If you are so inclined, please say a prayer for her. Thank you.

C. and Pinkerbelle, Halloween 2008

I Won!!

This never happens! I won Nester's giveaway from LHerbertDesigns! The last time I won something was 1995. I'm serious. I won a drawing at Walmart for $50 worth of L'oreal cosmetics (or maybe it was $25, can't remember). That same summer I won a drawing at the local Christian bookstore for a Michael W. Smith CD. I should've played the lottery that summer. My luck has never been so good.

Until now! Laryssah does original, fun, and funky watercolors. Take a look at her Etsy shop. I chose the brown speckled and blue speckled eggs. She also has a blog.

So, a big thank you to Nester and Laryssah! My luck has changed. Perhaps this bodes well for 2009.

Quick Supper--Hot Ham Sandwiches

These hot ham sandwiches are very versatile. Make them and eat them right then. Or make ahead and wrap individually in foil and freeze, and bake from frozen as needed. Or use the packaged attached dinner rolls and serve them at a brunch. Use any ham, chopped up; it's great for using up leftovers. Or use deli ham. Use any cheese you prefer. Use a spicy mustard in place of yellow. You really can customize it to use what you have.

For 8 hamburger buns, mix 1/4 cup softened butter with 1 tsp yellow mustard and poppy seeds (as much as you like). Spread a thin coating on tops of buns.

Now, chop some onion finely...it depends on your taste, but maybe 2 Tablespoons. Mix it into remaining butter mixture and spread on bottom halves of buns. Line a pan with foil, or if making individually, use a square of foil for each bun. Top bottom half with chopped ham, or slices, even. Top that with swiss cheese, or any cheese you prefer. Two of my family don't like swiss, so I used shredded cheddar for them. Replace bun tops. Cover pan with foil, or wrap individually.

At this point, you can put the individually wrapped ones in the freezer until needed. The baking is the same, frozen or not. Put in a 350 degree oven until hot, cheese is melted and buns are just slightly crusty on top.

If you're making them for a brunch, it's nice to use the smaller dinner rolls.

Slice off the tops in one piece, and proceed as above, using the foil lined pan. The sandwiches will be attached until serving, when each person can pull one off.

These are really delicious. My whole family loves them, and they are super convenient to keep in the freezer. I remember my grandma pulling a couple of these out of the freezer for a quick lunch. Delicious!

Joining Amanda's Family Friendly Food Week.

Stamped Tile Coasters

This is another easy and inexpensive gift idea. You can find these all over the internet (that's where I got the idea), but I thought I might as well put it on my blog too. I'm giving these to the kids' teachers this year, along with a Scholastic gift certificate. My cost per teacher for the coasters is about $6. That includes the cost of the ink and stamp, which obviously I will keep and be able to use over and over, so if you think of it that way, the cost is even less.

You will need

• tumbled marble tiles from Lowes or Home Depot (9 in a box for about $5)
• StazOn stamp pad ($8 at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, use the 40% off coupon)
• a stamp (cost varies, use the coupon)
• sticky felt pads, or cork, or just felt and a glue gun

The tiles are unglazed and natural and rustic looking.

Ink your stamp; with bigger stamps I find it easier to apply the ink to the stamp as above, rather than patting the stamp onto the ink pad.

Set your stamp on a tile and press down, being careful not to wiggle or shift it. I liked this acrylic stamp which made it easy to position since I could see through it.

Lift the stamp straight off; again, don't jostle it. When you're all done stamping, let them dry for a while, maybe even overnight, and then put them in a 350 degree oven for 15 or 20 minutes.

When the tiles have cooled, apply the little felt pads to the back corners to protect surfaces. I noticed that some people like to use a protective coating on the top, and some don't. I chose not to, in order to keep whatever absorbancy the tile has.


Tie a stack of four with a pretty bow, and you're all set!

Easy, Inexpensive, Cozy Homemade Gift

When I was homeschooling, and pre-blog, I wasted spent a lot of time reading homeschooling message boards. Three Christmases ago this gift was very popular on one of the boards; everybody was making them for everybody they knew. They called it a corn cuddler. Basically it's a fabric bag filled with feed corn; you put it in the microwave to make a heat pack. (I remember three years ago that some people were able to get the corn, which may also be called deer corn, at Walmart , but I had to get it at a feed store.)

I jumped on the bandwagon and made a whole bunch and gave them to friends and family. Most really liked them; some I'm not so sure. My grandma thought you would end up with popcorn. You won't. Although if you microwave it too long, you may hear a pop or two (I think it's just cracking), and if you nuke it way too long, it can burn and will stink up your house for days. Trust me on this one.

My friends and family may have since put them out for the squirrels and deer; I don't know. But we still use ours every winter. The kids love them and ask for their "beanies" every night. We warm them up and they take them to bed. I put mine under the covers to warm up the bed while I brush my teeth, etc, and then when I get in bed I keep it at my feet, which are always akin to icicles. The corn stays quite warm for a good 15-20 minutes.

At that time, I made the bags out of muslin...

...and also made an envelope-flap type cover to make it pretty. I added ribbon ties on some of them.

What I've found is that the cover didn't let enough of the heat come through, and we ended up just using the muslin bags. Of course, it was heavy decorator fabric, so something thinner might not be a problem.

If I were to do it again, I'd just make it out of flannel, with no extra cover. In fact, I will, just to show you how to do it. This is the finished product, so you can see what we're aiming for. I just used some rather ugly flannel that I already had. If you were making this for a gift, you would naturally want to use something cuter. I'm assuming.

You may have noticed the rice grains; I didn't have any feed corn on me, so I tried rice, which I know people also use. I thought about putting some dried navy beans in, but I've never heard of anyone using that, and I didn't want to end up with a bag full of refried beans or something. Now that I'm finished, I can tell you that I prefer the corn. I think it holds the heat better and it does smell a little popcorny. It's cheap; I don't remember exactly but it was something like $15 for 50lbs.

Okay, let's get started. First, cut 2 squares of fabric. I did them about 12"x12".

Now, put the squares right sides together, and sew a straight line across three sides, leaving one side open. I used the typical 5/8" seam allowance. I am a lazy seamstress, and did not iron the fabric, or pin it before I sewed.

Now, trim off the two bottom corners and then turn it right side out. Trimming the extra fabric helps to make a sharper corner when you turn it.

Next, you are going to sew two straight lines from bottom to almost the top, evenly spaced, to form three channels. I didn't take a good picture of that, but you can see what I mean in the photo of the finished one. Stop about an inch from the top (open) edge, and backstitch to finish the seam. I tried to show that below.

Now fill the three channels with equal amounts of corn. Don't stuff it absolutely full, you want some looseness for the corn to be able to shift around. If I recall, I think I used about 3/4 cup of corn in each channel. Next, take the open edge and fold it so the raw edges are inside. Go ahead and pin across that edge; it'll make the next step easier and will help keep the corn in. Hopefully the next 3 photos will help you figure out what I'm saying.

Now you've got it pinned across the top, as below.

Lastly, sew straight across the top. Be sure to cross the vertical seams that formed the channels so the corn will not shift from channel to channel. I ran a second seam across the top to reinforce it and make sure that all the raw edges were sewn in.

That's it! Done! It should look more or less (hopefully more) like the first photo. Now put it in the microwave for 1.5 to 2 minutes, and go cuddle!

Christmas Around the House

12/16/08 I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this post. Today I'm hooking up with Kimba's Open House.
Hey, I wouldn't redecorate the house every time I had new visitors, right, so why do a whole new post?
12/15/08 Today I'm linking up to Hooked on Houses Christmas house tours and Southern Hospitality's Deck the Halls. Be sure to visit them!

Welcome! We'll start at the front door. My two little topiary trees are the ones I got at Old Time Pottery for $9/pr, prelit. I had the urns, we filled them with rocks from the drainage ditch behind the house and I topped it with moss. I'm pleased enough with them, particularly for the price.

Here's a nighttime view.


The wreath itself I've had since our first Christmas together (16 years ago!), but a couple of years ago I redid it with the white and silver, and I still like it. Most of the items came from Dollar Tree.

Just inside the front door is the Christmas tree. We have a real one this year, for only the second year in the last ten. We got an artificial one when Firstborn was one; I guess we were worried about him eating needles or something. Anyway, this is a Fraser fir, and I like the look, but the branches are a bit wimpy and tend to bend down from the weight of the ornaments.


I heart my glass icicles. I think they add the perfect finishing touch. I got the letters from Restoration Hardware two years ago, and I really like them. I wish I had a lot more. This photo made me notice the little snowman hanging way out by himself on the top left. Hmmm. I have since made him mix and mingle with the rest of the crowd.


I'm lovin' this year's pinecones and aged silver objects from Dollar Tree.


My little Christmas village is on top of the china cabinet. I do not have the knack for arranging this.


On the ledge behind my corner kitchen sink I have this little tree. I decorated it with my small collection of miscellaneous old silverware that came down to me through my Grandma.


This sweet little ladle is only about 4" long.

Thanks for coming! I'm glad I could share this with you! I've been a little bummed this year that none of my family will be here. We often the last several years got at least a brief visit from my sister and her family when they were driving down to college to pick up my neices, but the last one graduated last year, so no more. They have their own grandbabies and extended family, and a 15 hour drive south just doesn't happen unless necessary.

In fact, my family is spread out across two countries (US and Canada) and it's not often that we are able to get together for Christmas. So we will enjoy our day at home, and probably stay in our pajamas. But I'm happy to have been able to open my home to you!