Well, on Friday evening (right after my last post with the List of Things I Love), I realized I had forgotten that I LOVE . . . . CHRISTMAS!!!!
And there are SO many things I love about the Christmas season that I feel it warrants its own list!
1. Decorating the tree(s) with my kids (I especially love the wonder and joy of pulling the ornaments out one by one)
2. Living Hope's Christmas play!!!
3. Going to Santa's Wonderland and Tombstone Texas (should we organize a LH night or hayride through the lights?)
4. Taking pictures for making our Christmas cards.
5. Putting the cards together assembly-line style: I sign the card, a kid puts the picture in, another kid puts the letter in, another kid licks the envelope, another puts the address labels and stamps on.
6. Christmas eve candlelight services
7. The "sibling exchange" (I take all the kids to the dollar store and give them five dollars each to buy a $1 gift for each of their five siblings. Then we go home and each child has to wrap them themselves. Then one evening shortly before Christmas we make a big occasion out of opening the Sibling Gifts. It's hilarious what they pick to give each other. Last year Marshall gave Monica a hot glue gun, which she though was crazy-funny!)
8. The amazing Christmas specials on TV.
9. Listening to Christmas music non-stop both in the car and in the house.
10. Making what we call "holiday popcorn." (recipe below)
11. Reading the REAL "Christmas story" aloud out of the book of Luke, and listening to the kids read it aloud.
Oh, and here's how you make that Holiday popcorn:
1. Pop two bags of microwave popcorn. Pour them into a giant bowl and make sure to weed out the unpopped kernels.
2. Melt one package of white almond bark (available near the chocolate chips at the grocery store) in the microwave. It melts pretty fast - cook about 30 seconds at a time and stir in between.
3. While the almond bark is melting, add two-three cups of "filler" to the popcorn. I like to use pretzels and rice krispies. Peanuts and almonds are good in there too.
4. Pour the melted almond bark over the popcorn and other ingredients. Red and Green mini M&Ms are good, or mini chocolate chips but you have to stir that in after the almond bark cools a little. You can also stir peanut butter into the almond bark before pouring it over.
5. Spread the holiday popcorn in a single layer over wax paper. You have to wax paper a pretty large area to get it spread out. I like to sprinkle red and green sugar crystals or other christmassy sprinkles at this point.
6. Let the popcorn cool completely and then break it up into a large bowl. YUMMY!!
This makes a great inexpensive gift for teachers, neighbors, classmates, etc. I put about a cup of the mix into those clear Christmas goodie bags and tie with curly ribbon.
Enjoy!
Now it's your turn to share. What's your favorite holiday tradition? Or recipe?
Mindi
5 comments:
That recipe sounds yum. I love the assembly line Christmas cards, I thought "you really have enought kids for a factory!!!"
I love Santa's Wonderland...we should plan a trip.
I love Happy Birthday Jesus cakes...it is my two favorite things...Jesus and cake (in that order)
What is Tombstone Texas? I know what Santa's Wonderland is.
The sibling exchange is a great idea!! I'm sure it is one of the funniest parts of Christmas!
My favorite part of Christmas is Christmas tree day. We make a whole day of going out, cutting one down, bringing it home, setting it up, stringing lights, decorating it, all the while listening to Christmas music, making hot cocoa and other wonderful smelling stuff, etc. That night we turn all the lights off (except the tree) and just sit in wonder looking at the Christmas tree. It's beautiful.
Hi Alanna!
Tombstone Texas is kind of a part of Santa's Wonderland. It is set up like an old-time Western town. There are workers there dressed like Old West cowboys. There is a huge fire with big logs around it to sit and watch the fire. There is real kettle corn, hot chocolate, arts/crafts, pictures with Santa, and Christmas music playing. Sometimes they have a Christmas movie going on the big screen. The kids can run around the "town" and go into the jail, etc., and there are some great photo ops. There is also a stage where local performers show their stuff. You should go check it out! It's free!
I like getting our tree too! We still haven't gotten our real tree (we have an artificial one in the living room and a big real tree in the front window). It's my favorite!!
Oops . . . I went to the Santa's Wonderland website (www.landoflights.com) and they have CHANGED Tombstone Texas!!! Now it is called "Santa's Town" and there is an admission! $5 adults, $3 kids 12 and under.
Rats . . . it was one of my favorite free things to do that was fun for all six of my kids!!
If I could cook at all, I'd make that, it looks good.
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