How to Keep Christ in Christmas (for Kids)

I wrote a post similar to this last year but I thought it needed to be re-vamped and discussed in greater detail! So here are my 10 ways to Keep Christ in Christmas (at your house) For Kids!

 I hope this helps those of you who are often battling with the excitement of Santa Claus but wanting to teach the true meaning of Christmas and Christ's coming!

1. Teach kids about the real St. Nicholas by celebrating St. Nicholas day in early December. This year St. Nicholas day was held on December 6. You can start by telling your children about St. Nicholas, the man who enjoyed helping others. On December 5th, have children put a shoe or hang their Christmas stocking outside their bedroom door. They can also leave a carrot or apple for his horse and a cookie for St. Nick. After the children are asleep, you can put a small simple gift in their shoe or stocking for them to receive on St. Nick’s day. Keep the gift small and simple. 

For more history and ideas on St. Nicholas day you can click here.  

For prayers to St. Nicholas, click here. 

There are also some great kids movies about St. Nicholas called: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. There are two versions… 1985 excerpt & 2000 excerpt. 

2. Make 25 ornaments with different names of Jesus. Have your child hang one each day in the month of December leading up to Christmas!This is a wonderful idea. You can make some like in the picture or check out some printables and a tutorial here.

3. Visit a live Nativity scene. Many churches will host these and some even allow the kids to pet the animals, which can be fun for the little ones. Just google “live nativity scene in (your city)” and I’m sure you’ll find one. 

 4. Have a Birthday party for Jesus! Make a cake with the kids! And save a place for Jesus at the dinner table. At this party, you could even... Read the Birth Story of Jesus from the bible (Luke Chapters 1 & 2).

5. Send your kids a letter from Santa about the true meaning of Christmas, Jesus' birth. This is a really neat tradition. I don't know if it is something you should do every year but it would be cool for trying to incorporate Santa and Jesus. Here is a great free printable example of what I'm talking about! 

6. Watch some Holiday movies about Christ & Listen to Christmas songs about Christ. This one is pretty simple. Even though, there are plenty of Santa Clause movies, there are a few holiday movies that include the story of Jesus. Here are some I recommend: A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Small One, Veggie Tales Christmas Collection, The Prince of Peace and The Nativity Story. The Nativity Story actually is not a cartoon. It came out in 2006 and is pretty good. I believe adults would like it and it's rated PG so it's okay for kids too.
Christmas songs about Christ are always my favorite. We own the WOW Christmas CD which can be picked up at any Christian Books Store! Love Love Love it. But here are a list of a few that I love: O Little Town of Bethlehem, The First Noel, What Child is This, Silent Night, O Come O Come Emmanuel, Mary Did you Know, O Come All Ye Faithful... and many more!

7. Decorate with religious decorations! My little man is still a baby but I do have some nephews and a niece. My brother's sons are 4 and 6 and they love to ask questions! Decorating with religious decorations will definitely spark interest in kids and open the conversation to talk about the true meaning of Christmas! We always have a Nativity scene set up and some religious ornaments as well! I would like to start incorporating an advent wreath too. Each week you light a candle to prepare for Christ's coming, which is practiced in the Catholic church! Another cool tradition that I just recently heard of is the Jesse tree!

8. On Christmas morning, Hide the baby Jesus from your Nativity set and wrap him. Let him be the first gift unwrapped on Christmas morning! I've heard a few variations of this one. You could also hide him and the first kid who finds him, gets a small special gift! I like him being the first gift unwrapped though. It makes it extra special that Jesus has arrived on Christmas morning! He is what Christmas is all about so it seems extra special that he is the first gift unwrapped.

9. After unwrapping gifts, have your kids donate 3 of their old toys to a homeless shelter/toy drive, or Do some act of charity. There are so many ideas out there but to keep Christ in Christmas, I believe it is important to teach your children that Christmas is not just about receiving but also about giving. I've heard of some children giving three of their old toys to a toy drive, children's home or homeless shelter. After all, they did receive new toys at Christmas and this keeps them giving to others and involved in the Christmas spirit.
There are other acts of charity that can be done too.. such as visiting a nursing home, children's hospital, or helping out at a soup kitchen! Plenty of charity to be performed on the holidays! I hope we can incorporate this in my house in the future!

10. Attend a Church Service together as a Family. Growing up, my family always went to Catholic mass as a family on Christmas and we still do this to this day. It instilled in me the importance of Christmas and Christ's coming. If you are Christian and believe/celebrate this special holiday, than going to a church service together is a great idea!

These are just a few of my ideas on how you can incorporate Christ in your child's Christmas celebration and festivities! I'm going to try to work on a way for adults to include Christ in their Christmas festivities in a special way too! Coming soon! I'd love to hear if you have other ideas that I didn't mention!
What the special way that you keep Christ in Christmas, if you do so?

Personalize your Wrapped Presents!

I know it's crazy. It's only December 7 and I already have started wrapping presents but Noland's family is visiting this weekend so we will be giving them their gifts. One of my friends asked to share how I did it when I shared a photo on instagram.. so here's what they look like and the "how to".

How to: 

Wrap your present and place it aside. Open Microsoft Word and type the person's name that you are gifting in the font that you would to use. Square fonts are easier to use. You can download cool fonts at dafont.com. Then print what you have.

Then cut the letters into individual squares. Cut out a piece of  wrapping paper.

Then place the printed letter in front of the wrapping paper and cut along the outline of the letter.

When you have all your letters cut out, place them on top of the wrapped package to decide where you want to place them.

Now take your photo strips and place them on the back and use them as adhesive to stick them to the package. Then add your twine and tie in a simple bow. Then you are all done!

That's all there is. Easy Peezy.

Good luck wrapping your presents and let me know if you use this technique! :)

DIY Baby Clothing Dividers

Still getting ready for baby's arrival! 

This week, I made my own dividers for all of baby boy's clothes from a Cereal Box!

Noland finished the last of our Cinnamon Toast Crunch! 

So, I cut the box on sides to lay it flat and open. 

I cut 10 circles that I made by tracing a cup!

Then I painted them blue... waited for one side to dry, then painted the other side.

Once the blue paint dried, I used the bottom of a shot glass to cut a smaller hole in the middle.

Then I added the age to them. For example: newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, etc.

Here's how they turned out: 

They are not the most perfect closet separators but I think they turned out pretty cute & will definitely work!

Now, I can see which clothes we have in what sizes! 

Yay for Organization!

Let me know what you think! I'd love some feedback! 

Here are some other awesome closet divider ideas.. Thanks to Pinterest

1. These are pinned from Posh Little's site here!

2. Farmhouse Five has these available for purchase here. You can also buy those plastic pieces from the Container Store and make your own labels!

3. These are available for purchase from Way Fair.

4. These are some you can make yourself! Here's the tutorial from Blissfully Domestic!

These are so cute! If you are looking for closet dividers, it all depends on how much you want to spend. 

I didn't want to spend anything and also had a little time to get crafty! Hope you like them! 

That's all for today! Thanks for stoppin' by!

xoxo. Jen

Linking Up: Show & Tell Saturday, Craft Envy, Bacon Time with Hungry Hypo, Funky Junk Interiors, A Vision to Remember, Polkadot Pretties

Dinosaur Piggy Bank Re-do

Hey there Spicy Folks! Here's a little crafty project I've been working on!

This is the After.

My hubs had this adorable piggy bank from when he was little. It was originally painted orange with maroon dots. It had his name and we thought it'd be cool to pass on to the our little man. It looked dirty and I wasn't sure I wanted to display it in our baby's new room. I decided to attempt to paint it and it turned out great! I even added little hand-drawn base balls into the polka dots.

Here is the before & after.

The top one is a little blurry... & still has money in it. Oops. 

I think our son, Noland Jr. is going to love it and be able to use it for years to come.. 

Good thing I know how to open it without breaking!

Anyways, I was just super proud of how it turned out and thought I'd show it off! I haven't decided if I'm going to go get some googly eyes from Michael's and add them or not. What do you think?

That's it for today! Thanks for stoppin' by,

xoxo. Jen

 

Linking Up: 

Open Call Tuesday at Salt Tree, PJH Designs, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Tip Junkie, Me & My Boys, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Not Just a Housewife

DIY T-shirt Tassel Scarf

Hey Everyone! Yesterday I made the cutest scarf so I thought I'd share it with you today!

Its simple. All you need is an old t-shirt and some scissors:

Directions: 

1. Cut the shirt under the sleeves. You will use the bottom half for this scarf. 

2. You can discard the top part or put aside for a different project.

3. Now to add your tassels! You can make them as long or short as you want:

4. Once you have your tassels cut... Pull each one gently. Not too gentle. 

5. When you're done, it will look like this: 

6. Now wear it!

&

cute huh? I wore mine yesterday! Love it!

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

If you have a fun post, I'd love you to share it at my link up party here

Thanks for stoppin by, 

xoxo Jen.

Linking Up with these wonderful Parties!

Momnivores Dilemma, Shabby Creek Cottage, A Glimpse inside Blog, 36th Avenue, Seven Alive, Delightful Order, 52 Mantels, Loving this Crazy Life, Somewhat Simple, 733 blog, House of Hepworths, Yesterday on Tuesday, Allie Makes, Crafty Blog Stalker, Rhinestone Beagle, Christina's Adventures, Fireflys and Jellybeans, the shabby nest, at the picket fence, simply designing, chic on a shoestring decorating, happy hour projects, delicate construction, kojo-designs, The Artsy Girl Connection, Craftionary, One Artsy Mama, Little Becky Homecky, Cherished Bliss

DIY Gift Bows

So I discovered these here and have been wanting to try them! So here's the scoop on how to do this... so easy & awesome!

Supplies:

 

scissors

tape

pencil & ruler (or paper cutter like one you would use for scrapbooking)

some paper that you want to make into a bow (you could even use newspaper)

Directions:

1. Cut paper into 3/4 inch strips

2. I used tape to tape them like this: 

here's a tip from Lines across my Face:

I also made mine different sizes so it might help to make them fit together better...

3. tape two together.. one inside the other like this: 

4. put the smaller one inside the larger and tape in the center: 

5. and then you will need to make one more little figure 8 piece to tape in the middle and it should look like this:

6. Finally add to your gift or spruce up  a gift bag like these: 

and you can even do them with newspaper and her kid's artwork like  Lines across my Face did: 

That's all for today, now go make some bows for your gifts!!! 

& before I go, I wanted to mention, I will be doing a giveaway soon. One on my site and one at marietea so if you are not already, you should follow our sites and be on the lookout cause it's going to be sweet & free!

xoxo Jen.

Linking up: 

Pinkapotamus

The DIY Showoff Market Yourself Mondays Creative Me Mondays Just Something I whipped up Polly want a Crafter Sundae Shake Up Craftomaniac Raising 4 Little Princesses Tutorial Tuesday Anti Procrastination Tuesdays @ New Nostalgia Take-a-look Tuesday Domestically Divine Tuesday Masterpiece Monday 

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Easy & Crafty Clothespin Magnets!

So I made these a month or so ago. I had a massive amount of clothespins from a game at a bachelorette party we played with one of my friends... I've been needing some more magnets for the fridge to hang bills, letters etc. so all I did was: 

1. Glue magnets on one side of the clothes-pins

2. I cut and glued some paper on one side of the clothes-pins

3. Decorate! I found some stickers and ribbon and applied them to the front! 

4. Gave them 24-hours to dry! & ♥ Loves it!

Here's more pictures!

Another great idea instead of gluing paper to the front of the clothespins would be to paint them.. Also here are some other awesome to do with clothespins found on my favorite site.. pinterest
so many cool things to do with clothespins! Now go be crafty! & Thanks for stoppin by!xoxo Jen.

PS. Will be adding some more links to the recipe tab.. updating it soon! Get excited!

& Thankful to be Linkin' Up:

Ginger Snap Crafts

Lil Luna

Polka Dots on Parade

Blue Cricket Design

Seven Thirty Three

Night Owl Crafting

Sweet Peas & Bumble Bees

Clean and Scentsible
The Crafty Blog Stalker
The Wiegand'sSimply Designing
Lovely Crafty Home
Once Upon a Weekend
Delicate Construction

Easy Personal Art

I'm so excited and proud to show you a piece of art that I made today! I can't wait to frame it!

it says: Robinson est (established) 2011. 

I know we aren't married for another 98 days but I happen to be living where we will live when we are married and have been desiring some home decor. Right now things are really bare because having a wedding is expensive haha...Also, I have showers coming up so I didn't want to go out and buy everything! I've been on Pintrest a lot lately and found so many DIY crafts that I long to do! This was was so easy! The only cost is buying a frame for it (which I have yet to do). 

So how did I do it?! Well with the help of an older post from Mel at The Crafty Scientist.. She posted some helpful website where you can get really cool pictures of letters and numbers:

The One Letter Pool

My favourite Letter

Leo Reynolds Collection: Letters

Leo Reynolds Photo Stream

I then cropped the letters that needed to be cropped in paint and saved each letter as a .jpeg file! 

I opened Microsoft word. I had to right-click each picture, scroll down to wrap text. Another menu will open and click "In FRONT OF TEXT" That way you are able to re-size and move around the picture wherever you want. Set it up the way you want it to look and Voila! FREE ART!

I'm so excited! Leave me a comment if you need help making your own, have any further questions or would like me to make you one for you to print. Its pretty easy!

xoxo Jen.

Linking up with:

Delicate Construction

Be Different, Act Normal

Homemaker in Heels

Funky Junk Interiors

Tater tots and Jello

A Vision to Remember