The Christmas Spirit and other Givings

WHAT a WEEK!! And it is almost over...WHEW!! It all started when I got back from my folks, Sunday afternoon. I had yet to go through the lights to put on the house and wanted to get that DONE!!! Thankfully, they all worked and were up in less than an hour!

The Christmas tree was finished and "falling" nicely.
And the Elf was on the Shelf waiting for the children to fall asleep, so he could report back to Santa.

And the stockings were all hung in a nice neat row! If you were with me last Christmas, you will remember that it took me a WHILE to get all of these cut, monogrammed, assembled, sewn, then hand stitched with little embellishments.

Isn't our little hand print tree so cute?

So...as I was saying...back from my folks, where I went for a birthday party. Which also gave me an opportunity to give them this:

Isn't it FABULOUS?? I used EVERY gizmo and gadget I have to get this done!! After I cut the burlap and felt, I monogrammed the candy cane letters that make up GRAMMY AND POPPIE'S, then sewed all of the wording to the burlap. THEN I used my Serger to put the felt backing on the burlap. Next up, the glue gun...I didn't want stitch seams in the ribbon, so I glued it to the burlap..THEN glued the sequin trim on the ribbon. I got REALLY good at that while embellishing those Mardi Gras costumes...remember! :D I won't talk about the lettering I used for CHRISTMAS yet, since that is a Christmas present from my folks and "technically" I shouldn't be using it!! *oops* I did sew the top ribbon border because it is a sleeve for the rod. And lastly, hand sewed the little jingle bells on. DONE!! I love it!

So, home...lights on house...
The middle Child's Pre-K party!! I am room mom for the month of December, so I hosted the Christmas party. We had some FUN!! The theme...BAKING!

I made TWELVE aprons!! 11 for the children, and one for the teacher! They were pretty easy. I didn't do anything fancy. I used an apron a friend of mine brought over to have her daughter's name monogrammed on as my pattern. I used 3 basic fabrics. The green and white stripe is some remnant pieces of canvas...LOVE the remnant basket at JoAnn's!! The red is corduroy left over from the placemats I did for my brother and his wife, yes I always buy WAY more fabric than I actually need!! Doesn't EVERYONE?? :D And the white is an AWESOME find at Goodwill! It was a really heavy table cloth...$2!! I also got some other AWESOME finds..but that is for a later post...this one is already picture heavy enough!! Cut, serge, sew!! Ribbons for the neck loop and waist ties...and a little initial to personalize...but we aren't talking about that until AFTER Christmas!! ;) The children LOVED them and so did the teacher and parents...yep, I'm a KISS UP!! Only 7 children were there that day..but today was the Christmas program and the other children were happy to get theirs!! We have all girls and one little boy in our class...they were all angels in the program, with one Shepard! After they put on their aprons, we played "Pin the Cookie in the Oven", then "Pass the Cookie". I made up a quick gingerbread softie for them to pass around in a circle to Christmas music. Really cute!!

So made it through that...rush home to CLEAN because at 4 pm we had 11 Girl Scouts over for a Stitching party!! They stitched stocking ornaments for an Arts and Crafts Badge!

Some used a Running Stitch, some used a Whip Stitch, and one even tried a Blanket Stitch! Thanks Kimara for the stocking pattern and Stitch Glossary! We had fun, the girls were SUPER excited about stitching and many were asking their mom's for sewing kits for Christmas!! We stuffed our faces and then ran up and down the stairs until it was time to go home....whew, WHAT a DAY!!

Wednesday was a "Catch up with my bloggy friends" day, then that evening I HAD to decide what to make for Ms. Priss' teacher. I had already given the Apron to the Middle Child's teacher, so she was done. Well, I had so much fun making the banner for my folks....

It is a little banner for her classroom door! So the story with the gumballs....the FIRST day of school, the kids homework was to read a poem and EAT CANDY!! The little poem was cute and almost every line had the name of a candy in it, so when the kids got to the end of the line, they were to eat the candy! FUN, right? So this teacher, has a sweet tooth and uses gumballs as rewards! I just thought the ruler would be cute...since she IS a teacher! :D And now for the sweet tooth.....

Did I mention that I FINALLY got around to some BAKING? mmmmm...cookies...peppermint bark....more cookies IN cherry candy cane bark...and OREO TRUFFLES!! THE BEST!! Ok, so the only thing that I actually baked were the shortbread cookies! I LOVE SHORTBREAD COOKIES!! I actually love ALL cookies, but shortbread is my favorite. They are not too sweet and they are "crumbly"....LOVE that!! So I added little bits of toffee for the first time....HEAVEN!! I still have more cookies to make, check out Wee Folk Art, they have some GOOD cookie recipes!!

Ok...THAT IS ALL for now!! I actually had another picture, but I thought this is ENOUGH for now! :D I will have to start posting everyday to squeeze it all in before Christmas!! I am getting some down time and sleeping as much as I need too...so don't worry about me!! During the Holidays we tend to run on PURE ADRENALINE...and COOKIES!! Hope you all are getting done, what needs to be done and are being safe, because people are CRAZY on those roads!! Until later...