December is here which means Christmas is right around the corner. We are doing things a little different this year, now that we have a baby. He is our pride and joy but he gets into everything. So instead of getting our big tree and beautiful glass ornaments out of storage, we bought a cute little tree and I made nativity ornaments (out of fabric and mod-podge glue) that hopefully he can't destroy.
We both have such wonderful memories of Christmases growing up and we want to give our kids the same experiences that we had. But at the same time, we don't like how it is becoming more and more comercialized. We have family members that don't do a thousand gifts for their kids from Santa. They don't even have Santa in their house. Each member gets $5 to spend on each person. They have five members of their family so ultimately each person will have $20 spent on them. Which if you think about, it's pretty smart that they don't brake the bank at Christmas. They prefer to have Christmas centered more around Christ's birth and then they go all out for their kids' birthdays.
I like this idea but I still want to have Santa. We decided that we want to have maybe a set spending limit or limit the number of gifts that we give eachother at Christmas. The night before Christmas, we read the Christmas story from the Bible and we get to open one present and it will usually be pajamas. Santa will come we everyone is asleep and he will fill everyone's stocking and leave one big present for everyone.
Now is the time to start our own family traditions. We also want to go caroling and do Secret Santa for other people. Christmas is a time of love, generousiy and remembering our Savior.
This is a cute little wreath that I made because I couldn't find ours due to the move. All you need is something round to glue your fabric flowers to, I used rafia that was twisted around itself to make a wreath shape. To make the flowers, you take a strip of fabric and stich on one edge. You pull the thread tight and the fabric with gather on that on side. Then you curve it around and form it into and flower. Make a couple extra stitches so it looks the way you want it and secure with a knot or glue. I used Tacky Glue to glue them onto the wreath. The little reindeer is acually a clip with a magnet on the back. I just glued brown paper and pipe cleaners to make a reindeer and finished it with a little red pom-pom.
