It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas

We decorated out first "real" Christmas Tree tonight. It smells AMAZING! in my house.

We are currently having a crazy snow storm here in Indiana. I mean, 30 mile an hour winds and the craziest snow squalls I have ever seen-white out city! The theme for this post will be Getting Ready For Christmas! We do all of these in our household to get us in the Holiday mood.

Well, you can't get into the Christmas mood without watching Elf.

"I just like to smile, smilings my favorite!"

We cozy up, laugh our butts off, and talk all about our belief in Santa :)

The best Christmas decorations are the homemade and handmade kind. They are the ones that you can do with your family and have to cherish for a long time. It's so much fun to start a tradition of making something to hang up every year or to bring out a lasting project from previous years. Most of these projects are free or cost next to nothing. Here are a few that we have done this year:

Construction Paper Chains

These are so easy, fun, and cute to put anywhere. You can use any color or size and hang them on a tree, doorway, or around a window. All you need is construction paper, scissors, tape or glue. Cut the strips to your liking and glue the ends together in a chain.

Cinnamon Ornaments

These will leave such a fragrant scent in your house while they are cooking, you cannot help but feel in a cozy Christmas mood!

All you do is heat your oven to 200 degrees. Then you mix:

• 1-4 oz. can of cinnamon
• 1 T. cloves
• 1 T. nutmeg
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 2 T. white glue

Mix dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients Mix thoroughly. If the dough feels too dry add a little more applesauce. Too wet? Add more cinnamon. Spread a small amount of cinnamon onto a rolling space and roll out dough. You want to make sure you leave the dough thick enough so the end results aren't too thin because will break easily after baking. Then cut shapes with Christmas cookie cutters. We like to use gingerbread men. I then take a plastic straw and poke a hole where I would like to add a string for hanging up. Place them on a lined cookie sheet and bake for several hours. Do Not Eat! When they are all done baking and dry, put a string thru the hole, tie, and hang for a delicious smelling Christmas decoration. I hung ours on our tree, but you could have the kids, or you, paint them and give them as gift tags on Christmas gifts. You could also place them in a basket and put them where you want the smells of Christmas to bring some cheer.

Christmas Stick Puppets

If you have kids, then you more than likely have some popsicle sticks laying around for one thing or another. You can either print out already colored pictures, or pictures that the kids can color themselves.  I chose to print pictures that we could color in. I printed thepictures onto heavy cardstock paper. If you do not have this available, you can print them up on regular paper and glue them onto cardboard or other stiff paper so they are sturdier. After the kids colored them, I cut them out and hot glued them onto the sticks. We had little Christmas plays using high voices when we were all done making them. You can also add them to a plant to jazz it up for the season or you can  use them as place settings or gift tags for little ones.

As I am setting up the tree or trying out one of these fun crafts, I usually want to put on some Christmas music to help me feel that holiday cheer. I turn on a local radio station (that has been playing Christmas music since Halloween)  and it's nice to listen to the songs for a bit, but I get so tired of listening to the same songs in different forms over and over again. For a break from the "normal" annoying tunes, I have compiled a playlist that will get you in the Christmas mood without wanting to rip your ears off.

Now that you have decorated to you hearts desire, you may feel a little Christmas'd out. Here's a little something to give you a different point of view of Christmas.