Santa found us!

Here is a brief look at our Christmas so far:


Christmas Eve.....

We started off the evening with a yummy dinner, a crazy game, and more.

Christmas day.....

Maddie documented the whole event....(of course, she only got pictures of our legs and feet)...

Brooklyn slept through it all......

AND

the rest of us are refusing to be seen in our "morning hair" and p.j's!

More coming later......but, it has been a great holiday!

♥
JoAnn

Christmas videos....

Video

I found this video on another blog (bBchronicles) and thought it was perfect for Christmas.
(Thanks for sharing it!)

I think you will enjoy it, too!

Below is another great video. Both are worth your time!


I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and feel the love of the Savior.
Merry Christmas!
♥
JoAnn

Looks like a white Christmas.....stormy day today

Storm front arrived.
Bad air departed.
White Christmas coming (3 more days)!

♥
JoAnn

Teacher gift ideas.....

If you are looking for some cute ideas for
teacher gifts (or work/neighbor gifts)
I LOVE this one!

One of my students and her mom made this cute supply vase. Flowers are always lovely, but they never last and who doesn't need office supplies?
(Did you notice the Life Savers?)

I also saw this cute idea for covering notebook binders on the blog Just a Girl
and I made my own version.

I bought this 6 pack of notepads at Walmart for around $2.00.


Pulled out some scrapbook paper that I like.


Cut a piece of paper and glued it over the binder.

I added a pen and a little calendar.
The total cost is around $2.00 per gift.

Now all I need to do is FINISH some of my other projects.

Did you know that we had to find a new place to sleep last night?
My bed was covered with a big project and I didn't want to move it!!!!

Have a great day!
♥
JoAnn

Two in a row......

I just read about an "Ugly Sweater Party" on
Just a Girl.
Last year we had one, too, on Christmas Eve. (What this really means is that we pulled out our old, colorful, overly-decorated sweaters- the kind only school teachers really wear!
Ha ha!)
We had a lot of fun making them even more ugly, hoping to win the contest.
Well...


Robbie was the winner with his "enhanced" pine-smelling-air-freshener-Christmas-tree-sweater (although there was some stiff competition).

As luck would have it, cousin Chris borrowed the sweater this year to wear to his company party and took the grand prize! (Once an ugly sweater-always an ugly sweater!)
If you would like to read more about our party last year click here.

Looks like a busy week ahead.
I hope we make it!!!
♥
JoAnn

Christmas puppets.....

One of my blogging friends, Holly, remembered these puppets that I posted a while ago and wanted to see the idea again (she wants to make some for her family). They were made from things found around the house so they aren't perfect, but we have enjoyed them and look forward to using them again now that we have some grandchildren.

They are just made out of old nylon stockings, batting, embroidery floss, scrap material, and old jewelry. For the picture they were resting on soda pop bottles.
If you are interested in more details, check out this old post.

Christmas puppets

♥
JoAnn

Christmas magic...

"Christmas waves a magical wand over the world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

-Norman Vincent Peale

Remember when you just couldn't wait for Christmas morning?

My sister Diane is the champion "I can't sleep" person in our family. She would wake me up every time I fell asleep and ask me if I knew what time it was, or if I thought Santa had been there yet. Our family always got up really early (my parents figured it was the only way to get any sleep since they could go back later and take a peaceful nap- after the excitement wore off) and our celebrating would begin long before most normal families even started to wake up.

Christmas was always magical at our house!
♥
JoAnn

I linked to The Little Red House. I love the winter mosaic!