My December Christmas To Do List

Well, here it is.  December 1.  Only 24 more shopping days until the Big Day!  It's been a tough year for us here at the oxbow.  Dahlin' hasn't worked like he did last year which made our budget just a tad bit tighter.  I'm a little late with the brainstorming, but I wondered if I could possibly do a "buy nothing" Christmas....well, with the exception of purchasing things like computer ink or glue for the handmade project completion.

Then, I had the little problem of figuring out what to do for all the household members.  There's Dahlin' to consider as well as DQ, the Teen, Birdie, and Roo.  Then there's the added family members who all expect (not really) a little sumpin' sumpin' at the annual get together.  Since today's the first of December, well, I can't tell you what I'm doing for the extended family, that'll have to wait until after Christmas.  However, I happen to KNOW that my KIDS don't read my blog, so it's safe to share what I have planned for them.

On that note, here's my To Do List, complete with photos and links to the instructions....just in case this post motivates you to try a few of these yourself.

I'll start with the list of what I'm planning to do for my girls. 

1.  Read along books on CD - using books from the girls bookshelf, my own computer, recording software, and a microphone. Okay, so there's no link or photo for this one....just got the idea from somewhere else that I can't remember right now.

2.  Doorway puppet theatre like this one. 

3.  Pillow buddy critter

4.  Pillowcase PJ Pants

5.  Soap Crayons

6.  Denim Pocket purse

For DQ: 

A cool looking tote bag

Some bath fizzies

 And a shrinky dink charm bracelet. I'm thinking of using family photos since she's always bragging about the girls or her brother or even now, her new baby.

For the Teen:

Handmade Boxer shorts, I guess these would be similar to PJ pants but shorter.

A Duct Tape wallet



And a big bucket of junk food just for him!

Finally, for Dahlin':

First of all, I'll help the girls make him a pretty photo ribbon book mark like this one. 

That'll be from them to him.

And from me to him:  A membership in the Date of the Month Club featured here at the Love, Actually blog.  This blog is so cute!!!  I have found lots of great ideas here. 

I'm so excited about this upcoming Christmas!!  Now, I just have to make the time to get these gifts all made and wrapped up.  And I only have 24 more days to get it done!!!  Accckkk!!!

My Christmas Wish List

Every year, beginning in July, while my kids are camped out in front of the squawk box, there will be an interruption of their enterainting little cartoon or whatever for the marketing geniuses to bombard the viewers with commercials of neat gadgets and toys.  Every year, each commercial is then followed by a chorus of, "Mommy!  I want that!"  repeated until they are certain that I have heard and understood.

Well, this year, there are some things that Mommy wants!  I'm listing them here so my older kiddos can browse and purchase these items for me.  If they feel they should.  I guarantee they should be feeling that they should make such purchases.....if they know what's good for them!



Hand Warmers for those cold Sunday mornings when I have to play the piano.  I no longer need these since a friend gave me some this week!!  Yippee!!!

  


A Brother 3034 D 3&4 Thread Overlock Serger - for all those sewing projects
 in my head that I just can't get started until I have this beautiful contraption.







A digital recorder so that I can record my piano stuff right into my computer and sing alongs too!!!  I can also check this item off my list.  I played piano for a group of choirs this week and this was given to me as an appreciation gift!  Woo Hoo!!!  I play for the coolest people!






A decent sized family cabin tent for all the family weekend campouts
that I'm craving without the hassle of towing the travel trailer.



I need 2 of these XL camping cots to go inside that Cabin tent for comfortable sleeping.  I'm getting too old to sleep on the ground.  However, the kids would be happily comfy on the ground so they don't need much of anything.  Maybe an air mattress for them.  Oh, but this isn't about them is it!?



Now, is that too much to ask for?  I hope not.  Santa - and my kids - do you hear me!?

Christmas Gift Ideas

I'm posting some pics of some ideas that I'm thinking of for Christmas gifts. I hope I have enough time to get it all done!! These cute ideas come from You Can Make This.

Here are some adorable washcloth puppets.

A CUTE Fabric Christmas Busy book.

A card game that you make on your own computer! This might come in quite handy for my family since it is soooooo large! The kids only see the long, lost relatives once a year during the holidays. I'm thinking this would be a great way educate them on just who their Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary is!

These are Monkey Blankies.

A Felt portable game book.

A crayon holder art tote.
A child's apron.

A chalkmat

There are some more lovely ideas over at these ladies blogs. One of my favorites is the fabric dollhouse at UK lass in US. Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog also has some adorable pillowcase PJ pants ideas. If I get busy right now, I might just be able to give my girls a decent Christmas without having to fight the crowds at Wal-mart!!! Whoo Hoo!!!

December Recap

What a busy month!!! I apologize again for leaving ya'll hanging all this time! I have been neglecting all my bloggy duties! But I have an honest excuse. I've been busy!!! However, I am here now for a brief synopsis of what's been going on in the lives of the Oxbow Gang.

On November 27, the girls, DH, and I went Christmas Tree hunting. We found this cute little tree that the girls insisted on helping to cut down. We got it home and immediately decorated the bottom half of it. As the girls slept later, I went in and put more decorations in the blank places.

The next evening, we gathered around a large bonfire at my dad's house, sharing stories and hot cocoa. Then we wrapped the evening up with some stringing of the popcorn for the tree.

Dec 3 - The Teen performed a Christmas Concert with his high school band. Earlier in the day, I was at the school to practice with the high school choir. The band director and I talked a bit. Upon realizing that I could not be there that night for the band performance, he invited me to sit in the class while my son went through the songs they were playing. I thoroughly enjoyed the private concert! What a cool teacher to allow me to observe!

Dec 4 - Little Bird performed in her first local Community Choir concert where she learned to sing a couple of songs in German and Spanish! I'm so proud of her!!!

Dec 6 - Little Bird AND Kangaroo both performed in the church's elementary and preschool choir Christmas program. It was Kangaroo's FIRST choir performance and she was such a pro! My chest is just busting with pride for both my girls!

The weekend of Dec 12/13 was my church's Christmas production of "The Splendor of Christmas". It was performed in our Christian Activities Center. The church provided a dinner of Vegetable Beef soup and Ham and Cheese Sandwiches accompanied by a big glass of iced tea and followed by a plate of Red Velvet cake. Yum Yum!

On Dec 14, Kangaroo and I went to the local library for some Christmas storytime and fun. While we were there, Santa came by for a visit! Kangaroo got to sit on his lap and tell him all about what she wanted for Christmas. She was so happy!

Dec 15 had us at the Boy Scout meeting hall for a Christmas party and Court of Honor to see The Teen receive some more merit badges for all his hard work. Soon, he'll be sporting that Eagle badge!!!


Dec 17 was Little Bird's FIRST school Christmas Program where she participated in a skit about the "Gingerbread Man" and sang "Must Be Santa" and "Jingle Bells". She was so cute!!!

The weekend of Dec 18 - 20 had the family dealing with the flu and other ailments. Little Bird was out of sorts and kept a fever for a few days. Kangaroo also had a fever but she's always so happy and it's difficult to tell when she's feeling bad. During this time, I went to Walmart and purchased one of those little Gingerbread House in a box kit to try and cheer them up. When the girls began feeling better, we decorated it. I had added too much water to the icing mix, making the "snow" slide right off the gingerbread roof. We ended up eating it as fast as we could decorate it!!! Yummy!!



Christmas Eve had us all down at the In Law's for vittles and gifts. One of the cousins had organized the gift exchange game where you draw numbers and then choose a gift with the cooresponding number. Before you open/unwrap the gift, you must first decide whether or not to keep it. If you don't want it but spy another one that was previously opened, you can then take the gift from that recipient and give them your unopened gift in exchanged. If all the gifts are gag gifts, then this is even that much more fun!!!

Cousin Blaine looks around for a gift to steal.

When we got home from the In Laws on Christmas Eve night, I sat down at my computer and discovered that Santa had sent my girls a very special Video email!! They were very excited to hear from him and see their names and photo in his big book of good little boys and girls. I read the Christmas Story of the Nativity to the girls, said prayers with them, and they went straight to bed and fell sound asleep without another peep!!! It had been a long and beautiful day. DH and I made sure that we assisted Santa before we turned in for the night.
Christmas morning dawned bright and early with the girls waking us at 6:30 a.m.! They were so excited that Santa had brought them each a beautiful little bicycle and other goodies. After a breakfast of monkey bread and hot cocoa, we dressed for comfort and warmth, loaded the new bikes into the surburban and drove up to the park (where there are paved paths) for a bicycle test ride. The girls did great on their first ride! Hubby and I got some much needed exercise while The Teen jogged along to fill in where we couldn't (as we stood aside gasping for breath). We old folks are sooooo out of shape! (note to self: must make new Year's resolutions!)

On the day after Christmas, my sister showed up with her 2 kiddos. We loaded the entire gang (and their bikes) up and went to the St. Tammany Trace to get some much needed playtime and bike riding in. We then decided that since no other activities had been planned for the next few days, we needed some R&R.


So, on Monday, Dec 28, we packed up and headed north to Hattiesburg, MS where I had reserved a lovely little cabin at the Paul B. Johnson state park. There will soon be another post and more pictures regarding our little mini-vacation. We returned home on New Year's Eve, just in time to ring in 2010!

Happy New Year and may the King richly bless each and every one of you!!!!

Christmas Procrastination

I am stuck in a rut. There are only 10 shopping days left until Christmas and I haven't even gotten started! I have so many people in my family! I have toyed with ideas of handmade gifts, but at this point it's a bit late to start any projects. I have explored the idea of restaurant gift cards, but after a bit of math decided it would be too extravagant. I have explored the "gift in a jar" idea, but can't seem to come up with any new/fresh ideas.

I had a brainstorm this morning but am not sure how it might go over. I have decided that my gift to everyone in the family would double as a gift to myself! My gift to them would be my commitment to my health so that I could stay around and visit with them, teach them, learn from them, a bit longer than statistics say I should. AND the $$ that I would be spending on them would go towards a health club membership as part of my "Health Commitment" gift. I know, it sounds selfish and goofy.

I guess the biggest part of all this is that I'm hoping to avoid the crowds of stupid people at the stores. I shoulda started shopping online much earlier this year but also postponed doing so due to a bad debit card comprising experience a few years ago.

There are 21 Married Couples, 7 Single Adults, and 44 children under the age of 16. Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm feeling a bit Bah Humbug about this whole shopping, gift giving thing.

Blogger Christmas Piano Recital

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I've been busy....as you can see.







Thanks for watching!!!

Family Tree Quilt

I made this 2 years ago for my parents in law. I'm thinking of making another one this year but don't know which family member to give it to. I might just have a drawing at the Christmas gathering with the lucky winner taking it home.

If you look real close you can see the individual family names that were hand embroidered on the quilt top.

Random Ramblings

I'm such a bad blogger. I haven't posted any thoughts on things for quite some time. I really need to recommit to this if I'm truly gonna say that "I have a blog!". I've been working on some more little "passport" projects similar to the one I did for our Epcot adventure. Only this time, I'm focusing on the Louisiana state parks. Some states already have a passport for their state parks, but our Sportsman's Paradise doesn't. Next year's family vacation is also on the drawing board (thus my passport for Louisiana).

At first I wanted to take another "road trip" to some far away place like Glacier National Park or Yellowstone National Park. However, I was rethinking it and thought visiting every state park at home. Then move on to the "neighbors" of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas. We can still have great vacations without all the time on the road. Once these places are knocked off the traveling list, then we can to another big road trip. Yellowstone would definitely be a two weeker for us since I just can't stand to be in such a beautiful place and only spend a short day there.

I'm also planning for my Christmas gifts this year. Some projects I've made in the past include:

1. A queen sized Family Tree quilt complete with hand embroidered individual family names on the "tree".
2. A double sized denim quilt with fabric painted hand prints from some of the grandkids, for my dad.
3. Stuffed letter pillows.
4. Personalized pillow cases.
5. Personalized camoflage velcro fastener wallets - bought from the Dollar Tree and then personalized with a gold paint pen.
6. Baskets with 1/2 pint jars of homemade Mayhaw and Blackberry jelly and a package of Martha White biscuit mix and muffin mix.
7. Baskets with jars of bean soup mix and a handmade hot rice pad that releases a sweet smell when a hot pot is placed on it.

I know there's more but I can't remember what they are at the moment. I really should start keeping a list so that I don't "repeat" gifts! LOL If I can find some pictures of what I've done, I'll post them at a later time for you to see.

Days after Christmas 2008

This is my sister Dana's beautiful tree. It looks so much better than mine!

On Saturday, my side of the family chose to celebrate our Christmas at my sister's house in Gonzales. She has a beautiful home that she and her hubby are still working on. Her house also features this really big living room that has awful accoustics for family gatherings. If it was for a music concert it might actually sound good, but when you have a bunch of loud kids, well, it's loudER! Anyway, so, we gathered together there for eats and loots. I joking told my sis, "We came, we ate, let's get our loot and go!" She just rolled her eyes at me. Here are some pics from that gathering. We, well, ONE of us, decided that we were going to have a family picture made in front of my sister's Christmas tree. Here's my sister, Dana, pointing at one of the kids, ordering them to behave. Hah!

Aaaannnnd, here are my new BIL, my ds and two nephews, oh...and there's a third nephew, trying to get in place for the picture.

I think everyone is going to make it! D and I were trying to get everyone in place, set the timers on the cameras, and then run to our spots in time for the flash!

Success! Don't we make a cute bunch? From L-R: Luke, Mason, my sister Dana, Mom, Remi, step-dad Randy, Hubby (with Kangaroo & Little bird in front of him), DS, Me, New BIL George, my other sister Trina, Layne, and my brother Alex. Family gatherings are so much fun!!!!

Christmas Teeth

This year for Christmas, my older kiddos rec’d some stupid junk in their stockings. You know….practical jokester junk. Anyway, one of the items was these silly looking Bubba Teeth. Well, my Little Bird thought they were the funniest things and she put them on. She then ran to the bathroom to look at herself in the mirror and admire her “new” teeth! About this time, my dad comes over to see the kids and spend a few minutes with them. He enjoys being around when they are learning and seeing new things for the first time. While he was here, my Kangaroo started crying.

When she cries and whines, it’s a bit hard to understand what she’s trying to say. When that happens, we tell her to calm down and use her words. We tell her that we don’t speak that language and we can’t understand it when someone else is speaking it. Then she’s usually pretty good at getting a grip and communicating what she wants or needs. So, anyway, then she says it so we can understand, "Iwannaooklikpawpabutlilbudwonshare". Us adults look at each other, with this "What did she say?" look on our faces. So we asked her repeat it, using her words. This time we heard quite clearly, "I wanna look like paw paw but Little Bird won't shaaaayer!!!"

See, my dad has this tooth…one of his front teeth….that “died” and was fixed with a root canal and then a cap. So, it looks a little funny when he smiles. It just stands out a little.

Kangaroo and her paw paw teeth!

Isn’t it funny the things children see that we grown ups can't or ....don’t wanna…..see?

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas morning dawns with me sleeping sooooooo gooooood!!! My hubby is an early bird. It doesn't matter what time he finally goes to sleep. It could be 3 a.m. It doesn't matter. He's wide awake and ready to take on the world at 5 a.m.! And so it was Christmas morning. Thankfully, he let me sleep in until 7 a.m.! Woo Hoo! But he seemed to be more excited than the kiddos. He couldn't wait to get into the girls bedroom to wake them. Little Bird contemplated staying in bed for a bit but she gave in to curiosity and crawled out of bed to see what was under (or beside) the Christmas tree. When hubby told Kangaroo, "Come see what Santa brought!" she pulled the blankie over her head, rolled over, and grumpily said, "No!" LOL She's only 3 years old! My word....what will she be like in 10 years?! But, curiosity finally got her out of bed too. They entered the living room, took a look at the stuff and promptly began playing. This year, I had decided to take certain toys out of the box and pre-load them with needed batteries. So, instead of "opening" the gifts Santa brought, the girls just started playing with them. They didn't care about the other prettily wrapped stuff under the tree. They were happy with what they had.

Little Bird shows off her little cell phone!

Kangaroo is excited about her pretty, pretty dress.

By the way, there will be another blog regarding my thoughts on Santa. Be looking for it.