Christmas is coming!

Yesterday on Facebook I saw a post from a friend saying that his wife had the Christmas cake in the oven, and we get to the sudden realisation that Christmas must be coming. 

I remember as a child that Christmas was not allowed to begin (i.e. talking about it, shopping for it, getting excited about it) until after Dad's birthday (20th November), which held back the craziness nicely.  We have a similar rule here chez Inkspots - Hubby's birthday is the 29th November.

Not quite that easy though.  Here are the things that thrust Christmas earlier onto our conscience:

• THE SHOPS.  Yes, the Christmas things came out as soon as the Back to School things went away, shoulder to shoulder with Halloween delights.  Now that Halloween is out of the way they can go at Christmas with gusto!
• MAIL ORDER.  Many of us now do the bulk of our Christmas shopping on-line, preferring an evening with the laptop and a glass of wine to the hot shops/ cold outdoors crush of pre-Christmas shopping (except maybe as a one-off to buy a couple of things and smugly sample the Gluwein at a Christmas market while raising your eyebrows at the antics of the non-mail-order shoppers).
• CRAFTING.  Anybody who plans to make gifts for Christmas, table decorations, Advent calendars and so on will should already be well underway with their endeavours to have any hope of getting it all done in time.
• SCHOOL.  If you're a parent you may well be aware that the children are already practising Christmas songs (that's me doing that!) and the Christmas play - all that starts straight after half term.  If your school is one of the many that sells Christmas cards designed by the children themselves, then your child will have designed their card weeks ago and you'll probably already have had to submit your order.  Teachers are right now planning what Christmas delights they will be making to send home with the children so that they can squeeze it all in with the Christmas play, carol concerts and maybe even a bit of reading and writing. 
• FAMILY PLANS.  I've had the message from one sister asking for ideas for the children's gifts, to which I have duly responded, keeping a few ideas back for when my in-laws ask the same question nearer December, and one or two for me too.  We've made our plans of when we are visiting each part of the family over the Christmas period and where we'll be on Christmas Day, and have also got another invitation to reply to.

So far I've got as far as: 

• preparing the Christmas songs to inflict on the children at school, 
• contributed to the ideas for the Christmas production at school, 
• planning the school PTA Christmas fair,
• making a list of what I am going to gift each member of my family, highlighting things that need making,
• planning our Christmas, including trying to work out when the best time will be to go to the supermarket... too early and the food will go off while we're away visiting the in-laws, leave it until we get back and it's OMG CHRISTMAS EVE AT THE SUPERMARKET!

I still need to:

• plan what and when I'm going to cook or bake,
• actually do something to help with the Christmas fair.
• Sing the Christmas songs with the children at school so that we don't deafen the old folks at the residential home we are visiting at the beginning of December.
• make stuff on my list,
• buy stuff on my list,
• write Christmas cards, and oh... everything else.... jingle, jingle... Christmas is a-coming!
  

10 things to do with those Christmas cards

Yep.  That pile of Christmas cards that you took down earlier this week.  What are you going to do with them?

DO NOT THROW THEM IN THE TRASH

Yeah, so you could just put them in the card/paper recycling.  But isn't there something better to do with them?  Here's my pick of the best:

1) Cut out nice bits of the images from the Christmas cards (fancy patterned scissors give a nice edge) to make gift tags ready for next year.  Smaller parts of images can also be used to stick on to card blanks to make your own Christmas cards next year.

thewoodenbee.com

2) Use the blank bits on cards (the inside front for example, on cards you aren't using for #1) for scrap paper for notes, shopping lists etc.

3) Cut them into triangles.  Next year you can simply stick these to a piece of festive coloured string to make Christmas bunting.

www.learning4kids.net

4) Use them for cutting practice for small children.  If you don't have any 3-5 year olds yourself, then simply tear the back off your cards, and donate a stack of fronts to your local pre-school or school.  Little children just learning to use scissors will relish the challenge of cutting around pictures, or just randomly cutting.

littlebinsforlittlehands.com

5) Small origami trinket boxes.  Follow this link for how to make a small origami box.  Cut the front of the card into a square, trying to centre on an interesting or focal part of the picture.  Cut a square about half a centimetre smaller from the back, to form the bottom of the box.  These can be used for gifts, or for hanging sweets from the tree next year.

www.kid-at-art.com

6) Cut out a series of images and stick them in a collage on to some construction paper.  You can embellish with glitter or stickers or whatever you like.  Cover on both sides with contact paper (sticky-backed plastic) to make A4 Christmas place-mats.

mamabzz.com

7) Cut rectangles from your cards, incorporating the key image.  Punch a hole at the top and tie some ribbon.  You could give these bookmarks to a school or library at the beginning of December to hand out.

thefrugalgirls.com

8) If you make items in jars for Christmas (cookie recipes, body scrubs, preserves etc), then cut out pictures from your Christmas cards in circles to stick to the top of your jar lid.

scrapreusedandrecycledartprojects.blogspot.co.uk

9)  And all the rest!  I just found this amazing board on Pinterest which is full of outstanding Christmas card upcycling ideas.  If you don't find something you love on here then... well... just look would you?



10) Go on then.  If none of these ideas is appealing to you, then you can just put them in the card/paper recycling or in one of the Christmas card recycling schemes being run at M&S, WHSmith and TKMaxx for the Woodland Trust.

Christmas Holidays - From Stay-at-Home-Mum to Work-at-home-mum - diary of a transition

Christmas Holidays

I made no attempt to spend too much time working during the Christmas holidays - figuring that trying to do so would only mean I'd be disappointed in myself.  This was a good decision.

C had just finished his very first term at school and was absolutely exhausted - combined with the excitement of a five year old of Christmas of course!  Bug too was pretty worn out, and also very, very excited about Christmas.  So we spent the first few days of the holidays just relaxing.  We watched a bit of TV, we played with Lego, we went for long walks in the woods and played at the adventure playground, we made a gingerbread house, and we snuggled up on the sofa - bliss.  


On Christmas Day they woke up, opened their present from Santa (a puppet theatre and various puppets), looked in their stockings and we exchanged presents.  

We followed this with a walk in the Wyre Forest on Christmas morning on our way to my Sister-in-Law for Christmas Dinner.  

We stayed there for a couple of days, incorporating a visit to see Dick Whittington at the Regents Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent which was hilarious, and some snowman building on Boxing Day.  

Sunday was at home, with another long dog walk and some time to play with new toys (and get some laundry done).  

Monday morning Hubby was back to work, and the children, dog and I travelled down to see my family in Devon.  More walks in the woods, present exchanging, swimming with the cousins, playing on the beach etc.

Back on New Year's Eve, with my mum in convoy.  She stayed a few days, and we did a bit of shopping and pottering about, including a visit to Hereford and to Worcester.

Sunday was another restful day, and a long dog walk.  Monday, the last day of the holiday, I took them for a long-promised treat to the Play Planet in Hereford.

This week they are back to school.  We've all finally succumbed to the germs that Bug has been coughing at us all holiday.  I'm back to work.  So far this week I've sold two items (I'm still getting excited about this.  Looking forward to when I sell so many that it's no longer a novelty!).  I've bought some more fabric to make some more sandwich wraps and snack packs, and ordered some wooden items to paint and embellish ready for my first craft fair, which will be the 1st March.  I've blogged once so far this week, and completed one i-writer article.

I feel quite hopeful that I'm getting there with the balance.  I feel as though I'm on the cusp of making some actual money from doing things I enjoy doing, and with the flexibility to be there for my family when they need me.  Roll on a successful 2015.  Happy New Year!

Advent Activities

December is fast racing past on route to the big day so I thought we'd do a little catch up of some of the things that I've been doing with the children on our Advent route so far:

• made Christmas cake
• made Christmas pudding
• made Christmas cards
• posted Christmas cards
• went to Christmas market at St Enoch Square in Glasgow.
• wrapped and posted Christmas parcels to far-flung family
• put up and decorated the Christmas tree
• made mince pies
• went to the Scout District Carol Service
• went to the Christmas Theatre production for children (3-6) at the local theatre ("The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot" - I think they got the target audience a little wrong, but...)
• made cakes for the Pre-school Christmas party
• made snow flake decorations
• some Christmas colouring and activities (free from the library)
• Christmas stories (from the nativity story to "Father Christmas Needs a Wee")
• went to Winter Wonderland pre-school activity session at Dundee Science Centre

Still a few more things to squeeze in before the big day, but we are still mostly anchored to the ground, and rather than hindering me in Christmas preparations, I've enjoyed involving the children.

Christmas shopping with small children in tow - how do we do it?

It strikes me that there's a problem with Christmas shopping.  Just at the age where Christmas is supposed to be at its most magical, the parent is faced with the problem of invisibly shopping for Christmas presents.  I mean, shopping with a baby in tow is no problem.  They are blissfully unaware of what you are putting into the trolley or basket, can be easily distracted, and are often unaware of postman or delivery man delivering your internet buys as well.  Once the children are approaching adolescence, they are more likely to want you to deliver them at one end of town with their friends on a Saturday afternoon, leaving you free to get on with your own shopping until they are ready to be collected.  The in-between ages are hard!  I hesitate to say it, but especially so for a stay-at-home mum.  You can't dart in to the shops in your lunch break, or stop at the shops on the way home.  Whenever you are shopping, you have at least one small child in or around the trolley or your hands, and they are ultra-aware of delivery men with parcels arriving at the door.

Here are some of my strategies:

• yes, I do on-line shopping, and I try to make sure they are busy when I spot the postie with a parcel.  I have a horrible accumulation of Amazon boxes in my wardrobe.
• I've started to do my supermarket shopping on my way home from Scout meetings late in the evening.  That way I can drop a few stocking-fillers in the trolley without them being spotted.
• Today, I went to a shop with the youngest while the older was at pre-school.  She was so focused on her own Christmas shopping (she chose what she was getting for big brother and daddy) that she didn't see the things that I picked up!
• I only have a few more things to get.  I don't really know when or how they are going to be bought.  It might be a case of leaving the children in the car for a few minutes while I dart in to a retail park store, with a fictitious shopping item to get, which is in fact the desired present.  I might ask Hubby to pick something up over the weekend while we are away.  Little things like the wrapping paper that Santa uses (which needs to be different from the wrapping paper that we use!)

Quick and easy makes - advent calendar

I like to make advent about more than just chocolate (not that there's anything wrong with chocolate!).  While we aren't church-goers, advent is still a time of preparation.  With young children, twenty-four days seems like an awfully long time.  Doing something small and special every day to gradually prepare for the big event, while also counting down the days is a way to ease them through the process, get them in the frame of mind for the type of Christmas that you want, and help out with the essential preparations.

Make a list of twenty-four different activities.  Take your time over this, because you want to make things achievable.  Use your diary - on days when there are already Christmas events happening, make that your activity for the day (Pre-school Christmas party, Scout District Carol Service, theatre trip etc.).  On days when you're going to be very busy, keep your activity short and easy, and leave more involved activities for the weekend.  Check out the local papers to find out when carol concerts or Santa visits are planned in your area.  Think about when you need to get tasks done (I make Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and Christmas cards at the beginning of the month, as they either need to be posted or need time to mature!).  Put each activity on the appropriate day in December.

Now think about how you are going to display your activities.  In the past I've had folded cards stuck to the fridge or hanging from a tree branch, with the number on the outside and the activity on the inside.  I've also made advent calendars out of 24 match boxes made into a little chest of drawers so there's space for a sweet too (I'm still working my way through all the matches!).  This year I decided to make a fabric Christmas tree shaped advent calendar.  I used spare fabric leftover from when I made my table runners and napkins about three years ago.

1. Cut out the tree shape and hem.
2. Cut out strips of fabric to make the drawers and stitch a hem for the top and sides.  Stitch the bottom of each strip to the tree, then fold upwards to create the pockets.  Stitch up the sides to make the pocket sides.
3. Use fabric paint to write on the numbers.  Again I had some left over from making my table runner and napkins.
4. Use PVA glue to stick on the pot for the tree and a star for the top, and trails of sequins and sparkles to jolly the tree up.
5. Pop your activity for the day, along with a treat of your choice (mini-Christmas decoration for a mini-tree / chocolate?).

Slings and things...

Hello and Happy New Year!

I'm back and full of resolve for the coming year.  I WILL make some money through creative endeavours.  Even if it's only a little bit, enough to pay for a holiday.  It would be enough... to take some of the pressure off Hubby and to convince me that I can make "proper" money this way in the future when the little ones head off to school.

Now... before Christmas I tantalised and teased you by telling you that I was being creative, but not giving any further information because I didn't want to spoil the surprise for gift recipients.  Here are some of the things that I made:

First up, for a six-month-old baby nephew - I made a cross-stitch of his name and date of birth and framed it for his bedroom.  I haven't shown the finished item here as I don't want anybody stealing his identity!

For Bug, for her main present from Santa I spent many many many hours sewing this house.  I know, it doesn't look fantastic, but I practised all sorts of techniques in the making.  It's a Goldilocks and Three Bears house bag, complete with quilting and embroidery all over.

 The roof opens, and inside is a story book, three hand made felt bears with clothes, a little Goldilocks, a wooden spoon and a bowl of papier-mache porridge so that we can re-enact the story when we tell it.  I'm delighted and relieved to say that both she and C love it.

I also made three dolls slings and three hairbands, one each for my two nieces and for Bug.  

 I worked hard on the packaging and branding too - looking to how I might sell things in the future, and was delighted with how they looked in the end.

 

 Bug is still a bit small to wear the sling or hairband for long, but she was pretty pleased with them on Christmas morning.

Quick Christmas crafts for toddlers - angels and stars!

This is a glittery one, so beware!

What you need:

• some doilys (white, silver or gold - all good)
• some cardboard - empty cereal box is perfect
• glue
• glitter
• pencil
• string or thread
• scissors
• selotape

The Angel

• take a doily, and imagining that it's a pizza, cut out 1/3.
• Cut out a piece of cardboard that is the shape of a skittle (head on top and a fattish bit for the body).  Get your toddler to draw a face on the blank side of the cardboard.
• Take the larger piece of doily and wrap it around so that it makes a good cone shape, cut off the pointiest bit.  Unwrap again and then rewrap with the neck of the cardboard in the point of the cone (look at the pictures for help deciphering what I mean here) and glue the dress in place.  
• Now glue the smaller piece of doily onto the back as the angel's wings. 
• Dab some glue on to the front of the angel's head and dip in glitter to make a halo.
• When it's dry, use some selotape to attach a loop of thread to the back so that you can hang it from the tree.

The star

• show your child how you use a ruler to draw straight lines.  Draw three longish lines all crossing in the middle, and then three smaller lines each going in between the three longer lines.  Now join up the ends of all these lines (again, look at the picture to get a clue what I'm on about).
• Depending on the development of your child you can then get them to draw their own star, or not; and to cut out their star... or not.
• Get your child to put glue wherever they want on the star.
• Sprinkle glitter over the star (show your child how to do this inside a tray so that the surplus glitter can be collected back up and sprinkled again).
• When all the glitter is dry, use tape to attach a loop of thread from the back so that you can hang it from the tree.

Enjoy!  Please share links to your favourite Christmas crafts for little ones, I'm always after some inspiration.

An advent calendar of activities to prepare for Christmas with toddlers.

Once the advent calendar comes out we know we're on a countdown to Christmas.  C knows what to expect, and with non-stop Christmas music in the shops, Christmas trees and Santas wherever you look and all the hype, it'll be an achievement to keep his feet on the ground in the run up to the big day.  Bug is still pretty clueless.  She'll go with whatever her big brother suggests.  So, to keep them on track, help get things organised at my end, encourage them to think about what Christmas means, and about other people, and allow them some way to express their excitement I've come up with twenty-four activities for the advent period.  One activity for each day. I've kind of broken them down into which need doing earlier to help me out, but there isn't a specific day, to allow us a bit of flexibility.  Hopefully I'll be blogging as we go through December on some of the progress that we are making with the list.

• Make Christmas cake
• write and post Christmas cards
• go to Ceramic Experience to make gifts
• donate things to charity shops

• make stars and angels
• make a wreath
• make a stable scene (felt I think, but maybe card)
• make snowflakes (paper cutting - C will love to practise his cutting skills)
• peace and goodwill chart (we'll put stickers on whenever we do something to make somebody else feel happy)
• go to a Carol Service (it'll be my District Scout one)
• make Christmas decorations (fir cones dipped in glue and then glitter, salt dough and felt)
• watch The Snowman
• check that we've got all the presents that we need
• read the Christmas story
• make a snowman (if we don't have any snow then we'll use cotton wool and make a mini one!)
• plant a mini-Christmas tree
• do some artwork for mummy and daddy (I've started a tradition of them doing something for us as a Christmas present which then goes on the sitting room wall)
• go for a winter walk
• plant a fruit tree

• decorate Christmas tree
• wrap Christmas presents
• pack for Christmas trip
• leave snack for Santa and reindeer and put out stockings

Bargains!

A local Under-5 group have an annual toy sale.  I think they aim for this time of year deliberately as they know that parents are thinking of clearing space ready for Christmas, and other parents are looking to bag a bargain in the run up to Christmas.  I fall into the latter camp.

We headed to the toy sale without too much cash in hand.  C was allowed to choose a toy for himself up to the value of £5 as a reward for getting twenty stars on his chart.  He chose a (sadly plastic, and with noises) lorry that opens out to a small road and ramp system for little cars.  It cost only £2 and he is delighted with it.

I next spotted a wooden dolls house.  Santa has instructed me to keep an eye out for one of these, and I have been scouring Gumtree and e-bay, but so far have had no bidding success.  Imagine my pleasure when I spotted this amazing one, including the dolls and the furniture - for only £10!  That's Christmas sorted for Bug...

Just next to it - for only £2 was an unopened box of Meccano - a set which retails for between £20 and £30 and was on our radar as a potential Christmas present for C.  Okay then... twist my arm - that's Christmas for C sorted as well.

Is it bad to deliberately spend little on Christmas presents for the children when others spend hundreds of pounds?  I don't think so.  They are still getting something for Christmas that they will really love - I don't imagine that they will mind that it wasn't bought for full price or was previously loved.

Dear Santa...

Okay, so I know it's early, but when you're a crafty, thrifty kind of mamma (as well as a bit of a control freak) you've got to start early or you really struggle.  So here's what C and I came up with...  I think it's kind of lovely, and is also supposed to be helpful to any of my family out there who keep tabs on the blog!

Dear Santa,
We hope that you and the reindeer are well.  We are looking forward to Christmas.  You will find us at Auntie Janet's, but we will still leave you some beer and a mince pie and tomatoes for the reindeer.

We would be happy with any presents, but here are a few ideas:

• Bug doesn't have a favourite colour yet, she wears size 5 shoes and age 2 clothes.
• C's favourite colour is purple.  He wears age 3 clothes and will soon be in size 8 1/2 or 9 shoes.

Some ideas for both of us are:

• Lego
• Aquadoodle (travel ones?)
• an Etch-a-sketch for long journies
• things for decorating cakes
• small dolls house
• things for our babies
• accessories (hats etc) for our dressing up box
• playmobil car and trailer with boat (C)
• pencil case and pencil pot
• meccano (C)
• wooden train station and/or level crossing for wooden train set
• purple motorbike (C)
• books - we'd quite like "The Tiger who came to tea" and "Gruffalo's Child"

Don't work too hard!

Oh by the way, we think we've mostly been good.

Love from C and Bug

Our topic in December was... Christmas! (of course)

I try to have a theme each month to structure activities around and to keep us all fresh and provide a broad range of fun things to do.  Inevitably, December's theme was Christmas.  Here are some of the things that we did:

• made an advent calendar;
• read "Father Christmas needs a wee" by Nicholas Allan (terrible book, awful rhymes - don't bother), "The Snowman" by Allan Ahlberg and a book of Christmas stories from the library.
• Played matching games like Snap and Pairs with Christmas Stocking cards, and a Build a Snowman game (like the Beetle game where you roll numbers on a die to get the different parts of your snowman), both from Activity Village. 
• Sang Christmas carols, Christmas songs etc. and went to the Scout Carol service.
• Wrote Christmas cards.
• Read the poem "Twas the Night before Christmas".
• Wrapped presents together.
• decorated the tree
• put out the nativity scene and talked about the story
• made Christmas cake and Christmas Pudding.
• Decorated Christmas cake.
• Posted Christmas cards to neighbours.
• Had Christmas day!

We weren't as crafty as I would have liked, so there's plenty of room for improvement next December. I would like to include more Christmas stories, a visit to Santa in his grotto, making a wreath, making gifts, wrapping paper, gift bags and tags, paper chains, snowflakes, angels, decorations etc.  So much more we could do!