It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

  I don't know if we'll ever be able to take a serious family photo. Oh well. Ladies and Gents, today is Friday, and I'm super excited because B and I only have 3 more days of school left next week before break! Woo hoo!! I am so excited to relax, spend time with family, eat a lot of good food, and reflect on the goodness of my Lord for sending his sweet son to this earth for our redemption.

 Living in America, it's hard to remember what Christmas is truly about. I encourage you to re-think how you're spending your money this holiday season, and give more from the heart to those who are without. Here is a great blog post about re-imagining Christmas with tons of helpful and eye-opening links about how you can spend your money ethically and benefit those across the map.

 Also, have you heard of Advent Conspiracy? Check it out! Did you realize we [Americans] spend 450 BILLION dollars (yes, billion with a B) on Christmas every year? Every. Year. Isn't that just ridiculous? And we could help solve the world's clean water crisis with 20 billion dollars a year. Does that make sense to anyone? I encourage you to donate to clean water organizations such as WaterIsLife. They provide filtration straws for those without clean water that last for up to 1 year, while working to create a more permanent water supply in impoverished nations. Cool, huh?

 It's time to make a change, so let's start with Christmas! I hope you all have such a wonderfully blessed holiday season. Now, where is that snow??

On Making Potato Chips

 Kevin has been into "cooking" lately. I'm quite excited at the idea of not having to make every meal all the time. His first cooking endeavor was homemade potato chips. The directions seemed simple enough for him to follow: slice potatoes thinly, dip in oil, lay on cookie sheet, bake on 400 degrees until edges curl up. I sadly don't have a picture of the finished product (Kevin ate them all). They turned out a little crispy - but that's alright. The first time is just a trial and error kind of experience. And they were much better without any kind of seasoning at all. Way to go, Kevy! You're one step closer to gourmet cooking.

And a picture of Nikoo in the tree for good measure. Happy Wednesday!

A Weekend in Pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I am so sad this break is coming to an end tonight. But I had a wonderful break filled with lots of family time, sleeping in, crafting, and movie watching. Tomorrow it's back to teaching B, working, and the boring chores around the house... only 3 weeks til Christmas break. Woo hoo!
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving break! Isn't there so much to be thankful for?

DIY Colored Ornaments

   Sometimes you want to have a color theme for your Christmas tree. Or maybe you don't, but let's pretend you do for right now. So you're thinking to yourself, "Man, I just can't find the right color ornaments for my tree anywhere without spending out the wazoo." or "Gosh, I really hate hot pink and purple glitter! Why is it on every Christmas ornament?"
  Wouldn't it be great if you could just buy some clear ornaments and dump a paint color of your choice inside and transform that lifeless, colorless ornament into something totally beautiful?

You can!! And I'm going to show you just how to do it. It's cheap and so super easy.

Step one: Purchase clear ornaments and craft paint of your choice.
(I got all my supplies at Michael's for around 7 dollars. 12 ornaments and 3 paints.)

 

Step 2: Take top off ornament and pour in paint.

 

Step 3: Swirl paint all around until it covers up the inside.

Add more paint if necessary. 

 Step 4: Allow your ornaments to dry a little before putting the top back on.
*EDIT* I forgot to mention, let these dry upside down, perhaps resting on a thumbtack in a piece of wood. It allows the paint to drip out and not settle to one side of your ornament.
Once dry, put tops back on, hang on tree, and admire how awesome an artist you are!

Do you have any DIY holiday crafts you'll be doing this year?

Too Soon?

 I'm not sure what the technical rules are for the day you can set up your Christmas tree, but I took the liberty of setting mine up yesterday. Is that so bad? I'm really enjoying the new atmosphere in the living room. There's just something about white Christmas lights...