Merry Christmas

Christmas Card Garland

This garland is so simple to make, and what a great way to recycle Christmas cards. Just cut a circle around the main image on the card, then punch a couple of holes near the top of the circle. We used yarn to string the cards; crochet thread works nicely too.

A few years ago I bought several boxes of Christmas cards at after-Christmas sales, for something like 10 cents per box. And I've found that those Christmas cards have been such fun craft materials. In addition to the garland, we've used them to make bookmarks, and have also used them as materials for making homemade Christmas cards.

This post is linked to:
Frugal Friday
The Shabby Nest

A Hat for Millie

It's not perfect, but it fits! And it matches her coat, which is an unplanned bonus. I made this hat with Lion Brand 100% wool yarn, and knit mostly while riding in the van.

Orange Smoothie

So, I know this smoothie doesn't look very orange, but it tastes very orange. With plentiful oranges at a good price, now is a good time to throw several into a smoothie. I find that my 3-year-old has a bit of trouble eating oranges because of the "white stuff" (the pith - which is very good for you!). So I love being able to throw this vitamin-C rich fruit into a yummy smoothie, which all the kids will happily drink.

Orange Smoothie
4 oranges, peeled (though be sure to leave on some of the pith)
1 banana (frozen, or not)
1 avocado
1/2 cup strawberries (I used frozen)
1/2 cup cherries (I used frozen)
a bit of water, depending on how thick you like your smoothies

Blend all together until smooth.

This post is linked to:
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Gift Tags

These Christmas tree gift tags are a great project for kids. And they can be made easily from supplies on hand.
We already had blank red tags, though you could cut out your own using card stock or construction paper. I cut out simple green triangles and glued them to the tags. Then the kids had the fun job of gluing sequins to the trees. We had a bag of assorted sequins, which provided some nice variety.
For such a simple project, it kept the kids busy for a while, and we now have some very cute gift tags!

This post is linked to
Frugal Friday
Finer Things Friday

A Pink Nightgown

Millie was starting to outgrow the nightgown I made for her last spring, so it was time for a new one. I let her pick out the fabric, and I used the same pattern (Butterick 4910) as the ones I've made for her before. Since this was my third time on this pattern, it came together quickly and easily. Millie wore it for the first time tonight, and there was much twirling and dancing before bedtime. Those ruffles are a bit of extra work, but certainly worth it.

Christmas Books

One of my favorite family activities at Christmas is reading Christmas books together. During the rest of the year we keep all our Christmas books packed away with our Christmas decorations. It makes it especially fun when it's time to put up the Christmas tree to pull out the boxes of ornaments and other decorations, and for the kids to have a whole "new" stack of books.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Saint Nicholas, The Real Story of the Christmas Legend, by Julie Stiegemeyer
This book provides a very helpful way to explain to children the origin of the legend of Santa Claus. It's wonderful to tie this cultural icon to a real man who was seeking to live out the love of Christ, and the accompanying illustrations are beautiful.

The Legend of the Poinsettia, by Tomie dePaola
It's nice to have a book that shows how Christmas is celebrated in a culture different from our own. We often don't think about the significance of the poinsettia, though it is prominent at this time of year. This book tells the Mexican legend of the poinsettia with simple, colorful illustrations.

Christmas in the Big Woods, adapted from the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
We've been reading the My First Little House Books series to Millie since before she was two years old. These short picture books are a nice way to introduce little ones to Laura Ingalls Wilder. I think what I appreciate about this particular book is the depiction of Christmas as a very simple holiday, with children who are thrilled just to receive mittens and a peppermint stick in their stockings.

Silent Night, The Song and Its Story, by Margaret Hodges
This lovely books tells the story behind the famous Christmas song, Silent Night. I love the illustrations which depict Christmas in a simpler time and place. This story is particularly special to us, because Franz Gruber, who wrote the music to Silent Night, is an ancestor of my husband's family.
While I do love to read books to the kids that help them learn a bit about the meaning behind certain Christmas traditions, some "just for fun" books are great too!
I am hoping to eventually own at least 25 Christmas books for our family, one for each day of December leading up to Christmas. I've read of families who have written the titles of their Christmas books on slips of paper, placed them in a basket or jar, then each evening selects one slip of paper to choose what book to read that night. However, since I limit myself to purchasing just a couple of books each year, we may still have a few years before we reach that goal.

Here are a few other lists of Christmas books:
This one is quite exhaustive, and includes not only read-aloud books, but also movies and parent resource books for Christmas.

I'm also interested in a couple of the children's books on this list by author Catherine Newman, though this is not an exclusively Christmas list.

Then my friend Ginger has her list of their family's Christmas books, several of which I plan to put on my list of books to get for our family.

And last but not least, some suggestions from Madeline at Barefoot Childhood.

Happy Christmas reading!


This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

Menu Plan - Week of December 7

First, a little weekend recap. I made these cookies for a cookie exchange:

Cranberry roll-up freezer cookies, which turned out to be not overly sweet and not overly difficult. Two good things, in my book. You can find the recipe here.

I also managed to fit in a bit of knitting and started a new sewing project. It's so nice to be doing something creative.

And the final bit of weekend news is that Millie has the chicken pox, which we discovered Saturday morning. She's doing fine and generally feeling okay. But, since she hasn't had as much of an appetite, I asked her for some input on this week's meals. So several of the items on our menu are her suggestions:

Corn chowder

Salad for supper

Lentil Walnut Salad (new recipe we're trying), roasted cauliflower

Homemade pizza (Millie wants pineapple and mushrooms on her slices)

Pierogies, fruit salad

For more menu planning inspiration, visit Organizing Junkie.

Barely Snow Flurries

Some light snow flurries came through this afternoon. Hardly worth mentioning, but the kids insisted that we bundle up and go "Play in the snow!"

So go and play we did. The kids climbed the tree in our backyard...

and tasted some snowflakes.

Even Isaac bundled up and joined in the fun.
Okay, so it was barely snowing. But at least the kids got out and burned off some energy. I'll take it.

Southwestern Tamale Pie

This recipe is actually a combination of three different recipes, and I think it turned out pretty great. A keeper, in fact. My friend Ginger gave me a recipe for Southwestern Shepherd's Pie, which was something like shepherd's pie, but instead of potatoes on top, it called for sweet potatoes, and the meatless filling had black beans, corn, tomatoes, and the addition of cinnamon. I loved that recipe, but Tom didn't. He didn't like the cinnamon, specifically. So I'd been wanting to tweak that dish a bit, and then recently I was looking on Ginger's blog for some recipe inspiration (she's got some good ones posted, if you are looking for inspiration as well), and I saw this black bean sweet potato dish. So I was thinking of these two recipes and how to combine them. Then this week Tom requested tamale pie, which I have made only once before, and I'm not even sure what recipe I used. Which is a very long way of explaining that this is a rather unique combination, but oh, so good.

Southwestern Tamale Pie

1 large onion, diced
1 large bell pepper (any color), diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 cup corn
2 cups cooked black beans
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (if you like cilantro, be sure to include it!)
3 cups peeled, cubed, cooked sweet potatoes (I peeled and diced the sweet potatoes, then roasted them in the oven)

Your favorite cornbread recipe, prepared (I used a Betty Crocker recipe and added some corn to it; you can use a mix. Seriously, whatever you like)

Heat a bit of water in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring, for 10 minutes. Add garlic; cook for 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and spices; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add tomatoes; simmer until liquid reduces, 15 minutes. Add corn, beans, cilantro and sweet potatoes. Mix together, then spoon into a 9X13 dish. Spread prepared cornbread over the bean/sweet potato mixture. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

This post is linked to:
Frugal Friday
Foodie Friday

Cranberry Zucchini Bread

Quick breads make nice, simple gifts around Christmas time, and this bread is especially good for the holidays, with its flecks of red and green. I like to bake these as mini loaves, then for a cute presentation, put a wrapped loaf inside a ceramic mini-loaf pan and tie with some ribbon. Another bonus to this recipe is that you can use zucchini from your garden that you shredded then froze, and also cranberries bought on sale at Thanksgiving, which also freeze nicely.

Cranberry Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour (I used half unbleached white, and half white whole wheat)
2 cups sugar (I reduced this by about 1/4 cup; could probably reduce even more)
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup vegetable oil (I replaced about 1/4 cup oil with water)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans, which is what I used)

In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs; add zucchini, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the cranberries and nuts. Pour into two greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.

Instead of large loaf pans, this recipe can also make 4 mini-loaves and 6 muffins.

This post is linked to:
Ultimate Recipe Swap
Finer Things Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge
Homemade Holidays Recipe Swap

Christmas Countdown

A simple paper chain to countdown to Christmas,

provides an easy way to visualize how many days.

Millie loves making one, because what kid doesn't love using a stapler? (though tape works too)

And it's fun to remove a link each night.


This post is linked to:
Works for Me Wednesday

December Freezer Cooking, Day 1

Oh, I have such mixed feelings about freezer cooking! I know that any amount of cooking ahead that I'm able to do is a really good thing, but sometimes it feels like I don't have much to show for my work. Though today I was reminding myself of how challenging it can be some days just to get dinner made, so any amount of extra cooking can make the day feel chaotic. I was hoping to accomplish more, but Isaac was pretty fussy for most of the morning, and we started out the day with a still-messy house from being out of town and getting out Christmas decorations. But enough of the excuses, here's a picture of some of what I made today, half-way through getting things ready to go in the freezer:
* I cooked 2 pounds dry black beans, some of which went into rice and beans, some for tamale pie, and the rest I'll freeze in 2-cup containers
* I cooked 2 pounds of brown rice, some for rice and beans, and the rest went into the freezer
* I made one large tamale pie; we ate half for supper and I'm freezing the rest in single-serving portions
* I did not make the tortillas, but I'm wrapping the rice and beans into tortillas, and those will be for lunches.

Not pictured:
Zucchini-cranberry bread, which is in the oven right now
2 pounds chickpeas, currently simmering on the stovetop

In the plans for tomorrow:
2 pounds white beans, currently soaking, will cook tomorrow
Pita bread, my second attempt, but with a different recipe
A double batch of pizza dough, for our occasional homemade pizza night
Cookie dough, two or three different kinds

Okay, I think that's it, and now a mountain of dirty dishes awaits. I'll post tomorrow with some recipes!

See more freezer cooking plans at Money Saving Mom.