Teacher Gifts

The end of year always has me stumped with regard to teacher gifts. I am never sure what constitutes a good gift. Chocolate seems a bit boring, cutesy "#1 teacher" items surely get old too and for the most part, I don't really have any idea what their interests are outside of teaching my children. I have canvassed friends and family but sadly, we seem to be in the same boat. My next stop of course was Pinterest; some nice ideas but most required more time that I have available at this end of the year. (Perhaps I shall have to start a little earlier next year).

And so this is what I came up with ... personalised clip boards in the teacher's favourite colours with their initial on them. Hopefully these will be a practical gift that they can use in the classroom. I bought plain board clip boards at Officeworks and then covered the front with 2 coordinating scrapbook papers, added a paper ribbon and monogram sticker and then covered the whole lot with a layer of decoupage paste. I left the back of the boards blank so that the girls could write a personal message on them.

The clip boards were a good start but I needed something to accompany it. I decided on a magazine for each of them to enjoy as they started their summer holiday. Everyone loves a mag to flip through don't they?

And for Bec's kinder friends, we made Magic Reindeer Food. This is to be sprinkled outside on Christmas Eve as a snack for Santa's reindeer. It has sparkly glitter mixed with oats so that they will see it twinkling in the moonlight. I made up a quick printable for this so if you would like a copy, you can message me in the comments or on my facebook page.

Making the piles even

Last night I sat on the floor of our lounge room surrounded by bags. These bags contained all the Christmas gifts I have bought over the year. I had already had an attempt at checking the list; this was checking it twice! David sat on the lounge and glanced at me in bewilderment from time to time. "There's an awful lot of stuff there" he commented merrily. "Well, yes" was my reply, "we have 4 children."

I really try not to go overboard at Christmas (and I readily admit that this has not always been the case). Having recently decluttered both the toy cupboard and the girls bedrooms, I know only too well that they don't need more stuff. I am actually a huge fan of the consumable and/or useful gift - thus their stockings have new thongs and bathers, branded (read Barbie, Bratz and Dora) undies, lipgloss and the traditional gold coins (of the chocolate variety).

They each receive a main gift from the jolly man and one from us with a couple of supporting gifts. This is where things get tricky. For one, I don't want "S" getting all the credit for the great gifts. Then there is the size of the gifts - it really is best for everyone concerned if the piles look about even (and I am sure that many mujms can relate here). My girls are really nonplussed about the monetary value, it is just based on how it all looks. Which is why I found myself back at the shops today looking for something large for my 2 little girls. This is no easy feat with 4 children of the same sex ... we already have most of the popular girl toys and believe me, there is a limit to how many dolls accessories you can fit in one average sized home. Thankfully, the toy makers are on to this very problem and continue to bring out a stream of NEW toys each year. I swear I had no idea what a "squinkie" was until today but I am sure we will become more closely acquainted as I will no doubt step on one or more in the middle of the night in the months to come.

So the piles are now pretty even and I discover that I only have 2 more gifts to buy and then I am officially done. One 12 year old boy neighbour and one 40 year old husband. Oh help! If you have any fabulous ideas, I am more than open to suggestions.

Tree Decorating for Kids

I love to decorate the Christmas tree and this is something I have also passed onto my girls. Up until a couple of years ago, we actually had 2 Christmas trees; one for me and one for them. (Mine was barricaded inside the playpen but that's a whole 'nother story.) The girls' tree was their height and the decorations were non-breakable. They would spend hours throughout December decorating it, then taking all the decorations off and decorating it all over again. Great for entertainment value but oh the mess all those little green pine needles made all over the floor ... constantly! 2 years ago, I conceded defeat and allowed them to help me decorate the big tree but they are not allowed to rearrange it every day and I think they have missed this.

So I was inspired when I saw a felt Christmas tree on Pinterest (yes, I know, the source of all inspiration these days). No pine needles to drop and the girls can decorate (and redecorate) to their hearts content. I am not sure whether I should admit this, but I happened to have all the materials I needed for this little project in my craft cupboard. I had planned to do something else with it a long time ago and had never quite gotten around to it. To make your own felt tree, all you will need is a large piece of green felt and several scraps of coloured felt. I cut out different sized circles and then blinged them up with some KindyGlitz (everything is better with KindyGlitz - you just have to trust me on that if you haven't used it before yourself.) I also added some velcro squares to the back of the circles and the tree.

I finished it last night and left it on the coffee table . When I got up this morning, Alison had already tried it out and the little girls were excited to give it a go. It doesn't keep them entertained for quite as long as the real tree decorating did but then it doesn't make the mess either and that makes it a winner in my book.

Family Christmas Photos

It’s that time of year again … time for me to attempt to get some lovely  half decent photos of my girls to use on our annual Christmas card. It is, of course, near impossible to get a good photo of 4 children together – especially my children. 1 is always playing the fool, 1 is off with the fairies, 1 is usually cooperative and then there is the grump – the one that for whatever reason, doesn’t feel like having their photo taken today. (These roles are not always played by the same child, in fact, they seem to enjoy mixing it up a little and keeping me on my toes!) 

In fact, I have considered sending my Christmas cards out with seasonal pictures on them rather than bothering with the photos. However, most of my extended family lives interstate so I figure that they all at least receive an updated photo of the girls every December. And so I persevere.

For Alison’s 8^th birthday party recently, I made up some photo props. The kids could then choose from a range of props to pose with for their photos. It really was a lot of fun so I thought I would make up some Christmas ones for our Christmas card photos. I found some printable props (Santa & Rudolf) from http://jessicapeck.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-photo-props-tutorial-sew-or.html and then made up a few of my own (Elf & HoHoHo). The Top Hat and Moustache were from http://ohhappyday.com/category/free-printables/

The girls enjoyed trying them all out and I did get some cute photos of each of them. Then I tried to get a photo of all four together. As I said up front, this is not always an easy task and today, I just abandoned it. Maybe I will have better luck next year.

December Parenting Tool

Oh how I do love the Christmas Advent Calendar! Such an amazing parenting tool if only used in the right way. Early in my parenting journey, we always opened the little numbered window in the morning. This was an exciting way to start the day, no doubt but I’m afraid that if you too subscribe to a morning opening, a large part of the value of this little chocolate is lost. We have swapped to an evening opening of the Advent window and oh how much mileage I am able to squeeze from one small block of chocolate. It is surely worth it's weight in gold.

In our home, this chocolate has to be earnt. Each night before the opening, we have bedroom inspections to make sure that they are nice and tidy. I always go to some effort before December 1 to clean out the girls rooms with them and get them all tidy to start the month but from then on, I expect them to maintain them throughout the month. December is a busy month in our house as I'm sure it is in yours and doing a quick clean up each night after dinner ensures that the rooms stay looking neat and don't become overwhelming. (If I thought this would work on a continual basis I would buy 12 advent calendars for each child - one for each month of the year. Sadly, I think the novelty would wear off.)

Now here is the important part .... If the bedrooms are not tidy (or if the girls behaviour has been less than desirable throughout the day), they don't get to eat the chocolate! They still get to open the window but the chocolate goes to mum or dad who eats it on the spot. Let me tell you, there were tears and tantrums last year when all three of our big girls missed out on their chocolate one night. (In fact, David & I felt pretty mean I do confess.) However, DO NOT NEGOTIATE (with terrorists or children!). The next day the girls were extra helpful and sweet and their rooms that night were spotless and they made sure that mum and dad had to find their own source of chocolates from then on.

I read in some parenting book a long time ago, that you should not reward children with food. I would like to suggest to you that the author of that book had never had children of their own. And if I can harness their desire for chocolate for good rather than evil, well I am all for it! Happy parenting :)

A New Tradition

Whilst playing on Pinterest recently, I came across a brilliant idea which I have implemented in our house for this Christmas season. I am sure it is going to be a hit with the girls and will become one of our Christmas traditions from this point forth. (It didn't hurt that it involved wrapping presents which is something I really enjoy!)

The idea was to gather a basket of all your Christmas storybooks and wrap each one in Christmas paper. Then place the basket under your Christmas tree and each night, have a child choose a "gift", unwrap it and then read it together. What a beautiful way to enjoy all your Christmas stories each season. And what child doesn't enjoy unwrapping presents.

Now, I happen to have 18 Christmas storybooks in my possession. You may (or may not) have quite as many. Don't let that deter you from enjoying this tradition at your house. Just gather up some of your all time favourite storybooks to share over the month of December. Wrap them up in paper, place them in a basket and away you go. Don't panic if you miss a night or two either. December is a busy month with end of year functions and the like but on the nights when you do have the time, enjoy a little bit of special time together with a book.

Christmas Advent Jar

I have been crafting up a storm this past week so I will have several projects to share in the next few days. One of the things I have been working on is my Christmas Advent Jar. My girls love the chocolate advent calendars and they have amazing powers for encouraging (read 'bribing') good behaviour but I wanted something that would also remind us to do something special together each day in December.

So I bought a few boxes of matches, emptied them of their contents, wrapped them in papers to coordinate with our Christmas colour theme for this year and numbered them from 1 through to 24. Each box then has a strip of paper inside it which has a Christmas activity for the day (or night). I have put the finished boxes in a decorative jar which will sit on my kitchen bench come December first, next to the mini countdown board. The girls can take turns each morning at breakfast to pick out that days box and see what surprise lies in store for the day.

Might need to add a red ribbon to my jar before it takes pride of place on the bench. (And by the way .... I have 1200 matches that are now free to a good home lol)

If you would like to make your own Advent Jar but need some inspiration for the activities, you might like to check out this site http://justagirlblog.com/2010/12/christmas-advent-jar.html

A Crafty Christmas

As I mentioned in my profile, I love everything about Christmas. I already have my Christmas CD's ready to go come December 1! I love everything about the season .... decorations (I'm going red, white and blue this year), Christmas carols, baking and all the special food, getting together with family and of course, wrapping presents.  I am almost finished my shopping with the help of my Christmas Planner (I'll share that in a post another day) so my thoughts turn to crafts.

My girls love their chocolate advent calendars each year, but I thought it would be nice to have a larger (colour coordinated lol) display for my kitchen bench to remind us how many days we have until Christmas. I created this with a mini clipboard (available from OfficeWorks for $2 or $3). Cover with scrapbooking paper and then decorate . Quick & easy. Each day I will just change over the numbers or perhaps I can give that responsibility to Miss Meg as she is always the first one up in our house.

I saw a cute shadow box with bells in it recently on Pinterest (my new favourite website - you have to check it out!) I made my own version with some gorgeous black & white photos I took of the girls last Christmas in their Santa hats. My thought is that this will be a decoration that will come out every year to remember my girls when they were so little.

I don't want to alarm anyone, but it is only 5 weeks til Christmas (and less than 2 weeks til I can break out the Christmas CD's).