Confession #38: A homemade Christmas is a wonderful thing

We don't put a huge important in presents when it comes to Christmas because the true reason for the season is Jesus's birth, not Santa, food, presents, etc.
That said, I made a few things to help cut our costs (because presents still are a part of Christmas), make Liana's Christmas more personal, and because, well, lets face it: I am addicted to crafting stuff.

Our stockings

First off: Homemade stockings made from recycled sweaters. I posted these in an earlier post. They worked well and they actually held all the goodies inside.

L is for Ladybug, M is for Mail

ABC quiet book ready for exploring

Secondly, I have been working with a Quiet Book Exchange group the last 6 months to make an ABC quiet book. And finally it was  all done for Christmas (well still missing a few pages). I simple explanation is that we all picked 5 letters to make and would make enough of those letters to mail out to all the moms in the group. So all I did was make my letter pages, mail them out, and wait for the other letter pages to come in the mail. Still waiting on a few, but I know they are coming.




Please ignore the backward J.

Thirdly, I made Liana magnetic letters for our fridge or front door (which is a metal door). They are made out of felt, lined with cardboard and magnets. Super strong magnets they they hold the whole letter.

Ours looked like this but this
 one is from Martha Stewart Living

Fourthly (is that a word?), We made an advent calender for Liana to count down the days until Christmas. Inside each sock was a toy (usually a plastic bug or finger puppet) and a scripture. Here's some ideas for different homemade adevent calenders: Advent

Christmas Crackers

Fifthly, Homemade Christmas Crackers. A fun way to bring other cultures traditions into our home. Ours were filled with candies, small toys, and crowns made of gold tissue paper.









Lastly, homemade breakfast. From homemade whip cream on homemade Belgium waffles to potatoes, scrambled eggs, and sausage. Yum!








After opening presents and eating a wonderful breakfast, we read books, took a nap (Liana woke us up at 3:24 am!), drove up to the snow, drank hot cocoa, ate popcorn and made a ginger bread house. We also spent some time skyping our loved ones back in Washington.  it was a wonderful family Christmas.

Shoes were not worn in our home during Christmas. We did however, put some on to go play in the snow.

Liana playing with her new ABC book

Liana enjoying her Christmas Day in the snow.