Holly Jolly

HO HO HO!!! We left our Grandview winter wonderland and drove to the BROWN HOUSE for Christmas this year…

…BUT before we left, we had a great WHITE Christmas first:

Dec 23rd, we went to the White House to open presents before we left for the Brown House. It was awesome having two Christmases, I’m not going to lie.

Check out my sweet new gardening gloves! My kitchen received some exciting additions this Christmas too. Jay adores the little basketball hoop and Mega Legos that Dan, Leslie, and Stephanie gave him.

My tight, baby-filled stomach can barely handle all of the laughs Jay gives us!

“Up north” near Seattle, Jay enjoyed playing with MahMa (Grama) and Meh (Mel) and Bapa (Grampa) and “the unks” (uncles Brad and Kyle). Family time at Christmas is our favorite!

Putting “the angel” on top of the tree. Jay’s strong uncles hoisted him through all levels of the atmosphere! Poor Aunt Mel accidentally dropped him once, and thankfully things tamed down a bit after that.

Cereal box hat! Santa-bellied Mama!

Playing with Mel

Uncle Brad! This was his last Christmas as an UNmarried man.

I forgot to bring Jay’s stocking, so we improvised. I taped a piece of paper onto my sister Em’s stocking since she wasn’t around to use it this year. Sorry, Em!  At least her stocking got USED again…it’s been a while! (Jeff and I shared my good ‘ole stocking)

Stockings are my favorite part of Christmas!!! (a close second is…my Christmas tree headband!)

I love this picture! Dad gave Mom an iPad, and this was her reaction when she opened it. I think she was saying “WHAAAT?” when I took this picture. Dad and Kyle spent the next few days showing her all of its COOL features, and smirking/gloating every time she admitted that she likes it a lot. I love my Mom.

Jay really likes this cool bath toy that my parents gave him. It took him about 2 seconds to figure it out. Now he asks for a bath about 3 times a day.

And NOW, to reveal what I made to give my family for Christmas this year! I had tons of fun with all of these intense projects, and only felt overwhelmed a few times! Drumroll…

1.      30 beanbags—6 sets of 5—for juggling!

(plus carrying bags)

2.    24 Thank You cards—4 sets of 6—my biggest project! These little beauties have short-circuited my creativity for the time being.

(bound in their little pouches)

I made Jay a fun little magnetic fishing game. I don’t know who likes it better—me or Jay! I couldn’t resist playing with it a few times before Christmas. 
[if you’re curious, the ingredients are: felt, buttons, and safety pins for the fishies, PVC pipe (leftover from my curtains), ribbon, and magnet for the pole, the bottom of a juice jug for the bucket, and a leftover part of one of my sheet curtains for the water. $O.]

3. Family Face Magnets for Jay!!! I printed the pictures from our computer and  used extra-thick cardboard, heavy-duty packing tape, and some old peel-and–stick magnet strips that I’ve had forever to make these. Jay likes them even more than I thought he would. So far he likes to bring me faces, tell me who they are, and point out their teeth. (and yes, Dani, you are stuck in our family now no matter what—I made a MAGNET of you! (she’s Brad’s fiancé)

4. I also made Jeff a sweet indoor frisbee golf kit, complete with old sour cream container lids for frisbees, hoops to fly them through, targets to hit, objects to knock over and score sheets, but I don’t have a picture of it.

OK, now you know how I spent my December. I love MAKING Christmas gifts because they feel much more meaningful when I take the time to dream up ideas and then try to make them into gifts. As selfish as this sounds, it doubles the JOY of giving!!!

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!!