Gifts for Boys (A Few of Our Favorite Things)

I'm not putting any fancy gift guides together this year (you can check out my minimalist gift guide for kids and my gift guide archive if you want some more specific ideas from years past), but I did want to put up a quick post with a few of the boys' tried-and-true favorite things. As you may know, we have a house full of boys. And these are the things that are loved and played with day after day. So, if you're shopping for boys, this might be a good place to start.

$3 Christmas Wreath Hack

Want to add a little Christmas cheer to every corner of your home without breaking the bank? Me too! And this is one of my favorite hacks to get the job done. Wreaths are so versatile because they don't need any floor space, you can hang them just about anywhere, and they are super easy to put up. These little guys have an extra bonus - they're only $3 each at Hobby Lobby!

My Favorite Realistic Christmas Tree (and why it matters)

Last Christmas I talked about simplifying Christmas decor while maximizing its impact (and making your life easier - you can read all about it here). If you remember, I mentioned why it's important to choose quality over quantity (cliche, maybe, but can actually save you money!), and why you need to evaluate what's actually missing before you overcompensate in all the wrong ways.

Really, you should check out that original post because it goes into way more detail than I will here, but today I just wanted to share one Christmas splurge that made all the difference in my own Christmas decor:

A realistic Christmas tree!

Final Christmas Prep - what you really NEED

I wrote this post three years ago and never got around to publishing it. But it rings just as true today.

Guys. It's four days until Christmas. It's the epitome of crunch time when we all run ourselves ragged getting everything just perfect for the big day. Right? In and out of stores, more presents, more food, more decorating!

But this year we're after a different Christmas. This year we're after peace. And I just want you to know, it's okay to chill. To let go of grand plans and take hold of the simple alternatives. To wait with eager expectation and just let things be.

Check out my SIMPLE Christmas projects and tutorials here.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things I'd still like to get done. But it turns out there are very few things I actually need to get done. That's the key, friends.

Things I still need to do are the simple and basic things. The things that, if I don't finish them, will actually cause problems or hinder our Christmas celebration. And I can only think of four things:

• finish wrapping gifts (although even this one is iffy. I could leave things in their amazon boxes and we would survive)
• pack for our holiday travels
• prep our (simple) Christmas meals 
• read the Christmas story

Now, I can think of a whole list of things I would still like to get done. But they are all extra. I can recognize that if I don't do them... it's not actually going to hinder us in anyway. We can still have a beautiful, meaningful, peaceful Christmas. Probably even more-so, because when we're not distracted by our own need to impress with the "perfect" Christmas, we have more time to focus on the things that are actually important and meaningful this season. So here are the things I've eliminated from my list already:

• making Christmas cookies
• putting up exterior lights
• fancy gift wrapping
• cooking an elaborate feast
• sending Christmas cards

All that to say: don't be afraid to chill, friends. Don't be afraid to take an honest look at what NEEDS to be done - what truly matters for your family - and then let go of whatever doesn't fit the bill.  Don't let striving for a "perfect" Christmas steal the joy and peace from your home this season.

Let's have a peaceful Christmas, friends.

And above all, remember this: no matter how much we chase it this season, true peace and joy only come with the Savior we are celebrating. Who came because of his great love for us and died so our sins could be forgiven. He took the punishment that should be ours. This Christmas, don't forget what's truly most important, and don't let your kids forget it either. 

"For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:11

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:4-5

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:15-16

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

    "For hate is strong,

    And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

    The Wrong shall fail,

    The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Have a merry Christmas, and I'll see you in 2024!

Custom Keepsake Ornament Hack

Every Christmas we love to give each of our kids a new Christmas ornament to commemorate something from the year - a favorite toy, favorite activity, funny memory, etc. It's so fun to pull them out every year to reminisce! I know a lot of families enjoy a similar tradition, but today I wanted to share a simple little twist that can save time and money as you hunt down your own special ornaments.

So what's the twist? It's just this: you can make your own one-of-a-kind ornaments for next to nothing! Rather than trying to hunt down a mass-produced, overpriced keepsake, let me show you a few shortcuts to try first. You'll probably need a few simple supplies like eye hooks, ribbon, and glue depending on the ornament you are making. 

DIY Wooden Stocking Tags

I know, I know. I'm changing up the stockings again. Turns out I have a have a restless spirit when it comes to stockings - which you've probably noticed if you've followed me for more than one Christmas (you can read all about it and see my long stocking history here, if you're curious). But I would like to say, for the record, that this year I only added tags to the new stockings I made last year. So. That's something. 

Cream Cheese Pinwheels (only 3 ingredients!)

Cream cheese pinwheels are one of our classic go-to treats. Whether it's the Superbowl, a birthday, Christmas, or anything in between - if there is something special going on, this sweet, creamy goodness is on the menu. Pinwheels hold a lot of nostalgia for me because I remember my mom making them, and now my kids love them just as much as I do! You won't believe how simple they are with just three ingredients.

Foraged Stick Stars

This Christmas project is almost too easy to post. But it's a fun one that's super simple and cheap, plus collecting the sticks can be a lot of fun with the kids!

Vintage Inspired Yarn Doll Ornaments

This is easily my very favorite Christmas project this year. These little yarn dolls are the sweetest, and are a great way to share memories that will last a lifetime. And I love that they are ornaments the kids can actually touch and play with without hurting them. Anyone with small children knows the value of an unbreakable ornament!

But first, let me explain what I mean by memories that last a lifetime. Beyond the memories you will make with your kids that they will get to enjoy year after year. I remember visiting an older woman in a nursing home when I was very young, and when we visited she would give my sister and me yarn doll ornaments just like these. I don't know when it was or who she was, but that memory has stuck with me my whole life. In a similar way, I have an older, very dear friend who makes little angel ornaments that are crochet instead of yarn. She gave me one when I was younger, then surprised me with a second one when my oldest son was born. They are some of my most treasured ornaments. 

I say all of that to help us remember - little gestures can make a huge impact. And in this busy season it's good to remember to look out and see how we can be a blessing to others (it's so easy to forget that in all the holiday hustle and bustle). The smallest thing can make someone feel remembered and loved. Last year I asked my friend for a copy of her crochet pattern. Then I did a little digging to figure out how to make these yarn dolls. I hope to be the next generation ornament giver. To continue the traditions those ladies started. To give a tangible reminder to friends and family that they are loved and thought of. And I hope to bring my kids along with me. 

From Shopping to Wrapping - The Best Christmas Gift Tips From My Family of 8!

Today's post might be a little all over the place, but I just wanted to take a minute to share a few details about how we're doing gifts this year:

1. Our gift-planning system and how we do our best to minimize clutter and excess
2. The boys' secret Santa swap
3. My favorite way to save big $$ on gifts
4. A fun (and cheap!) wrapping tradition
5. What we actually bought for the boys last year

If you're still looking for gift ideas, I'm not planning to put together any gift guides this year but you can check out my minimalist gift guide for kids that's full of our tried and true favorites, plus some of my top picks for guys and for the ladies (and my full shopping guide archive is here).

Tiny Sleeping Bag Tutorial (great stocking stuffer!)

Need a quick handmade gift that only takes a few scraps of fabric? I've got you covered! You can whip up a whole campground worth of these tiny sleeping bags in no time. And the small size = perfect stocking stuffer!

Easy Christmas Crafts for the Advent Season

Happy Advent season, friends! 

I’m always looking for ways to savor this season with my kids, strengthen family bonds, and ultimately point our children toward Christ. But for all the well-intentioned family advent plans out there, I can't for the life of me make it through one of them. Because here's the thing: I can't deal with anything complicated right now. Like, at all. I can't follow an extra advent schedule with projects and crafts and recipes every day. I can't spend time hunting down special ingredients or searching for unique craft pieces.  

But guess what? We don't need a fancy, fully scheduled plan to make the most of this season. We can fly by the seat of our pants and make the season magical and memorable for our kids in ways that work with our unique schedules and lifestyles, using simple items and ingredients we probably already have at home. And that's my goal with this little series. It's not a fully guided advent plan by any stretch, but it is a collection of projects and recipes that are simple, low commitment, and fun, that can be enjoyed with your family. Feel free to use them as you see fit - whenever you find a pocket of time and want to fit in a little Christmas magic. 

As you complete these projects with your family, please don't overlook the most important part of any advent celebration: Christ. There is no project on this list that is more important than teaching your children (or grandchildren) the true meaning of the season, the gospel, and all Christ has done for us. If you have time for only one advent "project," make it reading the Bible with your children. There are all kinds of advent reading plans out there, but, again, it doesn't have to be complicated. A great option is just reading the book of Luke. It has 24 chapters so it works out perfectly to read a chapter per day throughout December leading up to Christmas. Or, if you have younger kids, you can grab a reliable Children's bible and start reading through the New Testament passages with them (but don't ever discount the importance of reading from the actual Bible or be afraid to do it with younger kids - they understand far more than we give them credit for). 

With that said, many of these projects can work really well hand-in-hand with your scripture reading to make a pretty complete (but very chill and super flexible) advent "plan." I recommend starting with the playdough because you'll be able to use it all season! It's great for keeping little hands busy while you read, and older kids might enjoy sculpting what you are reading about. The recipes can be used in a similar way - enjoy making them with the kids, then sit down and read to them while they enjoy the treat. (It's so much easier for them to sit and listen when they have cookies to nibble or cocoa to sip! A warm cup of tea works in a pinch, too!). If you have bigger kids, they can work on the crafts or recipes while you read to them. And the yarn doll ornaments can be especially fun - they can double as, well, yarn dolls that the kids can actually play with while you read. Have fun with it, and remember that nothing will go perfectly and it's ok!

Gingerbread Playdough

3 Ingredient Shortbread Cookie

Vintage Style Yarn Doll Ornaments

Best Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

Easy No-Sew Felt Garland

Giant Paper Sack Stars

3 Ingredient Cream Cheese Pinwheels

Easy Foraged Stick Stars

Check back soon - I'll add more projects as I get them posted!

For more Christmas tips, check out the post below with all the info about how our family of 8 does Christmas gifts: how we plan, sibling gifts, a fun wrapping hack, what we actually bought for the boys last year, and more!

I'd love to hear your favorite advent crafts, recipes, or traditions!

3 Ingredient Shortbread Cookies

Do cookies count as crafts? I'll let you decide. But either way, these shortbread cookies are so good and so easy to make! They only take three ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. They are perfect to make in a hurry for last minute guests, a cookie swap, or a movie night with the kids! Don't let the Christmas season go by without giving them a try!

Gingerbread Playdough

I know this old blog has been quiet the last two years, but it turns out I have an abundance of Christmas content that I've collected and photographed during that time. Even when I don't have time to actually blog about it (6 kids and what not), I always have some kind of project going (especially around Christmas time!) and thank goodness I had the good foresight to photograph much of it! So hold on to your hats while I try to bring you as much Christmassy goodness as I can over the next couple weeks!

Let's kick-off this Christmas season with gingerbread playdough. This is great to make right away because your kids will be able to enjoy it all season long! It will help keep little hands busy through Christmas read-alouds or while dinner is in the oven. It would also be fun to have on hand when grandkids come to town!

Printable Bookplate Stickers

Hey guys, I had an idea for the boys stockings that I'm super excited about and I wanted to go ahead and share it now in case you want to make a set for your kids as well! 

I was looking at the Read Aloud Revival gift guide for book-lovers and one of their ideas was bookplate stickers. I loved the idea of the boys being able to mark the books they get each year, but I did not love the ones linked in the gift guide. So, I headed to Etsy to see what else I could find. I came across some custom book stamps that looked amazing.... but $30 per stamp was over my stocking budget. I also looked at custom bookplate stickers that ran around $8-10 for a set of 12. They were cute, but it was still more than I wanted to pay, especially since the bigger boys already need more than 12 stickers. 

But then I suddenly realized... I can print my own stickers!

 

A set of 120 printable Avery labels was under $10. Now I'm looking at 30 labels per kid for under $2.50 each! Those are stocking-stuffer prices, folks. And I had a ton of fun designing a unique set for each of the boys that I think they will love. 

 

I made a PDF of each design that you can download below for free and print on your home printer (you'll just need these Avery labels). You can write in the names before you gift them, or leave that up to the kids (it would be so sweet to have their handwriting saved in their books). If you're feeling a little more tech-y, I also have a jpg version so you can upload it into a program like canva to type in the names before you print. Make sure your printer is set to print full-scale so the stickers will line up correctly. Click on the links below to download the printable sheet for each design:

SHIP PDF - SHIP JPG

ARROW PDF - ARROW JPG

CASTLE PDF - CASTLE JPG

BOOK PDF - BOOK JPG

SWORD PDF - SWORD JPG

LEAF PDF - LEAF JPG

Happy stuffing! (Ok, probably could have done a little better there. But it's almost Christmas, guys!)

 

What are you putting in stockings this year?

 

DIY Modern Farmhouse Christmas Stockings

New year, new stockings... again.... How often is it normal to get replace your stockings? Growing up we had the same stockings my whole life (my parents still use them!) and I feel like that's the normal thing to do. It's all part of the nostalgia of Christmas, right? But here I am replacing my stockings for the... fifth time? I've started from scratch every time we added a baby (since we needed to add a new stocking) but almost every time I breathed a sigh of relief that I could finally ditch stockings I didn't love and try again. Here's what I've tried so far (you can read the full saga in this post):

1. Failed Sweater Stockings
2. DIY Flannel Stockings - I ended up hating these. I was on a tight ($0) budget and made them out of leftover flannel from other projects that didn't match my Christmas style. I won't totally knock this idea though - I think a cute plaid set would feel wonderfully cozy!
   
3. Cheap Hobby Lobby Stockings
4. $5 Christmas Stocking Hack - I actually really liked these ones! And I honestly don't have a good reason why I didn't just make a seventh one to match for our newest addition - it was just so much red when so many of them were up there together, and! So this time I'm trying something that feels a little more organic - like a collection we can add to over time.
   

And now I'd like to introduce you to my newest stocking love: mix-and-match modern farmhouse stockings!

Macrame Rainbow Tutorial

My sister and I put together some fun little macrame rainbow kits for a local craft fair, and I thought I'd share the instructional video with you guys, too, so you can make your own! 

You may not have a kit, but you only need a few simple supplies to make your own at home - and you can make it any size you want, with as many colors as you want! Get creative and have fun!

Here's all you need to make your own:

• soft rope that frays easily (I love the "nautical rope" from Dollar Tree)
• 3 colors of yarn (or more if you want more bands on your rainbow!)
• a wooden bead (optional)
• hot glue gun
• scissors
• ruler
• fork

And here's the video instructions:

If you follow the instructions exactly, you'll end up with the cutest little ornament-sized rainbows that will make sweet little Christmas gifts! Yep, I said it. #itsnevertooearlyforchristmas 

Have fun, and let me know if you give it a try! :)

Hot Chocolate Mix

Guys, it is cold out there. I can't think of anything better than snuggling up with a warm drink, so today I'm bringing back our favorite homemade hot chocolate mix recipe!

There are a lot of hot chocolate recipes out there, but here's the thing: my husband says this one is the best. And he knows hot chocolate. You know how people like to start the morning with a hot cup of coffee? He starts every morning with hot chocolate. And this isn't a new thing; he's a life-long hot chocolate man. My in-laws like to tell about the Alaskan cruise they took when my husband was 10, and guys, he drank all the hot chocolate on the boat. So when he says this one is his favorite, you can go ahead and stop looking. You have arrived.

DIY Paper Sack Christmas Stars

Hey peeps, I've got a super easy Christmas craft for you today! We're going to make these giant paper Christmas stars: 

And the best part? This project only takes about 10 minutes and costs only $1.00! It's a great way to make a big impact with limited time and budget, and it's super fun to do with any kids who are able to use scissors on their own. We've been hanging these all over our house this week!

Here's all you need to make your own:

• 7-8 paper lunch sacks (you can usually get a pack of 40 at Dollar Tree!)
  
• scissors
  
• hot glue gun
• string or yarn (you might be able to find string at Dollar Tree, too!)

Easy DIY Minimalist Christmas Wreathes

Hey guys! Today I'm going to show you how I made these super easy minimalist Christmas wreathes for our hallway! I love hanging a wreath on every door in the hallway because it makes that whole space feel cheery... and because hanging a wreath only takes about five seconds. Super fast and super festive? Yes please!

Check out all my Christmas decor tutorials here!

If you were following last year, you may remember I made something similar with fresh greenery I clipped from our yard (find that tutorial here). I really loved how those turned out, but honestly I was not thrilled with the idea of repeating the process this season. It was a pretty pokey experience. So, this year I opted for faux greenery from Michaels. I also added a little twist this year by including the pine cones that came with my floral picks and adding a few brass bells that are delightfully jingly by day and less delightfully so by night. It's the price we pay for Christmas magic, friends.