Gifts
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Make a BIG Christmas Advent Calendar
Make a big advent calendar in an afternoon using a 24-pocket hanging shoe organizer and a few easy-to-gather craft items. This is sure to become a favorite family tradition!
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How to Make a Rainbow Rice Bin
When my daughter, Tera, was a little girl, she had a boatload of Barbies in her castle-themed bedroom, and a pink Barbie jeep. She also had several big, expensive porcelain dolls — all gifts from her grandmother. She had a growing collection of Build-A-Bears, including a cat, a poodle and a bunny. She had real live goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens, dogs and cats outside … along with 12 1/2 acres of trees for climbing and fort-building. She had her own glue gun, and a teetering, six-drawer craft-caddy, full of feathers, googly eyes, colored macaroni, pipe-cleaners and sequins — all hers for the gluing. But if you ask her…
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Photographs & Memories : A Toddler Gift
From the time Gage began to speak, he loved to stand in front of our refrigerator and try out his new skills. “Mama! Da!” he would say, pointing to the pictures I’d hung there. But he wasn’t content with just showing off his verbiage. He wanted to touch the pictures. “Ownie!” he’d demand. We still aren’t sure where that word came from, but we knew what it meant: “Give it to me now, and no one gets hurt.” The thing is, I wanted those pictures of his mama and da to remain intact — unwrinkled, unrumpled, untorn. So I’d try to distract him as we walked past the fridge. “Look, Gage! A…
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Christmas Fun
Merry Christmas, everyone! Did you love today? We have had the perfect Christmas. I love when Christmas morning lands on a Sunday. I kind of think there’s nothing more appropriate than starting the celebration with a church service. What better way to set your focus where it belongs? I was so happy to see so many people at church this morning. I think Jonas Aley said it best: “It’s so cool that we get to go to church on Christmas morning!” That blessed me, Jonas. I couldn’t agree more. This week is always so busy. I planned on blogging a bunch, but it had to wait until this afternoon. I…
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Salted Caramel Short Bread Bites
Just a warning: don’t try these if you don’t like things that are gooey, creamy, buttery, flaky and just the tiniest bit salty. So … who’s still reading? No one? Yeah, I figured you’d all drop out at that. Guess I’ll just talk to myself 🙂 I’ve been seeing variations of this recipe all over the internet, so I figured I’d combine a few of my own recipes and make yet another version. See this box? It contains the very first kitchen tool (implement? gadget?) I ever received. I don’t remember how I even knew it existed, but it ended up on my Christmas list when I was 16 somewhere…
