Holiday Habits » Habits for a Happy Home

Pinterest Party

Feb 012012

I feel like Pinterest is a party. See, I can breeze by all this visual inspiration and plan. I can scan through my Google Reader and pin ideas from posts. But Pinterest is a party because Pinterest is fun! Here’s how I use this virtual bulletin board.

1. Party Planning. Pinterest sure makes it easy to get ready for a party. And I love simple, few ingredient recipes.
With the Super Bowl coming up Pinterest offers appetizers galore! Spinach and artichoke bites from Household Ways, above.

These chocolate peanut butter Ritz? We just substitute the peanut butter for SunButter and make sure we use some allergy-friendly chocolate.

2. Freedom in allergy-friendliness. If you have allergies to deal with, Pinterest is a wealth of information. I’ve found I can substitute one ingredient and have a new and safe treat that is allergy friendly. I’ve created a whole board for such inspiration!

Cake decorating party, above.

3. For holidays and birthdays, of course! all sorts of inspiration at your fingertips. So creative! Continue reading »

2012 Thoughts

Habits for Happy Kids, Holiday Habits 3 Responses »

Jan 032012

Happy New Year from Habits for a Happy Home! I hope your New Year has started well. Our home is officially “undecorated”. The tree has been hauled off and the needles vacuumed. School is back in session. My mind is a jumble of to-dos (and I’m sure yours is too), so I don’t have a well-thought and structured post for you today, but I do have a few lingering thoughts I wanted to share.

First, there has been a lot of discussion here and everywhere lately about what to do about Santa Claus, so I wanted to share our family’s experience. If you’d like some background on this story, you can read here about when Santa first became an issue for us, back in 2007. Last Christmas (2010) in an answer to much prayer, the boys came to us and asked to know the truth about Santa. We told them the story about the real St. Nick, but we didn’t change much about our traditions. They still sat on Santa’s lap. We still left cookies for Santa and they still had Santa presents under the tree. This year was the first Christmas that we left Santa out of our Christmas completely. We focused instead on doing special things for others. Christmas morning the kids had 3 presents to open (one from Mom, one from Dad, and one from a sibling). We were thrilled to discover that our oldest two had made some surprise presents for us and for each other and tucked them under the tree. I worried that Christmas would be less magical without Santa. But in reality, it was more magical. Seeing the joy on their faces when they gave gifts to others from their hearts made this the most magical Christmas our family has ever experienced. No one was sad or disappointed Christmas morning. And when I asked our 9 year old if he thought Christmas was less fun without Santa, he said “not at all!”

I also wanted to report on our experience with Light ‘Em Up. We didn’t get to do as many of them as I hoped. One a day was a little unrealistic for us. Two or three a week was closer to reality. But we had so much fun doing what we could. Many of the people we surprised with kindness did something kind for us in return. They got a kick out of watching the UPS guys sit in front of our house eating their cookies. And then a couple days later UPS delivered a package for us with a note from them written on the box. Not that recognition is the reason to do it, but it was nice that the kids could see that what they were doing was making an impact. And we learned that bringing unexpected joy to another person is unbelievably addicting! We’re planning to continue with this throughout the year. People need to feel the love of Jesus all year long, not just at Christmas. Thanks again Courtney for the idea!

One last little completely unrelated thing to start your New Year… A wise friend from church told us something brilliant that they do at the start of each year, and I wanted to share it with all of you. At the beginning of the year (as in right now) go through your closet and turn all your hangars around so they are hanging backwards. After you wear something, hang it back up the right direction. At the end of the year, any hangars that are still backwards are clothes that you should donate. Isn’t that brilliant? Turning my hangars around right now…

The Habit of Generosity

Heavenly Habits, Holiday Habits No Responses »

Dec 232011

In 1891, Salvation Army Captain Joseph McFee was distraught because so many poor individuals in San Francisco were going hungry. During the holiday season, he resolved to provide a free Christmas dinner for the destitute and poverty-stricken. He only had one major hurdle to overcome — funding the project.

He lay awake nights, worrying, thinking, praying about how he could find the funds to fulfill his commitment of feeding 1,000 of the city’s poorest individuals on Christmas Day. As he pondered the issue, his thoughts drifted back to his sailor days in Liverpool, England. He remembered how at Stage Landing, where the boats came in, there was a large, iron kettle called “Simpson’s Pot” into which passers-by tossed a coin or two to help the poor.

The next day Captain McFee placed a similar pot at the Oakland Ferry Landing at the foot of Market Street. Beside the pot, he placed a sign that read, “Keep the Pot Boiling.” He soon had the money to see that the needy people were properly fed at Christmas.

The tradition continues to this day. Almost everyone has seen a Salvation Army bell ringer standing next to the signature red kettle. Most people who donate place a small bill or handful of change into the kettle. For about the past 20 years in Bloomington, Indiana, a collector’s coin is deposited into a kettle, usually worth several hundred dollars.

This year, something unusual is happening.

Adding to the almost annual gift in Indiana, valuable gold coins have been discovered in kettles in Washington…

…and Pennsylvannia; in Florida and Oregon. Nebraska, Kentucky, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Someone, or more likely a group of someones, is leaving all kinds of valuable articles in the donation kettles. Diamond solitaires, gold rings–and in Frederick, Maryland–a collector deposited five gold coins into area kettles. He then visited the Salvation Army collections center and purchased the coins back for about $9,000.00.

This season celebrates the Great Giver. What better way to celebrate the Greatest Gift than to freely give? No matter the size of the gift, the giver is blessed to know that the gift is helping to bless another human being whom Jesus came to love and forgive.

Christmas Budget dwindling?

Holiday Habits 4 Responses »

Dec 202011

Have become quite versed in making Christmas happen for cheap! I love giving gifts and am too stubborn to just tell the family “we are not doing gifts this year”. So I have been determined to make Christmas gifts happen, regardless of our budget!

Here are a couple of last minute cheap or free gift ideas:

Salt Dough Ornaments:

These are so easy! All you need is 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of flour. You gently mix the three ingredients together and kneed for about 10-15 minutes. Once the dough is smooth, roll out and cut out your ornaments. And cut them out with different cookie cutters. I bake mine at 200 degrees for several hours. I then flip them and let them cool overnight.

I got artsy on the one above but you can make them as simple as you want. I even let my kids paint them and then write Merry Christmas on top as a gift for the grandparents.

Homemade Car mat:

This is so easy! I took a white curtain I was not using and cut it in half. I dyed it brown (optional). Then painted a city scene with roads and all on top. You don’t have to be artistic! You can just paint a simple road scene with no pictures. It’s most likely for a boy right?! If you are artistic have fun! I did mine in the theme of Savannah. I painted River Street, downtown, the beach, parks, a baseball field, and football field. I made one for my nephew with an “Atlanta theme”. Bottom line is it cost me almost nothing! It was time consuming but because I could fold it up and work on different sections at a time, it was easy to work on! You can spend as much or as little money on this project! It has a big impact and is more than just another toy! Two years later this is still one of my son’s favorite toys!

Dress up clothes: Last year I made my kids dress up clothes. I got some things from Goodwill and such but this is a simple pattern for animals. I just cut two pieces of fabric to size and sewed them around a piece of elastic. Simple and easy. Paint some masks from Michaels and your good to go. Here is my awesome husband modeling the frog I made. I wish I had a better picture but it is basically two flaps of fabric sewn to elastic… super easy!!!

Room Re-Do:

This year we are doing something different but fun for the kids! We are rearranging their room! This can cost as little or as much as you want! We are changing some things and they have some new ‘presents’ in each of their room but for the most part it has a big impact for a little price! On Christmas Eve they will sleep in our bedroom and wake up on Christmas morning and unwrap their door to find a “new” room. Santa and his elves will be working late but it will be worth it!

Happy gifting and Merry Christmas!

Give a Little Love

Holiday Habits 4 Responses »

Dec 062011

Mom, it seems like people just take Christmas too far.

These were the words of my 10 year old in the car the other day when It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas was playing on the radio. I asked what he meant and he told me that he was frustrated that everyone was so focused on presents and shopping. “A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots is the wish of Barney and Ben…” I tried to explain that it is okay to have fun and enjoy Christmas, as long as your heart is in the right place. I could see he wasn’t convinced. “Take a look at the five and ten, glistening once again, with candy canes and silver lanes aglow…” It is a conflict that I would guess is on the hearts of many this time of year. It is the same question that Charlie Brown asked so many years ago, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

I really think that a lot of kids want Christmas to be about more than getting stuff. They aren’t blind. They hear us tell them that Christmas is about Jesus, but sometimes that idea is hard to put into practice. They are bombarded with commercials and catalogs until they are sick with wantitis. But what if we filled their minds with something else? What would Jesus want us to do to celebrate His birthday? Jesus said in Matthew 22:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

There are so many ways to help kids practice loving their neighbors. Put together a shoebox for Samaritan’s Purse. Volunteer for an organization that serves the needy. Gather toys and clothes to donate to a local charity. Find a less-fortunate family in the area and do something special for them. Every Christmas I look for new ways to help our kids have generous, giving hearts. This year I was so excited when Angie told me about Light ‘Em Up, from Courtney at Lil Light O’ Mine. The idea is to do one random act of kindness each day until Christmas. If you have an advent calendar that you use already, you can tuck one of these ideas in there for each day (that’s what we did). Or try one of the fun ideas Courtney suggests on her site. I encourage you, if you haven’t already, give this a try. My guys are loving it already!

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