Would you rather.....?

"The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other."

 -- Burton Hillis

DH had surgery last month and this has required a lot of car rides back and forth to doctor's offices for check-ups and follow-ups and what not.  And due to the nature of his surgery, he is not yet able to drive long distances, so I have been doing all of the driving.  These trips can be somewhat monotonous, especially when then kids are with us.  And on occasion, one of their electronic devices runs out of batteries.  *The Horror* 

Well, I was ready for it this last time with a rousing Christmas rendition of Would you rather?  For those of you who don't know the game, the premise if very simple.  You ask the question would you rather, and then you have a choice of two answers.  Boys like this game because when they make up the questions, they inevitable involve something gross like eat your own boogers, or eat someone else's earwax.  Ewwwwww.  But you get the picture.

Birthday Party Ideas 4 Kids has a Christmas version of this game.  With a wide variety of questions.  Would you rather be in a scene from the movie Home Alone or Elf?  (Me - Elf.  The kids - Home Alone) Would you rather wrap 100 presents or decorate 10 trees?  (Me - wrap presents.  The kids - decorate trees.)Would you rather have a red Rudolph nose or a Frosty button nose?  (I don't think we got a straight answer on this one.)  You get the idea.  And we usually require our kids to give their reasons - it turns into some pretty hilarious and thought-provoking discussions.

From my board "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Elf on the Shelf (again)

"Being a parent is holding the magic of childhood safely in your hand." - Unknown

Is anyone else completely elfed out by now?  Now that I don't work nights anymore, I have taken over the nightly duty of the elves, as it has been relinquished by my husband.  I don't know if I've just been doing it so many years that I'm tired out by it or just have run out of new and exciting ideas.  So of course I turn to trusty Pinterest for inspiration.

And it never disappoints.  Skinnymom.com has gathered 101 Elf on the Shelf ideas.  There was one I particularly liked.

Boy were the boys disappointed when they couldn't find all 6!  Don't fear, they did find it later after school.

French elves hanging out in the front door wreath checking out the neighborhood activities.

 Creepy peeping tom elf!

Sorry so few pictures, but I had to rely on many repeats from past years.  Need to get my game on again for next year!

From my board "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Holiday Sled Decoration

"Snow provokes responses that reach right back to childhood."
  -- Andy Goldsworthy

I have a friend who is super crafty and last year showed me a picture of an old sled she had decorated and put on her front porch at Christmastime.  So when I was visiting my parents and helping clean out the garage, you can be sure I grabbed my old wooden sled to bring home.  And it sat in the garage for several months.

When I saw a picture again this year, I knew I had to try it and I found this picture on Pinterest.  It was posted by indulgy.com. 

I wanted a look that was more wintery than Christmas so that I can keep it on my front porch for a while.  My friend's sled had an old pair of skates tied to it too.  I just may have to keep an eye out for mine for next year!



From my board "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Paper Snowflakes

"Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery." -- Bill Watterson

Sometimes nothing is as much fun as partaking in childish childhood pasttimes.  I remember cutting snowflakes out as a kid.  You just randomly cut triangles and angles into the paper and out came all these randomly beautiful different flakes.

I guess I didn't realize how HARD it was to fold that paper so that you would get a six-sided snowflake.

At one of my previous job, there was a girl who one year cut out these amazing snowflakes with snowmen and reindeers and trees and other such things cut into them!  At the time I looked and looked on-line (this was pre-Pinterest) era and couldn't find anything.  And I am definitely not creative or patient enough to figure out how to cut them so they would come out in such a way.

But now thanks to the advent of Pinterest, I can easily find such directions.  As usual, I've had these pinned for a while.  And it looks like the link is gone.  However, the pictures are good enough to be able to follow the directions.  And if you look, you can find other sites which use the same or similar instructions.

This one has reindeer heads.  Can you see them?

They look really pretty on windows that are lighted from behind!

 

Our medical assistant had fun cutting out snowflakes from Frozen - Olaf and Sven designs.  We even had a Batman snowflake!

From my page "Creativity is like electricity"