Two More Sleeps!

Christmas is only two days away, and I could not be more excited. Money is tight this year, so to ease the burden, we decided to do homemade Christmas for family. I have spent the past month baking cookies, making treats, making ornaments, and putting baskets together.

Image and recipe from Allrecipes.com

Image and recipe from Hershey.com

Image and recipe from BettyCrocker.com

Image and recipe from Allrecipes.com

Even though the idea of homemade Christmas came out of financial need more than anything else, I am thinking that I want to make it a tradition. I am already collecting recipes for homemade spice rub, roasted nuts, and this great salt scrub from Kelle Hampton's blog.

I am not just wanting to go all out with the homemade goodies for extended family, either. I am loving the idea of having a large homemade component for our own Christmas as well. As mentioned previously, I'm taking a sewing class in January and I have a (maybe too ambitious?) dream of making coordinating patchwork Christmas stockings for my family. I may even sew an extra one for a potential second child, though who knows if and when there even will be one?

And I love the idea of this homemade advent calendar by Martha Stewart. I'd fill each toddler sock with a Hershey's Kiss!

I LOVE the idea of this DIY play kitchen found on ohdeedoh.

Can you believe it was made from an old TV stand? Love it.

And of course there are the traditional photobooks, photo ornaments, and photo calendars easily found online.

I want my gifts for family and friends to be personal. I love the idea of Homemade Christmas to lessen the commercialism that is so common this type of year. Maybe one year I will succeed in having an entirely homemade Christmas.

So what are our plans for this Christmas?

Well, Christmas Eve will be just us three. We will stay home, eat yummies, drink cocoa, watch Christmas movies, and maybe take a snow dusted nature walk through the woods if the weather permits and the mood is right.

We will eat a simple dinner of beer and cheddar fondue, complimented by a sandwich table complete with chicken, cheeses, tomatoes, onions, pickles and stuffed olives.Before church we will each open one gift, and to our surprise it will be Pajamas to ensure that we are a) warm and cozy on the night before Christmas, and b) cute in photos the next morning. Our Sweet Baboo will also get a matchbox car, since let's face it, clothes are not exciting for kids.

Image from Pajamagram.com

 We will then attend my parents' church. Ideally we'd be attending our own church, but theirs has child care on Christmas Eve night, whilst ours does not. Even if Our Sweet Baboo doesn't want to stay in the nursery, they have a big, usually empty balcony where we can sit and he can wander around. I love our small church, but it's not conducive to toddlers, since there's no out of the way places to sit with them where they won't disturb everyone else. Our church is having a wonderful candlelight service, which I am sad to miss, but at least at my parents' church I won't have to worry about my toddler accidentally lighting the place on fire. Hopefully this time next year we'll be at our church on Christmas Eve, but Christmas is about family, and I don't mind accomodating my little guy for one more year.

After church we are going to take a leisurely drive around to look at Christmas lights, and our babe will probably fall asleep in the car. I'll carry him up to our bed and snuggle him until he settles, and he will already be wearing his Christmas jammies so we won't have to worry about changing him. Then the Hubbs and I will put away all but his favourite doll, to make room for all the toys he'll be opening from Grandparents, Great Grand Parents, and of course, his own parents the next morning. We'll drink a few Christmas cocktails, maybe watch a cheesy Christmas special, then join our little guy in bed. And the next morning when we wake up it will be Christmas!!!!

We will spend a blissful day eating all day breakfast, enjoying our gifts, and being together, and in the early evening we will head over to my cousin's house where they are hosting an enormous dinner for our whole extended family. We will eat on our laps and enjoy our twice yearly get-together. Our little guy will fall asleep in the car on the way home, and I will carry him upstairs and tuck him in, then the Hubbs and I will crawl in beside him.

Our Tree

I'd love to hear your holiday plans, so feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you're up to! Hope your Christmas is Merry! See you in the New Year!

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