$6 letters from the North Pole

Hey friends,

I'll be taking a little break while I have family in town and celebrate Thanksgiving. I'll also be printing off my Letters from Santa and getting them ready to mail to North Pole Alaska for the cancellation stamp. Letters go out right after Thanksgiving for an early December arrival.  I know everyone is UBER sick of me yakking on forever about these letters.  Just a few more weeks.... I promise.  Keep reading my clever reasons why you should buy... hopefully I'll convince at least 12 of you.

WHY should you buy my Santa Letters?

• They're a fantastic read if I may boast.  Each letter is very detailed about the goings on at the North Pole.  Did you know the North Pole has a clock tower and a Sleigh Shop?  Did you know Santa's rig was being fited with the latest in GPS gadgets?  Yup. 
• They're meaningful.  The letters include a message from Santa about why we celebrate Christmas and urge kiddos to do service to honor our Savior.  They're a great way to combine Santa with the sacredness of the season.
• They're convincing.  Do you have a skeptic?  Are you dying to limp your little skeptic along just one more year... you may get 2 or 3 with these letters.  Older kiddos can't refute the real North Pole cancellation stamp.  Science wins out... Santa sent evidence!
• You're giving a memory.  We only have a few years to mark this little minds up with the most wonderful, magical, memories that they will cherish forever.  A letter from Santa for a child is a memory that will last.
• They're personal.  Every letter is unique to your kiddo.  You provide all the convincing embellishments like place Santa will be flying to, things Santa is proud your kiddo did this year, toy suggestions, pet names, friends to say hi to, siblings to serve... this letter is personal and fun to read.
• It will make me rich. (Enter shameless plug....)  Even moms have dreams of getting out of debt. We dream of financial security, sending kids on missions or to college and we dream of heaven.... a double size laundry room. Okay, it's out of the bag, I'm not independently wealthy.  I'm not a multi-million dollar heiress to a chocolate empire... though one can dream.  Nope.  I'm a mom.  I'm a dyed in the wool, stay at home, bread bakin', clothes makin', lunch tak'n bum spank'n mother of 6 trying to eek out grocery money and next months supply of pull-up undies for my nightime bed wetter. 

If you haven't ordered Santa Letters before, this is your year!  Just try it one year.  Letters are only $6 and will continue to go up as we get into December.  Most letters out there are $10-$20... crazy!  These letters are worth keeping affordable!


HURRY and order now so you can get in on the first shipment!!! 

Christmas Pillows... out of Placemats.

I've made purses out of placemats but what about pillows? Here are a few ideas that are SIMPLE to make. And of course, they're pretty cheap! I love fabulous frugal gifts and decor!

Wouldn't these make great Hostess gifts!

Get yourself some killer looking Christmas placemats. Kohel's sells Christmas placemats (often 50% off) and they're about $3. You can also try Big Lots, Walmart, and Target.

Aproach 1- sew 2 together and stuff with polyfill. WARNING... if any of you have a sewing machine that acts like a princess and is particular... she's going to be sad about thick seams... ya may wanna stock up on sewing needles. For all you fancy machine owners... ignore me and read on. Aproach 2- Only will work if the place mat has a lining on the back that is not attached in the center. ( You can test this by holding the front and back fabric and pulling.. do they come apart? GREAT!) Cut a slit on the end of the back side lining and stuff poly fill on the inside... sew up the slit!

If you don't want to give pillows...come back tomorrow for more ideas!

Oh... Last chance to order your Letters from Santa before I mail out my first shipment after Thanksgiving!  The first shipment will arrive at your home in the beginning of December. Prices are still low but go up as we get into December. Go check out all 8 of my letters and imagine how much fun it would be for your munchkins to have grown up mail come from the REAL North Pole, Alaska!

Thanksgiving Day Helps

I love gathering with my family for Thanksgiving Day.  While I look forward to visiting with relatives and eating fantastic food there are the moments that I try to rehearse in my head.... they involve hungry children- 6 of them, a well decorated house FULL of people( the house isn't mine), and nice dinnerware.... a combination that is sure to make any mothers heart fail.  And, if the mother's heart doesn't fail, the grand-mother, great-grandmother or OCD Aunt's WILL!

So how do you get the family together, let the parents talk, watch the kids, AND keep them out of the kitchen and away from the china?  Well, if you're my family, you give up on china.  My mother informed me we were having decorated paper plates over gold chargers... problem solved for me, no breakables... problem solved for her....less dishes!

Here are a few other links for crafs and things to keep your kiddos occupied during dinner prep.
Several Thanksgiving crafts, coloring pages, puzzles ect.  at Kaboose.com
Thankful Leaf pages... let your guests write what they're thankful for! Family Fun

Photo Pilgrim Napkin rings... featuring your family!  Let you kids put them together.

What do you do to keep your chipmunks under thumb for Thanksgiving Day?

Handmade Ornaments Friday Linky Boutique

Meet my new friend Elizabeth!  She is the designer and owner of her very own unique Christmas ornament esty store called EBornaments.  Elizabeth is an artist, as you can tell... love her Van Goegh.  It will be so pretty with Christmas lights shining through!

See the resemblance to Van Gogh's The Stary Night

Each of her ornaments is hand painted and truly is unique.  I'm fond of this one....

and this one....

and my kiddos would LOVE the fish.

As a mom, I have made a tradition to give each of my 6 children 1 ornament each year that is unique and their very own.  I won't pretend.. it's HARD to find unique ornaments... especially ones that are reasonably priced.

Elizabeth's ornaments are beautiful AND considering you are getting a hand painted one of a kind work of art, they're a scream'n deal.  She also is spreading the crafy love and has a tutorial for you HERE! 

Head over and see all of her creations at her Etsy store EBornaments or at her website EBornaments.com


Or just click on her linky below!  


Christmast Shopping this weekend?  The big day is eeking closer and I know you're looking for fantastic gifts.  Link up below if you'd like to sell something (on your blog or Etsy store) and if you're shopping, go check out these crafty ladies!

Charlie Brown Meets the Grinch... My Christmas Tree

WARNING!!! This post is not for the faint of heart!  It is ugly.  Really Ugly.  IF you're looking for eye candy, scroll down a few posts, or visit my other posts... or head over to the Nester or some other first rate home decorator because... this is terrifying.  and LONG...What?  You're still reading?  You asked for it!!

No, that is not a piece of barbed wire... that is the tip of one of my Christmas tree limbs... and they ALL look that way!  Every side of this tree should go towards the wall.

This is my tree.  If it looks like it's leaning a little, that's because it is.  Severely.  I used to call this our Charlie Brown tree... now it looks more like a bunch of the Grinch's fingertips stuck together.  Doesn't it?... LOOK at it!  THIS IS AN UGLY TREE!

AND, it's balding.  It's more like a deciduous than an ever green.  It's even losing it's limbs.

Of course, that might be from the year when the mice nested in it and the hubby vowed he could fix it (I secretly prayed it would be the end) and he hosed the thing down 3 times with bleach (I thought we'd have a turquoise tree!) and let it sit WET for days... then hosed it down again... thus the rusty tips.  I TOLD YOU this would get terrifying!  Yes, we're using an old un-smellied mouse nested tree!

I'm not sure where I went wrong.  It might have been when I started the tradition of letting my kids help decorate the tree.... to make memories.  This is how they make memories.

That's an ImagiNext guy.  We have a tree full of them....

and these.......

Yes, amid all the decorations-none of which match because I thought it would be another great memory to give my kids a different ornament each year that was unique to what they did that year.- We house our own Sherwood Forest.  AND each year I unpack the tree, I find a few Merry Men hanging out in the branches that were somehow attached too well to be shaken out like the rest of their gang the year before.

Oh yes... minus the beautiful ribbon (Thank you Costco for your 4.95 per 50 yards of wired ribbon) and the tree skirt, this is it.  Wires and all.  Every year I unpack this tree cursing and whining and dreading the event.  No pre-lit here.  We do this mess ourselves.  My kids hang the ornaments (we all draw straws for the lights...  just kidding...  I do them every year- Don't you just love those cords?  This year I finally passed off the duty to my son).

 It's not a beautiful tree by any means and I can't ever justify taking $200 out of our budget to go toward a beautiful tree that opens up as easily as an umbrella. (Maybe if you purchased Santa Letters I could buy a new tree!!... oh ya, that's to pay off the adoptions...grr.)

Each year I curse this tree, but each year it works.  The kids are STILL excited to haul it out, decorate it, redecorate it, hide their "Guys" in it and redecorate it AGAIN.  And each year as I watch them content to play with our tree I think, "I can wait another year.  They'll only want to play with the tree for a short while, then I'll be trying to keep them home during the holidays instead of out with friends."  Sometimes beauty isn't what adorns the Palace rooms but what love and joy is found within them.  This Palace has beauty, and love, in the same room as the ugly tree... and somehow that tree isn't ugly any more... it's a beautiful memory.

Stay tuned because this year I'm going to the extreme to give this tree a face lift and hopefully another year of use, I just bought 6 cans of spray paint:)

$15 Dresser Refinished... Finally!

Yes, I showed you this picture in May.  This has been a long time procrastinator project.  Somehow hauling out the primer and black paint took a back burner to the everyday schedule of life with my 'lil punk-a-noodles. Now this beauty sits in the corner of my bedroom.

Not bad for $15 eh?  See her sister in yellow?  I collect old dressers.  Truth: My new black dresser presently is empty.  It's missing the entire back of the cabinet and the drawers don't work... but it LOOKS fabulous.  I'm sure it will take me another 6 months to restore the drawer runners.  The husband gives me a sideways glance... why did I knock myself out for a broken dresser?

Why?  Because I needed black in that room to make it feel right.  I needed an upright substantial piece of non-working furniture for a mere $15 to take up floor space so I wouldn't have to vacuum in that corner.  And....?

....AND I'd steal horses for those knobs!  $15 dollars is chump change for handles like that!  I'm a sucker for a good drawer pull.

Now the room is balanced... though the dresser's not.  I can roll a marble right off the top.  Everything leans forward severely.  That's fixable too right!  Guess I should have closed that drawer all the way too.  Shameful.  No, this dresser isn't a waste of space.  It's great storage, even if I have to support the drawer when I pull it out.  I could keep plenty in them drawers:)

Now, I just need to finish this FREE dresser I rescued from bulk pick-up day on the side of the road.  No, the drawers don't work, but they will... in 6 more months!
Want to see more DIY projects? Go visit Kimba at her NEW home! or Wendy @The Shabby Nest for Frugal Friday! 

Teaching your Kids to Serve

As Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly approach, there are many opportunities to involve our kiddos in one of the greatest life teaching experiences available: Service.  Somehow, our children transform when they are serving... and so do we.  Whether you host a car wash to raise money for a needy family, mow a neighbors lawn or offer to babysit for free so a couple you know can enjoy a much needed night out... the act of serving softens hearts and creates relief for those you've served and gratitude, empathy, love and family unity for the ones who offer service.  True service is born of love and enlarges the capacity of those who give to give more the next time.

This little punk-a-noodle is mine. She's 4.  She worries about how much milk is in HER glass, who's playing with HER doll, and why the gift we brought to her friend's birthday party isn't going home with HER.  As a family we have enjoyed small moments of serving together and as a parent I LOVE watching the transformation in my children.  We clean the church together on Saturday.... on Sunday they treat the church with more respect.  We babysit for a family who has kids with special needs... my kids take pride in teaching those kids all of the things they're good at and together all the children feel love and are unified.  We make cookies for a neighbor who's struggling.... we watch with excitement and love when those neighbors smile and know we love them.

What I have learned from giving service:

• We love those we serve... if we didn't before, we do after we truly serve them.
• My capacity to accomplish MANY things increases when I serve.  Somehow everything gets done.  There's always time to do something for someone in need.
• My children feel better about themselves.
• My children are grateful, excited to serve again, and truly happy.
• We all have SOMETHING to give.  

WARNING:: Sometimes it is necessary to receive service... graciously.  PLEASE, when someone wants to serve you, let them!  Perhaps you could fold those clothes all by yourself or would get around to mowing your lawn but it's OKAY to allow others a chance to serve and love you... and it's okay to feel relief that a little burden has been lightened.  Just consider how good YOU feel when you give service and allow others the opportunity to bless you!

What opportunities are you taking to teach your kids service?  Do you have traditions this time of year that help you focus on service and the spirit of Thanksgiving or Christmas?