7 Days of Christmas: Day 7 - Cookies & Hot Chocolate for Santa (Bonus: Track Santa's Journey)

If you're in need of some easy last minute cookie recipes for Santa, look no further.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

While it's not the healthiest, one of my go-to recipes in the past were peanut butter blossoms. It was always a favorite, so I never rocked the boat by trying to tweak it or make it healthier. The peanut butter recipe was actually on a Jif peanut butter container (check it out here). For peanut butter blossoms, all you have to do is add a Hershey's Kiss immediately after taking them out of the oven.

Click here to get the recipe!

Cookie Bars

After reading some blog posts about how to use up Halloween candy back in October, I stumbled upon a cookie bar recipe that was actually from scratch! I love it because you can use whatever candy you have on hand (or pick red and green candies for Christmas!). This is the perfect recipe to use up any half full bags of chocolate chips or candy you might still have left over from Halloween (believe it or not, we do). Get the recipe here!

Click here to get the recipe!

Hot Chocolate Recipe

Sometimes Santa gets bored of plain old milk with his cookies... and by Santa, I mean me. Why not switch it up this year with an easy hot chocolate recipe? Don't forget the marshmallows! Try some of these easy and awesome recipes!


My son wants to leave out hot chocolate and eggnog, as well as a note asking which Santa prefers. That's totally fine with me, because Daddy likes eggnog and Mommy likes hot chocolate!

Track Santa's Journey!

Find out where Santa is right now with Google Santa Tracker! You and your children can see where he is, and what his next stop will be! Check it out here!


Happy Holidays to everybody! Don't get so wrapped up with everything that you forget to enjoy yourself!

7 Days of Christmas: Day 6 - Cheap, Last-Minute Christmas Gifts!

If you're like me, and you wait until the last minute to buy/make Christmas gifts, then these quick, cheap, and last-minute options will be right up your alley!

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Spoiler Alert for anybody we give gifts to: this is what you're getting this year. Hope you like Teriyaki! I can't remember where I got this recipe for the life of me, but it's extremely simple. What I love about this gift is that it's practically free. We up-cycled old lemonade bottles for the container, and we usually have all of the ingredients on hand. All I did for the label was print some business card size labels in Microsoft Publisher, punched a hole in each one, and tied them around the bottles with a ribbon.

Teriyaki Recipe Ingredients 1-2 teaspoons oil (for coating pan) 1/2 teaspoon Ginger, grated (about 1/2 inch piece) 1 tablespoon Garlic, minced (about 2-3 large cloves) 1/2 cup Water 1/2 cup Soy Sauce 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (I use 1/4 tsp.) Directions Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan on medium-high heat. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan first, immediately followed by the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Use immediately, or allow the sauce to cool and put it in a container.

Cookie Bars

These are even easier than regular cookies, in my opinion, making them perfect for the last minute. They're less time-consuming because you don't have to form individual cookies; just press the dough into a casserole dish and cut it into bars after it's baked and cooled. I originally used this recipe for leftover Halloween candy, but you can easily find Christmas colored candy to use (think red and green M&Ms or candy cane pieces).

Check out the recipe here!

DIY Ornaments

The baking soda ornaments may not be the quickest gift to make, but if you've already made them they're a breeze to handout as a last-minute gift. You may want to remember that for the years ahead: these homemade ornaments can be a day of fun with your family and presents!

The puzzle ornaments, on the other hand, can be made fairly quickly... about as long as it takes to put the puzzle pieces together, Mod Podge them, and let the dry.

Check out the original post here!

DIY Beauty Products

Honey, Yogurt, & Lemon Face Mask

Back in November I posted a recipe for a honey, yogurt, and lemon face mask that makes a wonderful gift idea. Just be sure to remind the recipient that this mask needs to be refrigerated when not in use. Check it out here!

Herbal Tea Rinse

This is also a wonderful gift idea, because it can be customized for any hair type. You can make a blend specifically for hair loss, oily hair, or just a general use rinse! Check out the post here for different tea blends!

7 Days of Christmas: Day 5 - Kid-Friendly Christmas Tree Craft

This is a fun craft to do with kids of almost any age. Theses ice cream cones go perfectly with a ginger bread house, but they also make a great craft by themselves! They are perfect for little hands, and are much easier to assemble than a gingerbread house. As with many of the DIY projects I feature, this was inspired by a pin on Pinterest (check it out here).

What You Need

I forgot to picture the green food coloring. You can use a much
greater variety of candies, if you desire.

• Sugar Cones (the pointy ones)
• Vanilla or Cream Cheese Frosting (lighter colored frosting will be easier to turn green)
• Green Food Coloring 
• Assorted Candy (we used M&M's Pull-n-Peel Twizzlers, Gum Drops, & some spare candy from our gingerbread house kit)

Directions

• Add green food coloring to frosting, 1 or 2 drops at a time, until desired green is achieved.
• Place the Sugar Cones upside-down and frost them until they look somewhat like green trees. Young children may need help with this part.
• Decorate your Christmas trees with candy!

7 Days of Christmas: Day 4 - Santa Sack (& FREE Printout!)

What does Santa do with the presents he brings your children? In some households, like Daddy's when he was a kid, Santa didn't bother to wrap presents. I guess I can understand that. The big guy's pretty busy. Mine were always wrapped, usually in a different color, unless it was something awkward to wrap like a bike.

Well, another option is the Santa Sack! It's a special bag from the North Pole that Santa puts your child's presents in. I was browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago, when I can across the inspiration to create my own Santa Sack (check it out here).

It saves you the trouble of wrapping Santa's presents, if you do. Otherwise, it will add a magical touch to your child's Christmas morning.

The Santa Sack!

For this project, you'll need:

• White T-Shirt Transfers
• White Pillowcase (1 per child)
• Iron

Directions

1. Click here to print out the FREE Santa Sack printout! The text is mirrored in the printouts, but it will appear normal once you iron them on to the pillowcase. Be sure to print them on your transfers. You'll need 2 transfers for each Santa Sack you're making.
2. Try to center the printouts onto the wrinkle-free pillowcase, image side down. Be sure to place the bottom transfer about 3 inches above the bottom of the pillowcase.
   
3. Follow the directions that came with your White T-Shirt Transfers for transferring the images onto the pillowcase. 
   
4. Gently peel off the transfer backing, holding down the transfer and the pillowcase, to reveal the finished product!
   
5. Wait at least 24 hours before using the Santa Sack. Fill it with presents from Santa on Christmas Eve, and tie it with a ribbon!

The final product is now ready for Santa to deliver!

We used a king size pillowcase, but a standard will work just as well. We wanted to be sure there would be enough room, in case Santa brought something large.   

7 Days of Christmas: Day 3 - Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!I try to teach my son that Christmas is not all about getting presents. Each year we even pick out a toy to donate to Toys For Tots! Since Christmas isn't all about receiving, we also like to make DIY presents to give away. Two years ago those DIY gifts included ornaments that we made ourselves!

These were fun to make, and even more fun to give away!

You only need 3 ingredients for these ornaments: baking soda, cornstarch, and water! I found the original inspiration for this project on Pinterest (what a surprise). Check it out here!

DIY Ornaments

Baking Soda Ornaments:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of baking soda
• 1 cup of cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups of water

What You'll Need:

• Sauce Pan
• Bowl
• Spoon
• Plastic Wrap
• Cookie Cutters

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook them over medium heat, stirring consistently, until it is too thick to stir with a spoon. 
2. Cool for 15 minutes, or until the dough is cool to the touch. Knead it for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap when not in use.
3. Roll dough out to desired thickness (however thick you'd like your ornament to be), and use cookie cutters to cut dough into shapes. Don't forget the holes for string or hooks!
4. Lay the ornaments flat to dry. This may take a few days (depending on how thick they are), so put them out of the way. The sunnier a spot it is, the better. Flip them over every day while they're drying to avoid raised edges.

You can paint them once they dry!

Recycled Puzzle Ornaments:

This actually an original idea, y'all! I love this DIY ornament idea because it involves upcycling, or using something that I otherwise would've thrown away. I found an old Power Rangers puzzle (ORIGINAL Power Rangers for those of you old enough to remember!) in Daddy's old mementos, but upon further inspection I realized some of the pieces were missing. I know, it's not that surprising considering it's a 20 year old puzzle. It meant too much to Daddy to just throw away, so I decided to try something out. These ones were for our personal use, and not given away.

I was actually inspired for this ornament by how a puzzle was packaged in Wal-Mart! They had puzzles on sale for Christmas, and they had an adorable little puzzle piece ornament attached to the outside of the box! I thought to myself, "I can do that!"

Of course their puzzle ornaments were only one piece, but mine didn't work out that way. There was no single piece with a picture on it that made any sense. I guess that's why you have to put the puzzle together...

I'm still super happy with mine though! I used Mod Podge (puzzle saving glue) to paint the peices and hold them together. I brushed both sides with Mod Podge, but make sure to let it dry before flipping it over. Otherwise you'll end up with newspaper stuck to your ornament, or Mod Podge stuck to your surface.

7 Days of Christmas: Day 2 - FREE Letter from Santa & Santa's Footprints!

Another tradition in our household for the last two years at Christmas is that Santa sends our son a personal letter! The first year my mom actually paid for one to be mailed here from some online service. However, we were lucky enough to find a free one that AAA offers last year!

AAA is not endorsing me for this post in any way. I only wanted to share this awesome Letter from Santa with you guys. It's completely free, and you don't even have to be a member!

My son loves getting these personalized letters! Click here to get yours!

Screenshot from AAA.com.
To create your own custom letter for your child, click here!

You can "mail" it to your child (there is an option to print out an additional postmark to glue/tape onto an envelope), or you can make it even more special by having Santa personally deliver the note!

Imagine Santa's footprints leading up to the letter he left for your child!

I found the inspiration for Santa's footprints on Pinterest originally (Click here to see it!), but I tweaked it just a little bit. Rather than trace a boot, cut it out, and use it as a stencil, I just dipped Daddy's work shoe in a shoe box filled with a small amount of flour (yes, Santa has two right feet) and made magical footprints on the floor! They're magical because the snow doesn't melt, but they could look even more magical if you mixed in glitter!

You could also just do this on Christmas Eve for the morning.
Ours led in from the balcony. 

7 Days of Christmas: Day 1 - Polar Express Christmas Light Tour (Free Printable Polar Express Ticket!)

Last year started a new tradition in our household:

The Polar Express Christmas Light Tour! 

My 5 year old son LOVES the Polar Express movie! After being inspired by a pin on Pinterest (click here to see the original pin!), I decided to try our own Polar Express ride! 

After watching the Polar Express one random night before Christmas (a night that Daddy was off!), we told our then 4 year old son to put on his pajamas and brush his teeth for bed just like any other night. However, when he got to his bed he found more than just pajamas... there was a surprise waiting for him!

Along with his PJs, he found a blanket and a "ticket" for the Polar Express! Last year's ticket read: 

The bearer of this ticket is entitled to one magical Polar Express ride, complete with popcorn, hot chocolate, & Christmas lights!

We had hot chocolate made, popcorn popped, and candy ready to go. We headed down to the "Polar Express" (our car), and drove around looking at local Christmas lights (while listening to Christmas music, of course). It was an amazing experience for my son, especially since he only thought he was going to bed! It went so well, we decided to make it a regular Christmas tradition.

Look how happy he is!

Last year's ticket was hand-drawn at the last minute, but this year we (I have to credit Daddy) decided to create a more thought-out one on the computer. I've included a link to download a printable ticket for your child (or children; print as many as you need!) so that you can enjoy a Polar Express Christmas Light Tour with them too! Simply print out the PDF file, cut out each side of the ticket, and glue them together. We have some laminating sheets we'll be using to make ours a bit more durable.

Don't forget the hot chocolate and goodies!

Click here to download the Polar Express Christmas Light Tour ticket, or click on the photo!

Click here to download the Polar Express Christmas Light Tour ticket, or click on the photo!