Christmas eve Joy bags

 

I have felt some heartache this Christmas (every year...but this year 2020 especially), for those that will be shut in, quarantined, alone this Christmas Eve and Christmas.  It happens every year, but it will be much more prominent this year as many older people are having to stay in by themselves.  Many churches are doing online services, so Christmas Eve and Christmas day services will not be in person either.  So, for many people, there will be no personal interaction...which breaks my heart.  So, I wanted to do something for a few people I knew who would be alone.  I wanted to include some funny things, some useful things, some treats, activities and some inspiring Scripture and messages.  So, I went on pinterest and put all these things together and put them into a stocking.  Thank you to all the bloggers who have made these tags and printables - all of them free.  So, all you need to do is make a trip to the Dollar store and buy the items (total was $12 per stocking...including the stocking)!  The only things that I didn't get there was the puzzle (which I already had on hand) and the colored pencils - which I had leftover from the back-to-school sales at Walmart.  

Here are the things I included - but maybe you have stuff on hand already - and many of these (like kisses, candy canes, etc) come 8-10 to a pack.  

Buy a little sanitizer and attach this cute "santa-tizer" tag to it! thank you to "Main Event Prints" blog for the printable.

U-create Crafts made this great M&M printable using religious Christmas Story references.

This is one of my favorites.  This is a beautiful printable by Darling Doodles <3 

Chapstick!  Dollar tree had Christmas ones for $1 or other kinds 3 for $1. Fun for little ones made this cute tag.

The Legend of the Candy cane is a good printable or you can use this bookmark printable from My computer is my Canvas that explains the symbolism of the candy cane legend.

I found this idea at How Does She and made my own tag using fun fonts from fontmeme. 

I modified this tag because it was meant for a mixture of foods.  Because of COVID, people (especially our older friends) would prefer bagged items instead of prepared food.  So, I just cut off the bottom of the tag and only included bugles and pretzels. From Caramel Potatoes.

I love the Happy Home Fairy and she has the cutest free printables.  Including some corny jokes in the stocking would be great!

If you want to include a Hershey's chocolate bar (I ended up not doing this one because it was $5...but it's cute) here is a printable from Esty.  

Lastly, I wrote out a card with "Merry Kiss-mas" (which you could also print here from Etsy for $3 or elf kisses here) and included colored pencils and an inspiritional word search and coloring book from the Dollar store - saying "May your Christmas be inspirational and full of color" :)   

I put all of the items into a stocking from the Dollar store and I'm going to deliver them on the 22nd with a note attached that says, "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE OR CHRISTMAS DAY" :) 

Merry Christmas and God bless!  May your Christmas be full of love, peace and joy...

  

5 lessons this Christmas

This Christmas has been a little different than Christmas's past.  I guess they're all different in a way, but this one has seemed different in more ways than one and I wanted to share what I've learned.

1.  This is more of a silly one...but one nonetheless.  This was my first Christmas working in our church and the lesson I re-learned this year is to BE CREATIVE :)  Or, to think outside the box.  And maybe also to be flexible :) I started something new at the church (which I've done at other churches but not here) called Advent angels.  I don't know how others felt, but I had a blast :) Also, I had to be creative in coming up with a way to make more angel costumes without it taking forever (or costing a lot).  Thank you Dollar Store :)  $2 a pair and 5 minutes per set of wings :) I'll have to post a pic later :)  I enjoyed the season immensely and thank God for the opportunities He has given me!
2. On a more serious note, I learned to not put important things off...and NOT TO WAIT.  A very sweet lady at our church passed away about a week before Christmas.  She was the first one to open up her house to us when we moved here.  She lived in a retirement home but that mattered not.  You can still be hospitable and kind no matter the environment.  She also had a faith that was so strong she witnessed to people not only in life, but even more so in death.

After we moved into our new home, she wanted to come over and see our house - because she knew the people who owned it before us, and because, well, she loved us :)  But it was never a good time and we kept putting it off...and now we've lost our chance.

3.  This wonderful lady showed me something else this season.  You see, yesterday, we received her Christmas card <3  She had them all ready to go but they hadn't been sent yet - so her children did it for her :)  To get a card from her, after her passing...well, it was surreal and amazing.  I'll share her words from her note with you, "Christmas is almost here but amid all the activities, obligations and celebrations, my priority is getting in touch with each of you..."  And her card said, "A time for telling the special people in our lives they are fondly remembered, cherished, and loved today and all year through."  REMEMBER YOUR LOVED ONES.

4.  OPEN YOUR EYES.  We have shared a few "firsts" with our children this advent season.  One, we watched "The Nativity" movie with them for the first time.  I also hadn't seen it in a few years.  Second, we watched "The Miracle of Christmas" at Sight and Sound Theater. Both times, I watched and listened to the birth story as if for the first time...hearing nuances I hadn't heard before, seeing details that I had missed or forgotten.  It's easy to glaze over something you've heard many times...but try to hear and see the story with fresh eyes and a renewed interest.  Feel Mary's pain when she was shunned, feel Joseph's frustration and bewilderment when he finds out, rejoice when the angel tells Joseph, feel the sense of urgency and helplessness when Joseph can't find a place for them to stay, watch the shepherds' stunned faces that turn into delight and then pure joy as they encounter the angels...The story is a myriad of emotions - let yourself get swept away in them and see them with new eyes.

5.  BE THANKFUL AND COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS.  As many of you know, Noe's grandmother passed away yesterday.  It was unexpected and his family had to make quick preparations.  Without going in to detail, the funeral had to be set for Saturday which meant we had to make a very quick decision on what he would do.  He had no doubt - he had to go.  Despite the fact that we didn't have the money to pay for the entire ticket, we bought it anyway.  Then a voice in my head told me to ask for help.  Noe has been a blessing to me, our children and so many other people I knew that if I asked for help, it would come.  I just knew.  God is good that way.  Giving us hope when we feel hopeless.  I had no idea what to expect, but we collected over half the cost of the ticket in less than 24 hours and he left with a smile on his face and relief in his heart.  There have been some struggles this Christmas, but we have so much to be thankful for...including our wonderful friends and family.  The Juarez household may have an empty chair tomorrow morning when we wake up on Christmas, but I know that chair will soon be filled again.  Many people don't have that hope.  Please keep them in your prayers this Christmas.

God bless everyone this Christmas season and may God shower you with love, joy and hope next year :)

Candy cane crafting!

We are having a Christmas get-together/meeting at our house this week and I wanted to make a little "thank you" treat to give to everyone that will be attending.  I browsed pinterest and found a
couple of blogs that talked about being able to bend candy canes...not melt them...but bend them.  I was intrigued so I thought this would be fun for me and the kids to make for our guests :)  Unfortunately, it proved too hard for my youngest to "bend" (too hot for her young fingers and she got frustrated trying to use tools) and my oldest was only interested in designing the shape...not bending them :)  But they helped out in other ways - laying the out on the parchment paper, getting them out of the packaging, coming up with different designs, helping me decide if what I made was good :) and then placing them in bags at the end and tying them with a bow.

All you need is parchment paper, candy canes and a baking sheet and you're good to go :)  Both blogs I read said different temperatures and times.  Every oven is different, but after multiple tries I found my gas oven to work best at 270 for 4-5 minutes.  300 proved to be too hot even at 2-3 minutes.

My first attempt was at a heart.  I layed it out as pictured below:

It really didn't matter if the the cc were exactly where you needed them, but I found that once you pull them out of the oven you only have a short window until they get hard again - so having them where you want them helps speed things up :)  To make the little circles (which I call "ornaments" ;) I just used one regular candy cane and shaped it into a circle - easy :)

After the heart turned out well I got adventurous and tried to make the word "Joy".  The "J" was easy because it's the shape of a cc.  For the "o" I broke off the stem and then for the "y" I broke the loop in half and split it (like below).

It took some fast "bending" but they turned out neat!

My daughter designed the star in the top middle.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out because it's 4 sticks place on top of each other - but I think it looks great!  My son designed the flower below - it also turned out good...it just used quite a few candy canes :)  the sideways looking "g's" in the above picture were my attempt at making little sleds with a gift sack on top...too ambitious :)  they just look like "g's".  lol  I was hoping that once I filled in the sacks it would help...but it didn't ;)

I also made quite a few crosses - all of them different - but I don't think any of them look better than another.  But it was easier to just get two sticks (rather than 1 long and 2 short) and just smush them together in the middle :)

The last two things I tried were a snowman and a Christmas tree.  My kids had their doubts but applauded my efforts :)  They both broke as I we were putting them into the baggies and I had to re-heat them and mold the pieces together better.  But I like them :)

The snowman is pretty obvious - 3 candy canes each one shorter than the other.  The Christmas tree took 5 candy canes stacked on top of each other and the stem is shorter on each level.  I couldn't get the top quite right...I think a curved top would've looked better...

So, after we made enough for all of our guests to get one, we copied an idea from the other blog I read and filled in some of our creations with melted white chocolate...cause...why not? :)

The picture of the pan above (with the little "g's" :) were all the pieces we filled in.  I forgot to get an "after" picture, but here are a few examples.  Then, we wrapped them in little bags and tied them with a bow :)  It was fun!!

Have fun Candy Cane crafting!! :)

Advent Angels

In the first church where I worked they did something called Advent angels. I don't think they came up with it - they probably got the idea from somewhere else, but I loved the idea so I've done it at every church I've worked at! The idea is for the children (and youth and adults!), to make four crafts-one for each week in advent. Then, each child is either assigned a shut-in or someone in the church who is sick or going through a hard time (or they may know of someone in need in their own neighborhood). During each week of advent, the children/families/adults deliver their gifts to their assigned person...BUT, the catch is, you can't let the person know who you are until the last week! :)  I can't tell you how much fun my kids had sneaking around, leaving gifts and running :)  And to see the gratitude on the faces of the recipients during the last week is priceless :)  Here are a few activities we've done in the past and a few we're going to do this year.
   In actuality, we try and use stuff around the church.  I am also a bargain shopper so I shop after Christmas and get things for the next year.  We don't have a large budget so creativity is key :)
  Also, you have to remember, we make them all at one time - and there are four to make...so they can't take long (and unless you have a lot of helpers, some of them need to be quite easy and self-explanatory).  I like to have one station a Christmas card station where they make a simple but neat card, that includes a little poem, to send on the first Sunday to explain what is going on (free printable).  I also assume that many of the people that we're sending our gifts to are stuck in their rooms or houses a lot.  So, for the four gifts, I try and make one an ornament, one a table decoration, one that includes food and then an extra one.

  So, here are some ideas to kick off your Advent Angels :)

I got some flower pots on sale at the end of  summer so I'm looking for a project with these...
I like the simple red pot with the black belt - might let them put some sequins on it to "bling" it up a bit :)  But what to fill it with?...

table decoration:  We did something similar one year.  This one is quite ornate and ours were not :)  We bought styrofoam trees (on sale :) and wrapped garland around them and hung small ornaments (from the dollar tree) on the garland.  It proved harder than I thought so I would suggest spray painting them all green beforehand and then decorating like the one above.

Christmas Card:  Cute idea for the front of the card - except you would obviously write "Merry Christmas" :)

Food:  We did this Rudolph water last year, in addition to our own
variation of the trail mix pictured as well.  I used plastic containers for
our mix.  The only problem I had was the nose falling off the water bottle - I think glue
dots is your best choice.

Ornament:  We have tons of little glass ornaments like these laying around so we might do this ornament this year.  It's pretty simple according to the "pin" (website is no longer functioning).  Just swirl Pledge floor cleaner inside to take away the static, then pour in glitter!  I hope it's that easy!

I got these advent calendars from oriental trading on sale one year.  Even my three year olds could do this with minimal help and they turned out quite cute.  I'm not a fan of "mass produced" crafts - but with so many to do, I end up doing about one per year.  Like this one - it turned out beautifully! 

Food:  This is always cute to do.  Red hots, what looks like an empty squished baggie (no link from pinterest), a baggie full of hot chocolate and mini-marshmallows!  and don't forget the googly eyes :-) not too hard...

This is pretty cute.  You could go many directions with a DIY advent calendar!

Ornament:  very cute.  I did this once with preschoolers and put their picture in it :)  I let them roll the cookie cutter in glitter as well - always better with glitter!  

How darn creative.  I love this - on SOOO many levels!!  I'm thinking, teacher gifts, when my husband goes off on trips, advent angels, you NAME it!  Pill cases like this are $1 but sometimes I see them on sale and sometimes in packs of  two.  I'm thinking, give this on the last week of advent so they can count down until Christmas - put Christmas related Bible verses in each day, maybe a Christmas joke or two, a few Christmas candies (wonder if hershey kisses would fit?) and a few notes from their little angel :)

I did this once with a group of preschoolers.  It's very quick and easy.  Let it dry and wrap it in a baggie.  You could tie a ribbon around it and slip it in a gift bag or goody bag.

Cute tag that you could attach to any gift...or you could include it in the card above :-)

Whatever you decide to make for your person, it will be appreciated!  I hope you participate in Advent Angels and have a very meaningful Advent season!  Make sure and remember those in need and suffering this Christmas season - it's such a happy time for most of us, but there are some that will be dreading the season.  Do something to make someone smile! :-)

In Christ,

Laurie