Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Making chocolate covered pretzels is a Christmas tradition.  We made these for O and E's dance teacher.

O(5) had fun drizzling the melted chocolate on the pretzels.  E(2) stood in the kitchen helper and observed, but I was afraid to hand her a fork covered with melted chocolate...it would have gone straight into her mouth!




Super simple and fast to make!



Prettily packaged, and we were done!

Bear Stays Up for Christmas

Both girls LOVE Bear Stays Up for Christmas!



 

Our go-along activity was making handmade gifts for our family and friends just like Bear did!  We had a busy day of making!  (more on the gifts in other posts)

Christmas Card Puzzles

I was so excited to find these Christmas card puzzles a few days ago (that I made 2 years ago).  E(2) had fun with this activity, but she needed a little help at first. 




To make this activity, just cut a square from each Christmas card and have your child match the squares to the correct cards.  It's fun, and it's a great activity for teaching attention to details and concentration skills!

Decorating a Pine Cone "Tree" Work

This work is copied from one that I saw in O(5)'s school on Monday.   I put a very large pinecone in a basket along with a jar to stand it in and decorations for it (pipe cleaners, pompoms, and tiny ornaments).



We stood the "tree" in the jar and started decorating.  We had to use a light touch so that it wouldn't fall over.  E(2) was much more interested in decorating herself with they shiny pipe cleaners, but O(5) enjoyed decorating the pine cone, and I did, too!







I really love our huge pine cone, but I think this would be a little more manageable with a smaller one...I'm going to hunt for one tomorrow!

Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells is another favorite book from my childhood!  E(2) really loves it and requests that we read it often.



After we read Jingle Bells, I made jingle shakers for the girls.  I used a hot glue gun to attach a bell to a craft stick.  The girls ran around shaking them and singing and dancing.  E dropped one shaker, and it immediately broke.  O(5) dropped BOTH of hers to see if they would break...they did (I was not a happy mama).  So, a few days later, I reglued them using craft glue.  They seem to be a little sturdier...so far.

Queen of Christmas

The Queen of Christmas was a recent advent book for us, and the girls both enjoyed it. 



After Elliott read the book to them, they wrote their letters to Santa (with help).  I printed the letters from Lily and Thistle which made the process fairly simple.  Here's the link.   O(5) has asked Santa to bring mini Marie-Grace and Cecile dolls, and she'd also like buttons (for her button collection) and Indian beads.  E(2) would like a tiny pretend pig and a hankerchief (at one point, she was saying she wanted a "buh-loo (blue) hankerchief from Awaska (Alaska)."  Thank goodness, she's no longer being so specific because that's just not do-able!

A Magical Christmas & A Gumdrop Tree

A Magical Christmas was one of our advent books. 



Our go-along activity was decorating our gumdrop tree, which is always a favorite activity for the girls!  (we're still using the same styrofoam tree form...4 years in a row, but I think this is the last year for it!)
 
The girls were very creative with the tree this year!



 
Here's the finished tree!  They were so excited to be finished because I let them each eat a couple of gumdrops after they were done.



O(5) was upset that you couldn't see the cotton balls in the first picture, so I rotated it and took a few more...she is PROUD of this gumdrop tree!



 
She calls the top a "double decker extra."


 

A Christmas Eraser Work

I handed E(2) this basket of Christmas erasers yesterday morning and said "Here, play  with these."  I expected her to play pretend with them...she loves to play with tiny animals and people, and I love to hear her talk for them.
 
So, I was surprised when I heard her talking her way through sorting them into piles of like objects.  She really enjoyed this!



 



Then she started handing them to me and was saying "This one is for you. This one is for me.  This one is for dada...."  After that she said she was making a "patterin" (pattern), and she spent a long time arranging them in their basket.



When O(5) got home from school, she immediately noticed the basket of erasers.  She also got right to work sorting them!  The only difference was that she made stacks instead of lines!



Who knew that a basket of erasers could be so much fun???

Christmas "I Spy" Ornament

This "I Spy" ornament was fun to make!  I cut the strings off of a set of tiny Christmas ornaments, including a wreath, snowman, red bird, Santa, etc.  After they were stringless, I put them in the plastic ornament and added in the paper confetti strips.  I glued it shut and added a ribbon...done!  (I'll add a list of things to find...eventually)

E(2) immediately started searching for objects!





I'm so happy with how these "I Spy" ornaments turned out!  These are on my handmade gifts list for next year...I'll stock up on the supplies this year after Christmas :)

Josie's Gift

The girls love reading Josie's Gift.  It's a beautiful story about the true meaning of Christmas.



After reading Josie's Gift, the girls enjoyed setting up and playing with their felt board nativity set. 

 

 
Here is the link to last year's post about this nativity felt board set. 

The Sweet Smell of Christmas

The Sweet Smell of Christmas was our book of the day for Friday.  I love this book and remember reading it when every Christmas when I was a child.  My mom gave O(5) this copy on her first Christmas, and it's always a favorite. 


After we read the book, the girls and I made candy cane playdough.  Here is the basic recipe:

1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
Food coloring of your choice
Add-ins of your choice (i.e. spices, extracts, glitter, etc.)

Stir ingredients together well. Just measure them into the saucepan you will be using to cook the dough, but mix them well before heating up the pan. Over medium heat cook the dough, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.

Let the playdough cool and then knead until it's smooth.

The girls loved taking turns pouring in the ingredients, and they especially loved kneading the warm dough.  We ran out of salt, so we only made a half recipe, but we'll make more this week.  Homemade playdough makes great Christmas gifts!