Not naughty, just nice!
It's December 5th and I've just decorated my 15th Christmas tree. I'm sure an intervention is right around the corner, but before you rush to judgement, not all of the trees are in our home. That, even I will admit, would be a tad excessive. Apparently when you admit to liking something, people assume you will like it in their home too! Why, oh why, didn't I say I love $1,000 dollar bills??? So, in the last two weeks I've decorated trees from the desert of Southern California to the woods of the Hudson Valley in New York (that sounds far more glamorous than it is), I've done fake, I've done real, I've done big and I've done small. And I'm sure before Chris Cringle hops on that sled one snowy night in a few weeks, I will decorate a few more! Last night found us at a neighbors house helping her raise a 15' tree while two un-interested teenagers watched from the sidelines. Once the tree was up, the holiday music spun, I was knee deep in pine when I heard the roar of a piano behind me. The teenagers that seemed bored to tears just moments before, sprung to life, resuscitated by the holiday spirit. As we struggled to light this behemoth tree, I realized I'd neglected to involve the kiddos in some way. They didn't hate decorating, they just thought it wasn't their job. Once we got Mr. Douglas Tree lit, the game was on! One of the kids grabbed a huge stack of Christmas cards from past years out of a box and asked her mother if she could throw them away, "I mean, what do we do with this junk?" so I inserted my two cents and came up with a few extra projects to keep the kids busy while Mom cooked, cleaned and prepared for holiday parties.
RECYCLE!! I like to take old holiday cards and make garland strands out of them or ornaments. If you have a favorite card, cut it out, make a hole at the top and either thread a string through it or add an ornament hook. If you've got a house full of kids, this keeps them busy, busy, busy! And, if you've got tails that wag around your tree, these ornaments will never break!
YUM YUM WITH THE GUM GUM!! Another fun project for kids is to fill a biscotti jar (I found ours at Target for $8) with sugar and make gumdrop figures for a creative centerpiece!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: One hour
COST: Card ornaments: $0, Gum Drop Centerpiece: $10
STRESS LEVEL: Keeping the little ones occupied while you work on big holiday projects: LOW
