Schmaltzy Christmas Music

This time of year brings bouts of over sentimentality, aka Schmaltzyness! Schmaltzy is a word, but I added the ness for over dramatization! Yay! I love to make up words!(insert joyous clapping here)
Ok! Where were we? Oh yes, the general feelings of warm and happy sentimentality! I bake cookies! Crafts and cards are made. The traditional movies are watched. Its a great time of year. This week I downloaded two super sappy and tear inducing songs. If you want a good Christmas cry check out the videos! Grab a tissue first! Really!

Tear! 

Are you bawling? When these songs come on the radio during my drive to work, I become a weepy and snotty mess! All in good Christmas fun!!!

Rick Steves! Ahhhhh! This guy is geeky great! In all seriousness his Europe videos are amazing! As a travel and hospitality major, this guy is the go-to guy!  This morning I sat down and watched his European Christmas special. Ohhhh! Makes me want to pack my bags and head to Scandinavia!

I am off to watch all of Rick Steve's videos on his Youtube channel! Yay!

Fun with Felt!

I had such a wonderful afternoon! So relaxing and productive.Couldn't wait to share what I have been working on!

 

Giving these little felt ornaments to the wonderful ladies that I work with! Oh I can't wait to hand them out! :D

Have a great evening!!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This is what I saw outside my window on Friday!

 Snow!

I am so excited! Its a bit of a miracle since it was nearly 75 degrees on Monday!

Time to once again start wearing these!  My mother made them for me last Christmas! Isn't the pattern beautiful! I would love them in red, gray, and blue!

Here is the amazing homemade dessert that we had last night! Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies. Chocolate chip cookies are good! So are brownies! Put them together, magical!

Wait, what is that box in the background?

 

All right, they are not exactly homemade! They are from a box, but you couldn't tell! Delicious! Delicious! 

Went to Michael's this morning. I had the 20% off coupon from the newspaper.Picked up some more felt, some card stock, clear glass, ornaments, a stamp, and a stamp pen! They had a ton of Cricut cartridges, but I was good and didn't get one

 

Michael is working today, so I have the whole afternoon to myself! A little crafting and some Christmas movies! I just finished watching "The Christmas Shoes".  It had me bawling. I'm such a sap! I love a good story!

Have a good afternoon everybody!

 

Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorations

 

Veggie Lasagna

Michael and I spent the day vegging out! It was fabulous! We continued our tradition of having lasagna for Thanksgiving. Instead of making the whole turkey deal for just the two of us, lasagna became the tasty alternative. Plus, at that time it was one of the only meals I knew how to make. Ha! Ha! Ha! Look at all that cheesy goodness! 

 They just opened up a new grocery store near my house.  It is huge! It is beautiful! Can you find anything there? No! I looked everywhere for the Ricotta cheese. I asked at the service desk. I called the store. I asked at the cheese bar, but nobody knew. I ended up going to the old grocery store to find it. Sometimes big and new is not always the best!

 

This year I have been noticing how popular felt is. I never knew how easy it is to make things out of! I found the circle garland in Family Circle Magazine. You can see it here!

To make the dove, I just Googled "dove template."  Traced the template onto some freezer paper. I ironed the freezer paper onto the felt and then cut out two doves and attached them together with fabric glue! Simple! Simple! Simple! The twine is Martha Stewart bakers twine, which I am in love with!

At Michael's the other night,I bought one of these clear plastic ornaments.I love them! So many options. Here is my first one! I put in rolls up pieces of scrapbooking paper. The outside has felt letters. Of course I added a little gem sticker!

Goodnight everyone! Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!

 

Christmas Card!

Packing my box for Operation Christmas Child: The Sign

This time every year since 2003, I have put together a gift box for Operation Christmas Child. I always have such a good time picking out little toys, candy, and other gifts for a child somewhere else on the earth. My boxes have gone to Africa, South America, and Eastern Europe.

This morning in church they announced that we will be collecting boxes again this year! The bulletin directed us to the children's ministry entrance to pick up a brochure. After church I made a beeline to the children's minstry area. The brochures were MIA. Nobody seemed to know where they were.I was a bit disappointed.


When I got home I went to the the Operation Christmas Child website! They have such an amazing website! Very informative and just plain cool! I love the videos! This one especially inspired me!



 I printed out the How to Pack a Shoe Box Gift page and took it to the store with me. The plan was to buy a couple things each week to add to the box. Ha! Was I in for a surprise gift!!

At the grocery store my grocery bill was surprisingly $20 less than normal, even after purchasing some candy and a stuffed animal for the Box Gift. Swiped the debit card and "accidentally" hit the $20 cash back button. It wasn't part of MY plan, but saw it as a sign. 

Headed across the street to the discount store. Had tons of fun picking out things just right for a little girl.I don't know her personally. I hope she likes the pink jump rope and the adorable socks with the hearts on them, picked out especially for her. I hope she knows that she is special! I hope she knows that God loves her and that somebody across the world is thinking and praying for her!

At the check out counter I was surprised with how much I had actually purchased. Would everything fit in the box? Would $20 cover it? The answer to both questions is "yes!" Oh and I got some change too! Guess how much? My change was $7.00, the exact amount they ask you to donate to cover shipping costs. 


After all those accidents and coincidences it is hard to believe that it is anything else but the hand of God. Thank you God for giving me this gift of putting together this box of goodies for that special little girl. 

Christmas 2009

New York City

Live from PA: It's Christmas!

Me in front of the Statue of Liberty

Me in Ellis Island

Michael and I are still on vacation in PA. What a lovely trip! Very relaxing!! We are enjoying good times with family and friends!

A few new changes for the new year. I am starting a new blog! Life of a preschool does not really fit anymore! More info about that later!

I am going to be hosting a little give-away on my new blog so be on the lookout for that!

Until later!

Have a lovely weekend!

Emily

Tis' the Season to be Jolly!

I am really into the Christmas spirit this year! Been having a lot of fun making/putting gifts together for family and friends. I love having projects to do. I love the whole process of coming up with an idea, getting the supplies together, creating, and then seeing the finished product and then sharing it with others. It is so gratifying to start with something as simple a pretzels and M&Ms and then creating a cute little treat for my co-workers.

So I found this recipe on Becky Higgins' blog. Soooo yummy!

Am super pleased with how the whole packaging came together. I found the little bags at Walmart. Just printed out the sentiment on my home computer and punched them using a tag punch! Easy!!!

This year for our staff Christmas party we are having a gift basket raffle. I was asked to do one to represent the afternoon clubs! I had so much fun shopping for cute things to go in my cupcake themed basket! Way cute! I have a few more things to add in. Love making gift baskets!

A Kentucky Christmas

An idea for a Christmas card!