Christmas Archives - I Can Teach My Child!

Handprint (and Paw Print) Christmas Tree

December 21, 2012 by Jenae — 4 Comments

I saw this adorable Handprint Christmas Tree Canvas a while back on Pinterest and have been wanting to try it. Rather than putting it on canvas, however, we decided to make ours a (flat) Christmas Card!

It was super easy and the boys had lots of fun! We did add one little “surprise” to our tree as well, along with some fingerprint ornaments!

Here’s what you’ll need: cardstock, washable paint, paintbrushes, and a laminator (optional).

This is my favorite paint to use with the boys because it is SUPER easy to get off (and it doesn’t stain). We received it compliments of CraftProjectIdeas.com

1. Use a paintbrush to paint your child’s hand.

2. Gently set it on the paper. Repeat until you fill the bottom “row” with your child’s handprints.

Continue using the handprints to make a Christmas tree shape (upside down). Big Brother did the first row (or 3 handprints) and Little Brother did the second row (of 2 handprints).

This is where I think I became certifiably insane for a brief moment…I saw that empty space at the top of the tree (bottom of the paper turned upside down) and then looked into these big brown eyes…

What came next I can barely believe myself…I painted our dog Sage’s paw!

It actually didn’t turn out too terribly! After this, I let all of the green paint dry.

Once the green is dry, let your child dip his/her fingerprints in other colors to add ornaments! We also added a glittery foam sticker star, which sort of covered up our paw print, but it’s still nice to know that our furry member of the family was included.

Because I wanted to protect our trees (and since the cardstock majorly curled), I decided to laminate them.

So cute!!!

What last-minute Christmas crafts are you planning with your children???

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Filed Under: 2-3 years, 3-5 years, Christmas, Crafts

Christmas Whispers (Family Tradition Shared by Tracey Eyster of Be the Mom)

December 19, 2012 by Jenae — 2 Comments

Tradition Shared by Tracey Eyster, author of Be the Mom & Founder of MomLife Today

One of the desires of this mother’s heart has always been that my two children, daughter and son, would love each other deeply, protectively and grow close in relationship.

Most of you reading this no doubt share that same desire for your own little ones. How, as moms, do we foster relationship in our children and water our good intentions into actual growth? Can it even be done? Or is sibling rivalry a forgone conclusion?

I am here to tell you genuine relationship between siblings is attainable and it is even sweeter than I ever imagined it would be.

Prayer, that’s where your mom heart needs to begin. Pray that God would strengthen the bond between your children.

Intentional relationship building that would be the next step. Create opportunities for your children to bond with each other, without you being in the center of it.

So many times as moms we want to be a part of what our little ones do and we mistakenly insert ourselves in areas that actually inhibit their interdependence. Look for opportunities for your children to have together moments without you and foster that “special” relationship between just them.

When they have had time together resist the urge to ask lots of questions, don’t attempt to know all their conversations and secrets. Allow them to have a part of their relationship that belongs only to them.
CHRISTmas has always been one of those opportunities in our home. From the time our children were very young, their instructions on Christmas Eve have been that whomever wakes up first is to go to the other’s room and together they are to wait until 7:00 a.m. to come wake us up.

Tracey Family Tradition

The whispers, giggles and conversations have filtered down the hallway through the years and that has been a beautiful way to wake up CHRISTmas morning.

CHRISTmas mornings are not the only time my two have been observed sharing experiences together. I have seen glimpses of deep thoughts, kind words, frustrations, tears, laughter, challenging of thought and deed, encouragement…they have a fondness for each other that is palpable.

Many have asked me about their genuine like of each other. It’s quite sweet.

She is now 19, he 16 and they seek each other out, go out together, entertain each others friends together, experience life together. It’s not perfect – yes, they have always and still do fuss at each other and get aggravated with each other. But because they have built a relationship, the tensions too have been a rich learning ground on how to forgive, adjust and move on.

At times I have been almost jealous of their relationship, but wisdom trumps self and I recognize that they will hopefully carry each other through life’s trials and triumphs long after I am gone. And each is better prepared for the spouse we have been praying for – they have learned to process with, fuss and forgive someone they love.

Relationship strengthens.

Moms…I sweetly suggest to you that if this is something you have not been mindful of maybe this CHRISTmas can be the beginning of a new tradition that will carry with it the beginnings of a life long bond that will strengthen character and teach real relationship.

That’s a CHRISTmas tradition worth starting…don’t you think?

Please share times where you have witnessed love and caring between your children in the comments!

Tracey Eyster is the happily in love wife of Bill and the fun-filled mom of two teens. She is devoted to her family and is happiest when making memories with them. In 2008 she took her passion for speaking into the lives of moms and created the ministry of MomLife Today. She is passionate about momlife and is amazed at God’s blessing of allowing her first book Be The Mom to come to fruition. She enjoys connecting with moms through her personal blog at www.bethemom.com, and on Facebook or Twitter @MomBlog.

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Paper Bag Manger Craft

December 18, 2012 by Jenae — 7 Comments

I was in charge of teaching our children’s church for two to six-year olds this last Sunday. I was scouring the internet for ideas and came across this adorable paper bag manger craft. Naturally, I had to put my own spin on it (especially since you had to register for the printable baby Jesus).

I did all of the prep work ahead of time, so the kids just had to assemble their mangers at church as one of our centers, along with these Nativity Printables (sequencing, patterning, ordering) as another. I read the story of Christ’s birth from The Jesus Storybook Bible and for the remaining time, we watched The Very First Noel. Things didn’t go exactly as planned, especially since we had been up almost the whole night before with Big Brother as he had the stomach flu. But the children’s mangers turned out to be very cute!

Here’s what you’ll need: a brown paper bag, a slotted clothespin, doll hair (optional), permanent maker, gauze, and foam glitter stickers. I used the X-acto knife and self-healing mat that we received compliments of Elmer’s Craft it! and it made cutting the bags SUPER easy!

1. Trace a window shape onto your paper bag and use an X-acto knife to cut. If you’re just cutting one (as opposed to 30 like I did), you could use scissors, although it will take quite a bit longer.

Once you open the bag, it will have windows on the sides of the bag too!

2. Write your caption in permanent marker at the bottom of the bag.

3. To make Baby Jesus, draw a face on the round end of the slotted clothespin. We glued a little doll hair curl (that I bought at a craft supply store) on the top of each of our babies.

4. Cut a small piece of fabric to act as the swaddling cloths. I used gauze because we had lots of it already on hand.

5. Wrap up the baby!

6. Fold the top of the paper bag down about an inch and staple. Attach the glittery foam sticker.

What is your favorite CHRISTmas craft?

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Filed Under: 2-3 years, 3-5 years, Christmas, Crafts

A Tradition of Holiday Baking

December 17, 2012 by Jenae — 6 Comments

Tradition shared by Kristina of Toddler Approved

My husband and I both love to bake together and with our kids. Baking is such a great way to connect with one another, teach simple skills, and have fun as a family. Growing up my mom spent most of December making a lot of different types of cookies that we’d assemble on plates and deliver to fifty or more of our family friends and neighbors. I loved spending time with my mom and sisters while we baked.

Now that we have our own little family, my husband and I continue to look for ways to preserve this tradition of holiday baking.

Today I thought I’d share three different ways that we have embedded our tradition of baking into our family holiday activities.

1. Hosting a holiday cookie exchange

Each year I invite 30+ of my closest girlfriends over for a cookie exchange. This is our third year hosting. Everyone brings 3 dozen cookies and goes home with about as many. Each member of our family is involved somehow. My daughter helps with the baking and my son and husband are two of the judges on the night of the big event.

I love to make my favorite peppermint brownie recipe each year for the exchange.

2. Doing Simple Holiday Service

Each year we try and find new ways to serve others in simple ways at Christmas. This year we made some cards and baked some candy cane cookies. We took them to neighbors and also left some holiday goodies in our mailbox for our mailman. Serving together as a family during the holidays really helps us focus on the true meaning of the season and helps us teach our children the joy that comes from giving to others.

3. Hosting a Caroling Party

For the second year in a row we hosted a toddler caroling party. We gathered all of the toddlers in my daughter’s church nursery class (for kids ages 18 months-3 years) and their families and we spent an evening driving around and caroling to all of their church teachers. This year we had nine families join us. We sang Jingle Bells and Once there was a Snowman and several other more classic Christmas carols.

After caroling we went back to our house for hot cocoa and cookies. My 2 year old daughter had helped my husband make special peanut butter blossom cookies for our friends who came singing with us. It was such a fun night of singing, thanking teachers, connecting with friends, and eating yummy treats!

Although we love doing these family activities each year, we are always looking for new traditions to adopt as our family grows and changes. I have enjoyed reading all of the posts in this Favorite Family Traditions series and learning from other families.

If you have any family baking traditions, I would love for you to share them in the comments! Thank you Jenae for inviting me to share these special family moments with your readers!

Do you have a favorite treat you make during the holidays?

Are there other ways that you embed baking into your family traditions?

Kristina is the author of Toddler Approved, a blog where she helps parents capitalize on teachable moments in everyday life and motivates them to discover, create, and learn with their children. She is a mom of three and is a former Special Education teacher. When she’s not crafting, Kristina is reading along with her Virtual Book Club for Kids, volunteering in her son’s preschool, running, and traveling with her family. Kristina tweets as @ToddlerApproved and can be found on Facebook and Pinterest

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Creating a December Bucket List

December 13, 2012 by Jenae — Leave a Comment

Tradition Shared by Crystal Paine of MoneySavingMom.com

Have you ever gotten to the end of December and looked back and realized it all went by in such a blur that you spent very little time doing the activities and projects you had hoped to do? That’s been me many years. I’ll have great ambitions, but I never make a plan, so nothing happens. And before I know it, Christmas is over.

Growing up, Christmas was my favorite time of the year. It wasn’t the presents or food as much as it was the special activities–making cookies and taking them to the neighbors, making homemade gifts, opening the advent calendar each night, reading Christmas books together, listening to Christmas music, making Christmas cookies, and so many other things.

I want my children to look back on the Christmas season and have some of the same fond memories. But just wanting that to happen isn’t enough; I have to intentionally plan ahead to make those memories happen.

With this in mind, for the past two years, we’ve created a Christmas Bucket List for December and it’s been fantastic. Near the end of November, we take some time as a family to think what activities we really wanted to do this year for Christmas. Each family member gets to choose 3-4 activities and we typed them up into a Master List.

Here are some ideas of things that have been on our December Bucket List:

1. Make homemade hot cocoa with giant marshmallows and use a candy cane as a stir stick.

2. Eat dinner by candle light.

3. Get bundled up and take a walk in our neighborhood to look at Christmas lights.

4. Read Christmas books while snuggled up under blankets.

5. Go ice-skating at the local ice-skating rink.

6. Bake Christmas cookies and decorate them with friends while listening to Christmas music.

7. Watch a holiday movie with just the lights of the Christmas tree on.

8. Buy and decorate a little artificial Christmas tree for the girls’ room.

9. Go Christmas caroling to shut-ins.

10. Make homemade Christmas gifts for the children to give to grandparents and friends.

World’s Easiest Christmas Candy

Hot Spiced Tea Mix

Brown Sugar Biscuit Twists

11. Celebrate Advent with a Jesse Tree.

12. Go shopping for Christmas gifts individually with each child.

13. Get our PJs on and drive around at night to look at Christmas lights.

14. Attend a performance of The Nutcracker.

15. Make a snowman as a family.

16. Pool our money to buy some items from the Samaritan’s Purse catalog for those living in poverty.

Once we have the list made, my husband and I sit down with our calendar and roughly plan when we are going to do each activity. The plan is not set in stone, but it’s there to make sure that we hit all of the Bucket List items. However, if a spontaneous ideas strikes halfway through the month or if it just seems the perfect day or night to do one of the things on the list even if it’s not on the calendar, we just go with it!

We spread the activities out over the course of December so we can enjoy them more. We don’t always get to every single activity, but having it all planned out ahead of time definitely guarantees that we do a number of fun, meaningful, and memorable family activities for Christmas than we did when we didn’t have a plan.

Crystal Paine is a wife, mom of three, and bestselling author of Celebrating & Savoring a Simple Christmas. Visit her blog, MoneySavingMom.com, for high-value coupons, online bargains, freebies, and practical ideas and inspiration to get your life and finances in order.

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