A Little Homemade Christmas!!!

 I have decided to extend the GIVEAWAY until this Friday December 21, 2012. Click Here to go to the giveaway!
Over this last week and this weekend we spent some quality family time together and completed a few projects!  The kids wanted to make a ginger bread house, but when we got home we realized that we had purchased chocolate houses, not gingerbread!  That's was ok by the kids since they love chocolate and the store bought gingerbread tastes a little funky to us.   We melted down the chocolate and put it into the molds.  I really like that next year we will be able to reuse the molds and just pick up a bag of chocolate and some candy to add to it.             Then the kids put them together and started working on decorating.      And here is their finished Houses :)     Some of the other things that I was able to put together were snowflake Popsicle sticks decor, target place mats turned pillows (thanks to my mum), and  twine wrapped candle jars.       Another thing my daughter and I did this weekend was to add a little old fashioned fun to the Christmas tree by making popcorn garland!   A few tips on making popcorn garland that I learned since the last time I made it.    1.  First get a buddy to help you out.  It goes by a lot faster.    2. Make sure the popcorn is plain white popcorn, NOT buttered.   3.  Make sure the popcorn has been sitting out for several hours before you make the garland.  That way it doesn't crack when you put the needle through it.   4.  Use an upholstery needle and strong thread.  The upholstery needle felt much better on my fingers and went through the popcorn better.   * To store it at the end of the holiday, just put it in Ziploc bags.  I kept the last batch for 4 years before throwing it out at the end of last year.  No moldiness or bad smell.  The only reason why we redid them is because they looked a little rough after 4 years ;-)      I couldn't help but share a few of my favorite ornaments along with the Tree Keeper!        Some of my favorite ornaments are my son's first Christmas ornament, my daughter's handmade ornament, and our first Christmas ornament for the year we got married, given to us by a friend.   Dozer (a.k.a. Tree Keeper) loves, loves, loves being near, next to, or under the tree!  He can't help himself.  It's so comforting to him!