Christmas Crafts

This cold weather is ruining my holiday plans. I was hoping to get to the Holidazzle parade this past weekend, but there was no way I was going to sit outside after dark in below zero temps. Hopefully, we'll still get to squeeze the parade in this season since it's supposed to be the last year it's running. Riley really loved it last year so we're quite bummed that something she actually likes will be ending.

Even though it was too cold to go to the parade we still tried to work in some holiday fun - mostly in the way of crafts. To start with we made one of those ornaments that you bake. Won't be doing that again - those suckers stink. I ended up getting a headache so we decided to leave the house and go to the gym. Note to self: never, EVER, go to the gym during the cold season at 10 am on a Saturday. Crazy town in there. It was like Lord of the Flies when it came to finding an open locker. I almost gave up. But I didn't and was able to work out (even if I could still smell burning plastic for some reason). Thankfully, by the time we got home the smell was gone.

I realize this is the backside, but hey - the front pretty much looks the same. 

We had already put up our countdown to Christmas chain. I actually saved most of the links from the previous year so this was rather easy to put back together. It doesn't look as pristine as last year, but at least I didn't have to cut out new chain links. Whatever I can do to make my life easier.

Sunday morning we decided to make Santa's. I found a site that had templates which made this an easier task, and frankly, made Santa look much more pulled together than if I free handed this. This was a fun task for Riley - plus I could use some of those cotton balls that I've had for years. I must have used them a lot in the past to provoke me to get such a large bag. Who knew that one day I would have a kid that could totally use these in craft projects.

After Santa was completed we found some leftover snowman parts from a project we did last year. I bought a kit that had a bunch of foam snowmen and snowmen parts that you stuck to the body. It only cost about 5 bucks and provided entertainment for two holiday seasons so that was a total win, even if we were short an arm. At least we had an extra scarf.

Riley really wanted to make a sad snowman. Girl was just keeping it real -snowmen can't always be happy.

Next up was making some hearty food. Ok, this isn't a Christmas craft, but noteworthy all the same. Earlier, I went to the store and bought a bunch of stuff to make chili and to make pulled beef sandwiches. The sandwiches are on hold since I picked up clam chowder instead of beef broth. Guess I need to look at the can instead of just grabbing from the broth area. So I made the chili first. I've been on the lookout for a good chili recipe. The last one I made was a little too sweet for my taste so I didn't want to try that one again and Jesse has been requesting a low meat, high bean one. I found one that I think he'll like, but I didn't find it until after I got back from the store. Maybe next time. 

At any rate, I found a recipe that I thought sounded kind of weird, but I got it from a site that has not let me down with recipes yet so I went for it. Jesse was a little weirded out when I told him it had V8 juice in it, but after eating a bowl he has declared it one of the best chili's he's eaten so maybe I'll be making this one again. To compliment the chili I made some cheddar cornbread as well.

Riley wouldn't touch the chili, but chowed down on the cornbread... and yes, we wore our jammies for much of the day.

And to wrap up the post, I might as well put up a picture of the kid in front of the tree...

And I have to give a call out to the cat, Lucy, for tolerating us. This cat sure can be a pain with wanting to eat food ALL THE TIME, but is also great in so many ways. I'd like to say it was the kid who put all the cars on her, but it was me (and there were actually more).

Riley took all the cars off of Lucy because she said she didn't want to make the cat upset. Well, aren't you just a nice kid looking out for the feelings of others... I wonder who you got that from? Surely, not from me.