Hey guys! I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. I’ve spent tons of time with family and have eaten way too much in the process.

We’ve also dragged out all of our Christmas decorations and are in the process of putting up trees, big and small, hanging garlands, finishing up details on the Department 56 village and putting out the Santas.

I have to get the garlands up by tomorrow night, at least the one that holds Kiddo’s advent stockings. I picked up a few little toys for the stockings, and have a ton of candy leftover from Halloween also.

We’ve had to move the tree to a different location this year, since we have the wall-hung bike rack in the front room now. So I have to rethink how we will decorate the window in the Christmas tree room…as of right now, the boy’s artwork is hanging on the top of the blinds and I don’t want to take it down.

So I thought maybe we could make some garlands together for the window. I ran across this article in the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens(page 101) detailing how to create garlands from repurposed materials. I loved their ideas so I thought I’d share.

Circle Garland Use a circle punch or trace something round to make assorted circular cutouts from last year’s greeting cards (or other material such as scrapbook, construction or wrapping papers.) Glue each layer or circles, placing two lengths of twine between the 2 bottom layers.

Ring Garland With a sharp box cutter, cut cardboard tubes (from paper towels, toilet paper or wrapping paper) into 1 inch sections and fit rings inside each other. Poke holes in rings using a sturdy large eyed needle threaded with ribbon. One could also paint the rings before fitting together for more color.

BeadsCut pages from magazines and catalogs into 1 1/2 inch wide strips. Spread glue on one side, place a drinking straw lengthwise along one edge, and roll the paper around the straw. When dry, use scissors to cut the paper-covered straw into 1 inch pieces. Thread the beads onto ribbon.

Let me know if you guys make any of these! I’m getting read for my big boy’s FOURTH birthday party on Saturday. I can’t believe that he’s actually going to be four. It’s still so young but much older than I want him to be. After the crazy week I have planned, hopefully we will get a chance to sit down and make some.

Here’s what my Turkey day morning looks like so far:

Trip to the grocery store first thing for cinnamon rolls and hashbrowns. Wearing pajamas with unbrushed teeth. *gasp*

Pulled out all of our Department 56 Christmas in the City pieces, for the first time since we have lived in this house. The bookcases the husband built are especially made for my village with outlets for their lights…yeah!

Tried to explain to my almost 4 year old that these are NOT toys, and if he touched the ones at his Grami’s house he would probably be put in eternal time out.

Easily over $1,000 worth of porcelain.

Halved and scraped five butternut squash for a Thanksgiving lunch puree…if it turns out yummy, I”ll share the recipe.

The most beautiful shade of orange.

Laundry so my husband will have clean underwear.

What’s in store for the rest of the day:

Late lunch at my parent’s house, with more than 25 folks milling around.

Pat’s broccoli casserole and lemon pie, Ellen’s hashbrown casserole and Jim’s fudge, Sister Schubert rolls and my late Mimi’s dressing.

Crazy kids in the garage/playroom torturing the dogs and each other.

Several glasses of wine.

I hope your Thanksgiving is as wonderful as mine will be

So pretty and YUMMY.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my bento boxes lately. For a quick refresher course on what a bento is, go here for a refresher FAQ session and here, here or here for some blogs of moms making preschool bentos.

I’ve started a Flickr set of bento pictures, where I’ve uploaded pictures of my boxes, my first time to use my rice mold, and other goodies I keep picking up. Hop on over to see what I’ve been up to, and let me know what you think.

Here’s a few tips that I’ve picked up over the past few bento-making weeks:

• I find the easiest bento boxes are made with leftovers as I’m packing up after dinner. I just make sure that I have my bento makin’ goodie box is on hand so I do not waste time searching for anything.
• You do not have to have speciality items to do this. See my previous post on what I found at the Dollar Store that is bento-perfect. The key is just to have it handy when you need it.
• That being said, my Laptop Lunch makes it SUPER EASY to pack a lunch. I will definitely have to get another one when my kid starts school.
• Be creative with what you have already. Who would have thought a scraper from Pampered Chef would have made a great food divider. It did!

Do you have any ideas or suggestions for bento box fun? Do share!

Pinecone crafts are so fun and easy, and just perfect for this time of year. Take a walk outside with the kids and gather a basket full, then come inside, make some hot chocolate and sit down for some crafting.

Click on the photos to go to their tutorials. Thanks to Tara for the craft link!

Photo from Babycenter.com

Photo from Familyfun.com

Photo from Babycenter.com

Photo from Babycenter.com

Photo from Babycenter.com

To go with our Thanksgiving placemats, I found some very festive turkey napkin ring craft ideas on several websites. And, surprise! They are made with toilet paper rolls! Gotta love it.

Anyway, you can go here for the instructions for the cutie one in the picture, found on the Babycenter.com website.

The Familyfun.com site has a tutorial on how to make a turkey napkin ring using small craft spoons and…you guessed it…a toilet paper roll.

And if you don’t feel like painting and coloring, go here to print off a template you can cut out of some turkey napkin rings from Familycrafts.about.com.

photo from Parents.com

Ran across this super-cute placemat on Parents.com website. What a great and EASY craft to whip up with your kids for the big T-day!

I can also see some seriously cute handprint turkeys on these….

Two-sporkin' it

What a mess!

What is he eating, anyway? I can't remember...

Mr. Stands-on-his-own

*insert the sound of my heart breaking*

For more Wordless Wednesday, go to Arkie Mom.

I want to help my almost four year old learn the concept of gratitude. I fear he could become susceptible to our culture of want-it-when-I-want-it and have-it-my-way. He can be very thankful and sweet, but you know…I’m just being a mama.

I’m also interested to see what he is thankful for, what being grateful means to him. It could be something completely different from what I think he’s got on his mind. Like being grateful for his yellow marker or something.

Ready to be filled

So, I’ve got this glass bowl. I’ve painted “gratitude jar” on it. And I’ve cut up some slips of paper for us to write what we are grateful for. The plan is to try to talk about it each evening after work and school, write it down, and put it in the jar.

I’ll let you guys know what ends up in the jar. This could be interesting!

Also, remember our first International Night in September? Well, our next country of interest is Japan and no, I did not pick it out. I gave the kiddo the choices of Hawaii, Japan and Italy and he chose Japan. Might have had something to do with the wink and nod I gave him when I said Japan.

Anyway, we’ve already read a Japanese folk tale about the old man with the bump on his face from my Stories and Fables Childcraft book. I’m thinking of some crafts for us to do, and we’ve got a dinner planned with some friends at a local hibachi grill. Any other suggestions?

Yes, you could be a winner! Go here for more details on a contest Moody Mom is hosting. Hint, the prize is red and sparkly. Ooooo…..