Merry Christmas!

I know it's a few days early, but with all the church and family stuff coming up I seriously doubt I'll be on-line much. So, from our home to yours- have a very Merry Christmas and a new year full of great things!

Love,

Des

Great Kid Craft!

Check out my mini gingerbread house! It is so cute and easy to make. I'm going to do this tonight with the Jr. High kids, so hopefully I still think it's easy after that. lol.

Here's what you need:
6 graham cracker halves ( I used chocolate ones, because that's what we had. I did see
Gingerbread graham crackers at Wal-Mart, though.)
Vanilla frosting
Cream of Tarter
Candy for decorations
a piece of cardboard for the base
a knife

Mix some Cream of Tarter into the frosting so that it will harden better and faster. Then ice two sides of one graham and place one iced end on the cardboard base. Follow with a second graham iced on three sides which you will affix to the previous graham to form a right angle. Proceed in the same manner with two more grahams to form the complete box. Wait for the icing to dry a little before attempting the roof. I took this opportunity to decorate the base with the m&m path and the gum drop trees. Once the sides seem to be standing well on their own, ice the top edge of two of the sides and ice one edge of each remaining graham. Carefully place grahams in an A shape with the iced ends meeting at the top. Hold for a while to help the roof stay up. This is the hardest part. Once that seems to be ok, start decorating the sides and decorate the roof last. You don't really need to buy a bunch of special candy. I used smarties and Fall kisses that were Halloween leftovers. Not bad.

This project doesn't take very long, but you do need to be careful and patient. It's really a fun and yummy project to do at this festive time of year.

Mini Gingerbread houses are a great thing!

Great Gift Giving!

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it's open season on Christmas shopping. Of course, I've been shopping and working on different ideas for months, but that's me. lol. We have so many people to buy for between our families and friends. Some people are easy to buy for and others require a little more creativity to say the least. When it comes to these people I don't know what I would do without the conveniences of the internet. I love finding unique gifts in catalogs and buying in the convenience of my warm and cozy home. Honestly, I have not shopped the mall over Christmas in many years. I do 60% of my shopping on-line.

The website I have found most valuable is without a doubt ebay. That is the place to go for one of a kind, unique gifts that you can't find down the street at Target. When I get creative, ebay has all the old school and limited products that I need. The auction format can be fun although annoying at times. The cool thing is that you can get some great deals. Just don't forget to mentally figure shipping into your bids and price estimates. It's so easy to do and results in awesome gifts that your loved ones wouldn't even suspect. Payment is also easy if you sign up for PayPal. Everything is very secure, so you don't need to stress over your credit card info being shared all over the internet. Don and I have done a fair share of ebay buying and have only had one negative experience. Not bad. If you're leary of buying from people you don't know, be sure to check out the feedback that other buyers have written about them. If it isn't positive than don't do business. It's as easy as that.

If ebay isn't your speed, check out Amazon. There's a ton there too, the prices are competitive, and you can usually get free shipping. These two websites are lifesavers for me during Christmas and essential to creative and thoughtful gift giving.

Ebay and Amazon.com are great things!