Peppermints

I've seen many posts about painting with a salad spinner but this one sold me on it!  We had to make peppermints.  I found it worked best when the paint was a little watered down and we dripped it in a few spots.  It took a few tries to get it right but in the end we had three that looked liked peppermint candies.  Eva honestly could have cared less what the end result looked like as she had so much fun just spinning the spinner!  When they dried I wrapped them in a cut up gallon size plastic baggie and attached them to a ribbon for hanging.

We made a lady cry today

In a good way.
Earlier I posted about Eva's Advent Calendar in which she discovers a new activity to do each day.  Some of the activities are all about her- baking cookies, watching a Christmas movie, visiting Santa- but others are to teach her the true meaning of Christmas- giving to others.
Today's was one of those activities- give a candy cane to those who help you.
Monday is our big errand day.  We go grocery shopping, hit the craft store and usually stop somewhere for lunch.  Before heading out I filled a small gift bag with mini candy canes and told Eva she was to give one to anyone who helped us today and to wish them a Merry Christmas.  Never would I have imagined how she would take this role to heart.  I'm glad I gave her a bunch because everyone we met got a candy cane.  Eva had a sixth sense as to who was working hard through this crazy shopping season.  The ladies who cut our fabric each got one, the lady at the deli counter got one, the man collecting carts got one.  She gave one to each cashier we met too.
It was one of those cashiers that was brought to tears.  She told me she had been working in retail for over 20 years and no one had ever given her anything.  We had made her day.
It made my day too.  Seeing my little girl being so kind and sweet and generous.  Seeing the surprise and smiles one little gesture could illicit is what this season is all about.
This is a crazy time of year and it is very easy to get lost in our own busy lives.  Today made me stop and look around at all the people who barely get a glance from us as we bustle through life.
I set out to teach my daughter something but I was the one who was enlightened.

Cupcake Ornaments

I saw these in Family Fun magazine and loved how cute (and easy!) they looked.  Eva helped me hot glue the pompoms into the mini cupcake liners and then add another pompom on top.  (I glued on the strings for hanging in between the two pompoms.)  She then painted the cupcake with white glue and sprinkled on some beads to serve as sprinkles.

Eva will be giving one to her dance teacher and to the librarian who leads story time.  We will also be delivering one to each of our neighbors.  Of course, we have to keep one for our tree!

I also forgot to show you Eva's little Christmas tree last week.  She has it in her room and decorated it herself.

She even made her own garland by stringing red and green pasta on some yarn.

Sugar and Spice

One of the best parts of the holidays is all the yummy food!  This week is all about cookies, candy and other delicious treats.

Crafts
Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes- we'll be twisting together different colored pipe cleaners to create our own candy canes

Puffy Paint Cookies- we'll whip up another batch of homemade puffy paint and pretend it's icing for our foam cut-outs

Salad Spinner Peppermints- we can't wait to give this craft a whirl

Yarn Lollipops- this craft will be great fine motor practice as Eva works yarn into a spiral to make her favorite special treat

Gingerbread Friends- we'll decorate paper cookies using all sorts of fun craft items

Cooking
Sugar Cookies- Christmas isn't complete without at least one batch of cutouts!

Candy Crystals- part cooking, part science, we'll see how rock candy is formed

Gingerbread House Snack- graham crackers will be transformed into a healthier version of a gingerbread house

Activities
Play Dough Dough- we'll whip up a batch of plain play dough and pretend to bake cookies

Where's the Gingerbread Man? game- oh no!  The gingerbread man escaped!  Will we be able to find him?

Cookie Matching Game- we'll play one of Eva's favorite games

Candy Cane Elf- Eva will become a special elf who hands out candy canes to folks we meet while running Christmas errands

Gingerbread Man Felt Board- how many ways will we decorate our sweet little friend?

Books
             

Christmas Play Dough

When I saw this idea on Counting Coconuts I knew we had to do it as well.  I made a batch of green play dough and added some peppermint extract to make it smell more Christmas-y.  Eva and I then molded it into a tree shape.  I had a few sequins and gems in my craft supplies that I gave to Eva to decorate the tree.  She had a blast and got some great fine motor practice in- those little sequins are tough to pick up!

Thanks Mari-Ann for another great idea!
Today Eva got to see Santa.  It took a few walk-bys before she built up the nerve to meet him but she finally did.  She was a little nervous but she was sure to tell him what is on top of her Christmas list- a floor lamp (pretty sure that was Santa's most unique gift request of the day!).

Pine Cone Trees

This is a super easy craft to make.  We have a big bag of pine cones from Eva's grandparents' house so we found a few that looked like trees and Eva painted them with glue.

Then came the fun part- adding glitter!  I placed some red and green glitter in a salt shaker and Eva went to town sprinkling the trees.

We let them dry and then placed them on our window sill.  You could also add ribbon or yarn and turn them into ornaments for your tree.

Beaded Ornaments and Pine Tree Pizza

We made two beaded ornaments today.  The first is a candy cane.  For this one Eva sorted out red and white beads from our bead bucket and slid them on a pipe cleaner.

When she filled the whole thing, I bent it like a candy cane.  The other ornament she made was a tree.  I cut various lengths of green pipe cleaner and twisted them onto a brown one and then Eva added beads for ornaments.

I think they look great on our tree!

For dinner tonight Eva had a pine tree pizza.  I cut the tree shape out of a whole wheat tortilla and topped it with homemade spinach pesto.  Then Eva added snow (mozzarella), garland (onions) and ornaments (sliced cherry tomatoes).

Tasty and festive!