Making Christmas Merry!

Here is a rundown of the events and activities of our family during the last week. Man, has it been busy! Oh, and this post is lovingly dedicated to Pamela~ ;o)

Merry Christmas from the Basham Family!!

Below are the photos of our December ladies fellowship. We met at the Highlander Buffet restaurant here in Burnet. We had a really good time.

Here is Sandra - she just recently joined our church!
Caroline and Margaret enjoying the good food!
Isabelle, Doris and Kathy enjoying each other!
Ann and Evelyn - Smile! You're on Life in the Hill Country!!

Just so you know I was there, here I am! :0)

Every year I try to make a homemade gift for each family in my church. I am not a great cook, and I cannot sew. This limits me greatly. Therefore, I rely on "crafty" ideas. You know, little crafts that have pretty simple instructions that even I can do! This year, I made lollipop ornaments.

Step one: Gather supplies. You need the metal lids from juice concentrate. This is the candy part. You'll also need craft sticks (for the handle), acrylic gloss paint in the colors of your lollipops: I used real red, real green and white. You'll also need pink. You'll need a flat brush or a stencil brush. You'll need a 10-12 inch square of cellophane for each lollipop you make, some ribbon to tie it with and some gold cord - about 7 -12 inches per ornament.

Step 2: If you're handy with tools, then drill a hole in the top of each lid using a 3/32 drill bit. If you're not, have your husband do it!

Step 3: Paint each lid the color you desire. You'll need to do several coats, letting them dry in between.

Step 4: Dab your sponge brush into the pink paint, blotting it till almost dry. Then, dab on some pink on each side of the lid for cheeks. CHECK! Be sure the hole is at the top center before putting smiley face on lids!

Step 5: After the pink paint is dry, take the end of a water color or small paint brush and dab a dot of white paint on each pink spot - at the top. This will be where you'll be beginning your smile.

Here are the ornaments right before I drew on the smiley face.

Step 6: If you're doing the peppermint ornaments, you'll draw in the red or green for the peppermint on the white lids at this time.

Step 7: Draw smiley faces on each ornament.

Step 8: Glue craft stick on back of lid - be sure again that the hole is at the top center! Glue only about 1 1/2 inch of stick to lid.

Step 9: Cut out squares of cellophane, and a length of ribbon. Wrap cellophane around ornament , gathering it around the bottom and tying with ribbon.

Step 10: Poke hole through cellophane where the hole in the lid is. String with gold cord and tie a knot.

You can label the back of each ornament with your name and the year. Do this before you wrap it with the cellophane!

Tada! The finished product! What a relief! I think they were a big hit.
I couldn't resist getting one more picture with my prized project! Lollipop anyone?

Laci's birthday was a lot of fun. I can't believe my baby is already one year old! Where did the year go? I did a much simpler cake for her than for the other kids' first birthdays. Since they can't understand or appreciate it much on their first birthday, I just do something easy for me. As they grow, I do harder ones. I did Laci's cake with Cool Whip for frosting. I got this idea from my friend Amanda!(See my post "Good Friends are Forever") I loved it! It was easy, and tasty!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!
Hmmm...this isn't too bad!!
She really loved her birthday present...come to think of it, all the kids loved it!
She's on the move now!

It's been a busy month so far, and Christmas is still a week away! Yikes! I've still got so much to do. I'm trying to relax and enjoy the Christmas season, but it's hard. I'll be working on that...oh no! Did I say "working?" I mean, I'll be resting on that! ;o)

Have a Merry Christmas, everybody!

Wanted: Ideas!

I welcome your ideas for any easy game, object lesson or the like for children's church. I am in charge of "super church", for ages 3-11, and I am always needing fresh ideas to keep the kids interested and having fun!

Below is an idea I would like to share with you. (Courtesy of my Mom, the super teacher.) First, you take a 1 lb. coffee can, emptied and cleaned, and an old tube sock. It can have holes, because you are going to snip off the foot part only leaving a rim below the tube part of the sock. Tape the sock to the top of the can, as shown below. Then, cover the can with any type of contact paper that you like. This is to cover the writing on the can and the taping. You then place small items in the can and allow the child to reach in and feel whatever you have inside. They must try to guess what it is, since they cannot look! The sock fits snugly around the arm and keeps them from seeing! It is good way to illustrate the blessing of our senses, or just for fun!
Send me your ideas at terryandvalerie@juno.com or post a comment on my blog! I need all the help I can get. :)