Dare to… have traditions!

This week’s theme for the Dare to Blog Party is all about traditions.  Here are just a few of our favorite holiday traditions:

1. Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving (My favorite new-to-me song this year is All I Want for Christmas is a Hippopotamus)
2. Movies: Miracle on 34th Street (only in B&W), It’s a Wonderful Life (only in B&W), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Christmas Story, Elf.
3. Christmas morning at Alex’s Dads.  Stockings. Our super cute nephew. Breakfast.  Pure Fun and Joy.
4. A family dinner with my Dad’s side of the family and my Mom’s side sometime in December. When we can all be there.
5. Bailey’s and Eggnog.
6. Shopping for gifts for my hubby. He’s always my favorite person to buy for.
7. Sending Christmas cards to friends and family. Including a photo from the year and a letter of what we’re up to.
8. Getting the mail everyday and the anticipation of receiving Christmas cards.
9. Trying to add new decorations to the outside of the house every year.
10. Cookies. (I actually had to hide some in the freezer so I wouldn’t see them and eat 2 every time I walked past the kitchen.)

Don’t forget to check out everyone else’s traditions at Newlywoodwards.

Big Thanks to all of Kim’s hard work to host these parties.  I’ve had so much fun and enjoyed finding new blogs to add to my must-read list.

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Dare to… Deck the Halls!

Some of my favorite Christmas ornaments are the handmade items from my childhood.  So, for this weeks “Dare To” challenge, I wanted to make holiday decor that I could share with friends and family this holiday season. 

I searched the internet up and down until I found a craft that wouldn’t look like something my 5-year old niece made.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my niece, and her kindergarten art skills are great, but, I wanted a sophisticated craft I felt like others would appreciate.  And I found this:

Instructions here

I set up a little assembly line and mass-produced these little Christmas light Rudolphs.

And I ended up with a whole army of them to share.

Best of all, these were inexpensive.  I found lights for 15 cents apiece at my local hardware store.  And spend about 99 cents each on pipe cleaners, ribbon, bells, noses, and eyes.  I hope I have a few left over to add to my own tree. 🙂

Don’t forget to check out everyone else’s DIY decor at Newlywoodward’s:

PS.  I’ll admit, my VERY favorite ornament isn’t homemade, but how can you beat this?

 

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Dare to…give homemade gifts!

Tonight, we celebrated our annual family holiday dinner with my dad.  While we don’t normally exchange gifts, this year was a bit unique.  We’ve got a niece on the way (due January 3rd, if she waits that long).  So, we decided to shower the new mommy-and-daddy-to-be.

As my personal gift to the baby, I made a quilt.

I used 13 different fabrics in coordinating pinks, yellows and greens, plus a different fabric for both the border/binding and the back; 15 different fabrics total!

Each square was cut to 3″x3″.  And the overall finished dimensions are about 42″x55″

I quilted on the diagonal through every other square.  I had originally intended to quilt through every square, but I thought that would be too busy.

The backing fabric has cute little words like dance, play, sing, dream, imagine, wish, create, bloom.  It was my inspiration for the whole thing. 

I absolutely love the way this quilt turned out.  For being only my third quilt (and only the second that I machine quilted) I am so proud of myself.  And, the mommy-to-be loved it.  Hopefully my new niece will too! 

Now, don’t forget to head over to Kim‘s and see what everyone else made for this weeks Dare to Give Homemade Gifts party.

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