How to Get in the Christmas Mood

 Happy holidays everyone! Now, some of you may not decorate for Christmas until December, and you may be confused on why I am already talking about Christmas. But here in my family, we decorate right after Thanksgiving! We already have our Christmas tree up, and we are ready to be jolly!

Today I am going to share ways I get in the Christmas mood, and as I have learned, Christmas makes people happy! So let’s start!

How to decorate your home:

1. What is Christmas without a Christmas tree? Ok, I know Christmas is still Christmas without a tree, but either way! Whether your tree is fake or not, you can still decorate it! My family hangs snowflakes and ornaments, and lights, and it is beautiful! I love the tree, because when you come to the living room on Christmas Day, the lighting sets the mood; peaceful (or maybe not if the kids are bouncing in their seats!) and happy.

2. Make paper snowflakes! They may be hard, but once you get going, you love to make more! I love to decorate my room with snowflakes and make it look like it is snowing inside!

3. Paper chains. Whether they are red and green, white, or blue and green (or any other color), paper chains are the perfect addition to your home. They look beautiful. Hanging down from walls, flowing from ceiling to ceiling, or from pillar to pillar.

4. Make icicles. This year, I did something new. I hung some light blue glittery yarn in strips from the ceiling just to look nice, but it turned out that they looked like icicles! I made a bunch more, just by cutting my yarn and then taping it to walls and ceilings! You can do this with any color yarn, but I used blue.

5. Christmas towels. You can find these at many places (or you can make your own) but it is very nice to have a Christmas towel staring back at you when drying dishes, taking a shower, or washing your face. They really set the mood when they are red with snowflakes, blue with snowflakes, green and red, or a snowman! 

6. Christmas paintings. Sure you can buy your own, but I encourage you to try and make some! Take some art supplies (markers, paint, crayons, colored pencils, etc) and draw a snowman, Santa, baby Jesus, some snowflakes, children opening presents, or sleds falling down a slope. There is no limit to what you can draw, so long as it reminds you of Christmas.

7. Cardboard letters. Cardboard letters are beautiful. My family put up red cardboard letters that spell ‘Joy’ every year. You can paint them however, cover them with yarn, or add little ferns to your letters to complete the look. And you can spell whatever you want! 

8. I cannot believe I put these so far away from the start of this list! Stockings! Stockings with your name on it, and your family’s names, are adorable when hanging over your fireplace, on the stairway, or wherever you like to stick them. Even if you don’t fill your stockings, it is nice to have them there.

9. DIY crafts. There are unlimited crafts you can make that remind you of Christmas. Look on my blog, and I am sure you will find some! Just type holidays or Christmas in the search, or just look through my blog.

Family Projects:

1. Do a craft! I know I just said this, but there are loads of crafts that you can find, even here on my blog! And then you can plop them around the house. But me and my siblings did a Christmas craft this year, and we are definitely doing many more!

2. Make Christmas cards for your friends. It always brightens my day to hear from my friends, and get a Christmas card! And we always hang all of them on our fridge. Your cards could just be homemade, store-bought, or even have a picture of your family on the front!

3. Enjoy some Christmas/Winter snacks. Hot chocolate, cookies, candy canes, plain whipped cream, all of these are great ideas to have this year. They are all delicious (in my opinion) and very easy to get! And I’m sure you can think of more ideas!

4. Decorate your home (see above)

5. Have an indoor snowball fight. Cotton balls, crumpled up paper, or store-bought ‘snowballs’ are amazing for indoor snowball fights! Or me and my siblings have sometimes done stuffed animals. It is very fun, and imagine doing it with your whole family, in Christmas pajamas!

6. Build an indoor snowman. I do this all the time! You take a blanket, and layer it on itself so that it looks like a snowman, then take some colored pencils or pens or sticks and position them in the blanket as arms. Then you can put sunglasses on him as eyes, or put a hat on him, or a scarf, or whatever you can think of! Then show him off (you could even have a challenge to see who can make the best one!)

7. Have a dance party when listening to Christmas music!

8. Karaoke with Christmas music!

9. Christmas Mad Libs. These are a very funny way to have fun. They are great for the whole family!

10. Read Christmas books (don’t forget the Bible!)

11. Do an advent when the time comes! These are very fun, and come in all sorts of styles!

I hope this helped all of you come up with fun ways to hang out with the family, and decorate your home! Happy holidays everybody!

Week Fifteen of my Short Story Challenge

 The Thanksgiving Retreat                By: Everly

Once there was a girl who was going to Thanksgiving. 

Her family drove through the night from California to Washington, and arrived at a big house her whole dad’s side of the family was staying at. 

She got to see her cousin, Kelly. And her Grandma and her Papa, and all her aunts and uncles, and her other cousin Jordan. 

She had a lot of fun and got to sleep on bunk-beds, and hang out with her family.

Eventually, Thanksgiving day came.

Everyone gathered round the table, and was ready to eat.

But first they prayed, they thanked God for everything they had.

Then the girl realized, God is the reason you have anything to be thankful for. 

He created your friends, your pets, the sky, your life, you, and everything else.

Thanksgiving would be nothing without God. 

So next time you’re at Thanksgiving, make sure you thank God, because he’s the only reason you have anything to be Thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Week Fourteen of my Short Story Challenge

The Corgi that Could            By: Everly

Once there was a corgi that could do anything, he could cook, write books, everything.

But one day, something happened.

He was in his kitchen, cutting some carrots, when he kept missing the carrot. He couldn’t cut it. 

He decided to take a break, and write a book. He couldn’t write, he had no ideas. 

“I’m usually so good at this.” He complained.

The rest of the day he couldn’t do anything.

“But why? I’m can do anything!”

The truth was, he was relying on his own strength, not God’s.

The corgi came back to God, and knew he had done wrong. God forgave him, and he could do things again. But now, at school, he didn’t boast about it, instead he thanked God for everything he could do.

Week Thirteen of my Short Story Challenge

 The Ready Seed                    By: Everly Thomas

Once, there was a seed who was all too ready to leave the tree (or so he thought).

“Excuse me, Mr. Tree, sir.” The seed called to the great oak that was more than a hundred times his size.

“Yes?” The tree replied in a ready to listen and gentle voice.

“Well, I was wondering if I could leave you early, I’m ready!” Said the little seed.

“No, you may not leave early.” The tree replied with no more than a moments thought.

“But I’m prepared, I was—”

“No.”

“Oh, come on! Just let me leave early. I’m ready, I can—”

“No.”

The seed had had enough with the tree, so in the dark of the night, he decided to leave anyway. What did the tree know? Maybe he was just hiding the beautiful riches down there, and keeping it to himself.

The seed wiggled, and wiggled, and wiggled some more.

It was a long process of jiggling and wiggling, but he finally disconnected from the tree.

He fell the long way down. And he landed with such a quiet thud, that even an ant couldn’t have heard it.

The seed shivered, “Brrr…..It’s cold.”

He had landed in Winter. The tree had warned him not to go early, and the tree had warned him right, it was too cold for the little seed; he would not grow.

The seed stayed there for a long time, until he finally left the world, to what was hopefully a better place.

And, though you readers may not be seeds, it is still wise not to leave the tree until the time is right.

Diy Snow Globe

I’ve always wanted a snow globe, and now I have one! It is the perfect addition to my, now crowded with crafts I made, bed shelf. And it is so fun to shake it and see where the snowballs land! And there is no limit to what you put in the snow globe! Let’s get started!

Supplies:

A lid (I used the lid of my face pads container)

Plastic that bends and is see-through

White paper (you don’t need much)

Other things that you want to decorate your snow globe with

Tape

Directions:

1. Figure out what you want to be your main thing in the snow globe, and tape it to the lid (or glue it to the bottom if it is a standing thing). My main thing is a cross and a praying snowman

2. Now glue snowy hills, trees, or whatever you want, to the background

3. Now make little white balls out of small strips of you white paper, and plop it in your lid

4. Now you need to cut a square a good times bigger than your lid

5. Now put the lid upside down on the plastic in the middle, make sure your snowballs don’t escape the lid!

6. Now pull the edges of the square onto the lid, and tape it to the lid

(And, no, you do not need a little green piece of paper like the one in the picture, that guy was from other crafts of mine, and he somehow made it in there :)

7. Now it’s done! Shake it up, and have some fun!

 

Week Twelve of my Short Story Challenge

 Juliana’s Dreamworld                  By: Everly 

Juliana stared at the clock.

Tick, tick, tick, tick.

Time passed slowly. She put her attention back on the teacher, “….and that is how you find the circumference of a circle.”

“Juliana,” the teacher called, “can you give me the circumference of this circle?”

“Uhhhhh. Yes, you see, it’s a circle…. And if you do this… and then that….” Juliana stalled for time, she did not know the answer. And if you don’t know the answer when the teacher just told you how to get it, you get in trouble for not paying attention.

Why do I have to pay attention anyway? Why can’t attention pay itself? Juliana thought.

“Ahem. Juliana. Hello?” The teacher stared at Juliana.

Juliana snapped back to reality, “Oh! Um…. The answer would be…. Lemme see….. drop that… add this…. Calculate that…. And the answer would be…”

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!

The school clock rung. Juliana sighed with relief. 

“Oh, well I guess we’re out of time. Sorry Mrs. Blight. I have to go.” Juliana darted for the door.

“Juliana! Wait!” The teacher yelled after her, but she was already out the door.

Goodness, Juliana thought, that was close. I almost had to answer the question. Boy she was mad though, and I have to see her tomorrow. She’s probably going to make me answer the first question. Why can’t teachers answer all the questions? Why do they force students to do all the work?

Juliana ran out of the school doors. It was the end of the school day, and she had been running as fast as she could from Mrs. Blight.

She stepped onto the sidewalk, “I can’t wait to get home.”

Home was her favorite place on earth, it was where she could get away from everything, and do whatever she wanted. Her parents were very strict about her doing her homework, so Juliana couldn’t escape as soon as she got home. She had to wait. But Juliana knew that what she was looking forward to, was well worth the wait.

She arrived at home, and stepped through the front door. 

“Ah. There you are Juliana. Make sure you do your homework.” Her mother told her as soon as she was inside.

Either her mother heard her come in, and had rushed to the door to greet her, or she had been creepily standing by the door the whole time. Juliana hoped it was the second one.

“I’ll be in my room, mom. And, yes, I will do my homework.” Juliana drifted towards the stairs that led to her room.

Once up the stairs, there is a hallway, with four doorways. Two on each side. Juliana’s was the last one on the left. 

Juliana greeted her door happily. She was glad to be home. She walked in, sat at her desk, opened her backpack, and began her homework. It was dinner when she finished. 

Dinner passed slowly for Juliana, but that was merely because she was anxious to get back to her room.

“Juliana! Slow down, you’re going to choke on your food!” Juliana’s father warned her.

“Oh, sorry. I’m just…. Ready to go to bed.” Juliana replied.

“Then by all means, excuse yourself from this table.”

“Night!” Juliana called to her parents.

It was 5:30. And Juliana was anxious to get to bed? Juliana’s parents were confused, but they didn’t care.

“I suppose she had a long day, and needs rest before tomorrow.” They said.

Once upstairs, Juliana jumped into bed, and fell through.

As soon as she was on the other side, she put on her skates.

It was dark, and quiet as she skated on the perfect ice. She imagined people, and as soon as she did, people appeared and cheered her on.

She did jumps, twirls, tricks, and the crowd cheered her on as she did so.

Then she imagined her parents, cheering her on. And they appeared, and hugged her.

They laughed together as her parents wobbled on the ice. They weren’t wearing skates, and they couldn’t keep their balance.

Juliana didn’t believe her parents loved her on the other side of her bed, but then the skating rink turned into a park. There was a little girl, and her father in the middle of it.

“Ok. Now hold it like this…..” The little girl’s father was teaching her how to fly a kite.

The little girl held it, and accidentally let go. Her little hands weren’t big enough. The kite flew into the sky.

“Oh no!” The father exclaimed.

“It’s ok daddy. Now the sun has a friend.” The little girl said.

Her father picked her up and twirled her, “I love you, my little Jewel.”

Juliana realized it was her and her father. Her father used to call her his little Jewel.

Juliana stared at her father. Then her mom walked into the picture.

“Alright guys, let’s go home. We don’t want Juliana here getting tired.” She kissed young Juliana.

And then Juliana’s father picked his little Jewel up, and carried her all the way home. The whole way there they laughed with each other. Making funny faces and loving each other.

Juliana jumped through her bed again when she was ready. She realized that she didn’t need imaginary worlds to have her parents love her, they already did. But hey, why not jump through your bed and have a little fun?