Yes EVEN Cody sat on Santa's Lap

I thought maybe Cody would have decided that he was TOO OLD for this great tradition, but as traditions go, he had to take part in a long standing Tulip tradition, where if you want the 'treat' bag, I gotta talk to Santa and Tulip Kids have been going up to talk to Santa way up into their teens, I can even think of few 20somethings who've been up there. Hard telling what they discussed, but Cody took his turn.

Sam and Santa

I am sure, although I couldn't hear it, that most of Sam's gifts could be traced back to one or more of the following themes, Legos, Star Wars, or Playstation 2 games. And the ultimate, I have been informed SEVERAL times would be Lego Star Wars, The Video Game for Playstation 2. Do you think Santa could keep all of that straight? Time will tell, I suppose. ;)

Seth and Santa

Seth was very brave and marched right up there and told Santa alot of stuff, of course the few things I could hear were definitely last minute additions, so I hope Santa was listening closely and taking good notes. Of course at this age, ALL presents are exciting, thank goodness!!

Jenna and Santa

Last Sunday evening we had our church Christmas program and we were 'surprised' at the end of the program with a special guest. Santa popped in to say hello and visit with the kids to double check on any last minute requests. I think this might be the first year that Jenna would willingly go and sit on his lap since her first Christmas. She definitely had a long list for him.

Jason and Marshall Kable

Jason and Marshall were in the parade tonight. That's one of our tractors, pulling a rake. I wish I had better pictures, it was hard to find a setting on my camera that was right for the lighting. It was dark, but there were street lights, and headlights and obviously ALOT of Christmas lights, but we managed to get a few decent pictures.

The Tractor Parade

The Centralia Young Farmers have started a new tradition at Christmas time the night time lighted tractor parade. We didn't go last year, the inaugural year, but we went th is evening. I tried to take some pictures without much success, I am posting a few. The Sprayer is from MFA. The boys were fired up abou this and think that next year we need to enter a tractor, we'll see, not sure if we can come up with anything, stay tuned.

Pretzel Wreaths

I have spent the day at school today. Seth and I took the supplies to make these wreaths in both Sam's 4th grade classroom and also Jenna's Kindergarten room. I didn't get the chance to take pictures while there, as I was too busy. I always hate that about those events where you are too busy to actually take pictures to remember it by. So my picture of the sample with have to do, I suppose. Anyone interested in making these, they are totally simple. 10 little 'knot' pretzels, your choice of white or milk chocolate or the Wilton's candy melts, (I found red and green at Michaels) Dipping the 'double' side of the pretzel into the melted chocolate, then arrange them on a paper plate or wax paper into a circle, using five pretzels on each layer. The top layer I offset to sort help 'glue' the whole thing together. They harden in about 10 minutes in the freezer or probably 45 minutes to an hour sitting out. I have made them before with the 'mini' M&M's as the 'ornaments' One year we tried shoestring licorice as the ribbon, I can't remember, but I don't think we had super great luck with that. Totally simple project even little kids can do, the Kindergarteners had no more problem creating these than the 4th graders, they were just short for reaching across the table at school, but it worked really well. (note for any beginners, melt the chocolate in a heavy stoneware bowl, in 1 minute increments in the microwave, stirring in between, shouldn't take more than about three times. ) Also another FYI, the one pound bag of Rold Gold pretzels, made 20 wreaths......

Now I should really get back to projects here at home, before the kids get here. (BTW, no freezing rain YET!!!)

From Tulip~

KH

Journal Covers

I went to a class at Material Girl Quilt Shop several weeks ago and learned how to make journal covers. It's a really cute fabric cover for the 'composition' sized note books. I am planning to try and cover different sizes, but for Christmas gifts, decided to stick with the original size. These are so fun and quick, it feeds my need/obsession to 'design' a 'quilt' I love the hunt, finding fabrics that go together and also love the piecing, but am not generally patient enough to actually quilt a a project and since you don't actually quilt in this project, ALL THE BETTER! Pictured are four different ones that I made. I made two others that I forgot to snap a pic of before they got wrapped, so maybe they will show up on here AFTER Christmas.

Locals, if you are looking for fun projects to entertain yourself with this winter, go to Meredith's Quilt Shop link from here on my blog, which is the Material Girl Quilt Shop, or just stop by. I know that she has several more classes scheduled starting in January through early Spring. Tell her I told you to come in!!

Well the kids are home today from school as the roads are slick and its bitterly cold, so I think we are going to play catch up on housework and laundry and I just know that they can't wait to get started, so I better close!!! ;)

From Tulip~

KH