" A Cozy Christmas"

Last year we started doing a theme for my mom's family Christmas and this year is was "A Cozy Christmas". This year was the first year that all five sisters, their husbands, grandkids and great grandkids were able to be there. It was on Christmas Eve at Aunt Mary's house.

Everyone brought gifts for the "kids". In our family you get to be a kid until you are out of high school. The adults did a white elephant ornament exchange.

Aunt Mary cooked a delicious and gourmet dinner, we did our exchange and then we danced to "Milton the Dancing Christmas Mouse".

Clayton sporting his "onsie"!

Neil's last year to be a kid. He wanted a Superman lunch box and Megan found him one! haha

Aunt Mary, the middle sister of 5, found the perfect wine for her!

Working up a sweat to Milton The Mouse!!! SO MUCH FUN!

The entire group!

Treasure Hunt

My favorite Christmas Tradition is a treasure hunt that my parents make up for us every year. They have been doing this since we were really young. They make up riddles or use Bible verses that give us a clue of where to go. They usually keep the clues on their property and around the house, but we have had to go into town before to find them. This year each clue had a Bible verse we had to go read that somehow told us where to go to find the next.

The clues are always attached to a Christmas ornament. The first clue is always on the tree and is on a pickle ornament. This year mom couldn't find our pickle ornament so we found a real pickle hung on the tree!

Our tree this year was a little different. The tree farm ran out of trees when mom and dad went to get one so Dad and Clayton found this one at the creek and cut it down. I loved it!

There are usually about 10-12 clues. I took a pic of most of them.

followed "The Brightest Star"

One was attached to "Our Father".

Don't you love the shirt!?!?!

I can't remember what all of the verses said, but this one said something about a new tree.

horse stable

This one was about a nest and we first went to the chicken coop to look for the nest, but ended up finding it in the house.

hog pen- the verse said something about swine.

"a garden"

"a fountain"

This is my favorite nativity scene and it always makes it into the hunt. Our "treasure" was underneath it this year.

We usually do the hunt on Christmas morning, but since Brett and I were leaving on Christmas morning we did it early. Cousin Neil just happen to be over while we were doing it and guess what....he got an envelope too! He knew what he was doing!

Money!!

This is such a fun and special tradition that I look forward to carrying on one day for our kids!!

Make it Yourself- Gifts

I am sitting inside by the warm fire and watching it sleet outside! I thought this was a good time to catch up on my blogging.

Here are some things I have made lately as well as some homemade gifts I was given that I wanted to share.

I have loved learning how to crochet. I am getting a lot faster and have several new patterns I am trying out.

I have found a few blogs that have free patterns and you can also purchase them on Etsy.com. This is one blog I like alot.

I am still using YouTube to learn any stitches I do not know.

I made these for my cousin's little girls. It is so much fun looking for the letters. I just used an old frame, spray painted it and then used tissue paper and this other clear paper I found at Michaels.

My parents had a ton of wine corks they have been saving for years. Kari helped me figure out a few things to do with them. She hot glued 8 corks together to make these coasters. Super cute and easy gift!

Aunt Mary used chalkboard paint and painted these decanters. You can also paint the base of wine glasses and write the name of the person drinking it.

Here are some cute and crafty gifts that I was given over the holidays that I think are a great idea.

Heather gave me a bag full of stir fry and sushi making supplies!! I have already used the stir fry goods and plan on doing sushi soon. I thought this was such a fun gift!

She also got the materials to make this cute wet wipe holder and her mother in law put it together.

My mom put these cute boxes together. She filled them with napkins, cupcake liners, invitations, party bags and other fun stuff to use for gatherings. I can't wait to start using it all.

Jackie made these infused liquors, put them in mason jars and put a drink recipe on top. So cute and really good! She has a blog and posted how she did it here.

I went to a Christmas party that had a guy there that worked for a group called "The Official Butt Sketcher". He was a big hit and everyone got to go home with a cool picture of their backside. Brett was out of town for the party so I got in a group shot!