November 2018

Diane hosted our end of the year Christmas meeting with the help of her daughter and Jeri. We had a great time, great food and gathered wonderful ideas as we shared Christmas hacks with each other. Our theme for the meeting was Favorite Things, so each of us brought 3 of our favorite thing. We put our name 3 times into a bowl. Then when it was time for the game, we each showed our favorite item and explained why we liked it so much. Then we went around the room choosing a name from the bowl. We then received one of the items from that person. The bowl went around the room 3 times, so we each went away with three different items. A perfect game for our group!

BRUNCH

Lenette's famous toffee

Fruit

Orange rolls

Brown Sugar Pepper Bacon-not pictured

Preheat oven to 400

Spread bacon on a tinfoil lined baking sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with pepper and brown sugar.

Bake for another 8 minutes or until bacon is cooked to your liking.

Ornament project- thank you Jeri! These were fun to make

SHOW AND TELL

and 

CHRISTMAS HACK IDEAS

Cindy made this 9-patch. 

Christmas Hack-use online shopping and ask your kids to make their gift lists by sending you links to what they would like

Nancy (Diane's daughter) made this cute "Super Girl" for her daughter.

Hack- keep the scissors, tape and pins all in with the wrapping paper so you don't have to gather everything every time you wrap something.

Jeri made this wool piece which fits perfectly in the tin she found. If you look closely, she even stitched her and her husband's initials in the tree.

Hack - schedule a dinner with your grandchildren and let them open your gift to them at that time instead of grouping your present in with everything else they get on Christmas day. Also their family loves doing a white elephant each year.

Darla made this ornament using cinnamon sticks and scraps of fabric.

Darla made this tulip quilt from a quilt kit-in-a-box she got at a quilt retreat.

Hack - Darla takes a 10-day summer trip with her sister and plans at that time what to make for Christmas gifts.

This is the the box the quilt kit came in.

Darla made this quilt from 2 1/2' strips and it's called Apron Strings

Darla also made this Floral Fantasy quilt.

Darla made this half square triangle quilt.

This is a small zippered bag that Darla made. She keeps cute little wonder clips inside. She said it was very easy to make.

Susan made the above two wool table toppers using her own dyed wool (except for the backgrounds). We're hoping to make the Christmas one as a group next year. Susan enlarged the pattern to make it the perfect size for what she wanted. Cindy shared a place online where she finds good deals on wool, it's Dorr Mill.

Hack - Remember to show gratitude every day and give hugs

and give memory gifts. One year she put together a memory box for her dad with special things inside that they grew up with.

Nancy Ch. showed these plates as part of her hack. She said she collects cute, unique similarly colored plates to use for special occasions throughout the year.

She also said they like to give "experience" gifts such as tickets to a hockey game or to the ballet.

Also Nancy loves making sugar cookies but since they take so much time, she triples the recipe, bakes some of it and puts the rest of the dough into the freezer so she can make cookies quickly when needed.

This is a sample of one of Jeanie's hacks. She has given these to her grandchildren.

Also when she puts Christmas decorations away, she always writes what's in each bin on top.

She uses bubble wrap to wrap her nativities.

Jeanie also shared that her daughter hangs all the stockings on a tension curtain rod, then hangs that rod on the stocking holders that sit on the mantle. Kathi personally loved that idea, so here's a pic of how her's turned out. When the rest of the kids/grandkids come for Christmas, she can then just add their stockings onto the curtain rod.

Mary's son was complaining that he was always cold, so she made this quilt from her scraps and she had her son tie it. She used a flannel sheet for the back.

Hack - Mary buys cute paper plates from Hobby Lobby to use the whole month of December. It not only looks festive, but it also helps make more time for her to-do list.

Mary also made this half square triangle scrappy quilt.

More Christmas Hacks

Andrea says using online shopping, 2-day shipping and same day store pick-up has been a great time saver.

Monica said it helps to have a theme for the gifts each year such as emergency prep, babysitting coupons, dinner gift certificates

Kathi is asking her kids to make a "giving list" this year.

Robyn does puzzles each year so she has collected quite a few over time, but this year she found a neighbor who does the same thing, so they are just trading puzzles instead of buying new ones.

Robyn also found that flannel sheets go on sale in January each year, so she buys them to use for backs for her quilts.

To make it smell like Christmas in her home, Robyn makes this to simmer on her stove:

1/2 orange, sliced

1/2 lemon, sliced

2 cinnamon sticks

T. cloves

bay leaf

water

Robyn also found Christmas 3D glasses at Lowes and Home Depot. When you look through them at lights, they show different object such as Santa, trees, snowflakes, etc Fun for the kids.

Nancy gives money to her grandkids to buy a gift for someone else and then report back to the grandparents on what they chose/did

A couple months before Christmas, Nancy shops with her kids (the parents) to buy gifts for the grandkids so she knows exactly what they need and want.

Sherry has her family make a list of 4 items:

Something you want

Something you need

Something you wear and

Something you read

Sherry also said they love finding fun things at the dollar store and uses online shopping to beat the crowds

Diane said one idea to keep the toys under control is to pack up several toys from the previous year before Christmas and give them away to kids in need

She also found a new favorite chocolate to use for her hot chocolate - Saco

Diane also taught us about Hygge (Danish) - her new favorite word.  It means the absence of anything annoying or emotionally overwhelming, taking pleasure from the presence of gentle, soothing things. It's used when acknowledging a feeling or moment, whether alone or with friends, at home or out, ordinary or extraordinary as cozy, charming or special.  A quality of coziness and contentment. "You can't buy a hygge living room" 

May we all enjoy a hygge Christmas season!!