Christmas odds and ends

Christmas is in 7 days. Six if you don’t count today. Even though I made a big effort to do my shopping early this year there always seems to be a few random things to get and errands to run. I need to do that today.

My brother Tyler is coming over for Christmas day. I can’t remember the last time he was there on Christmas day. I am really looking forward to it.

The past several years I have thought of really awesome gifts to make for my mom. Once you get into a pattern of cool home made gifts it is hard to go back to just buying something. I made her a cool calendar for her birthday this year and but could not think of something to get/make her for Christmas. Everyone else was shopped for but I still hadn’t figured out what to get her. I finally thought of something and I think she will like it. But I was a little sad that it wasn’t as cool as the past two years.

We had been planning on driving up to Washington on Friday so we could be there all day Christmas Eve. This has been the plan for a while. I am positive that I told Mom about this plan. Then yesterday I was talking to her on the phone.

“ I was talking to Dad and we both think it would be awesome if you could drive up on Friday, instead of Saturday.” Mom said.

“We are driving up on Friday. We should be there by dinner time.” I say.

“Really?”

“Yep”

“I am so excited! I thought you wouldn’t be here until Saturday evening. Now we will have all day on Christmas Eve. Dad will be so happy! It’d like an early Christmas present! I’m glad we talked today, now I can look forward to you being there on Friday!”

That’s pretty much how the conversation went, except I don’t think my mom would ever use that many exclamation points in one paragraph. So I might not have gotten her an amazing homemade gift this year but I did make her happy by coming up Friday instead of Saturday.

Speaking of my mom, a few weeks ago we got a package from her with about 50 small wrapped presents with my kids names on them. They were numbered up to 16. So each of my four kids and occasionally Michael and I to have gotten to open a little present for the 16 days before we go to Moses Lake. The kids have been loving it. And the presents have been fun, reindeer rubber ducks, popsicle stick snowman crafts, a kaleidoscope (this was a big hit), hacky sacs etc. Then today they opened these.

The kids loved them. But I don’t think mom was thinking about what would happen if you give paddle balls to three kids 6 years old and under all at once.

“Mom what’s this, how do I do it?” One of them asks.

“Like this.” I demonstrate how to bounce the ball on the paddles. They all start waving them wildly about.

Within about 10 minutes all three kids had been whacked with a paddle or ball about 20 times. There were tears of frustration, because it “wouldn’t work right.” One ball had a chunk bitten out of it and another was broken. The Christmas tree had a close call as well as my favorite nativity. Soon another paddle ball broke and during that 1o minutes I don’t think any of them were able to successfully bounce the ball two consecutive times on the paddle.

So overall they were a big hit. I think the paddle balls will find their way to the recycle bin before lunch today.

I can’t wait until Christmas.

Roca

We made a lot of treats at Christmas time in the Creviston household. Fudge, sugar cookies, molasses cookies, soft toffee, cheese ball, chex mix and others. I love them all but my favorite is roca. I’m not sure when we started making it, but it is sooooo good.

It has become the treat we give to our friends at Christmas. It is easy to make and I have never met someone who doesn’t like it. I decided I should share the goodness and post the recipe. The only problem was the recipe that my mom gave me goes like this.

1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup butter, chocolate chips, saltines.

Yeah, Creviston’s aren’t real big on recipes. So I took pictures while I made it yesterday and paid attention to how much of what I used. Here is a more useful version of the recipe

Roca

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

Saltine crackers (enough to line a 9 by 13 pan about half a tube)

Semi sweet chocolate chips ( I used about 2/3 of a bag)

1. Pre-heat oven to 400. Line a 9 by 13 pan with tin foil. Cover the bottom of the pan with saltine crackers. I round the corners of the crackers that are in the corner of the pan so they will lay flat.

2. Melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat in a small saucepan. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Pour toffee mixture over crackers and stick in the oven. Bake until the crackersfloat. This takes about 3 1/2 to 5 minutes. It takes 3 1/2 in my oven.

4. Once the crackers float take it out of the oven and sprinkle chocolate chips on it. The heat from the toffee will melt the chocolate chips. Once the chocolate chips are melted spread them around to cover all the toffee.

5. Stick in the fridge and cool until chocolate is hard. Pull the tin foil off and break apart into pieces and store in the fridge or eat it before the chocolate gets melty again.

I didn’t get a picture of the final product because we gave most of it away and ate the rest before I thought about taking a picture. So you will have to make it yourself to see how it turns out.

What’s your favorite Christmas treat?

Favorite Christmas songs

It was a lot harder to make a small list of my favorite Christmas songs than my least favorite. I divided it into two sections, hymns and not hymns.

Hymns.

1. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day- I had a nice little paragraph written about why I love this song and then I found this video by Ed Herman and the Mormon Tabernacle choir and decided that they did a much better job. The only problem with this song is when people only sing the first three verses and end at the saddest part of the story.

2. Oh Holy Night- Darcy wrote a great post about this song. I will just say that I agree.

3. Joy to the World- I think song pretty much sums how I feel about Christmas and it is fun to sing. Here is one version.

Non Hymns

1. Snoopy and the Red Baron- Apparently the actual name of the song is Snoopy’s Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen. Here is a good version of it. I listened to this song growing up and still love it.

2. Thistle Hair the Christmas Bear- Here is a version that comes with a light show too. Thistle Hair is another Christmas song from my childhood. My dad has a big shelf full of CD. A shelf probably as tall as me. He probably has at least thirty different Christmas CDs. Alabama’s Christmas CD was one of them and this was on it. Listening to this song makes me think of my Dad.

3. Feliz Navidad- A fun song to sing along to in the car. It has a good beat.

4. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas- My brother-in-law just made his own version of this song.

Apparently I like Christmas songs that tell stories. Also I like feel good songs. Find some Christmas songs you love and listen to them. Not much makes me happier than listening to good Christmas music at Christmas time.

What’s your favorite Christmas song?

My least favorite Christmas songs

 

I was listening to the radio the in the car and a Christmas song that I really don’t like came on. So I started thinking of all the Christmas songs I don't like. Which made me feel a bit like a scrooge. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Little Drummer Boy- It is annoying. Where was a drummer boy in the Christmas story? And why was a little boy out at night by himself to be able to play for baby Jesus? I'm not sure why this song bugs so much but I always change the radio station when I hear it.

2. Santa Baby- This song is completely opposite of what Christmas is supposed to be about. Christmas is about love and giving. Santa Baby is all about selfishness and flirting with Santa. And you shouldn't be flirting with Santa, he is a married man.

3. That Christmas shoe song- I don't even know what the name of the song actually is but you know the one I am talking about. It was ok the first time I heard it. It has a good message, you can feel the love the little boy has for his mom. But really it is the most depressing Christmas song ever. A little boy trying to buy some shoes for his mom, who is going to die, so she can look nice when she goes to heaven. What could be more depressing than that? The song is a tear jerker and I don't like tear jerkers. I know that sad things happen even around holidays and I do my best to help people who have a difficult time during the holiday season, but I don't want to hear sad stories in Christmas songs.

4. Grandma got ran over by a reindeer- I know this song is supposed to be funny. But really, a song about a grandma getting killed by Santa's reindeer? It is morbid.

That's it. I guess if I can only think of four Christmas songs I really don't like then I must not be a Scrooge after all. Coming soon, my favorite Christmas songs. I have a feeling it will be a much more difficult list to compile.

 What are your least favorite Christmas songs?

Laundry soap

I haven’t bought laundry soap since 2006. When we got our water softener they gave us a bunch of different soaps that were suppose to work well with soft water. And because of a happy mistake we got twice as much laundry soap as we were supposed to so I didn’t run out of it until this summer.

Once you have gone that long with out having to buy laundry soap it is hard to go back. Fortunately my mom had a homemade laundry soap recipe she wanted to try out so we made some this summer. It is really easy to make and keeps our clothes clean.

With the help of Michael I figured out that you can make enough laundry soap for 300 loads for $10 or less (usually less) depending on the price of the ingredients. And you will have leftovers of some ingredients.

I have made twice now on my own. Once to show my sister-in-laws how and once because I ran out of the small batch I made with my mom.

I use the first recipe from this site.

1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (grated) (1 bar Fels-Naptha)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

2 gallons warm water

1 bucket (big enough to fit 2 gallons)

Also you can add an essential oil of your liking if you like scented laundry soap.

Use your cheese grader to shred your Fels-Naptha. It looks like shredded cheese, but don’t be tempted to eat it. Parker can tell you it doesn’t taste good.

Shredded Fels-Naptha is what clean smells like.

Dissolve the Fels-Naptha in the boiling water. Once the water boils put it on low.  . It will take longer to dissolve but prevents a bunch of froth from forming.  The froth isn’t bad I just like it better with out it. If you want to add an essential oil add it at this point.

Pour 2 gallons warm water into your bucket and mix in your Borax and Washing soda. Stir that until it is dissolved. Add your water and Fels-Naptha mixture and ta da! your done.

The soap will gel up so don’t worry if it is really thick. Use 1/4 cup for a regular sized load.

Bonus- it’s a very earth friendly recipe for those of you who are into being green.