Reindeer Food {Guest Post: Laura}

My son and me on the first day of school this year.

I'm Laura over at Now Things are Cookin', where I'm learning to cook all over again, and A Special Den Leader, where I discuss activities we do with my 8 year old son's Wolf Scout den.  It's so nice to be visiting Susie's blog again.  She featured me in her Searching for Super-Mom series a few months ago.  I'd like to thank Susie for having me here again to share with you a Christmas tradition my son and I enjoy.

Measuring ingredients.  Check out his tongue.  Is that not the cutest thing ever?

A few years ago when my son was really starting to really get into the whole idea of Santa, he wanted to know what we could fix for Santa's reindeer.  It was Christmas Eve and we had no carrots in the house, which was my first thought.  My son didn't think that was a very good idea anyway.  Probably because he hasn't met a vegetable yet that he likes.  So rather than making a frenzied dash to the grocery store for carrots, I turned to my good friend Google.

By typing in "reindeer food," we came up with several recipes for a yummy, easy treat for Santa's reindeer when they stopped by on Christmas Eve.  The ingredients are simple and it's friendly for any other critters, like my YorkiePoo, who might happen upon the leftovers.

Stirring.  And still the tongue is sticking out in concentration.

Even though this year my son "knows" who Santa is, (anyone who has love, goodness, kindness, and generosity in their hearts, of course), he still wants to make reindeer food.  In fact the other day he told me "Mom, reindeer are just like regular deer, except they can fly.  When can we make reindeer food this year?" I felt a little sad that he mistakenly thought all reindeer could fly, but very happy he would like to continue our little tradition a little bit longer.

Here's the original recipe for reindeer food that we found on Google.

1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup decorators sugar, your color of choice

Mix all ingredients together and sprinkle on lawn.

Finished.  He had to make sure I got the shot.

It's a perfectly fine recipe, but lets be honest for a moment, mommas.  Chances are, your dog, your neighbor's cat, or some random squirrel is going to end up eating the reindeer food.  Frankly, I'm not interested in feeding any of those creatures that much sugar.  So we have traditionally cut both sugars by half.  We used quick cooking oats when we made the batch for this post because I had some on hand to make my own instant oatmeal packets.  Regular oats are fine too.  And because my 8 year old marches to the beat of a drum no one else can hear, he also added some rainbow sprinkles.

The red decorators sugar is more important than the brown sugar.  It sparkles under the moonlight streetlights so the reindeer can see it and come down off the roof for their little snack while Santa is inside.  And truly any color will do.

Close up of the reindeer food.  Don't you think Rudolf will love this?

I have seen recipes for reindeer food that include real glitter.  I do not recommend using real glitter because it's made of mica or plastic particles that could injure digestive systems of wildlife or neighboring animals.  Decorator sugar may not sparkle as much, but it's surprising how much it does sparkle once you get it in the pale light of the moon or streetlight.


Thank you so much, Laura, for this awesome guest post!
You can visit Laura at Now Things are Cookin', A Special Den Leader, Facebook , Google+, and Pinterest.

Reindeer Feet {Guest Post: Amanda}

Hi! I'm happy to introduce you to a bloggy friend of mine, Amanda! You may remember her from her Searching for Super-Mom interview that I posted a while back. Amanda blogs at Natural Living Mama. Give her a visit and say hello! You can also keep up with Amanda via Twitter, Facebook, and Pintrest.
Take it away, Amanda!

Times are tough for a lot of us. Money is tight and life is stressful. I have also noticed a nasty trend of the “gimmies” during holidays that are supposed to be spent giving thanks, with an emphasis on the word GIVING. Because of this we have decided to have a handmade Christmas this year focusing on gifts custom made for the people we love.
Kids are young for such a short time so these homemade reindeer feet are the perfect keep sake for years to come. We made ornaments out of some, and made copies of others for our e-mail Christmas card and yearly letter. 

This is so much fun and so easy to do! Both my two year old daughter and my 8 month old son were pros, which I am sure had a lot to do with the help of their very patient and artsy grandmother.
Supplies:

• Heavy stock paper. We used both 150lb water color paper and card stock. We tried construction paper but it was too flimsy and not as pretty looking.
• Bronze acrylic paint
• Sponge brush
• Red ½ inch pompoms
• Googly eyes proportionate to the size of your child’s feet
• Glue
• Sharpie or black marker
• Scissors (optional)

Directions:

• Paint the bottom of the child’s foot with the paint and make an imprint on the paper.  We did that by having the kids sit in Moms lap or in the high chair and pressed the paper up against their foot. You can also paint their feet and let them run across a bunch of paper. My floors decided that we would do the less messy option.
• Press the paper against the feet and hope the child does not squirm while doing it. You can fit about 4 feet on one sheet of paper.
• Draw antlers between where the toes and foot meet on both sides.
• Cut out the reindeer.
• Glue nose and eyes on. We placed the glue dots where the eyes and nose went and she placed them. There were a few reindeer with mis-matching eyeballs but she was so proud of her self we just left them.
• Punch a hole in the top of the head and add a string if you are giving them as ornaments or glue them to your Christmas cards for a special holiday greeting!

Are you looking for some other handmade gift ideas?
Cinnamon ornaments- This super easy project is a fun one to do with kids. It has two ingredients and is loads of fun!
Homemade Vanilla Extract – This requires two ingredients and some patience and will make any food lover happy.
Herbal Bath Salts – These salts are great for both men and woman. They encourage relaxation and healing in stressful times and are really easy to make.
Lotion Bars – Three basic ingredients is all you need to make these moisturizing lotion bars.
Coffee Honey Sugar Scrub – This decadent sugar scrub is simple made with ingredients you have in your kitchen, smells amazing, exfoliating, moisturizing and reduces cellulite. What is not to love?

What are you making for the holidays this year?

Christmas Holly {free crochet pattern}

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly... fa la la la la la la la la..."

So, have you started decking the halls yet? 
I have to admit that I have barely started. Sure, I've made some crochet snowflakes, and a couple of crafts with the kids, but I haven't really started with the holiday decor, yet.

Wanting to get into the spirit of the holidays more, I thought it would be fun to crochet up a little Christmas Holly. For this pattern, I used embroidery thread. I just LOVE the colors that are available. I've used it before for little flower hair clips, and to use for a bracelet. While it is a bit difficult to work with at first, once you get used to pulling the thread tight (so that the threads don't separate), it is much easier.
Here's what I came up with:

I haven't quite decided what I am going to do with this holly yet, but I have a few ideas:

• I could use it as an applique- on a reindeer hat that I've been planning to make (but still need the yarn for); or to decorate a scarf, napkin holders, or a mug warmer; or on a shirt or stocking... so many options!
• A festive holiday broach- I can hot glue or sew it to a broach pin, or even to a shawl pin!
• Hair pretties- I can attach it to a hair clip, pony tail, or headband for one of my girls.
• As an ornament- just put a hook on it, or attach a thread. I could even starch it to make it extra stiff.

... hmmm... I think I might need to make more!

The pattern is pretty simple.

Hand Print Holly

So, yesterday I showed you how to make a fun Hand Print Christmas Tree, and you had 2 hand prints left over. As promised, here is the cute craft that you can make out of those-
Hand Print Holly!

 They are super easy to make!

Hand Print Christmas Tree

I want to share with you a fun craft that we make nearly every year- a Hand Print Christmas Tree.
It's a lot of fun, and with just a little guidance from you, your kids will be giggling and decorating their tree in no time... well, mine were, anyway!
Seriously, how cute are these, that my 3 youngest made?

Here's how easy they are to make: