Posted in Holiday

Welcome to the Lilliput Station Christmas Party-ers!!!

In case you haven't heard, Melissa of Lilliput Station is hosting her first annual online Christmas party including door prizes for contributors.  The package from China sounds really neat. :-)  You can read more about it and see all the door prizes here... Lilliput Station Blog  or click on "amtell" on my list of Friends.  This is so fun to get together and share Christmas ideas.  I've already enjoyed the things that others have shared...including the recipe for some Christmas cookies that I remember as a child but somehow they have been "lost in time."  Thanks to Rebecca, I've been re-introduced. (See Melissa-of-Lilliput-Station's Mr. Linky page for more great contributors or click on Mr. Linky at the top of her blog page).

I wanted to share a few different things...  First of all, I have made up some Christmas Notebook pages that I have uploaded to my Yahoo group...  Homeschool Treasure Trove  (or click link to the right).  There are at least 14 pages there that have to do either with Christmas or the story A Christmas Carol.  Continue to check back throughout the Christmas Season as I may be adding more.

I also wanted to share a recipe for what I think are the best sugar cookies in the world...Why?  I grew up making these with my mom, and she grew up making them with her grandmother, so there is some sentimentality attached to them, but they also have received many a compliment...including one of the greatest...When I was in high school, my mom would bring these to our soccer games to sell at the concession stand. One of the soccer moms would always get there early and "stalk" her to the stand and buy them all out before anyone else got any.    My mom also has sent them to Iraq to a unit in which one of her fellow church members is currently serving.  They always ask when the next batch is coming. Now my kids and I make them every year for our friends and neighbors.

Now that you have the background on these cookies, here's the recipe…

GRANDMOTHER’S SUGAR COOKIES

(My Great-grandmother’s Recipe)

 
2 c.      sugar
1 t.        baking soda
1 c.       shortening
2 t.       baking powder
1/2 c.    milk (I use 2%)
1 t.        salt
3          beaten eggs
1/2 t.    mace
1 t.        lemon extract
5 c.      flour (approximately…add in as needed until dough is easy to rollout)

 Preheat oven to 350° F.  Mix ingredients together, adding flour in gradually until the dough can be handled to roll on a lightly floured board.  Roll to 1/4” thickness and cut as desired with cookie cutters or the rim of a round glass.  Place on lightly greased and floured baking sheet.  Bake for 5 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

 Cookies may be sprinkled with colored sugar before baking, or decorated with icing when cooled.

 Makes 5-6 dozen.

Advent Calendar

We also used to do an advent calendar when I was young, and I've made one for my children.  I copied a number of the ornaments that my mom made, but the one I had as a child had a number of Santa-related items.  I didn't want Santa to be the focus of our Christmas season, so I made up a few of my own to replace those.  These are pictures of the finished calendar from a few years ago (Ignore the mask...my son was going through a Ninja Turtles phase  LOL)...

Please don't let the pictures above "scare" you if you don't sew. I am going to give you a no-sew version of this advent Calendar...mainly because it took me 3 or 4 years to finally finish this one with all the hand sewing involved.   if you'd like the directions for the sewn version, email me and I can send you those.

You will need...

2/3 yard of Felt for the background.  (Red is good...just don't use green. )
1 yard darker green felt for large tree and gift boxes
Wide white rick-rack (Optional)
Large dowel rod (approx 3/4" diameter)
2 wooden end-"balls" for ends of dowel rod
Gold cord or rope to use as hangar (cut to desired length)
Tacky Glue (it is very important that it is Tacky glue and not regular school glue)
gold rick-rack (optional garland for tree...I didn't use this, but my mom did)

Gift boxes:
Narrow ribbon in Red & White
Gold floss or thread (may be substituted with gold glitter glue)
Ribbon bows in red & white (or you may make your own from 1/4" ribbon)

NOTE: You may choose to use fabric paint or glitter glue instead of ribbon or ribbon bows...It's a whole lot easier.
(Gift boxes may be substituted with any kind of simple pocket such as a folded rectangle.  Pockets should be 2.5" wide and at least 2" deep.  Alternative to gift boxes will follow the directions.)

Ornaments:
Felt pieces of various colors (as desired)
24 pieces of adhesive velcro (either round or square...black will not stand out as much as white on the tree)
I also used a pre-made ribbon poinsettia from the craft store instead of making one...If someone else is going to do the work...why make it harder on yourself.  LOL

 
Make sure that you print out 2 copies of the ornaments on cardstock.  You will use one copy to cut out the silhouettes of the ornaments and the other you will cut apart for the smaller individual pieces of each ornament (e.g. the roof of the church or the branches of the palm tree, etc.)

First, Cut your large piece of felt to 21"x40".  Wrap the short side of it around your dowel rod, and mark the place on the BACK of the felt where it "comfortably" lays so that the dowel rod can still "slide." (Note: make sure you leave plenty of room to allow for glue too.)  Glue down that end with Tacky glue. (Allow to dry).  On the front you may glue the wide white rick-rack around the edge of the felt "framing" your calendar area.

to the back of the ornaments. (This is important otherwise they will "stick" to the "box" pockets and tear at the felt when they are removed.)  If you are having a hard time getting the adhesive velcro to stick to the ornament, use a little Tacky glue.  Place the ornaments on the tree in a scattered fashion, then adhere the "sticky" side of the velcro to the tree under the ornaments. (Again, use Tacky Glue if necessary).

Slide your dowel rod through the top pocket and "cap" off the ends with the wooden balls (sorry I can't remember what they're actually called but they have a hole cut into them specifically to fit over the dowel rod.)  You will probably want to glue these on with wood glue, but these are optional.  Tie the gold cord/rope to each end of the dowel rod on either side of the calendar and it's ready to hang on your wall.  (One option, if you have a drill and a member of your house who enjoys tools, is to drill a hole through the dowel rod and thread the cord/rope through it and tie a knot in the end so it holds the end of the rope.)

To store this, place all the ornaments on the tree and roll it up. (Otherwise, the velcro will stick to the felt when rolled...and tear at it when you open it back up).  I also have used a clip/pants hangar to hold the rods and stored it in the back of my closet.  It makes easier the next year to remember where it is, and it's ready to go the First day of December no ironing or shaking the wrinkles out. 

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