St. Nicholas Day: A Family Tradition

One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was St. Nicholas Day. Although we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometimes known as "Mormons" my mom instituted we celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6th. St. Nicholas Day is commonly celebrated in European countries. It is thought that Santa Claus bringing gifts is based off St. Nicholas Day. Read more here.

 We set our shoes out on the fireplace hearth on the 5th of December. In the morning they would be filled with a small surprise, like hair things, candy or a small toy. It was a simple tradition but one we looked forward to. As a teenager, I liked to set out my most daring shoe for St. Nicholas. When we went to college, St. Nicholas still found us, via US Mail! His handwriting was strangely similar to my mom's ;)

I plan on carrying on this tradition with my family as well. Just another magical way to make December memorable!

In my husband's basketball sneaker: The Beach Boys's Sounds of Summer.(affiliate link)

In my bootie : Welch's Fruit Snacks, (affiliate link) because I love fruit snacks

In my daughter's boot: We Belong Together by Joyce Wan. (affiliate link) I LOVED this book when we got it from the library and I'm so happy we own it now! It's got really cute illustrations and I think it's perfect for a parent-child relationship or for siblings.

Wrapped and Done by December One RESULTS!

If you'll remember, it was my goal to be done with all my Christmas preparations by December first. This included my Christmas cards, gifts and decorations. Here's how I faired

Cards: Done! My sister-in-law took our pictures, I got that great Groupon and then addressed and sent them on Friday the 28th.

Decorations: Done! I like what I did this year, but miss most of my ornaments. A one year-old baby and breakable ornaments just don't mix. It's nice to have enough room for everything. Here's my nativity:

Gifts: All my gifts to my extended family and in-laws have been shipped! I left my husband and daughter's gift shopping until last week because I wanted to make people who lived far away a priority as to get their gifts shipped. This was good and bad. Good because that got done, bad because I didn't factor in that I'd be ordering gifts online and would need to allow for time to wrap those gifts. So I have 2 gifts coming that I haven't yet received which need to be wrapped. I still feel like I was successful because I won't be stressing about the gifts and I actually enjoy wrapping gifts.

So I think I did really well!! How did you you?

Advent Calendars!

I love a good advent calendar and now's the time to make them! There are so many fun and beautiful ideas out there. We have shared a few of ours in the past.

Musical Advent Calendar Garland is so easy you can make it in an afternoon AND the commitment is pretty low. Can you sing a song a day? Then you can do it!

Jordan's Felt Advent Calendar reminds me of the advent calendar we had growing up. Oh the fights we had over whose day it was to hang up the ornament.

Countdown to Christmas is almost an advent, so it should be included =)

Are you counting down the days yet?

Happy Halloween! (And FAST costumes!)

My son wanted to be a sword guy after his Mastering Knighthood Summit a couple months ago. He received a foam sword (not pictured, as swords aren't allowed at school) and a shield he decorated there. To make an easy tabard, I asked Summit's Queen Emily. She recommended using a long rectangle of fabric folded in half lengthwise, or even a pillowcase (slit the long sides). Cut a head hole and put a belt on it: BAM. You're a knight.

Like Brooke's daughter and 10,000,000 other little girls, my middle girls wanted to be characters from Frozen. We got storebought dresses from Mom Approved Costumes, which arrived JUST in time. I braided some snowflake Christmas ornaments into Elsa's hair and used gel and hairpins along with white and glitter hairspray. Anna got a white strip of hair (hiding in the back plus more glitter, of course!) and a homemade cloak. I used felt instead of fleece and made the undercape a cape (which Anna's is in the movie) instead of a vest, but mostly followed Eclectic Housewife's Anna Cloak tutorial.

The rest of the morning will be spent sewing on the trim and button.

And of course, we have our troll . . . trolling.

Her costume is a towel cut into a long rectangle. I folded it in half lengthwise and sewed up a couple inches of each side, then cut a head hole. Slip on over a gray sweatsuit, tie on a raffia belt and voila, troll!

She hates it. At least it only took five minutes.

What are your favorite fast costumes?

Independence Day crafts from WGC!

We're always very excited to celebrate Independence Day. Here are some of the Americana-themed crafts we've shared!

Stars & Stripes 3D Stars

I think we'll be doing this for Make it Monday!

Patriotic Wire Shaping

Fourth of July Patriotic Word Art Printable

Patriotic Pinwheels

Festive Fourth of July Nails

Red, White and Spangled Candles

Red, White and Blue Baby Clothes Upcycle

More ideas

What will you make for Independence Day?

17 Fun Kid-made Father's Day Gifts

Father's day is upon us! Jaime's sharing some super cute Father's Day Cards, and for any big gifts, Brooke's got your perfect formula. But what about gifts from the kids? Here are some quick crafts kids can make as gifts for Dad's special day this week!

1

Daddy? Darth Vader onesie from Sisters What!

You could also scale this up for a matching shirt for Dad, captioned "Who's yo Daddy?"

(Kids may need a little help with this)

2

Best Daddy/Grandad Ever (Jelly) Beans printable from the letter 4
How about a "For the best dad who's ever 'BEAN'" sign?

3

I got this frame at a Dollar Tree, but you can do this with a Silhouette or Cricut or even an Exacto knife and poster board. The kids can help you pick & position the photos.

4

Homemade Stress Relief Balls from Craftivity Corner @ Family Education Blogs
Perfect for relieving that homemade stress.

5

Father's day tie scavenger hunt from here on Wayward Girls' Crafts
Sorry, iPhone not included.

6

Dozens of Father's Day Handprint and Footprint crafts from . . . Handprint and Footprint Art
Or you could use a sock: I love you more than rocks from your nose to your socks!*
*This may only work in our family.

7

Daddy Tokens Tin from Eighteen25
Cool take on coupons!

8

DIY Lenticular photos: use photos of your kids or family from here on Wayward Girls' Crafts

9

Dad, we love you to (Reese's) pieces! printable from Nothing but Country

10

Personalized note cube from Cool Mom Picks @ BabyCenter

11

Father's day coupon books from here on Wayward Girls' Crafts

12

Love notes on paint chips from Eighteen25

13

Daddy's Soda with shirts and ties from The Idea Room
It says soda.

14

Fabric paint or even acrylic to put a footprint on a tie
You don't machine wash ties, do you?

15

Free printable All About Dad book from Eighteen25

16

I love you THIS much/hug card from Day in My Life
Especially great for celebrating long distance

17

Check out our desserts and other recipes here on Wayward Girls' Crafts.
If all else fails, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! 

Mother's day round up!

Mother's Day is coming up! Here are a few crafts for kids to make for Mother's Day that we've shared over the years:

Two Mother's Day Pop-up Cards for Kids to Make

Ribbon flowers for Mother's day

Mother's Day Stacker & and Book-style card kids can make
This craft is one of the most popular on our blog!
To date, it's received hundreds of pins and over 50,000 views!

Peanut Butter Oreo Truffles

And more gifts of chocolate (that's what I want!)

Also, we have several Father's Day ideas that could work for Mom, too:

17 Last-minute Gifts Kids Can Make

Father's Day Coupon Books, a play on Mom's stacker card

What do you want for Mother's Day?

Easter Mantle

My grandma is the ultimate holiday decorator (see here and here). She recently handed-down some Easter decorations to me and I incorporated them into what I already had.

I'm loving how my mantle turned out for Easter.

My grandma gave me the little ornaments I used to make the garland and the figurines as well as the eggs inside the mason jars. I love decorating for holidays especially with things that have meaning.

Are you excited for Easter? I went shopping yesterday for an Easter dress or skirt and they are rare and hard to find! Any tips for finding an Easter-worthy dress?

Lemony Glazed Ham Steaks

Easter is fast approaching. Ham is a traditional Easter food for our family as it is with many others. This recipe can be used with leftover ham OR on the big day. Why not? It's also the fastest real dinner I've ever made. Seriously.

Two 1 lb ham steaks (you can purchase these in the deli section if you can't find them)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp mustard (honey mustard is a great option or adding honey to your mustard)
1.5 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp lemon peel, grated
1 lemon, thinly sliced

1. Preheat broiler. Assemble glaze: In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, mustard, lemon juice and lemon peel.

2. Place ham slice in a large broiling pan. Broil for 2 minutes; brush with some of the glaze and broil for another 5 minutes. Turn over and broil for 2 more minutes.

3. Arrange lemon slices on top of steaks; brush on remaining glaze. Broil for 5 more minutes or until glaze is bubbling.

Makes 8 servings, 225 calories each.

**You can also cook the ham in a skillet using the same instructions. When using leftover ham, spread the glaze on heavily and then heat it up in a microwave or skillet. The glaze prevents the ham from drying out.

(That's extra glaze on the plate. You'll want to LICK IT CLEAN!)

Recipe care of my husband's aunt. She graciously prepared a book of simple Sunday dinners and gave it to me. I'll be sharing more!

St Patrick's Day Mantle and Faux Covered Books

This is the first year that I decorated for St. Patrick's Day. I gathered up stuff I had around the house and came up with this:

I had one green book and I covered two in green. This is how I did it. 

I cut the paper to just bigger than the books width. The paper that I had didn't cover the whole book (we'll see that later). I used 12"x12" paper. I folded the paper on one edge a little over an inch as below on one of the edges. 

 Use some tape on the inside of each edge. Tape it as it shows in the picture. Sticky side out. 

 Repeat on both sides and slide the book cover into the pocket it made. 

 Fold the paper around the book and tape on the back side. I used painter's tape so it could easily be removed without hurting the book. 

 I creased the edges to make it look like the real cover. 

 I used them to add some height to the the arrangement. 

Do you decorate for St Patty's Day?

Here are a few projects we've done in past years.