Five Easy Tips For Holiday Energy Savings

Guest Writer Maggie Baker

The holidays are here, and along with all the family visits, good food, and extra cheer, the holiday season usually comes with a hefty energy bill. More people in the home means more usage of everything, plus decorations draining on electricity and burning through gas running errands around town. Not only is this excessive energy usage harmful to our environment, but also it will drain your wallet. Here are some easy tips to help you save energy (and money) while still enjoying the holiday season.

2015 New Year's Eve Printable for Kids

For the last couple of years I've made a printable for my kids for New Year's Eve. They love this activity! Granted, I'm a little late on getting this year's done, but nonetheless, it IS done! Of course I want to share it with you so I hope you find it helpful in celebrating your New Year's Eve. Enjoy!

 



 

 

 

 

Get yours here!

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My eBooks: A Wife's Guide to Studying Proverbs, Topical Devotions for Pregnancy and Early Potty Teaching. 

This post may involve product that was received in exchange for a review or contain affiliate links for which I will earn compensation should you choose to make a purchase. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Thank you for your support of Purposeful Homemaking.

Using Traditions to Draw Our Families Close Together

Without even realizing it, my husband and I began forming our own traditions as a couple back when we were dating. Some of them have continued on into our family 13 years later.

One of the things we did when were dating was to go apple picking. I don't think we've missed a year since, but now we've expanded that tradition into making big batches of homemade applesauce with the kids.

A month or so ago, I signed up to write a post as part of a blog series in the Domestically Challenged; Divinely Equipped Facebook Group. I chose to write about traditions because I have grown to LOVE them and they are so important to me now that I'm a mom. When I chose to write about traditions I had no idea of what lay ahead for our family.

Snowman Button Cookies

 

We are currently residing in the extremely frigid (-20 F last night), snowed in part of the country right now and as much as I'd love some fresh air, I'm not about to step outside with all the kids in this weather. If you're like us and spending quite a bit of time indoors, here is something you can do with your kids to keep busy!

 

It might be too cold outside to build a snowman, but you sure can make some snowman buttons inside!

 

Snowman Button Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1 t. vanilla extract

2 c. flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

 

Blend the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg and then stir in the vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour and cocoa and mix until soft dough forms.

 

Split the dough in half and cover each with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

 

Preheat oven to 375. Unwrap the dough and nestle between two sheets of plastic wrap. Roll into 1/8" thickness.

 

Using the top of a wide-mouthed canning jar cut the dough into circles. Take a regular-sized canning jar and gently press inside the larger circle to leave a circular indent.

 

 

 

Poke four button holes into the cookie. (We used bamboo skewers).

 

 

 

Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 6 minutes.

 

The original recipe was from Family Fun Magazine and if you want printables to go along with this go to www.familyfunmag.com/printables.

 

 

 

 

 

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Recap of Our Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day 2013

The kids are ready to party!

We had such a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday and this was just one of our hi-lites...enjoying a fantastic party put on by my sweet friend.

We took over a few of our Valentines for her kids which included this one below.

(It's a box of crayons with this message on the front)

We ran out of time to make these bookmarks but my kids enjoyed making them later on at home. Inspiration found here.

Adorable Valentine Robot chairbackers for each child to hold their Valentines in.

And of course we made sure the food all reflected the theme as well with heart shape everything!

 Cucumbers with hearts cut out from a cookie cutter

 Cupid Hearts (Watermelon)

 Some of the goodies to eat

Ice cream station! (Two-thirds of my kids don't tolerate dairy so she made awesome coconut ice cream from coconut cream and maple syrup. Yummo!!!)

The kids assembling their heart shaped Legos

 What a girl! Look at the heart shaped homemade pizzas! (Yes, some without cheese!)

Each child used a Vintage styled plate (Love these!)

 Marshmallow Pops (Yep, she's amazing!)

The adorable table for the kiddos!

God blessed our day in more ways than one for Valentine's Day 2013 but He sure used this party as one way to bless us. The kids had such a great time! Thanks, my friend!

Thanks so much for visiting Purposeful Homemaking. Stay connected so you don't miss a thing:

• Subscribe by Email
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  My eBooks: A Wife's Guide to Studying Proverbs, Topical Devotions for Pregnancy and Early Potty Teaching.
  
  This post may involve product that was received in exchange for a review or contain affiliate links for which I will earn compensation should you choose to make a purchase. I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Thank you for your support of Purposeful Homemaking.

I'm Not Really Posting

Well, I wasn't planning on posting until after Christmas, BUT I came across this really cute idea and wanted to share it with all of you! It's a great graphing activity that makes good use of all those Christmas cards! (Besides the fact that you just enjoying hearing from all your friends and family!!) Check out the idea here.

How to Host a Cookie Exchange

This post is written by guest writer, Dana Foster. She is by far one of my most creative friends and always has lots of ideas that she's sending my way. One thing I appreciate about her is that when she does a party, she puts so much thought and time into it for her guests that it makes them feel special to have been a part of the event. I think that when a host takes time to consider the details, whether it's a child's birthday party or a cookie exchange, it adds so much more flavor to the party. Nothing has to be outrageously done. Just simple things that tie the event together can be a blessing to your guests.

Recently she hosted a cookie exchange and I asked her to share with you what she did in case you are interested in hosting one of your own.

Hello to Becky’s readers! Becky recently asked me to write some ideas on Holiday Decorating. Once I decided that I wanted to host a Cookie Exchange, we decided to share with you about the party! I’ve always wanted to have a Christmas Cookie Exchange, and in my book, it’s just another excuse to party with the ladies, so the planning took off!

For those of you that know me, I like to plan parties! If I could quit my job as a nurse and plan parties professionally (and make the same $!), I would definitely do it! I guess it’s almost a challenge to me…what kind of party should I plan? What should the theme be? What crafty and creative ideas can I find to help my party be a success? Did you catch that? I said, “What ideas can I find?” I’m really not a creative person! I “cheat and steal” ideas from others! There are so many resources online and in magazines that I don’t have to be the creative one!

For the cookie exchange, I started by searching in google for “cookie exchange” – imagine that! I found great ideas for my invitations, for cookie making in general, which cookies are best for exchanges and more. I even included the website on my invitations for my guests to read.

Next, in order for me to plan a party, I must have some sort of theme. If it’s not as easy as a Pirate themed birthday party or a vintage themed baby shower, I usually go in search of tableware that I can draw a theme out of. In the case of the cookie exchange, I found cute peppermint plates and napkins…the theme took off from there. I decorated with candy canes, peppermints and anything red, green and white.

Here are some Cookie Exchange Details you may want to include. This information was on the back of the invitation.


• Please RSVP ASAP! We will be making ½ dozen cookies per person coming to the exchange (with a limit of 6 dozen cookies) so we need to have an accurate head count. Please bring any remaining cookies to taste during the evening.
• When you RSVP, please tell me what recipe you will be making and please email me a copy of the recipe prior to the exchange. The recipes will then be shared with everyone at the swap. The sooner the better is appreciated!
• Please bring each ½ dozen wrapped individually – this can be done as easy as putting them on paper plates with plastic wrap, although feel free to be creative!
• Check out http://cookie exchange.com/baking_tips.html for some helpful info. About cookie baking.
• If you want to come for the evening, but not be involved in the cookie exchange, let me know (but remember, you won’t be going home with tons of yummy cookies!!).

Here are a few suggestions for when it comes to decorating. 1) Keep it simple  2) candles always add a really nice touch for both the setting and smell  3) Make your food/dishes part of the decorations. (For example, I have Pampered Chef Simple Additions bowls that I put peppermint scrapbook paper on to add just a little more to my theme) (a picture of this is on the left hand side of the above picture) 4) Don’t go overboard – most people aren't going to notice anyway.

Next comes food…the best part of a party! Start by determining who your guests are. Obviously, you wouldn’t have the same food at the Pirate Birthday Party as you would at a Ladies Cookie Exchange.

You also want to determine the time of day for your party in order to determine what kind of food to have. I’ve always wanted to do have a fondue party, so I decided on cheese and chocolate fondue. In my group of friends, no one expects me to provide all the food. Don’t feel like you have to either!

In this case, I provided the fondue and a few “dippers”, but also asked each guest to bring a “dipper” to share. It helped lighten my load and is a simple way for others to contribute.

Here are some pictures to show how the cookies were assembled. I also typed up all of the recipes from the exchange and distributed them to all who came.

Our evening was a great time of fellowship. Talking, food, no kids…what more could we ask for? Did it all go perfect? NO! It never does, but that's okay! My cheese fondue was gone before we knew it so I had to ran upstairs to find Velveeta. It worked fine and some even liked it better than the expensive cheese! The best part is spending time with your guests and watching them enjoy themselves at the party you’ve planned – always a treat!

Dana is a wife, mother of two active boys, and a registered nurse in the ER. In her *free* time she enjoys scrapbooking...and party planning!

After I brought my cookies home we shared them with the neighbors. Carter decorated a brown paper bag with a Christmas tree and I put the cookies in there along with our Christmas card.