Hard Candy Christmas: Frugal, Wise, Or Am I Just Plain Cheap?

Yesterday at the grocery store I listened to the cashier and the bagger talk about buying Christmas presents. "I've still got to buy presents for my husband's brother and his family. I don't know what I'm going to get them but I'll have to wait until I get my paycheck cashed."

To that the bagger replied, "My mom has put everything on her credit card. She will be fussing about it when the bill comes!" They both laughed and the cashier looked at me and said, "Well, I guess there is no way out, what are you going to do anyway? It's Christmas."

I smiled at her and said (What was I thinking? I should have just poked myself in the eye with a sharp stick!), "My family isn't giving gifts to each other this year that cost over $25. We don't have any little children . We decided that we just don't need anymore stuff. We only buy for our immediate family, not the extended family because they all live out of state and shipping is just too expensive. We would spend more on that than presents. "

She stopped dead in her tracks, mouth slightly open as she stared at me, "No presents over $25? None?" "None. We took a trip to see my daughter at Thanksgiving and we are using the money we would have spent on presents for paying debt and to increase our savings." She narrowed her eyes and grunted, "That doesn't sound like much fun. Don't you think ya'll will miss opening lots of presents on Christmas morning? I would hate that."

I replied that I didn't think that would be a problem as we had other things planned for the day and that just being together would be enough. I took a minute to try to explain how important it was to us to get out of debt and for our children to understand the concept of living a debt free life, not to mention learning to put the idea of having so much "stuff" in it's proper place.

I was met with nothing more than a look of annoyance and a muttered " Well, I guess so, but it sure doesn't sound like Christmas to me." As I walked away I think I heard the word cheap muttered by someone. I left the store feeling a little chastised to say the least. I loaded my groceries and on the drive home questioned our decision to forgo so many presents. Am I wrong? Is a Christmas without lots of presents somehow not Christmas at all? Am I indeed being "cheap"? Should I feel ashamed that I'm not loading the space under my tree with beautifully wrapped, put on the credit card, presents?

By the time I had reached home I had calmed down enough to answer the question with just one word. No.

Why should I be ashamed of living within my means? Who created the idea that spending money you don't have is a virtue? And why did I even have to think twice about it being one? Old habits die hard.

Somewhere along the way we have been made to think that we should identify our self worth with the stuff we possess. I want to change forever the way of thinking that says I need to be ashamed of not being able to afford something. I want to instill in my family the idea that saving for what you want, or just for a rainy day, is a virtue. Now that, that is a gift worth giving.

My Tree

Clearance garlands bought 2 years ago for $2. Free chandelier crystals from my sister. Thrift store ornaments and a brand new 4.5 ft tree bought for $11.00 to replace the 7 ft one that I don't have room for this year. I love my little Christmas tree.

Happy Halloween!

Thriller a capella. Boredom or sheer genius? You decide! Have a fun Halloween and remember...don't eat too much candy! Leave some chocolate for the kiddos! My 16 year old's costume.

RED WHITE AND BLUE Happy 4th of July!

Christmas Wishes

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?

It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more." Dr. Seuss

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas full of family, friends and everything good. I'll be back to blogging after the first of the year. God Bless every one of you.

Christmas Bows

Gina over at Six in the Country gives a tutorial on making some neat bows for those last minute presents. Very Cool.

Christmas Tag Printables

I thought maybe this link to printable Christmas gift tags might be useful to someone. Scroll down past the writing and there are links to about 4 pages of printable Christmas gift tags. Here is a link to a page that has many different gift tags including Christmas. There are also printable recipe cards that might come in handy for including a recipe with a baked gift. Enjoy.

Faux Gingerbread

Years ago when the kids were little I started making Gingerbread houses. The real Martha Stewart kind where you bake all the pieces and put the house together with Royal icing. It was fun but it was a lot of work. One day I was watching the Carol Duvall show and she had a guest on the show making Gingerbread houses out of cardboard and decorating them with cutouts. They were cute. A light went off in my head and the "Faux Gingerbread House" was born.

I realized that the kids enjoyed the decorating process much more than they enjoyed the baking process. No one ever ate any of the house, it was strictly for show. Decorating the gingerbread house was where the real fun was. I came up with the idea of making a cardboard house shape and covering it with Graham crackers for the base and decorating that.

Below you can see a picture of the house base we used this year. The Styrofoam base came out of a gift basket that someone gave me. I used the side of a cardboard box for the roof and sides. The best part is that I put it all together with a glue gun or craft glue. I could not find my glue gun so I put the house together with Tacky glue and pinned it together until the glue dried.

After finding the glue gun I glued the Graham crackers in place. I have always used Royal icing to glue on the pieces and the decorations but decided this year to try the glue gun and it worked perfectly and was really fast. I had the house ready to go in about 10 minutes.

We used Wilton's Cookie Icing that comes in a squeeze bottle to make motar in the "stones" and to make "snow" on the roof, after we glued on all the candy. Here is the finished product:

I had $5 left in my decorating budget and I spent $3.75 on icing and crackers. The candy was left over and bought with CVS bucks so I made my budget! You could use any size boxes even round oatmeal containers and make houses of every shape and form. If you cut out windows and line with cellophane ,or melted hard candies, you could even light the houses and have stained glass windows. It is really cute to do a village of small houses. A very non Martha gingerbread house for sure. Let me know if you try this idea. If you want to make a Martha Graham cracker house go here.

Either way I would like to see some pictures.

Bottom Pic: Mento's snowman with gumdrop hat and a marker applied mouth.

Sticking To My Budget

I've made it a goal to stick to my $14 or less decorating budget again this year. I'll admit it would be easier if it were $20! But it is fun though to try and do it for as little as possible. My ornaments from my previous post came to less than a dollar or free depending on how you look at it because I didn't buy anything. I had everything in my stash of craft items.

My hubby brought home a Poinsettia as a present. The only thing I have bought were a couple of red checked tablecloths for $3 and a green cross stitch pillow from the thrift store for .50. I'm using these items to decorate my porch. The arrangement on the table I already had. (I found that table on the curb btw. Gotta love it!) I made a wreath for the door from a couple of garlands and ornaments I had and added a velvet bow I bought for .20 on clearance last year. I think the results are festive and I have only spent $8.70. I still have $5 left for supplies for our traditional "Gingerbread" houses. I have spent so much money in the past for Holiday decorations. Most of them bit the dust years ago after 4 kids. It is such a good feeling to be able to make things look nice for pennies. If and when I do decide to spend money on decorations I won't feel like I've been wasteful.

Beautiful Blogs: Christmas Eye Candy

Isn't this a great room? Red is my favorite color and I love it with the blue. If you want to see some more beautiful and unique Christmas decorating then check out Hayley's blog.

Christmas Ornaments And Gift Tags

It isn't always easy to get kids interested in sitting down and looking through family genealogy and I think it is important that they know something about their family history. I thought it would be interesting to include ornaments for these family members in away that would be fun and educational.

I did some brainstorming and came up with this idea after watching a scrap booking show where they made gift cards using movable elements.

I bought this box of tags at a yard sale for 50 cents. I wasn't sure what I would do with them. I knew that gift tags were a real possibility but I wasn't sure about any other uses. I just knew that there were possibilities and the price was too good to pass up.

Using paint, glitter, beads, jewels and Mod Podge from my supplies and photos I printed out I created these tags that I am using as ornaments on my tree. The backs are equally decorated and include names and relationship. I am a glitter kind of girl so I brushed each with a coat of Sparkle glaze after the Mod Podge and they look great on the tree. My favorite it the "shaker" ornament. I used the plastic cover from a pack of safety pins for the cover. I put beads and a little gold glitter inside and glued it to the decorated tag. The beads and glitter add some fun and interest. The possibilities are endless as to what you could add, any small item would work.

These would also make great gift tags. You could use pictures of individuals instead of names and they could hang them on the tree after they open their gifts.

Pics: The middle picture: Me with my middle sister at my grandparents home (Yes Sonya, I'm making one for you too!), My mom at 18 (Wasn't she pretty?) , My husband is the little boy on both tags (What a cutie!) , and my dad's parents.

Christmas Greetings

I hope everyone is getting into the mood for Christmas. I think I finally am. I can't decide what to do with the blog template yet, so I put this one up temporarily.

We have had our tree since Thanksgiving and I am finishing up my decorations. I don't have any pictures yet so I'm including one from last year and a link to my post about my challenge to myself to decorate my house for Christmas with just $14.

I've got some recipes to share and a couple of other ideas. So I'll be posting those soon. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy my Christmas flashback.

$14 challenge

To make things more interesting I challenged myself to decorate my home for Christmas and only spend $14 or less. The figure $14 came from the amount I spent on the tree for the charity festival. I allowed myself to use what was in the one box I had unpacked this year: My tree, lights, my Christmas angel I painted a few years back. I also allowed myself to use what I had in my pantry, which turned out to be only 2 glass bowls and some candles, some fruit and nuts. I started by making paper stars, 3D and flat for the tree. I was lucky enough to go to the thrift store on half price day and made out with a bag of white ornaments, a bag of vintage ornaments, 2 Santa head vases, and a wooden Christmas tree decoration all for the great price of $4! I bought a roll of red ribbon for outside decorations for $1.39, a Poinsettia for $3 for a total of $8.39 + tax. Not bad. I used candy that was left over from Christmas presents etc for decoration so it was free. I also collected greenery from our yard. The results may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm happy with the results and enjoyed the challenge. Greenery from our yard Planters in the yard were turned into arrangments. I think I'll remove the bows and leave these all winter. The front door. The ribbon came from an old package. I painted this angel a couple of years ago. The bowl came from a yardsale. Pictures of Grandmas and Grandpas. I used the vintage ornaments as an accent. My wooden tree from the thrift store. Greenery from the yard, candy. There were some green ornaments mixed in with the white ones from the thrift store, I painted them red. I made an arrangement in one of the Santa heads, the other has a lid. I love these. Fruits and nuts mixed with greens and pepper berries. Finally, the tree. The instructions for the 3D stars are at HGTV under the Carol Duvall show. They are very easy to make. I also used some of the vintage ornaments that had lost some silvering. I painted the insides white and added glitter. I like the look. The best part...I can throw almost all of this away after the holidays and not feel any remorse! I hope everyone has a wonderful day with family and friends. Merry Christmas.