What an amazing, personal gift! 
And clever as always, you’ve made a big batch of those spice mixes so you can give them to other people as well. I wish I had 1% of your efficiency, that would already really improve my life 
Today is day 1 of my Christmas vacation! I started out by cleaning the kitchen, doing all the laundry, right now I’m making some extra cards. We’re hosting our first visitors in less than a week.
That is a fabulous gift basket that any foodie would be thrilled with!
Your gifts are presented in such a pretty way!
I knitted a glove last night, which I meant to give to a family member on Friday. They were supposed to be hosting us, change of plans, now we’re hosting them, but I still wanted to give a little hostess gift. But I don’t like how it turned out so I suppose I’ll frog it.
Tomorrow when Mr. Imma is at work, I’ll have some time to finish the quilted wallhanging for him. It’s from a panel, so it’s not actually a lot of work, but it needs to be done. I bought a mug for him but the parcel got lost, and I also bought him a book. I knitted matching socks for us both a while back. After this one I’ll see if I’ve got more time / ideas for gifts or if this is it.
I came across some stitched thingies that need to be framed in hoops, I’ll buy those later today. I’ve also matched some scraps + stitches + ribbons from stash that need to be stitched together.
Due to the change of plans, we’ll be hosting people on Friday. But I looked through our fridge and freezer and we don’t actually need to buy a lot for that. We have a chicken in the freezer that we’ll be roasting with butter / herbs / lemon. Our visitors will bring a side dish and we’ll prepare some salad and some warm veggies. We already have some Vienetta ice cream cake in the freezer (bought as a buy one, get one for free deal a while back) and I know that’s a super simple dessert but also one that our guests really love. So the only things we need to buy are the salad greens, the vegetables and the herbs.
Our Christmas plans have changed a bit as well. My husband’s new job requires him to be on duty from 6:30 to 3:30 that day so my usual magical, laid back Christmas morning is … the opposite. And my child usually sleeps until 7 or 8 so unless we drag her out of bed at 5:30 for a short “Dad can see you open stuff…
So I’m planning instead to do a “Breakfast for dinner” Christmas Eve. I’ll make it sort of like a Christmas morning and we’ll let her open the family presents then. Bake the “We only have them on Christmas and New Years days” cinnamon rolls then. (He has the same schedule on New Years, too. Bummer). I’ll invite the in-laws as we won’t see them on the day. I can make it fun for her, but between you me and the candy cane I’m a bit disappointed. The new job has great work and financial stability potential, it just costs a lot of what i’ve set up as our family rhythms. Ah well, let’s look to the positives- I get cinnamon rolls a day early!
I’m sorry, I can imagine that’s a bummer 
But I’m glad he’s found a new job with a lot of potential, and I’m sure your daughter will love Breakfast for dinner at Christmas Eve. Getting gifts early! Staying up a bit late with the grownups, after dark! Pancakes and cinnamon rolls for dinner! And then plenty of time for playing with the new gifts on Christmas Day.
For what it’s worth, I know as a fact that when I was a kid, my mum’s job had irregular hours and she worked a lot of holidays and birthdays, but I don’t actually really remember that. Especially being as young as she is, she may remember the year you guys did Breakfast for Dinner but she probably won’t even remember later on that dad wasn’t there the next day.
Calling seasonally minded creatives:
I am doing a 12 days of Christmas countdown-style calendar instead of a 24 days leading up to Christmas one. Any ideas that come to mind shoot them at me, please! I have make gingerbread houses, Drive to see fancy lights up at houses, Living room camp out under the tree… I might do a little treat or two in there but if you have ideas for a basic craft to make or something free/low cost to do that is accessible for an average 5 year old and seasonal-ish (Winter, Christmas, New years) let me know. Thanks!
I remember making paper chain decorations as a little kid, very easy and cheap. Also, making hanging decorations out of old Christmas cards.
This is a great idea! You can also make decorations from dried orange, cinnamon, star anise, or from natural materials that you’ve gathered around the house / in the neighbourhood / in the local woods. Collecting natural materials for crafting could be a seperate fun activity (and is especially fun when you bring a nice thermos with a hot drink and maybe a little snack and have a winter picknick).
Is she interested in yarn / fabric type crafts? She’s pretty young but I recently spent time sewing an actual thing (well, a hair scrunchie, but still a functional thing) with a friend’s 7-year old and I was impressed by how well she did. 5 is a bit younger than that of course, but something like a pompom might be do-able? I came across these yarn monsters: Learn How To Make These Easy Mischievous DIY Yarn Monsters and if you do them in white they could totally be a beard, if you add a hat from a bit of felt it could easily become a tomte - or Santa, but the hat would be a bit more complicated.
Another one, cut bits of cardboard in the shape of baubles (or whatever festive shape you prefer) and wrap them with leftover bits of yarn. You can find some really nice examples of yarn-wrapping on the internet, you can get pretty impressive results.
We used to make ridiculous New Years Eve hats out of newspaper and whatever was around. But you could use anything – wrapping paper castoffs would be a great base, too.
Some kind of hot chocolate-themed night? Like a hot chocolate bar or making (or buying) chocolate bombs (I got the girls chocolate bombs that came from the elf this year). Maybe paired with a movie night (or have that be another idea/night). Popcorn (or popcorn balls or stringing a popcorn garland) also goes great with a movie.
A bonfire night with smores - you could make them Christmasy with peppermint chocolate or something similar.
My kiddos LOVE bath bombs. Especially the ones that have prizes inside. Making your own or getting a couple could be an idea. And helps encourage bath time (at least in my house)!
Thought of more ideas…
I did a clue-style treasure hunt this year for the girls’ b-day. There were little gifts at every clue, but you could totally do without. The girls LOVE this.
We watch A for Adley on YouTube. The family does TONS of things with their kids. Some of them we’ve stolen, like balloons in the bed/bedroom (usually on a birthday), following a crepe paper trail to a prize, or silly family games. They have done a mystery drink game where you mix up a combination of good and not so good drink options and you have to blindly drink it, and another game I was having trouble explaining so here’s a video, lol.
I know a lot of this isn’t really craft projects like you were asking for, but it might give you some fun ideas! Good luck! Let us know how it goes!!
Thanks, everyone, these are great and inspiring! Now after someone goes to bed so that I can think without the high-pitched and rather loud Christmas carol concert that seems to be never-endingly being held right in my ear I’ll work on this!
Maybe make ‘ornaments’ for the birds? Spread peanut butter on pinecones, and roll them in bird seed, and hang them outside a window so El can watch the birds feast.
I’m not sure what you call them, but I used to do ‘sewing cards’ as a kid, cardboard sheets with images printed on them, and strands of yarn with shoelace tips, that you could push through the card. Maybe you could make your own with some printed images, (coloring pages?), scrap yarn, and tape as the shoelace tip.
This is similar to what I remember:
Thanks!
She loves sewing cards, actually. She does them while waiting at the dentist, etc.
The old ladies at the counter love it, they’re always clutching pearls and excited about a kid off a screen lol
Learn a simple Christmas song like Jingle Bells and go caroling at a neighbor’s house
“Reindeer games” (A series of simple, active games like trying to toss ping pong balls into a basket; give a medal at the end)
Act out a holiday-themed skit or just play holiday dress-up (be an elf or angel or Santa … or just dress fancy)
Write a letter to Santa (if you believe at your house)
I forgot about those! I loved them. I don’t remember them coming in kits like these, you’d have to punch the pattern out of cardstock, then embroider them with yarn and a blunt needle.
Punching things out of cardstock is the ubiquitous childhood craft here, it’s very popular in preschool / kindergarten as well. The box says it’s called “perforating” in English but I haven’t found any English-language references. Kids use a needle and a piece of felt as backing to punch things out of cardstock.
Every kid has made this at school at some point:
It’ll be a race to get these blocked and the ends woven in before Christmas, but both the boys’ sweaters are knit.
Apparently this didn’t post yesterday…
From yesterday: I dropped off all the neighbor gifts for the houses around us in the cul-de-sac. Put my tree up, and decorated it with all of the non-breakable ornaments, so that nothing precious is damaged by an enthusiastic toddler. Now to wrap a few presents before I have to make tonight’s dinner.
Today: I’m hope to finish cleaning/decorating the rest of the dining room, then wrap more gifts. After kiddo’s bedtime, there will be meal planning and grocery list making.
Tonight, after dinner, I’m going to try the vegetarian main course for Boxing Day. It’s from a magazine, Good Housekeeping recipes usually work, but I don’t want unexpected surprises at a family Christmas dinner. We’ll have it for lunch tomorrow. Then in the afternoon, we’ll finish decorating the living room, move in the last furniture and we’re ready for company on Friday!
