It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas!

By Lindsey Riley (Crafting Challenged Blogger)

Hey everyone!

With Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend ending, it means only one thing: We are less than thirty days away from Christmas Eve!

Now not everyone celebrates Christmas, and that is totally fine. Personally, my favorite part of the holiday and the winter season in general is the Christmas tree my family puts up. I hate going to get the tree (a family tradition that my father never let's me forget), but I do enjoy decorating it and placing gifts at its base.

This year, as a pre-Christmas present, I made my parents some ornaments. I told them to consider it my contribution to the tree this year since I'll be at school when they chop it down and decorate it.

Much to my surprise, making these ornaments was very easy. Here is what I did:

• Went to Hobby Lobby (you can go to any craft store) and bought clear and blank ornaments (two packages of 12 for $7.99)
• Went to JoAnn Fabrics (again, you can go to any craft store) and bought ten different paint colors ($1.25 each)
• Go to your crafting area, lay out some newspaper on a table, and get all your materials ready (paint, ornaments, paper towels, paper plates)
• Mix whatever color combinations you wish inside of the ornaments and with your finger covering the opening, shake them until all sides are covered. When covered, place upside down on a paper plate so paint can drain out. (Repeat for all ornaments)
• Let them dry overnight
• After wiping them down and getting the extra paint out, place the ornament tops and hooks back on
• Package them in whatever way you wish (Personally, I used a gift box and tissue paper)

The Perfect Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Breakfast

By: Mallory Jordan, moderately crafty

If you're like me, Thanksgiving break means sleeping in really late and eating a ton of food. However,  that plan has a major flaw on Thanksgiving Day. If I sleep past noon, I'll miss one of the most important parts of celebrating Thanksgiving: The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has a long and important history. As NYC Tourists explains, the first parade was on Christmas 1924. The Macy's employees were originally the entertainment in the parade. The parade got bigger, adding the famous giant balloons in 1927, and more popular thanks to television. Today, about 3.5 million people stand along the 2 1/2 mile route every Thanksgiving Day.

If you've missed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade due to sleeping in, or have trouble waking up loved ones for it, I have a solution. Whip up some 1950's housewife skills and get up a little earlier than normal to make the perfect parade breakfast. Hint: It doesn't taste like turkey, but it sure looks like one.

You will need:

• Pancake mix
• Waffles (I prefer cinnamon)
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Strawberries
• A couple chocolate chips (and whipped cream if you desire)
• Syrup (optional)

First, cook up 5 pieces of bacon per serving and 3 sausages per serving. 

Then, prepare the pancake mix and make 1 pancake at a time so it is larger than the waffle and perfectly round.

Thirdly, slice a strawberry in half, then in half again for the beak. Chop up a few more strawberries to add to the "feathers."

The pancake will go on the plate first with the waffle on top. Make sure the waffle is positioned on the bottom so that the pancake peaks out above. The pancake will be the body of the turkey, and the waffle will be the head.

Alternate 4 of the bacon strips and 3 sausage links above the waffle on the top of the pancake. Put some strawberries along the top edge of the waffle or at the base of the "feathers" to add some color. On the waffle, put 2 chocolate chips on for eyes. Place the first sliced strawberry cut on the waffle for the beak. Take the last piece of bacon an put it to the side of the strawberry beak for the turkey's gobble.

Now, you have the perfect Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade breakfast that will be sure to wake you or any of your loved ones up to watch the parade.

A Charlie Brown kind of Thanksgiving

Britny Burton [self-proclaimed craft freak]

Jelly beans, popcorn, toast, pretzel sticks, need I say more?

Usually for Thanksgiving my mom pulls out A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and makes us watch it. This year I won't be home for Thanksgiving, but that's no reason to not be in the Charlie Brown spirit. I thought it would be fun to make a replica of his Thanksgiving. This would be a great idea for an afternoon with little kids or even for big kids like my roommate and myself!

If you're doing this with kids it's easiest to have them watch the movie while you set everything up. Not only are the cartoon characters able to keep children engaged, the movie also teaches about sharing and some traditions of Thanksgiving. 

Grocery List

• bread
• butter
• popcorn
• large brown paper bag OR
• smaller brown lunch bags
• yarn or ribbon
• jelly beans
• small pretzel sticks

Honestly, most of the food for this I already had in my kitchen, so it's really a quick project.

1. Pop the popcorn. You can pop kernels on the oven, a popcorn popper, a microwave bag, etc. It doesn't really matter. I would suggest a little to no butter kind so it doesn't leave grease spots on the bag.
2. Pour all of the popcorn into the brown paper bag. If you use small lunch bags then each person will have their own turkey to open or else you can put it all in a big brown grocery bag and they can share one turkey. Below is what it looks like once the kids dig into the bag!

3. Toast the bread. If you want to jazz it up you can even put some toast toppings out such as cinnamon, jelly, honey, etc.
4. Place the jelly beans and pretzel sticks in containers. [This is so everyone has to pass the containers around and share!]

And ta-da your Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is a success!

**Does your family have any Thanksgiving traditions like watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving together? Let me know in the comments section below!