'Twas the Site by Three Sisters - 2018

So the saying goes, it's the most wonderful time of the year. AND that means, it's also the time of the year that The Harris Sisters present to you our 2018 year in review in the form of a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas parody.

For those of you new to our blog, this is a Harris Family tradition that dates waaaayyy back (back before computers, and blogs, and social media, and such). Yes, these were originally created with good old fashioned pencil and paper while sitting at the kitchen bar on Christmas Eve night.

So, to keep this grand old tradition alive, we still bring these to you on Christmas Eve (albeit in a slightly more newfangled way).

We had lots of fun this year! We're so glad we got to "meet" some of our new friends and keep up with our old ones. We hope that you had fun reading along with us!

'Twas the Site by Three Sisters - 2018

Twas the site by three sisters, Two Zero One Eight

The fun we've had this year has been really first-rate;

In Spring we showed you some ways to garden so cheap,

In hopes they're ideas that you'll want to keep;

And then in May, we soon followed suit

with tips for planning a family photo shoot.

With an old truck and costumes, it'll come together in a flash,

Gather the kids and the grandkids, and you'll make a big splash!

Gather up your driver, ready for a cameo,

You'll recognize our driver - it's our Daddy-o!

More rapid than eagles his kiddos they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DEANNA! now, MISTY! now, DONNA and JAXON!

On, CHARLOTTE! on EMMA! on, LEXI and AIDYN!

To the top of the truck! Photograph us all!

Now flash away! flash away! flash away all!"

And then in June we could not refrain

from telling you all about our ride on a train

From antiques to hiking to the old Warrior Motel, 

and a See Rock City Barn - so many stories to tell!

In September, Misty headed to a prom (second chance)

So you voted just what should she wear to this dance.

And once every tally and ballot was cast,

She revealed her 1980s look at last!

October - our costumes, Winifred, Sarah, and Mary!

25 years for the Sandersons, but these witches aren't scary.

And don't forget to stop in for a visit,

To our Halloween Home Tour  -  a video with it;

And then in November, we thought it was high time,
To give our blog a brand new design,
With a new look and feel, we'll bring you content next year,
We're already planning and preparing, my dears!

As January 1 nears - oh my, how time flies!
We wanted to make sure we acknowledge you guys,
To all who have followed, shared, commented, and liked,
"HARRIS CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!"

Merry Christmas from Deanna, Donna, and Misty! (and Daddy - we're pictured here in 1979)

Take a look at our previous year's Christmas Eve parodies.

A Thoughtful Christmas

Every year as Christmas draws closer, I would like to think that I come up with some pretty good and creative gift ideas. This year, I bring you two years worth of crafty gift ideas!

For one Secret Santa gift exchange last year, the kids wanted the presents to be homemade. I made a prayer box:

This was a pretty easy project. I took an empty Altoids tin and decorated it with scrapbooking paper, a favorite Bible verse, and a nice pom pom fringe.

I then added some small Post-it notes inside to finish it off. As with most of my homemade presents, I wanted one for myself when it was finished, so I knew this one was a winner.

Homemade gifts were where it was at last year, as we found ourselves trying to figure out another idea for our 4-H Christmas gift exchange. Our "giftee" liked jewelry, so we tried our hand at making a necklace.

The beads on this necklace are actually torn magazine pages. You roll long skinny pieces of paper  around a skewer and glue the ends to create the beads. We threaded the finished beads through some twine and paired the necklace with some sausage balls for a gift.

This year, we didn't have as many crafty gift exchanges, but my oldest daughter wanted to stretch her gift giving buck to include everyone she has ever met, so we landed on creating photo cubes. The first one I attempted came out great. I printed pictures on regular paper and sized them exactly to the size of the cube using the Paint program on the computer. That was probably the trickiest part and the most time consuming. I glued them on and then applied a layer of Mod Podge over the top. The corners looked like they may present a problem, so on the next one I changed it up a bit.

The kids painted the corners of the cube to allow for a smaller photo on each side. That way the photos would lay flat and be easier to decoupage. However, I liked the look of the first cube better, so I did some engineering.

I cut out frames for the smaller photos, and I added a felt bottom to both of them so they can be used as paperweights. Because these specific cubes will be cousin presents, each cousin got their own side of a cube.

For my last craft, I made teacher gifts! In keeping with the theme of being cheap saving money, I stole one of my daughter's ideas. Our movie theater has one night a week when the movies are $5, so I bought $5 gift cards and added a note: "Treat yo'self, to a movie (on a Tuesday)."

I scrapbooked the explanation onto a card and put it all into a popcorn box along with a snack:

So, if you're still mulling over what to get that mailman who has been inundated with delivering your Amazon packages, break out the Mod Podge and be sure to make an extra to "Treat yo'self."

White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps

I made these homemade gingersnaps last weekend, and not only were they super yummy, they were also pretty festive looking too.  If you like gingersnaps, you will love this recipe, and the white chocolate dip gives them just enough to make them a little extra. 

 

White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2-3 tablespoons sugar divided
3/4 cup canola oil
1 egg room temperature
1/4 cup molasses
1 11 ounce package Ghirardelli white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a standing mixer, beat 1 cup sugar and oil together for 2 minutes. Mix in the egg until combined. Add the molasses while mixing on low speed. Add the flour mixture a little at a time while mixing on low speed. Mix until well combined.
4. Place the remaining 2-3 tablespoons sugar in a bowl and set aside. 
5. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls (I like to use a cookie scoop so they are all the same exact amount of dough and then I roll it into a uniform ball). Roll the balls of dough in the 1/4 cup sugar and then place on an ungreased baking sheet 2 inches apart. 
6. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookie springs back when lightly touched. 
7. Promptly remove from pan onto a cooling rack. 
8. Dip in chocolate once cooled completely.
9. Lay wax paper or parchment paper on your work surface. Melt white chocolate with the shortening in the microwave at 50% power in 30 second increments until smooth. Dip each cookie halfway in the chocolate and let the excess chocolate dip back into the bowl.  
10. Set the cookie on the wax paper until chocolate hardens. 
11. Store in an airtight container.

Note:

I have shared this recipe exactly as it was written.   However, in all honesty, I used an egg straight from the refrigerator and no ill will came to me or my cookies.  Do so at your own risk though.   :) 

How to Update and Repurpose an Old Christmas Wreath

Do you ever go into autopilot with your Christmas decorations and put out the same decorations in the same place year after year? Well, that was the case with my front door wreath.

I had the same Christmas wreath on my front door for years, and while it served a purpose, it was looking more than a little tired, and I was definitely in the mood for a change.

But here's the new and updated wreath this year!

When Ryan and I first got married (WAYYYY back in the 1990s), I decorated in nearly all silver and gold for Christmas, and I kept that look for quite a few years after that. Here's what the wreath originally looked like.

Even IT was sad. Just look at the ornament at the bottom trying to jump ship! (Get me outta here!) Can you even believe it was the same wreath?!?

When we moved into the house we live in now, it came complete with a hunter green front door, so a gold Christmas wreath actually matched pretty well and I kept it (probably longer than I should have).

Well, I could not take the hunter green front door anymore, so I had that painted to purple (which you see here), so last year was the wreath's last hurrah.

Here's the whole Harris Family paying our respects to the wreath last Christmas (2017). Goodbye gold wreath! It's been real!

This year, I was determined to get a new Christmas wreath. I didn't really want to make a new Christmas wreath just because there is so much else to do this time of year. But I also could not find one that I liked that I could just purchase.

So, I decided that I would update my Christmas wreath and give it a whole new look! My gold wreath was getting a makeover!

How to Update and Repurpose an Old Christmas Wreath

Merry Christmas Evergreen Ornament Wreath Supplies

• Hot glue gun and hot glue
• Plastic ornaments in your choice of colors
• Merry Christmas glittered sign
• Holly picks (I used 7)
• Chenille stems or wire
• Wired ribbon to create a bow (if desired - I left a bow off of mine)
• Additional faux greenery, picks, etc. (if desired - see notes below)

Directions

1. Fluff up your wreath and reposition any branches.
2. Next, remove the bow and any other items on your wreath that you do not want to keep. (I removed about half of the gold ornaments.)
3. Hot glue ornaments in a random pattern to the front and sides of the wreath. Make sure to place ornaments of different colors, sizes, and textures next to each other to create interest. I used ornaments with glitter, shiny, and matte finishes in small, medium, and large sizes. And I also included a few ornaments with textured finishes for interest. Continue adding ornaments until you are happy with how your wreath looks.
4. Use the chenille stems to wire the glittered Merry Christmas sign to the front of the wreath.
5. Hot glue holly picks randomly around the wreath. (Note: I made sure that two of the holly picks covered where I wired the sign because my chenille stems were pink.)

Notes:

When I originally made this wreath, I took an artificial wreath base and then hot glued in a variety of plastic greenery to create a heavy and large wreath base. Of course, this gives me added incentive to continue to revamp this Christmas wreath instead of getting a new one.

If you're starting with just a standard artificial pine wreath and you want to add some oomph to the wreath itself, you can take floral picks, parts of another wreath, or even parts of a garland and glue them securely into the wreath. This will add volume to the base to give you a designer look.

The glittered Merry Christmas sign is a heavy tag board covered in glitter. If you want to weatherproof it, you might consider covering it in a protective finish. My wreath is under a covered porch, so it should be safe for just the month of December.

There you go! If you've got about 30 minutes, you can create a whole new look for your Christmas wreath this year! Hope I've given you enough ideas to inspire you to revamp your own front door wreath.

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