I have an idea for a Christmas ornament you could make with your grandchildren.  I think it will be a delightful activity to do.  I want to make some samples and then take pictures of the process.  That just isn’t happening in my life right now.  I am allowing other things to take precedence (e.g. performing with a singing group at holiday functions and making Christmas presents).

So, I thought that I would take a moment to re-post some previous Christmas ideas. Maybe  you can find something here that would be fun to do with your grandchildren.

• Making Gift Tags with Grandchildren
• More Christmas Ideas
• Decoupage Candle Holders
• An I Spy book for Grandchildren

I stumbled across the most clever idea for making paper candy canes. I knew immediately that I had to share it here with you.  (Disclaimer:  the picture to the left does is NOT what the paper candy canes will look like . . .)

Skip to My Lou has great pictures and directions explaining how to make these paper candy canes.  Go there and check it out.  She also has a great idea for making a snowflake using plastic berry baskets.  (I wish I had known this idea back in the summer so I could save some of those baskets.  Oh well.  Maybe next summer.  If I remember about this idea when it’s sweltering hot . . .)

She also has a pattern for making a diaper for baby dolls.  If you’ve got any granddaughters with dolls, this would be a fun thing to make and give as a Christmas present.

And then on her site, she has directions to make adorable totes.  These, too, would be fun to make for grandchildren.  And, not too hard.  There’s a tutorial for a cute, cute tote made out dish towels.  There are directions for making a tote out of a tank top and a tote from a pillowcase. There are ten different styles in all.  It makes me want to sit down at my sewing machine and sew, sew, sew.

Don’t forget to post a comment on my giveaway of the Nikon camera! Hurry now and make a comment. The giveaway ends at midnight tonight!

Last week I went to the Festival of Trees in Salt Lake City.  This annual fund raiser for the Primary Children’s Hospital offers fully decorated Christmas trees for sale and the proceeds go to the hospital.  Thousands of people donate thousands of hours to make it a huge success.  There are also wreaths for sale, a boutique of handmade items, a bakery of scrumptious homemade baked goods and candies, and fabulous, fabulous, fabulous gingerbread houses.  My glycemic index shot off the charts just looking at these creations.

I loved the gingerbread-man fence for this house.  Can you see Woody (from Toy Story) on the step?  Fun! (Click on the pictures to see an enlarged version.)

Can you see Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head in this picture?  I’m wondering if Toy Story 3 spawned the creative juices of the designers of these houses.

And the granddaddy of them all . . . (Sorry the picture is blurry.  I didn’t realize it at the time or I would have re-taken the picture.)

My friend went to a display in Midway, Utah. More ‘holy cow’ houses . . . I love the fence and swing set here.

This is not your tiny cottage out of gingerbread — as you can tell by the relationship of the house to the people peering in.

How appropriate – a candy land theme.

What a lovely castle . . .

I had to re-size these pictures so that this page wouldn’t overload your browser.  Look close at this gingerbread house below.  See the ‘mice’ that are pulling the sleigh? The sign at the bottom left says: Mouseville Power and Electric Co. Danger!  There is a sign by the bakery that says: Bread 50 cents. Tea 25 cents. Cake $1.00.  Cheese Free.  NO CATS! (What a great sense of humor!)

If I let myself, I could get really depressed looking at these gingerbread houses.  My creations are slovenly decorated huts compared to these sugar-laden chef -d’oeuvre.  Sigh . . .

I know that many of you creative, energetic, cool grandmothers make gingerbread houses with your grandchildren.  Some are simple houses out of graham crackers and others are mansions from homemade gingerbread.  I’m sure that this activity with grandchildren creates many fond memories.

Yesterday, one of the ladies at work brought in a gingerbread house that she had made.  She had done some innovative things that I hadn’t seen before.  Granted, I have been out of the loop of making gingerbread houses once I became an empty-nester.  Now that my grandchildren are getting old enough to participate in the making of one, I’m starting to pay attention once again.

I snapped pictures of the house so that you could see what my co-worker has done.  Here are a few things that were new to me:

• Tootsie rolls, pretzels and gumdrops for a fence
• frosted Shredded Wheat Bites for shingles on the roof
• Hershey Kisses as bells on the candy canes on the house corners
• a Hershey Kiss and a square piece of gingerbread to make the snowman’s hat
• licorice sticks to line the eaves of the roof
• the straight part of a candy cane and a gumdrop as a lamp post
• the curved parts of candy canes to line the path
• sticks of gum for shutters on the window
• multi-colored Mike and Ike candy for a cobblestone path
• coconut scattered around to make the ‘snow’ seem fluffier

Be sure to click on the picture to see a larger size so that you can see the details better.

What are some fun things that you have done when you make a gingerbread house?

Be sure to leave a comment on my Scholastic book giveaway. It ends at midnight on December 3. Click here to go to that post.