
Papa and Nana Gift Ideas
This year we became Papa and Nana! Our first granddaughter joined our family in June. What a joy to have a little mini of our daughter!
This year we became Papa and Nana! Our first granddaughter joined our family in June. What a joy to have a little mini of our daughter!
I love wreaths and I love lanterns and putting them together makes me so happy!!!
30″ Wreath- evergreen, metal frame
5.71×5.71×11.81″ Lantern (I got mine from Hobby Lobby)
Cut 5 or 6 pieces of 12″ ribbon and you will need more ribbon if you want to tie a bow (wire ribbon)
5 or 6 pieces 8″ wire and more wire for wiring pieces to the wreath
Wire cutters
Needle nose pliers
scissors
Plastic berries
Poinsettias
Pine cones
Battery Powered Candle with timer
Fluff the wreath. Pull the pine branches out all the way around.
Using crafting wire, wire your wreath in place. I pulled some branches behind the wreath to cushion it from the door. I didn’t want my pretty wreath to leave scratches behind.
Check your placement of the lantern. You don’t want it to sit back and hit your door. Make sure the door to your lantern is facing the front so you can put a candle inside and change batteries as needed.
I found it easiest to hang it on the door and work with it there to figure out placement and to do some of the wiring.
Put wire around the pinecone and twist to make stable. It is easiest to twist what you are wrapping the wire around rather than twisting the wire. *Hold the wire stable and with your other hand, twist the object. It helped to hold the wire with some needle nose pliers.
Cut 5 or 6, 12″ pieces of ribbon. Next, cut 5 or 6, 8″ pieces of wire. Put the ends of the ribbon together and wrap wire around the bottom of the ribbon. Needle nose pliers are particularly helpful for twisting the wire tight. Pinch the wire on the ribbon and make sure it is secure.
It is important to use wire ribbon because it holds it’s shape and can be easily maneuvered.
Place your decorations and find what configuration you like. Berry stems, poinsettias and pine cones. I carefully placed them and then took the wreath down and wired them in place.
Put your battery powered candle in the lantern and remember to set the time.
Place on your door and enjoy throughout the season!!!
I wish I had a photo of what my old holiday wreaths looked like for the past few years. Evidently, I have avoided taking pictures of them because they weren’t my favorite! I have been wanting to redo them for a long time! They didn’t turn out the way I wanted. When I first made them they had big bows out of the mesh ribbon. The mesh isn’t as sturdy as wire ribbon. The bows were a little floppy and they looked decent the first year we used them.
However, they didn’t store well. The bows got smashed and looked terrible. Not having time or energy to redo them, I either left them out of decorating or hung them up with just the ribbon that is wrapped around them. Every time we pull up to our house, I have thought “I need to redo those, I hate them!”
The greenery is on a sturdy wire frame and still very decent by itself. So, re-using the wreath made sense!
I got help from 2 of my favorite helpers! They had so much fun designing and decorating.
This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.
Wreath- something with greenery and a wire frame is going to stand up to the weather the best.
Ribbon- wire is easier to manipulate and twist and get in place.
Wire cutters- essential for cutting the greenery and plastic pieces you will place
Wire- for holding pieces in place.
Hot glue sticks and Hot glue gun- Some things need a little more help to be kept in place.
Bells- any color
Christmas flowers
Christmas decorations
Wrap your ribbon around the wreath. Tie or hot glue the ends of the ribbon to your frame. Make it even around the wreath and when it is pleasing to you cut the ribbon, tie or hot glue it with the other end to the frame.
Fluff the greenery. Pull out the branches, they are made with wire and can be manipulated to the places you want. Make it look nice and full; not like it has been sitting in storage for a year.
Lay out all of your supplies and tentatively place pieces on the wreath. Do you want all decorations to one side, all to the bottom or spread throughout the wreath. What looks best to you and keep in mind where and how you plan to hang it. Mine go around my lights on my garage.
My helpers like the decorations spread throughout the wreath.
My daughter had a great idea to wire the bells to the center of the poinsettias. Cut your wire a little long so you can wrap it to the wreath and hold it in place. Once you have decided on placement of items wire and hot glue all decorations into place.
Hang your wreath in place and do any last minute fluffing and twisting.
I love putting together themed gifts! It is so much fun and personable! There are lots of ways you can give these themed gifts:
This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.
These gift themes include gluten free products, but you easily could swap out for your favorite brands. *Some of the products are priced for packages including more than one package of the product.
The feet get so abused, it is nice to pamper them! Here are some products that will help to pamper her feet.
Know someone with a bubbly personality? This is a fun idea to reflect the happiness they exude.
One of our favorite wedding gifts was a set of dishes for sundaes. We have bought more as our family has grown and love the specialness it brings to a common dessert at home.
Who doesn’t like making cookies?! Do you like to frost them or eat them warm right out of the oven?
Breakfast is one of my favorite meals. I know I am not alone in thinking breakfast can happen anytime of day.
With the cold winter months this will warm them from head to toe.
Do you know someone who is really good at gardening than maybe this is the theme for them! We did a variation of this theme for a white elephant party we went to last year. It was a hit!
When I saw the cute globe, I knew we had to have a Winnie the Pooh theme! I grew up with Winnie the Pooh and he has always been a favorite of mine!
“You are my Hero!” So many superheros to choose from for this theme!
These ideas are a good starting point in how to fill your favorite girls stocking! Whether you do a 12 days of Christmas with stocking stuffers or use this post as a springboard to fill her stocking you are sure to please her.
This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.
On the first day of stocking stuffers, “I love the scent of you”
Many women are loving essential oils. This jewelry is a fashionable way for her to wear her favorite scents.
On the second day of stocking stuffers, dreams are what life is made from!
Tell her how much you believe in her and her dreams with this pendant! Inscribed are the words: “Go in the direction of your dreams”.
On the third day of stocking stuffers, “The most precious jewels you’ll ever have around your neck are the arms of your children”.
I love that! With birthstone necklaces she can continue wearing her jewels around her neck even when they aren’t so little, anymore. They grow, but in our hearts they will always be.
On the fourth day of stocking stuffers, “I love being in tune with you“.
The reviews say that the person wearing the hat feels like everything is in surround sound, but no one else hears the music. It is a blue tooth device and so there are no wires to get in the way of moving around.
On the 5th day of stocking stuffers, 5 gold coins!
It would be so much fun to get the 5 of the $1 coins to put in this purse. So cute! Who doesn’t love another pretty place to put your cell phone, lipstick and more?!
On the 6th day of stocking stuffers, you have the key to my heart!
I have always loved Winnie the Pooh. This quote was said to Pooh by Christopher Robin. “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think”
On the 7th day of stocking stuffers, these are the things that dreams are made of.
This pillow is filled with organic flax seed and smells wonderfully of lavender (per reviews on Amazon). Lavender is a relaxing scent that promotes rest. Whether she needs just a little help relaxing or suffers from migraines, this is a handy pillow to have around.
On the 8th day of stocking stuffers, to remember the good.
Having a place to write and keep things is always nice. This journal is still small enough to fit in a purse.
On the 9th day of stocking stuffers, I’ll walk with you forever.
My feet take a lot of abuse because I like going barefoot. They get tough, but then they start to crack and hurt and have all kinds of problems. A nice pumice stone is the perfect thing to ease this problem.
On the 10th day of stocking stuffers, Love the skin you are in.
Moisturizers are great to keep a woman’s skin soft and smooth. Though I haven’t used this brand before, I am impressed that it is scent free, paraben free and gluten free!
On the 11th day of stocking stuffers, you are beautiful.
This is my daughter’s favorite place to shop for make-up and other girly things! So much fun to know that you have a little spending spree coming up, to choose your favorite products!
On the 12th day of stocking stuffers, you are the socks to my feet.
No stocking is complete without a nice new pair of warm winter socks.
I have these large planters that sit on my porch all summer long. In the winter, I move all except for the biggest planter off of the porch. However, I saw somewhere on Pinterest several ideas for using a tomato cage, large planters and Christmas lights to decorate. They were all done in different ways. I decided to give it a try.
(Supplies are for 1 tree)
Tomato cage
Large planter box
Twist tie or zip tie
Stakes
100 strand green Christmas lights
Extension cord
This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.
Use your large planter box for the base of your tree. There are different size tomato cages mine barely fit into this box. The other one I made held a little bit bigger tomato cage than this one did.
If you look closely, you can see that the round top of the tomato cage barely fits inside the box.
Place the tomato cage upside down in the dirt of the planter. Use a twist tie, zip tie or twine to hold the ends of the tomato cage together.
Saving twist ties- comes in handy!
I took the lights in a 1/2 circle around the tomato cage. So, starting toward the back/side, first stake the lights and leave enough room to be able to plug your lights into your extension cord. I kept mine plugged in while I worked so I could check on how it was looking. Even still, it will look better in the dark than while you are working on it.
I used old tent stakes that we have, but any stake should work. I made sure the stake not only held the lights in place but also the cage. If your cage isn’t secure it could blow over in the wind. (We haven’t had wind or snow, yet, this year.
After the end is staked, string the lights up through the top of the cage and then back down. You can either work your way across from side to side or go up and down working your way from one side, across the front and to the other side. You want to make sure you are making them as evenly spaced as possible.
With my bigger one I went from one side across the front and to the other side, but the smaller one worked better to go from side to side and ending in the front.
This is as far back as I did any lights. There are no lights that come down in the back.
The tree in the front was a bigger cage and bigger planter. I did some strands close to the cage and took others farther out. The second tree barely fit in the planter and so all the strands are close to the tomato cage.
The lights sit nicely in the top and don’t need to be secured any further.
If your strand ends somewhere between the top and bottom secure it in place. The ideal is if it ends at the top to be secured there or at the bottom where it can be staked. Just make sure it looks the way you want it to look. The first one took me 2 or 3 times, but the second one was done the first time.
I love the way they look at night!
It can be overwhelming to go gluten free. There is so much more to being gluten free than just changing your diet. If your family member or friend has been diagnosed with a medical condition like celiac it is important for them to be educated about the disease. There are many things to take into consideration as someone who is newly diagnosed and wanting to regain their health. Of upmost importance is understanding the issues with cross contact and cross contamination.
Cross contact is the reason why there are so many kitchen items on this list!
These gift ideas are great for both the newly diagnosed as well as those who have been gluten free for a long time.
This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.
Licorice contains gluten and it can be hard to find a good gluten free licorice! I recently found Yum Earth gluten free licorice and it has satisfied my yearning for licorice.
The best snack foods contain gluten. Snyder’s of Hanover has a gluten free pretzel which will make you think it is too good to be gluten free! These individual packages will last your newly diagnosed family/friend long after Christmas is over.
This is a great treat for anyone who is gluten free or not! The whole bag is half popped popcorn and tastily flavored!
Everything from Lara Bars to Skinny Pop Popcorn!
Written by Bette Haggman. I think everyone should have at least 1 Bette Haggman cookbook!
This cookbook was written by Christina Davis and has come to our local support group meetings to speak. This is a cookbook I absolutely love! Her pancake recipe is my favorite and is so light and fluffy! There are so many kid friendly recipes and is a great go to for feeding newly diagnosed kids and picky eaters.
This is a Pamela Ellgen cookbook. I haven’t tried it, yet. I love the idea of faster, easier recipes because cooking can take a long time, some nights! We don’t always have the time and it is nice to have some quick delicious recipes!
Written by actress Jennifer Esposito who has celiac disease. This book is on my personal wish list as well! Inflammation is the enemy of all auto-immune disease and anti-inflammatory recipes are helpful in healing the gut.
Written by Nicole Hunn. Let’s face it eating healthy, let alone gluten free can be expensive and we could all use some help in how to lessen the expense.
“The Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook: A Master Baker’s 300 Favorite Recipes For Perfect-Every-Time Bread From Every Kind of Machine”
Scratches and nicks in pans can hold onto the gluten protein. So, it is wise to replace pans and anything that is porous (stoneware and non-stick cooking surfaces) with new pans and appliances. (In some cases it is wise to have two sets or go with non-porous cookware. Especially, if you have a kitchen shared by people who are not gluten free.)
This is great if you are only baking gluten free. Otherwise look for bakeware that is metal and without any coatings.
Don’t use old stoneware that has had gluten cooked on it. The porous surface holds the gluten protein and can continue contaminating your food.
Non-stick or metal pans without a non-stick coating are best. Non-stick pans hold protein in its pores, as do nicks and scratches.
These need to be replaced if they have nicks and scratches. Also, it is nice to get new bowls and you may need new storage containers with being newly diagnosed.
A new colander is a must! Those little holes are notorious for grabbing on and holding gluten in them. If you have family that isn’t eating gluten free, you may want to consider having two distinguishably different colanders or have one in a different color.
For all the home cooking you will be doing! Again, if your old mixer had any nicks or scratches in the bowl or beaters they need to be replaced.
A spiralizer can make cooking fun! There are so many things you can do with this including making your own French fries!
Great for the newly diagnosed that loves to cook! Make your own gluten free pasta!
Making your own gluten free bread is a great way to cut down on gluten free diet expenses!
The toaster cannot be shared with those who are eating gluten! So, a new toaster is a must! The crumbs float around when heating and it is impossible to get all of the gluten out of a toaster.
A good blender is always good to have, but essential if your old one did things that contain gluten and the blades have nicks and scratches.
These ovens are great, if there is a filter, make sure it is changed frequently.
Being able to eat fried foods without worrying about cross-contamination makes life a little more enjoyable.
Many baking spatulas get nicks and scratches and hold onto the gluten protein, causing cross-contamination, even when you have washed them well! Have spatulas in different colors if you have a shared gluten/gluten free cooking.
Same issues as with the baking spatulas, but because of the holes in, gluten can get caught and trapped just like the colander.
My daughter is so addicted to bath bombs! They are a fantastic gift!
Bone Suckin Sauce is gluten free, non-GMO, Dairy free and Kosher. Many of their sauces are also free from HFCS.
Pick several different kinds of bath bombs (Always check to make sure they are gluten free.) and put together your own basket or stocking stuffers.
By nutrition expert, Shelley Case, RD. A comprehensive and practical guide for eating gluten free.
We always make Deviled Eggs for Easter and Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas. This is our favorite recipe and we have been making it for 25 years! I found it in the “Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book” 1989, when I was first married. I have slightly modified it to fit our family’s needs.
is to boil your eggs. Fill a pot with water and place raw eggs in pot. There are all kinds of tricks to try to get the perfect boiled egg. Placing a dishtowel in the water with the eggs can reduce cracking from them hitting against one another. If you try this method, put the towel in before filling with water. I arrange eggs under the towel as well as on top of the towel so that it cushions the eggs a little bit and then fill the pot with water. 1 tsp or 2 of baking soda seems to help eggs peel better. My father-in-law swears by running the eggs under cold water for 10 minutes after they finish boiling. Once the water comes to a hard boil I set a timer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove from heat.
Let eggs cool or you can put them in the refrigerator until ready to make the Deviled Eggs.
Peel the eggs and rinse. Now you are ready to get started!
Cut the long ways.
Pop out the yolks into a small mixing bowl.
Smash the yolks with a fork.
Add vinegar, mustard and mayo.
Continue to smash chunks and mix with the fork.
When fairly smooth, spoon into the empty halves.
Sprinkle with paprika.
Creating your own family Christmas traditions is especially important when you are newlywed or when you want to make changes in your family and how you do things. Of course, these traditions may evolve, change, or be dropped altogether. Keep in mind that traditions help people to know how they fit in as well as expectations for upcoming events.
My husband grew up in a family that while they were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and believed in Christmas and Easter, they really didn’t celebrate these holidays. They had a tree and exchanged presents but his biggest present he got the year we were engaged was a flashlight. His step-father believed that Christmas should be no different than any other day, so Christmas wasn’t treated very special. They gave me a gift too, books, elementary school level books. It wouldn’t have been so bad if his mother wouldn’t have said, “Since you gave us something, here you go.” (I think she also said that they “had to give me a gift” too. Or maybe that was just what her attitude and tone indicated. I was hurt and insulted. I really wanted to give her gift back to her and tell her to not bother if she only felt obligated to give me something! However, I was trying my hardest to figure out how to be friends. Glad I tried. Less regrets.) I was surprised at the lack of excitement and joy for the Holiday in their home. They didn’t even have a family Christmas party or any type of holiday get together with other relatives.
My family, was to the other extreme and often went overboard with gifts and celebrating! Every Christmas Eve we had a family party at my Grandparents. These type of parties started before I was born and my dad’s parents carried the tradition to their family. We had a big pot luck dinner with a ham my grandmother would cook. My aunt always made fudge and chocolate treats. We would have a small talent show. When I was young my cousin and I would put together a dance for the show or do one we were learning in dance class. It was a great time with cousins and family. Santa would come and give each child one gift. (These gifts were provided by the parents of each child, with a set $ amount so they were relatively around the same cost.) We exchanged gifts with cousins and grandparents and had a great time watching everyone open their gifts. It got crazy as the family grew. My grandparents had 5 children and all were married. Then there were 20 living grandchildren. Then the great grandchildren started to come. Eventually, the party got to be so big that it was moved to a church and a Saturday early in December.
After the party, we would all go to our own homes. We got to open one gift before going to bed and it was always pajamas. Why was it always pajamas? Because on Christmas there would be a lot of Christmas morning pictures and everyone would look nice in their new PJs!
Christmas morning was big and crazy! After opening presents and having breakfast; we would meet at one of my aunt and uncles houses and then travel to each relatives home to see what one another received. It was a lot of fun, but as we got older we disliked it more and more. It was hard to leave our gifts to run around all day. This is not a tradition we have kept.
That first Christmas, when we were engaged, was a shock to my husband! He had never seen anything like it, except in movies. My parents used Christmas as a time to help us obtain the things we would need when we were on our own. (The beginning of the school year, my birthday and Christmas were really the only times I got new clothes.) My dad is a carpenter and he made us some high quality dressers and we got an electric wok and a few other things to help us as we prepared to start our own home. He had never been given so much in his entire life and was overwhelmed.
We had some huge differences and had to figure out what we were going to do with our family. We might have done things a little differently if we had known about the 3 gift idea; something you need, something to learn and something you want. We have done Christmas a lot like what I grew up with: big, exciting and fun. My husband hated the Santa Clause thing, but I insisted on it. He had a hard time with Santa getting the credit for all he had done and we were “lying” to our kids!
As a compromise, our kids were told the “truth” when they were 8 years old. (At least with the 2 older ones, they were 8. Our 3rd didn’t seem ready to be told until she was a little older and then our baby of the family, no one wanted to tell her because we wanted the magic to continue a little longer.) I would take them Christmas shopping with me and while we were shopping we would talk about Santa and gifts. With my oldest I asked her what she thought Santa should bring her sister. She said something and I said, why don’t you go get it and put it in the basket. She did and I said, so, what does this mean? If Santa should give it to her, but we are buying it. . . she’s very quick and she started jumping up and down saying “I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!” I asked her to explain to me what she knew and we talked about how important it was for her friends and siblings to continue to believe. It is the parents’ decision on when to tell their children. We talked about the spirit of Christmas and how special Santa Claus is as a representation of love and giving. How in many ways Santa exemplifies Jesus Christ. Santa is real because we believe in the spirit of Christmas. I then let her be my Santa’s helper. On Christmas Eve, once her sister was asleep, I would sneak her out of her room to help me set up her sister’s things from Santa. Then she would go to bed so we could do hers.
We have 4 kids, so as each one came to know, each one became a helper. So, the first two would set up for the younger two. Now, they take turns setting up for one another. Blankets are thrown over things so only the one doing the setting up sees it and then before we go to bed, we uncover everything.
It is important for couples to talk about how they want to celebrate the holidays, what is given emphasis and what makes
We always take a picture of all the girls (and sometimes the dog) on the steps before going to open presents on Christmas morning.
Christmas, Christmas to them. We all celebrate it but don’t realize that we all have our differences in celebrating this special holiday and how important certain things are to us!
Tell one another about how your family does Christmas.
What do you want to continue doing in your family?
What are your expectations of Christmas?
What kind of tree do you want to have? (Sparse, Charlie Brown tree or a full evergreen tree? Real or artificial?)
When do you put up the tree, when do you start playing Christmas music?
Do you decorate the house? Inside, outside or both?
Santa Clause or no Santa Clause?
Nativities? We don’t put baby Jesus in the Nativity until Christmas Day because that is when he was born.
Gift Giving? Who? How much? Budget? When do you start buying gifts?
What do you expect from your spouse for Christmas presents?
Visiting relatives?
Parties?
Family and friends on Christmas? Or immediate family only?
My sister-in-law insisted that her husband buy her lots of clothes and it really didn’t matter size or what they looked like. She would then take them all back (even if she liked them) and get the cash and shop the sales. Personally, I hate this for so many reasons! However, it works for them.
One might not be used to buying lots of things for one person or just wants to buy one big thing. Talk about it or you may have a disappointed partner and an unhappy holiday.
Appliances might be okay once in a while but a woman typically doesn’t want household gifts. Basically you are giving her something for her to take care of the family, but it isn’t pampering her or personal. Appliances don’t necessarily tell a woman that you know her and understand her. Don’t get me wrong sometimes it is awesome and very needed. Wives and mommies still want jewelry and to be pampered.
I loved taking her to the mall to visit Santa! She always insisted on wearing her Christmas dress and having her hair done. (Usually in a bun.) She loved talking to him and he was the best mall Santa!
Talk about everything. There may be small things that are important and you might not even realize you miss it until the day comes and it is missing. Adjust what you want to do and how you want to do it next year.
This is your family, figure out what works best for the 2 of you and what works best for your growing family?
Most importantly have fun, love, laugh and enjoy the holidays!
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