Thanks to Katie for today’s guest post on documenting the magic of Christmas:

The magic of Christmas can’t be found wrapped up under a tree.  For me the true magic of Christmas has always been made up of all the ‘activities’ of Christmas.  My fondest memories of Christmas are not of the toys I received as a child but the things I did with my family.  Things like making crafty homemade decorations with my Mom, baking Christmas cookies (and sneaking them frozen from the freezer in the basement) and my all time favorite packing ourselves up in the car with Christmas Carols on the radio, and sipping eggnog while we drove around the neighborhood looking at all the lights.

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I was running low on gift tags, so I put together a sheet of printable tags in Photoshop and have posted it below to share with you.  This printable sheet features eight different holiday tags that will give your gifts a bit of whimsy and holiday charm.  Simply print onto cardstock, hole punch and tie with ribbon or yarn or print on full sheet mailing labels, cut out and stick directly on packages (that’s what I’m doing).  Click the preview to download and enjoy!

This year for Christmas the kids and I – including my daycare friends –  made “Nuts and Bolts” party mix to give and share. We used this easy and delicious recipe, and my 11 year old homeschooler tripled it, made the shopping list and did the measuring (math in action!). It’s not hard to make but does take a bit of time, and you need to keep an eye on it or it will burn.

If you can try to picture what my kitchen looked like after making 45 cups of party mix with six little helpers… well, let’s just say I won’t have to feed the dog for a while

I’ll do another post later this week detailing our presentation; I have something cute in mind ;)

I used this recipe from the Food Network as my basis, and my take on it is below.  For the third batch I added some Tabasco sauce for a bit of tang, and then mixed all the batches together so that it’s not too spicy for kids.  It’s quite salty, so omit the table salt if you’re not a super-duper salt fan.

“Nuts and Bolts” Style Party Mix
3 cups round multi-grain cereal (Cheerios or similar)
3 cups square wheat cereal (Shreddies or similar)
3 cups corn cereal (Crispix or similar)
3 cups small cheese crackers (Cheese Nips or similar)
3 cups unsalted pretzel sticks
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 teaspoon garlic salt
4-6 drops Tabasco sauce (optional)

With the rack in the bottom position, preheat the oven to 150°C (250°F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the cereals, crackers and pretzles. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the sugar and spices and stir well. Drizzle over the dry ingredients a little at a time. Toss to coat well.

Spread in an even layer on the baking sheet. Bake for about 1 hour, stirring gently every 15-20 minutes. Let cool.

Store in an airtight container; will keep for several weeks.

If you’re like me – that would be crafty and busy – this time of year can bring a lot of pressure to make cool things.  That’s why I was so excited to discover Amy’s printable holiday tags; I can make them myself but someone else has done all the hard stuff.  Simply print on cardstock, hole punch and tie with ribbon, raffia or twine or print on full sheet labels and adhere to gifts.  Super cute, super easy and best of all she’s offering the pdf for free.  How’s that for holiday spirit?!

Thanks Jo for pointing this out to me!