Christmas is for Crafting

We've been fairly busy round these parts getting everything ready for Christmas and the steady stream of visitors that begins this week. In addition to the cleaning schedule I've drafted (and even begun implementing) which may or may not ever actually be completed, we've managed to get in some just for fun activities as well......Just in case you're looking to squeeze in just one more thing to your to do list I thought I'd share what we've been up to :)

{Gingerbread Playdough}

We used this recipe but there are tons of other options out there.  It was super easy and quick which is my kind of activity :)  I recommend adding the glitter or else your playdough will pretty much just look like something brown that Chris has informed me is wildly inappropriate to mention here....not that my children would have minded that.....

This pretty much just stays on the kitchen counter at all times since the boys want to play with it every day.

{Popcorn Stringing}

I know your're all dying to know, did we string the popcorn and achieve nostalgic Christmas preparation bliss or not?  Well we did, but child participation was pretty much a bust.  David was interested for all of two minutes before he walked away.  In hindsight I probably should not have attempted it on the day he skipped his nap and just had the supplies out from the beginning of Advent for him to work on whenever he was in the mood.  I ended up putting on a Christmas movie for the kids and they snuggled up on either side of me while I strung the popcorn and they stole fistfuls of it to cram into their mouths.  

I finished it up by myself later in the evening while the children and their father ran back and forth in various costumes trying to shoot/stab/attack each other with various weaponry. Luckily for me, I find popcorn stringing very relaxing.....

....and it's pretty much my favorite tree decoration ever......

{Snow Globes}

Finally, and certainly the boys favorite thing we've done in months.....snow globes.  These were also super easy to make--there are some good instructions here.  We used some toys that, let's face it, were probably destined for the good will, glued them to the bottom of the jar lid, filled up the jars with water, added glitter and a bit of glycerin for good measure and that was that.  I didn't glue the lids to the jars which ended up being a good call since the children's rather vigorous shaking dislodged some pieces and they had to be re-glued.   The boys promised not to open them up under any circumstances so I'm sure we won't have any problems with giant glitter-water spills.  After all, they are boys of their word....

David cradles his snow globe every day and asks if he can really keep it for forever.  We should have really done this craft sooner.......We had so much fun, we even made some extras to give away :)

Has anyone else made anything super fun and easy to get ready for Christmas/keep the kids busy while your preparations are underway?  I was considering some paper chains to fancy up our windows but I think that I'm just about Christmas crafted out for this year, not that we'll have much time for crafts once our guests start arriving, and I really should carve out some time to get to those bathrooms......we'll see :)