Frugal Advent Calendar

The countdown has begun!  Our Christmas tree is up and decorated and slowly, but surly, the rest of the decorations are making there way up around the house. 

The little Beanes are VERY excited this year.  Every commercial they see sparks the desire to have that toy. 

I am excited too.  I love Christmas.  I love the excitement that my little Beanes have.  When I was growing up, my favorite Christmas tradition was the advent calender.  I always had the kind that you buy in the card section of Hallmark.  You open the door every day counting down to Christmas Eve.  My favorite kind was the progressive story.  Each day it told a little bit more.  I remember having one that told the story of the Littlest Angel and one year I had one that told the Bible Christmas story. 

This year, I am trying out a new advent calender for my little ones.  I hope it builds a cool Christmas tradition that we can do as a family for many years to come.

I went through all of our children's books and pulled out all of the Christmas ones.  I wrapped each one up in newspaper and tied a Christmas ribbon around each one.  I used some old scrapbook paper and number stickers to number each present 1-24.

I used to teach kindergarten and I have a love for children's books, so I actually had 23 Christmas books.  I am going to have to run to the dollar tree and pick up one more to wrap up.

We will use this as our advent calender this year!  Each night, before bedtime, one of the children will get book numbered for that date and they will open it up and we will read it at bedtime.

I did not order the books I had in any particular way.  With the exception of, book number 1 is the Elf on the Shelf book and book number 24 is my favorite version of The Night Before Christmas. 



This one is The Elf on the Shelf



This could totally been done in a much cuter way.  But I am one of the crafty impaired moms of the world.  My little ones really just love to open presents and, truth be told, so do I.  And I was trying to create a frugal Christmas Advent calender and buying a bunch of wrapping paper and supplies would not have been cheap!  So I just used what I had on hand.

I am trying to decide how I want to handle this though.  Should I just let the little Beanes take turns opening the book each night or should I have one of them get the correct number and give it to their brother or sister to open up?  What do you think? 

What Christmas traditions are you trying this year? 



I am linking up at Metamorphosis Monday and these other Awesome Parties!



Menu Plan Monday Nov. 28

I am stuffed!  We had our family Thanksgiving meal Saturday and I am still stuffed to the gills.

It is hard to even think about eating this week.  Luckily, I scouted out some great thanksgiving leftover ideas last week.  So now all I have to do is pick out some new recipes to try out.

Here is what we are looking at this week.

Monday

Turkey Soup with Homemade Noodles

Crackers

Tuesday



Turkey Spring Rolls

Simple Sesame Noodles

Wednesday

Ham Steak

Hasselback Potatoes

Broccoli

Thursday



BBQ Turkey Calzones

Corn

Applesauce

Friday



Turkey Hot Dish

Golden Yam Brownies

That should pretty much use up all of my left overs.  How are you planning on using your Thanksgiving leftovers? 

I am linking up again at Menu Monday.  Check out what everyone else will be eating this week.

The Day After! Thanksgiving leftovers

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I love the cooking.  I love the eating and I love the time with family.  

I also really enjoy using the Thanksgiving leftovers and turning them into new and delicious meals.  I have been searching Pinterest for some new inspiration this year.  Wow!  There are a ton of recipes and ideas on how to turn your Thanksgiving leftovers into yummy new meals.  Check out some of my favorite finds.


Turkey Spring Rolls


Stuffing Stuffed Mushrooms


Cranberry Salsa


Turkey Soup with homemade Noodles


Broccoli Turkey Hotdish


Sweet Potato Baked Oatmeal


Sweet Potato Bagel


Cranberry Crunch Squares


Sweet Potato Biscuits


BBQ Turkey Calzones


Turkey Shepherd's Pie


Golden Yam Brownies


Turkey Cobb Salad


Turkey Waldorf Salad


Quesadillas with chutney and brie


Shepherd's Pie


Turkey and String Bean Pot Pie


Turkey Milanese


Grilled Turkey, Brie and Apple Butter Sandwich


Turkey Bolognese

Thanksgiving Won Tons
Turkey Hashed Browns
Turkey Pad Thai
Chocolate Yam Marble Cake

I am almost more excited about the leftovers than the actual meal!  What do you do with your leftovers?


I am linking up again with Metamorphosis Monday and these other Awesome Parties!

Menu Plan Monday Nov. 21

Last week was so busy!  I am glad to start a new week.  However, this week seems like it will be just as busy.  At least I do not have any out of town trips this week.  That will be a help.  The little Beanes will be getting their picture made with Santa Claus on Wednesday, so at least I have some leverage for good behavior this week. 

Our family is going to do something different this year.  We will not be celebrating Thanksgiving until Saturday.  So on Thursday, Mr. Homegrown and I are taking the little Beanes out to eat on Thursday and going to see the Muppet Movie together.  I am so excited to be doing something fun since we can't be with our families on Thanksgiving day.  And I will have extra time to prepare my house and kitchen for the influx of family coming in on Saturday!

Here is the line up for this week.

Monday

Fried Pork Chops

Cabbage

Rice

Tuesday

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

7-Up Biscuits

Wednesday

Chicken Gyros on Homemade Pita Bread

Chips

Fruit

Thursday

Thanksgiving at Cracker Barrel

and

The Muppet Movie

Friday

Campfire Foil Packets

I will use these recipes as a guide to cook Italian sausage, potatoes, and veggies!  Mr. Homegrown will have a great time cooking this for me (and no one will be in the house messing it up while I am on a mad dash to get everything ready for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow!) 

S'mores

Saturday

Our Thanksgiving Dinner!

I am linking up with Menu Plan Monday.  Go over and check out everyone's menu and recipe ideas for this week.  There is so much inspiration over there!

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Thanksgiving Menu Plan

This year for Thanksgiving, I will be cooking at out house.  I love to cook for people and Thanksgiving is a great reason to cook!  This year I have the ability to add pecans and almonds in our recipes since String Beane has passed those food challenges. 

Here is a line up of some yummy things that will probably make our table. 



The Turkey

Throw it all in a Reynold's Turkey bag and let her go.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Green Bean Casserole

Squash Casserole

Cajun Cornbread Dressing

Cranberry Salad

My Mom will be bringing Deviled Eggs

7-Up Biscuits

Pumpkin Love

4 Layer Pumpkin Cake

Pecan Pie

What will be on you Thanksgiving table this year?  Happy Thnanksgiving everyone.  I hope you have a wonderful holiday and cherish them time with your family.

Linking up with Metamorphosis Monday
These other Awesome Parties
and Organized Junkie

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Friday Favorites

Woo to the Hoo for Friday!  I have had such a busy week and an even busier weekend coming.  We will be having String Beane's 6th birthday party on Saturday.  There should be plenty of wild boys running around here!
  String Beane had a food challenge for pecans Tuesday and we go back this morning to challenge almonds.

He passed the pecan challenge!  So we will be pecan pie for Thanksgiving this year.  Yea! Here's hoping he will pass the almond challenge today as well.

So in light of the pecan pie being an option for us this Thanksgiving, I am going to feature some of the Thanksgiving yumminess I have seen on Pinterest.

Pumpkin Love
I am drooling looking at this wonderful thing.


Pecan Pie Bars
These look so good, and long overdue here.

Cajun Cornbread Dressing

This might be the dressing that makes it to our table this year.

Thanksgiving Kids table

There are some precious ideas to make the kid's table fun in this link.

The Pioneer Woman's Pecan Pie

This is the pie that we will have.  She calls it "the pie that will make you cry".  I am so thankful that we have added a new food to String Beane's diet that I might just cry over this pie.  I think she gave it a great name!

What have you got planned for Thanksgiving this year?  I would love to know.  I will be cooking for 16 people this year!  Help me out people.  Give me some ideas.

I am linking up at Finding Joy in my Kitchen.  Go and check her out and see what has made the list!