What a smile!

Children Christmas Shopping
Every year while my children were little I made sure that they felt included in the Christmas present purchases. I would give each child about $20 and then take them to the local Woolworth's with their list of people to buy for. They would get to choose a gift for dad, grandparents, sisters, brothers, etc. Though the gifts were inexpensive, they were very creative in their selections and could then take their parcels home and wrap the surprises themselves. How proud they were when they told everyone they had done it all on their own and why they purchased a particular item. Now that we have Dollar Days stores this would be a good place to take younger children and it would still be inexpensive to let them shop.

Tinsel-Town Wreath (3" in diameter)
Taken from: Family Circle Christmas Treasury Materials needed: 3" wooden drapery ring metal eye screw 1� yards gold tinsel garland Christmas greenery with velvet bow 10" piece �" wide green satin ribbon glue Directions: Screw the metal eye into the ring. Wind the ring with the garland. Insert 10" of the ribbon in the screw eye and tie it for a hanger loop. Add the Christmas greenery with the bow. A great way to make use of scraps and turn them into ornaments to hang on the tree or around the house.

Decorate Kitchen
During the holidays, most of the my time is spent in the kitchen baking as well as entertaining, but yet this is the least decorated place in the home. So, one year I decided to dress it up by decorating my kitchen cabinets to look like Christmas packages. You can do this by criss -crossing brightly colored ribbon and taping it on the inside of the cabinet with masking tape and then making a bow (or if you can't make bows, purchase them) and tape them in the center of the cross. In the years to follow I found that I could actually remove the cabinet doors and wrap them in wrapping paper and then add bows and then put them back in place. The tape is easily removed when the holiday is over and now this is a tradition in our home that I start the day after Thanksgiving. I just do the top cabinets since these are the ones that are visible. This is a relatively inexpensive way to make your kitchen more festive. Your friends will love coming to your home to see how they look each year.

Pictures and Mirror Ideas
Most of us have pictures or mirrors that hang in our home and you can also wrap these up like Christmas packages so they fit in with the holiday theme. The ribbon you purchase can coordinate with the color theme of your decorations, such as garland or beads, and it takes very little time to do.

Cookie Ornaments
Old fashioned Christmases are the best kind and everyone likes to get involved. One year I baked large round sugar cookies. You can purchase different size round cookie cutters at any kitchen supply store. Before you put the cookies in the oven, you can cut a small hole toward the edge of the cookie with a straw. When the cookies were done baking I had made some stencils of different size hearts out of hard white construction paper. Fold a piece a paper in half and then cut half a heart out of the center, so that when you open it up it's a full heart. Lay this paper with heart in the center, down over your cookie and brush it with a pastry brush that contains a little bit of milk. Then sprinkle red sugar onto that opening. The sugar will only stick where the milk was brushed on. Remove the paper and voile you have a heart on your sugar cookie. Tie a piece of thin satin ribbon through the hole and hang these on your tree. They will keep for a few weeks and when you throw out your tree the birds have a winter feast.

Pomander Balls - Fun and fragrant
Choose an orange that is fresh, firm and thickly skinned (if you are not planning to cover it totally, also look for good color and blemishes that can be covered by your design. Use a nail to pre-poke the holes in which to insert the cloves ( this saves wear and tear on the fingertips and also helps keep the cloves intact) That's all there is to it! Comments and observations Fruit that you don't cover completely lasts only as long as fruit normally does. I usually have it displayed in a bowl. Try to keep it in a cool spot and out of the direct sun. I have only made two that I covered completely. One has hardened and I bring it out each year. Some people roll or sprinkle cinnamon over the fruit when they are done. This sticks to the juice that has seeped from the puncture holes and adds to the fragrance. I generally don't fully cover the skin with cloves and want to have the color of the fruit show through, so I don't want the cinnamon to coat the orange to brown. I buy cloves in bulk. Those that lost their heads and are large enough look like little stars and I place them strategically in the design.

Cookie Wreaths
These tempting, bite-size wreaths are a decorative and tasty treat for the holidays. Makes a nice snack when served with coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Ingredients: 6 tablespoons butter 3 cups marshmallows 4 drops vanilla extract 1 tsp. Green food coloring 3 cups cornflakes glac� cherries and silver and gold sugar balls to decorate Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until melted. Stir in vanilla and food coloring, then mix in cornflakes. Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto waxed paper and press a hole in the middle to resemble a wreath. Decorate while still soft. Makes 12 cookie wreaths.