Teacher Gift Tag

School is just about out for the holidays, so we gave my son's teacher a Christmas present today. We wanted to have a cute little tag to go along with it, and it just seemed fitting that it should be a chalkboard tag, since it was meant for a teacher and all!

This year we got his teacher a copy of one of my son's favorite books for her classroom, as well as a couple movie tickets for her to use to take her husband on a date! It was more than we normally plan on spending probably, but we thought that teachers needed a little extra love this year, after the tragedy at Sandy Hook last week.

If you would like to download a copy of the tag printable you can find it here.

*You can find the chalkboard background here.

*Our printables are for personal use only. Resale or redistribution of our printables is not permitted. Do not claim them as your own. If you post them elsewhere on the internet, link back to our blog and credit Rosewood Corner. Please do not remove any Rosewood Corner watermarks.

Merry Christmas Gift Tags

Yesterday, as we were getting ready to take some treats to our neighbors, we decided that we wanted to make some simple but cute gift tags to go with them. And if we already have them made, why not share them with you?

You can download the gift tags here. 

*Our printables are for personal use only. Resale or redistribution of our printables is not permitted. Do not claim them as your own. If you post them elsewhere on the internet, link back to our blog and credit Rosewood Corner. Please do not remove any Rosewood Corner watermarks.

"Born to be a King" Printable

We have another Christmas printable for you, we hope you enjoy!

The printable is an 8x10, and you can find it here.

*Our printables are for personal use only. Resale or redistribution of our printables is not permitted. Do not claim them as your own. If you post them elsewhere on the internet, link back to our blog and credit Rosewood Corner. Please do not remove any Rosewood Corner watermarks.

"Born to be a King" Board

We have a big window in our kitchen with a lot of wall space above it that looked bare to me for a long time. I tend to be indecisive, so trying to figure out what quote or piece of art should hang above the window was not working out so well. I eventually decided that I didn't need to be decisive, I could have my husband cut some large boards for me and make different quote boards for different holidays or seasons that I could change often! The very first board we finished was our Christmas board, so it's only fitting that it's the first one we share here!

Ever since I became a mom, I've been amazed by Mary and the faith and wonder she must have felt, bearing a child who would become the King of all men. Though He began His life as a tiny baby, He was born to be great, and we all owe Him a debt that can never be repaid. Christmas is truly a time to celebrate His birth and life, and the season is magical because of it. 

{Movies We Love} 13 Favorite Christmas Movies

I don't know about you, but I definitely have movies that I am so excited to watch every year at Christmas time! I love to pop up some popcorn, settle in with a cozy blanket on the couch, with just the lights of the Christmas tree on, while we watch some of our Christmas favorites. I thought I would share some of our favorite holiday movies (in no particular order), just in case you are looking for some movies to help you get into the Christmas spirit!

Absolute Favorites (usually watch every year)

1. Mickey's Christmas Carol

I think most people watch some version of A Christmas Carol every year, but Mickey's Christmas Carol is definitely our favorite. The kids connect better with the story since it stars some of their favorite characters! You really can't go wrong with the Jim Carrey version either. 

2. Frosty the Snowman

A talking, dancing snowman? What's not to love? 

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas

We love the classic cartoon version in our house, but the Jim Carrey version is great too!

4. A Charlie Brown Christmas

I love Charlie Brown, and I love that spindly little tree!

5. Miracle on 34th Street

The classic version is great, but the little girl in the more recent version is so adorable!

6. Elf

Will Ferrell makes the world's most perfect elf, whether he is technically an elf or not! 

7. While You Were Sleeping

This one may not always be considered a Christmas movie, but it is set during Christmas and New Years so that is good enough for me! One of my all-time favorite movies!

8. White Christmas

Such a classic! I love the whole feel of the movie, and the music is fantastic!

9. The Nativity Story

I think it's really important for my kids to see this movie every year. Christ is the reason we celebrate Christmas after all! I don't want them to ever forget that.

Lesser Favorites (still love them, but we may not get to them every year)

10. It's A Wonderful Life

I really do love this movie! My kids are still pretty young though, so it's not one they get excited about.

11. A Christmas Story

This one may be making the move to absolute favorites soon. My son is getting to the age where I think he would think this movie was pretty dang funny!

12. The Polar Express

I really like this movie, but if I have to choose between it and Mickey's Christmas Carol, Mickey is going to win every time!

13. Home Alone

This movie is cute, but it really makes the list because my brother was about the same age as the main character, Kevin, when this movie came out. They actually looked quite a bit alike so people were always trying to get my brother to do the "hands to the face yell." 

What do you think? Are there any Christmas classics we are missing out on?

"Christ in Christmas" Printable

We thought we would create a couple printable versions of our "Christ in Christmas" board for anyone that didn't want to tackle a painting project during the busy Christmas season. We hope you guys enjoy!

The printables are in a 16x20 format.

You can find the gray version here.

You can find the tan version here.

*Our printables are for personal use only. Resale or redistribution of our printables is not permitted. Do not claim them as your own. If you post them elsewhere on the internet, link back to our blog and credit Rosewood Corner. Please do not remove any Rosewood Corner watermarks.

"Christ in Christmas" Board

A few years ago (before Pinterest) I saw a Christmas board that had phrases pertaining to the Christmas season for each letter of the word Christmas. I loved the idea at the time, but Kim and I thought that the phrases would be even better if they had to do with Christ instead of just general Christmas themes. The two of us brainstormed and came up with phrases that we were satisfied with, then made vinyls of our idea so that we could put together some boards with the rest of the girls in our family at Thanksgiving that year. It's still one of our favorite holiday decorations, so we thought it was worth sharing!

Our boards were 20" tall and 15" wide. Kim painted hers cream and then aged it a little with some stain that she brushed on and then wiped off. I painted mine Metallic Taupe from Plaid FolkArt paints. It's a quick and easy project that is a great reminder of what the Christmas season is really about!

Disney Inspired Felt Christmas Tree

I saw some adorable kid-sized felt Christmas trees, like this one from Johnny in a Dress, and knew that we needed one for our house. What kid wouldn't want their own tree to decorate, un-decorate and decorate again? And felt tree ornaments mean no broken glass that could hurt little feet. It is a well-known fact that we are huge Disney fans in our house, so it was only fitting that our felt tree had some obvious Disney influences!

The project turned out to be quite a bit bigger than I was expecting! Luckily, my husband is much better at drawing and dimensions than I am, so the ideas I had in my head were able to slowly come to life in felt. The ornaments were inspired by tree ornaments and antenna balls made by Disney, and the presents we just tried to make to fit the personality of the characters that inspired them.

We bought about a yard of green felt, though I think we could have gotten away with less. We spent a little more to get the glittery felt rather than the standard dark green. I just thought the glitter helped the tree look like it already had Christmas lights on it or something...

My husband helped me get everything figured out on paper before we started cutting anything for the ornaments...

We made templates...

And cut out lots of felt pieces:

Felt sticks to felt, so we don't have to glue the ornaments to the tree or add anything to the back of the ornaments to stick to the tree, but we did use hot glue to keep the pieces of the ornaments together. It was so fun to see the ornaments come together! And no Christmas tree feels quite complete without a few presents sitting underneath!

Twenty character ornaments, a star, and four presents later, we have our adorable Disney inspired felt Christmas tree! Our kids absolutely love it and it definitely makes the big project seem worth it now that it has already provided hours of enjoyment for our kids!

Linking up to: 

Our Christmas Activity Advent Ideas

Last year, when I was trying to put together a Christmas activity advent for my family, I searched all over the internet for activity ideas to add to the traditions our family already does every year. I ended up with 46 different activities for us to choose from. Now I know that there are not 46 days in December, but I figured the more activity options the better! Every year is different, and some days or weeks have more time available than others, so I wanted the activities to be simple enough that they would be pretty easy to fit into even the busiest schedule.

Maybe you already have all of your Christmas activities figured out, but I thought I would share a printable of our activity advent slips, with a few empty slips for adding any traditions that are unique to your family, just in case!

You can download your activity advent slips here.

*Our printables are for personal use only. Resale or redistribution of our printables is not permitted. Do not claim them as your own. If you post them elsewhere on the internet, link back to our blog and credit Rosewood Corner. Please do not remove any Rosewood Corner watermarks.

Counting Down to Christmas

We get really excited about counting down the days until Christmas in our houses, and the number of advents we use are proof of just that.

We each made a set of these adorable countdown blocks a few years ago and our kids still love them! Who are we kidding, so do we!

We both have boys that are completely addicted to legos, so we just couldn't resist getting one of their fun little Christmas advent calendars. My favorite part of the set is the little Santa lego man!

A couple of years ago they had these adorable Santa belt countdown pillows at Kohl's. I think I walked away with three or four! They were too cute not to give as gifts, but of course I had to have one for me too!

Last year we started doing a Christmas activity advent with our kids. With all of the other advents we have, we didn't really want something that was going to take up a lot of space, so when we saw the idea of a mailbox activity advent on pinterest, we knew it was perfect for us! I had already painted a red mailbox for my son who really getting "mail" at the time, so all I had to do was come up with some fun advent activities. We had so much fun with it last year that this year my son asked when we were going to start our "Christmas activities" as soon as Thanksgiving was over! I think the blog or article where the original idea was located is no longer up and running, but here is the picture that sold us on the idea:

We can't even resist getting other people involved in our countdown obsession! This year in preschool Kim is handing out an adorable Santa beard advent to her students. She got the idea from Oopsey Daisy (you can find it here), and I know those kiddos are going to love it!

We think it's important to have a lot of fun with Christmas, and really want our kids to think of it as a magical time of year, but we also think it's really important that we remind them often of the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. For that reason, this year we are starting a new tradition of doing a scripture advent with our kids. Chocolate On My Cranium has an awesome one put together (you can find it here) that even has links to beautiful videos that bring the scriptures to life. We started it on December 1st, and the kids have really seemed to enjoy it so far. I know I really do!

Crazy amount of counting down going on? Maybe, but we sure have a lot of fun with it! How do you count down to Christmas?

{Books We Love} 26 of the BEST Christmas Picture Books

So I know a lot of people like to do a Christmas book advent over the holidays. We don't personally do an book advent, my kids like to read several books a night, and a few favorites are requested night after night after night, so we get our Christmas books out the day after Thanksgiving and enjoy them throughout the rest of November and December. I do however, like to buy at least one or two new Christmas books every year to add to our growing collection. I don't like to buy any old Christmas book though, I really like to search out the best! So I thought I would share some of our absolute favorites with you, whether you use them for a Christmas book advent or just enjoy them throughout the Christmas season is entirely up to you! Here they are, in no particular order:

1. The Twelve Days of Christmas by Laurel Long

This book has been my son's favorite for the past couple of years and probably will be for a few years to come. It has beautiful illustrations of the twelve days of Christmas that we all remember from the holiday song, and hidden inside each illustration is that day's gift (such as five golden rings), as well as the gifts of any days that have come before. It's such a fun and beautiful book.

2. Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson

We love all the Bear books in our house, and this Christmas edition is no exception. The rhymes and illustrations are adorable!

3. Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson

This is another great one by Karma Wilson. It's about a little mouse who learns the importance of having room for Christ in our homes and in our lives. 

4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Such a classic. Do I really need to say anything more?

5. Kissing Kringle by Sam Beeson

Sorry for the tiny picture, but this one can be a little hard to find. It's a sweet story about how all Santa needs to be motivated and get his work done is a sweet little peck on the cheek. Explains away the "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" song quite nicely!

6. The Christmas Train by Thomas S. Monson

Thomas S. Monson is such a great storyteller! Pretty much goes without saying that whenever one of his stories comes out we are going to get it! This is a sweet story from his childhood and how he first felt the spirit of Christmas in his own life.

7. A Christmas Dress for Ellen retold by Thomas S. Monson

This one is a retelling of a story that was shared with Thomas S. Monson by family members of the struggling family in the story. It is a book about Christmas miracles and how service to others can bring about such miracles.

8. Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck

I love this story of the simple gift that a boy gave his father one Christmas morning. It's another classic!

9. Cobweb Christmas by Shirley Climo

This is such a cute book! It tells the story of sweet little Tante, and how a gift she was given one Christmas inspired the tradition of draping tinsel on Christmas trees. 

10. Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas by Jane O'Connor

Fancy Nancy, need I say more? I love that girl.

11. Little Critter's Christmas Book by Mercer Mayer

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the Little Critter Christmas books. This one has a whole bunch of mini-stories. That little critter cracks me up.

12. Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! by Don and Audrey Wood

I love The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Bear by the same couple, and this book is just as cute! The Mouse is afraid that the Big Hungry Bear is going to steal all of his presents, but by the end of the story the mouse is more concerned about the Bear's Christmas than his own. So cute. I also have this in board book version because I just couldn't help myself!

13. Merry Christmas, Splat by Rob Scotton

I love Rob Scotton. He is not only the author but is also the illustrator of the Splat the Cat and Russell the Sheep books. The stories are always so cute and the illustrations adorable! Splat the Cat is as loveable as always in this Christmas version.

14. Russell's Christmas Magic by Rob Scotton

Russell helps Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and gets to experience a little Christmas magic. So cute!

15. Merry Christmas, Curious George by Margret and H.A. Rey

Who doesn't love Curious George? George gets into his usual hijinks but as always, is a crowd pleaser in the end!

16. Santa Claustrophobia by Mike Reiss

This is a funny little book about Santa becoming claustrophobic after one too many trips down the chimney. He takes a much needed vacation and the holiday stars from the rest of the year (such as the Easter Bunny) try their hardest to get Christmas delivered on time. 

17. Santa's Stowaway by Brandon Dorman

This beautifully illustrated book is about one of Santa's elves who decides to stowaway in Santa's sack on Christmas Eve.

18. The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck

This is a great story about a boy who learns that a lot of the magic of Christmas is found in the memories that you make with loved ones. 

19. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore

This classic poem can be found in a lot of cute book versions, this just happens to be the one we have, and we really like it. The Santa in it is really cute!

20. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

I don't know if this one needs an explanation either! If you haven't already read it a hundred times, it's about a child's magical Christmas Eve, climbing aboard a train that magically carries him off to the North Pole. Can't make it through the Christmas season without this one!

21. The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia M. Scarry

 We had this one when I was a kid, so I was so excited when Kim found it one year and gave a copy to each of our siblings. It's such a cute little book and kids love to scratch and sniff all the yummy treats Little Bear gets to enjoy as Christmas draws near. 

22. Christmas City by Michael Garland

This is another favorite of my son's. It's about an adventure a little boy takes as he follows clues left him by his aunt. The aunt is hidden in every picture, as well some other fun hidden pictures and clues. Definitely a fun read.

23. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

Mr. Willowby's tree is way too tall so he has his butler chop off the top. What happens to the top? Soon,  nearby people and furry creatures alike are able to enjoy a small part of Mr. Willowby's Christmas tree. Such a fun book, my kids really get a kick out of it!

Board Books

I can't complete my list without at least a few board books. My kids love to hold and read through books on their own, but until they are a little older I really prefer to have them stick with board books. Much more forgiving! So here are a few favorite Christmas board books:

24. Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell

This is a sweet little book about the animals who were inside the stable the night Christ was born, and how they always had room for a little one.

25. Frosty the Snowman by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson

This is a cute illustrated version of the memorable little Christmas song we all know and love.

26. Merry Christmas, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff

We love all the "If You Give" books by Laura Numeroff and her holiday versions are always cute. This one is short and sweet. It counts from 1 to 10 as Mouse decorates his Christmas tree. 

So there you have it! More than enough to get you through a Christmas book advent, or you can maybe choose one or two to add to your Christmas collection. What are some of your favorite Christmas picture books?