Yesterday, out of the blue, I asked my seven year old what Christmas is about. His immediate response was Jesus!

Only Jesus!!

Nothing about presents, Santa, pretty lights, Christmas trees…

Yes, I’ve written about Santa sending video messages and how to make food for his reindeer, but all those things are just for fun and well…unimportant. They bring brief happiness, but true joy only comes from believing in the one who was born the very first Christmas.

Nothing compares to the true reason we celebrate Christmas. I’m so thankful that God loves us enough that he sent his son to bring us real peace, joy and salvation.

I challenge you to ask yourself these questions this holiday season.

• Do your kids realize that it’s not about the presents or Santa?
• Do you get so caught up in shopping, decorating, baking….the spirit of the holidays…. that you don’t have time to mediate on Jesus?
• Are you stressing yourself over things that don’t really matter, that will be gone and over in a few weeks?

And oh yes, I ask myself these questions too.

The key is to remember that Christmas truly is about Him and to live our lives, not just at Christmas, but throughout the year, in a way that proves we believe it.

Then we won’t care so much about the other stuff and neither will our kids.

Be blessed this holiday season (and don’t eat too many sweets ) Ha!

Merry CHRISTmas!!

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Okay moms, this is a project all of you can do with your kids….or grandkids.  It only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish, and there is absolutely nothing scientific about it.

You only need a few items out of the pantry and maybe a little glitter, and you’re ready to make Santa’s reindeer a midnight snack.

If you don’t have these ingredients, by all means, get creative. I’m fairly certain that Santa’s reindeer are not picky, and the kids won’t know the difference either.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rolled oats (instant would work fine too)
• 1/2 cup sugar (I told my kids that reindeer like sugar, just like they do )
• 1/2 tablespoon colored sprinkles (red & green are perfect, but I didn’t have those so I just used what I had)
• Glitter
• Sandwich Bag

All you do is mix everything together in the sandwich bag and seal it well. You don’t want all that sugar and glitter escaping. What a mess that would be! Then if you would like to make it a little more special, you can staple a bag topper onto the top of the bag.

I created the one in the picture for us, but you are welcome to download and print it. Click here for the download.

Words on the topper:

Sprinkle on the lawn at night
The moon will make it sparkle bright
Santa’s Reindeer fly and roam
This will guide them to your home!

See, I told you this one is an easy one!

What are some easy projects you’re doing with your kids this CHRISTmas season?

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A few months ago in my series on couponing, I touched on Swagbucks and how you can get free gift cards and prizes using Swagbucks as your search engine. Well, let me tell you, when it came time to start Christmas shopping, it was wonderful to cash in my swagbucks for gift cards, shop on-line and pay almost nothing for my kids’ gifts.

I’ve been telling my friends about it, and they want to know….

How is that possible? Can you teach me how to do that?

Sure, it’s easy! First off, you have to sign up and you can do that here. Then start taking advantage of the many earning opportunities available.

Here are a few of my favorites (some of these I mentioned in my earlier post and others were more recently added to the site):

• Searching the web using the Swagbucks search box. You search the internet anyway, right? So, why not get rewarded for it!
• Downloading the toolbar. Definitely do this. You earn a swagbuck automatically every day and it makes searching so much easier. Just click on Toolbars and begin your download.
• Skipping through the NOSO (No Obligation Special Offers). You’ll find this under Earn in the toolbar or on your Swagbucks home page. Simply skip though the offers and you’ll earn a swagbuck at the end.
• Taking the Daily Polls. Also found under Earn, these are fun to take and you get a daily swagbuck for participating in the poll.
• Signing up for Trusted Surveys. Even if you don’t take the surveys, you’ll still get a swagbuck for clicking on the Trusted Surveys link each day.
• Watching Swagbucks TV. You can watch short videos that earn swagbucks. This is kind of like searching though. You never know exactly when you’ll score the swagbucks. I usually score after watching about five or six, and they are really short.
• Getting Referrals. I really thought this one would be hard, but once your friends and family members see that you are really making money searching the web, they’ll be ready to join. Just make sure they have your referral link, which is found under Earn, then Promote. You can also link your Swagbucks account to your Facebook account to share your referral link with your friends.
• Printing coupons. Believe it or not, you can print coupons from Coupons.com through Swagbucks and earn after redeeming them. You know I’m excited about this one
• Finding codes. The best way to find codes are to Like Swagbucks on Facebook, follow Swagbucks on Twitter, and subscribe to the blog. Once you find a code, you simply copy and paste it into the Enter Your Swagcode box on your Swagbucks home page and click Gimme.

Okay, now that you’ve earned lots of swagbucks, it’s time to start redeeming them for prizes. Simply click on the Swag Store link and start browsing. There are many options, from actual prizes to gift cards.

For me, the Amazon.com gift cards are the best value, for every 450 swagbucks I earn, I get a $5 e-gift card. Since, I like to shop at Amazon, this works perfectly. Here’s what I did. I received my Amazon codes, added them to my Amazon.com account and let them add up until I was ready to shop. You don’t have to use them right away.

(NOTE: You can only redeem swagbucks for two prizes per day and only five of the same prize per month.)

While shopping, I chose items that were a good value and included Super Saver Shipping, so that there were no shipping charges. Then at checkout, I selected to use my gift cards that were sitting in my account. I ended up paying only a few cents. It was great!!

Here are just a few other gift card options if you’re not an Amazon shopper.

• $10 Starbucks Gift Card -1300 swagbucks
• $15 iTunes Gift Card -1850 swagbucks
• $20 Target Gift Card - 2350 swagbucks

Can you tell I’m totally into the gift cards?

Here’s a little calculation I did the other day. If you only did the four things that automatically each earn one swagbuck every day, at the end of the year, you would have 1460 swagbucks (365 x 4). They take about two minutes at most each day. Add searching and a few other earning opportunities, and it will really add up.

Since I began Swagbucks earlier this year, I have earned over $200 in gift cards.

So, I guess the big question is…..are you earning yet?

What can you earn to go toward Christmas next year if you start now?

Oh, and if you sign up by December 31, 2010 and enter JoinIn2010 (case sensitive) into the blue Swagcode box on the registration page, you’ll get 60 free swagbucks added to your account.

Do you use Swagbucks? If so, what is your favorite thing to get with the swagbucks you earn?

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