Happy Monday! I hope you’re warm and cozy in your little corner of the world. We got snowed in for the first time in a very long time this past weekend and it was a little bit delightful. My boys spent most of the day outside building a snow fort and throwing snowballs, and even 12 year-old Anna was out making snow angels. Victoria got some gorgeous pictures of it all, and Fiona just stayed inside where it was nice and toasty. Alex brought her a little bowl of snow to play with, but she decided she didn’t care for it at all. We also made lots of holiday treats and started on our billions of kid-made Christmas cards, which we’d better get moving on or they’ll be Valentines cards. 🙂
Here’s a few ways to make a little magic with your kiddos this week…
1. Got snow? Bring a big tub of it inside to play with. Add matchbox cars, sand toys or colored water and eyedroppers. (Tip: I use a big under-the-bed storage box for the snow and put lots of towels down underneath it to contain the melting mess.)
2. Make a paper chain of happy memories and accomplishments from the past year.
3. Make a snowball target! I love this idea from Nurture Store: “Draw a chalk target on an outside wall, line up some snowballs and shoot to score. Award different points for hitting different areas and keep tally with a score chart. Lots of adding up practice.”
3. Leave ice wreaths as colorful surprises for your favorite decorated houses. Freeze one ice wreath for each member of the family (put water in a bundt cake pan and add berries, sprigs of pine and/or food coloring and colored ice cubes and freeze). Tie a note around it, thanking folks for making the world more magical. Let each family member leave a wreath on the lawn of their favorite decorated house.
4. Build a snow dragon or a snow house.
5. Take the kids sledding inside. Have them sit on bath towels and pull them around the kitchen or down the hall. 🙂
6. Put on the happiest music you can find and dress up really silly to clean the house together. Wear tiaras and aprons, superman capes and so on. Have fun and be silly!
7. Make gingerbread houses. Here’s plans to make real ones, with lots of recipes and tips. Here’s advice from a seasoned gingerbread house decorator on how to make it fun for kids and how to host a decorating party, plus a basic recipe.
And Mary Engelbreit has plans to make darling permanent ones from recycled materials and craft supplies.
8. Let your little ones help make a magical holiday scene with this interactive Christmas card from Ashland University. They can click to make it snow, build a snowman, decorate with lights, hear a choir and more.
9. Make some treats together. Here’s a round-up of whimsical, healthy (-ish!) ones to balance out a bit of the junk of this time of year.
10. Find a few minutes to do something really nice for yourself. Buy yourself a couple of truffles at the check-out and go enjoy them on the porch swing. Take a relaxing bath with a magazine. Call a friend who makes you feel fabulous. You get the idea! Extra credit if you come back and tell me what you did! 
You can also check out this list of 50 free (or almost free) ways to make the holidays magical for children.
And with that, my dears, I’m off do the magical task of cleaning my living room — and maybe kissing on some little people while I’m at it. Have a magical week!