I'm a full-time mummy

I am so thrilled to be able to review this crafts and hobbies book by Tina Barseghian called: "A Homemade Christmas".

Author: Tina Barseghian
Publisher:  Harlequin
ISBN: 9780373892228
Product Dimensions: 5.13in x 8in
Paperback: 128 pages

"A Homemade Christmas" is chock-full of projects, recipes, tips, and helpful hints that are guaranteed to add a homemade touch to your holiday season. Open this charming volume to any page and discover a wealth of practical and easy-to-accomplish ideas for a homemade holiday:
* create personal, distinctive holiday greetings
* deck the halls with festive, handmade trimmings
* cook simple but memorable homemade dishes
* make unique, handcrafted gifts
* share the joy of the season with friends and family

Packed with inspiration and how-tos for ideas that are family-friendly and eco-conscious, festive and meaningful, A Homemade Christmas will put homemade back into your holidays!

Ever since Ben came along in March 2009, Christmas (oh, and other festivities of course!) just seem so much more meaningful, fun and lively! I actually did some DIY decoration for last year's Christmas and am pretty proud of that. Just look at the pictures below:

My simple DIY decoration using old greeting cards and deco items which I tied with strings of wool to each staircase railings. I got this idea from Martha Stewart's website last year. And this tip was also mentioned in this book.

This is a snapshot of one of the DIY Christmas gifts we made for hubby's clients. We bought the glass jars from Ikea, throw in some candies and chocolates and I tied each glass jars with golden stripped red ribbons, attaching a mini greeting cards as well.

Anyway, back to this review. This book was categorised into 5 chapters:

* Greeting - there's a couple of cool ideas in this chapter such as making a photo card and stitching up your own greetings card which I find creative and worth to try!

* Trimming - I particularly love the tutorials on how to make your own snow globe and the idea on a non traditional way of making a Christmas tree is just too cool! You really got to read this book to find out what it is!

* Cooking - there are some simple recipes given for us to try to make. I'm going to try the shortbread sugar cookies this year hopefully!

* Giving - there are a variety of creative and clever ideas on how to decorate our gifts which I like.

* Celebrating - In this chapter, there are ideas on creating new and continuing the old traditions and also connecting with our community.

I love the simplicity of the book, the instructions and tutorials given are easy to understand though I do prefer if there are more illustrations provided (thanks to Ben, I love books with tons of pictures in it!). The fact that most of the tips given can be easily done at the comfort of our home is just awe-inspiring!

With this book now, I am able to get more ideas for this year's Christmas!

You can purchase this book from Amazon or the eHarlequin store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a galley proof of the book by eHarlequin via my association with netGalley as a reviewer in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"

I get annoyed with what my MIL does sometimes. Before you go on saying that I should respect the older folks and just be patience and let them say and do what they want, well, I did that. MANY TIMES. But it keeps coming. In fact, I think it made her feel braver to continue picking on me! Read: Jude 1:16 (NIV)

I'm so tired of being picked on. She just can't stop boasting about all the good traits in Ben are from her side of the family.

Don't you know it is a sin to do this? Read: James 3:5 (NIV), James 4:16 (NIV)

Whenever she noticed Ben misbehaving, I'll get to hear the famous sentence "Your hubby never does that when he's young. In fact, none of my 5 children does that too. Ben must have gotten the bad habit from you or your side of family". *Speechless*

Just today, she saw Ben banging his head on the floor (his usual habit of throwing tantrums) and of course, immediately this ensues:

MIL: "Is your dad a very hot tempered person?"

Me: "No"

MIL: "He doesn't throw tantrums or easily angered?"

Me: "No" (I have no recollections of my dad bursting in tantrums at all throughout my life)

MIL: "How about your mum?"

Me: "No" (Same case, my parents have got to be the most quiet and peaceful individuals you've ever seen!)

MIL: "Then your brother?"

Me: "Nope"

MIL: "Cannot be. Why is Ben banging his head on the floor? Look at his tantrums! My 5 kids never behaved like that when they were young so it definitely must be from your side of the family!"

Sigh... Why must the bad habits be from my family? And what gives her the right to say that? What makes her think she knows my family well enough to say that?

This is just so unfair!

(*Image taken from Google search)

Maybe it's easy for me to be blamed on since my parents are no longer around on this planet to help me defend and prove her wrong. But hello, she can't even remember what happened days ago, and yet she can remember what happened when all her 5 kids were young? Like ermmm... over 4 decades ago? The crappiest part is of course, the good traits are all from her side of the family.

And there's no mention about where Ben gets his quietness and reserved self, his generosity and his fast learning ability. All these traits which doesn't seem to be coming from her side of the family just wasn't mentioned at all. Don't even get me started about Ben's facial and body features. Which riles me up even more. Oh puh-lease get real...

But seriously, why compare and take sides? Read: 2 Corinthians 10:12

Regardless my side of family or her side of family,

aren't we all in the same side of the family now?

Shouldn't we be focusing on nurturing and loving the young ones and of course, showing good examples in our everyday actions instead of picking, comparing and boasting about all this? Read: 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

Of course when I mentioned about how we should not be comparing or saying this or that is from yours or my family, she immediately changes the topic before I could counsel her longer. Sigh...

Have you experienced this before? What do you do if you're in my shoes?

Just want to share some pictures taken during our recent family outing to a shopping mall where we saw tons of lantern decorations in view of the coming Mid-Autumn Festival on today's date. FYI, these decorations were displayed all around the mall for a contest held (the theme this year is underwater) and the rule is the lanterns and decorations must be made from recycled products. I think it is a good idea!

Closer look shows that the 'fish' are actually made from recycled plastic bottles.

Here's another one which impressed us quite a bit... Look at the 'scales' of the 'fish'!

It's made of those aluminium cans' tabs.

We liked this one, it's made of rubber foam. Looks real huh?

And here's Nemo and his dad!

And here's a shot of Ben checking out the lanterns deco with daddy.

To those celebrating this festival,

Happy Mid Autumn Festival!