Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to start getting the Christmas decorations out and get busy. I am ahead of where I was last year at this time, I am done decorating and only have a couple of gifts to buy so I have a good headstart at being finished. Then I can sit back and relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season.
Here are a couple of websites for you to check out:Check updates from Santa and track him from the North Pole. A post is made everyday in December until December 23rd then it switches to updating every fifteen (15) minutes. Go check it out and let your children track Santa...
http://santaupdate.com/There are "Dear Santa" websites online that may be dangerous for you & your family. However, there is a resource as a means for the safety of you & your children to warn of the danger signs and you can check it out here:
http://santastandards.com/THE CHRISTMAS SPIDER LEGENDThere are alot of different legends out there about "The Christmas Spider". I will post one of them here:
On Christmas Eve a long time ago in Germany, a mother was busy cleaning the house for the most important day of the year...Christmas Day. After she was done cleaning there was not a speck of dust to be found and not even the spider webs. The spiders had gone to the attic out of the way.
The tree was decorated and the spiders could not see all decorations nor be present for the Christ Childs' visit. Then the oldest & wisest spider had an idea to wait until the family had gone to bed then they could get a closer look.
When the house was dark the spiders came out of their hiding places. When they came near the tree they were amazed at the wonder of all the beautiful decorations. They crept all over the tree and its decorations all night long and spun their webs.
In the morning when the Christ Child came to bless the house, he was amazed at the work that Gods' creatures had done, but he knew the mother would be upset when she saw what the spiders had done.
With love in his heart he gently reached out and touched the spider webs and they sparkled with shimmering gold & silver.
According to the legend people had started to place gold & silver tinsel on their trees to represent the glistening of the webs, some people actually made a "Christmas Spider" and placed on their trees.
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Now you can make your own Christmas spider. Or you can go to the craft store where they sell the kits with all the supplies around Christmas time, but if you want to try your hand at making your own spider here is a supply list and directions to get you started.
Materials:12mm faceted crystal beads
10mm faceted crystal beads
32mm small crystal bugle beads
26 gauge wire
metallic thread
hot glue glue & glue sticks
copy of "The Christmas Spider" legend
Instructions:Hot glue the 12mm and a 10mm faceted crystal bead together hole to hole.
Cute 4 wires approximately 3-4 inches long and string each wire with 8 small crystal bugle beads.
Leave about a 1/2 inch gap between the first 4 beads and the last 4 beads, bend the ends of the wire.
Twist the 4 wires together at the 1/2 inch gap forming 8 legs.
Hot glue the twisted section of the legs to the underside of the crystal beads right where the 2 crystal beads join together.
Take approximately 10 inches of silver metallic thread and tie it around the middle of the spider, and tie the ends together to make a loop for hanging.
Bend legs to represent a spider.
Attach a copy of the legend to go along with your spider.
Until next time.......
The legend of the Pennsylvania dutch about the Christmas candle tells that it will be instrumental in insuring good health, good luck & happiness through the coming year if burnt on Christmas Day. Once you light the candle it must burn without being extinguished. 
