Charlie Brown's Christmas Miracle -- Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Christmas is coming and that means Christmas specials!! What is your favorite one? One of the popular ones is A Charlie Brown Christmas. Do you know the history of this one? In many ways it is a miracle we have it to watch (though this year it will only be streaming on Apple+). Today I am going to share a book with you that shares the complete history of this Christmas special as well as all the people involved in making it. The book is Charlie Brown's Christmas Miracle: The Inspiring, Untold Story of the Making of a Holiday Classic by Michael Keane. 

Decorations and Gift Crafts & More from Oriental Trading -- a Crafty Weekends Review & Link Party

Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these items in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving this week? Have you started to look towards Christmas? We have gone a bit Christmas crazy here and have been loving it. Today we are going to share some crafts and other things that are great for gifts and Christmas decor. All of it came from Oriental Trading and their amazing Christmas items. Earlier this month we shared crafts and items that focus on the nativity. Today's are more non-secular. Hazel LOVES Peanuts right now so several of them will be Peanuts themed including this fun Peanuts® Christmas Wreath Craft Kit.


These foam wreaths are adorable and easy to put together. The pieces are self-adhesive for ease of creating. Hazel is going to give them to friends and teachers. Aren't they adorable?



Our next craft kit is actually for Hazel's class. I asked her teacher to peruse the Christmas crafts and pick something that would work in her classroom. She picked these Peace, Hope and Joy Foam Ornaments. I opened one of each and laid them out without sticking the self-adhesive backs to get photographs. I wanted to make sure her class will have all the ornaments to make. Aren't they adorable? They are perfect for a class. They are individually packaged and all the pieces are self-adhesive.



Hazel fell in love with painting ceramic objects when we got the Paint Your Own Pumpkin Banks this fall. She really wanted these DIY Ceramic Ornaments to paint for gifts for teachers and family members. They are fun and easy for her to do. I helped her paint a couple so far, but she still has many to do!! The nice thing is that the back are white so you could write on them and use them as gift tags. They are sold by the dozen with two of each ornament.



Did you see our doll Christmas tree yet? I fell in love with these Christmas Light Bracelet Kits. I knew they would be the perfect size "light bulbs" for our doll tree. Instead of making the bracelets (besides one for each of us) I strung them on a long string and put them on the doll's tree. They are the perfect size for it!!


Our final craft item for tonight is Peanuts® Color Your Own Christmas Snow Globes. Hazel is loving these. She colored one so far for herself and one to give the office manager at her school who loves Snoopy!


Aren't they fun? I love how they turned out. I can't wait to see what she does with the other four. Six come in a package.

I also got a few stocking stuffers to review. Oriental Trading is a great place to get them!


Hazel and Steve love puzzles. I figured these Plastic Puzzle Balls will be perfect surprises in their stockings. They are inexpensive and thus a bit cheaply made, but I imagine they will still enjoy them!


Now Hazel loves her Extreme Dot to Dot book that I got for her earlier this year. So I got her this great Extreme Dot to Dot US History book. I know she is going to love it and it will give her something to do in the car while we travel Christmas day to my parents. I love that the pictures relate to US history including parts that she is studying this year!



 

Snoopy Play Date

Disclosure: Oriental Trading sent me these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Hazel LOVES Peanuts®!! She cannot get enough books out of the library to read the old comic strips and we take out all the DVDs as well. She also watches whatever she can On Demand. Therefore it is no surprise she wanted to have a Peanuts® or Snoopy Play Date. (She wanted a Snoopy birthday party, but didn't want to wait that long!) I showed her the many Peanut products at Oriental Trading and she got so excited!! Her absolute favorite thing is the Color Your Own Peanuts® Snoopy Playhouse.