Crafty Candy Canes

So, I seem to be off to a good start following my Advent Plan.

Yesterday we read:

Because I didn't have time, I decided to wait until today to do the candy cane craft I had planned and I didn't plan the food - mostly because we are still dealing with a lot of leftovers.

Really, all I was going to do was have the littles make pipe cleaner candy canes.

So we did.

Quite simple: have your almost 12 year old son show the other littles how to twist pipe cleaners into a cane shape:

And then you have some rather cute candy canes: simple!

Of course, my original plan morphed into something a little more involved because I can't leave well enough alone...

As I was bouncing around blog land this morning, I came to Tracy's blog. She posted this morning about some homemade ornaments and she had this really cute candy cane made from wooden craft spools and wooden balls. So off I went to my craft stash and actually found some wooden spools and balls! Yippee! I could do this craft.

So I set the littles to painting with red and white paint:

And eventually we had some different looking candy canes:

Not too bad, right? So we were done, right?

Yeah, you guessed it: I really couldn't stop there.

Because where else did I visit this morning?

That's right, my best cooking buddy over on a little island in the Atlantic: She left a fantastic recipe for an awesome cup of hot chocolate. (and can I say, if you are looking for some spectacularly yummy and simple recipes; go there and bounce around!) The best part was she took a picture of the hot chocolate with little candy canes placed in the shape of a heart. Soooo, of course, I had to do the same for a quick treat tonight:

Simple hot chocolate with whipped cream from a can (because I am was in a hurry tonight) and a little extra love! (thanks Diana for the inspiration!)

I am going to link to Emily's CraftAdvent over at the Nest... maybe next time we do something I will actually take pictures that will help in the creative process for someone else - sorry!