Day 9 of the Twelve Days of Christmas

Today is the easiest project of all! It is a 12 Days of Christmas paper chain. All you need is some Christmas paper, or red and green construction paper, and some ideas for activities for the family to do. Now I know that I had activities on the Advent Calendar cards, but not everyone will make an Advent calendar, and a lot of you already have one. So here's another way to spend time with the family, and you get to choose the activities! You will need 12 pieces of paper, 8"x1". Write an activity on the back of each strip of paper and then staple them together into a chain. Hang the chain somewhere where all the family can see it, and every morning, tear off a link and do the activity for the day. Or you could tear it off at night and know what you are doing the next day. Either way is good.

Let your children help you choose the activities to write on the links. You may be surprised at what they come up with! This paper chain is also part of my 6 Sundays of Christmas that I'm doing in Relief Society. They will get it this Sunday so they can start it on Tuesday.

One of my activities is to take a gift to the neighbors. Here are ten suggestions for neighbor gifts that are more fun than expensive.

1. Attach a tag to a jar of homemade salsa that says, "Add a little spice to your holidays!"

2. Attach a tag to a measuring cup filled with goodies that says, "Wishing you joy beyond measure this holiday season."

3. Fill a jar with Hershey's Hug and Kisses and add a label that says, "Here are hugs and kisses for you and your family this holiday season."

4. Tie a bag of microwave popcorn to a 2-liter bottle of Sprite and attach a tag that says, "Just Poppin' in to wish you holidays that are Merry and Sprite!

5. Put a tag that says, "Hope you have a pasta-tively wonderful Christmas!" to a bag of specialty pasta.

6. Buy a roll of cookie dough and put a label on it that says, "Here's some extra dough for Christmas!"

7. Put some Hershey's kisses in a wire whisk and wrap it in cellophane with a pretty bow on it, and attach a tag that says, "We whisk you a Merry Kiss-mas!"

8. Wrap up a block of cheese and a grater and attach a tag that says, "Thank you for being such GRATE neighbors!"

9.  Attach a tag that says,"Have a "souper" holiday season!" to a bag of soup mix.

10. Give a bag of oranges with a tag that says, "Orange you glad we're friends? I sure am! Merry Christmas".

If you Google neighbor gifts, you will get hundreds of ideas. And remember.........your neighbors are your goldmine, and you are theirs. Sy Wise said, "Very few burdens are heavy if everyone lifts." If you help lift your neighbors, they will return the favor. Until tomorrow,