On a trip home to Spokane, Washington, my friend Kate found an amazing, handmade mouse house at an estate sale. The house a transformed wooden box - probably an old gift box whose striped interior may have inspired the creation of the domicile. I imagine that a grandmother lovingly made the house for her grandchild, carefully sewing the mice (and a rabbit and small bear) tiny clothes (with trimmed hats and changes of clothes), wrapping little boxes in tinfoil and labeling them "peanut butter," "sugar crystals" and "ham sandwich," and constructing a canopied bed and vanity protruding from the wall. She found the tiniest painted china tea set I've ever seen to sit on a little sideboard, and included a set of metal outdoor furniture, and bunches of flowers for a garden. There’s even a bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket and a tiny Christmas wreath for seasonal celebration. I wanted to share this little treasure with you. It’s not perfect at all - and so it's such a relief from holiday expectations. Maybe it will inspire you to make your own, imperfect and magical miniature home for (or with) a child.

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A reader emailed me to ask for suggestions for green holiday decorations, hopefully ones that she could make by recycling stacks of catalogs and magazines piling up. My mailbox has also been fuller than normal. Here are a few options for decorations you can make with those stacks of shiny colored papers.

Magazine Bead Garland

I first marveled at this paper craft at age five, when I would pour though my big 1970s craft book. It’s a great alternative to popcorn and cranberries--you won’t eat the craft materials, and the garland will last for years to come. I've also seen crafters use paper beads to make bowls and toys, so you could make paper-bead gifts for everyone on your list, if you're inspired.

Materials: Magazine pages; scissors; glue; toothpicks; fine string, thread, or fishing line; extra craft beads for decoration

Instructions:

• Cut strips from magazine. You cam measure them into perfect rectangles, which will make tubular beads, or cut them into long triangles, the length of the page, which I think make for more interesting beads.
  
• Starting with one end (the wider if you’re cutting triangles) of the picture, put a dab of glue on the outside (side to be rolled over).


• Roll the strip around the toothpick. The glue will hold the center together and the toothpick will allow room to string the beads together later.


• At the last 1/4 inch of the roll, put a dab of glue on the underside of the paper. This will keep the roll from coming apart.


• Remove toothpick and allow to dry.


• Repeat with other strips.


• String the beads, alternating between round craft beads and long magazine beads, onto a piece of string, thread, or fishing line.

Origami Garlands and Ornaments

I love the tradition of folding and stringing origami cranes for good luck. And there’s not need to buy special paper to make them. Use your junk mail, and string them as a holiday garlands, or using them individually as ornaments. See this site for great illustrations on many folds.

Wrapping Paper and Envelopes

This may seem too obvious, but magazines make attractive free wrapping paper for small boxes. (My sister and I try to one-up each other with clever links between wrapping and gift.) Use the paper shredder to turn magazines into pretty stuffing for boxes. You can also fold pages up to make one-of-a-kind (almost) envelopes. Use a glue stick to easily stick the envelope together.

Collage and Cards

If you like to collage or make cards, you may find it helpful to think of the catalogs or magazines not as images, but as fields of color that you can cut up and use as you would any sort of pretty paper. If you have one, set a bored child down with stack of catalogs, some scissors, and have them cut out and sort snippets of each color, making stacks of red, orange, yellow, etc. Collages made from these rips look especially interesting.

Do you have any other favorite paper-recycling holiday crafts?

Did we just dash from summertime fun to the holiday season in a blink of an eye? Suddenly, the stores are packed with seasonal items and just when you are finally settled into the back-to-school routine, it’s time to plan those holiday events!

Let’s face it - the holidays can be stressful. There is so much pressure to perform, to decorate, to buy the perfect gifts and make the quintessential meal. And as a parent, you might also feel the added strain of creating holiday traditions that your children will enjoy and remember.

Evaluating and revising current traditions

1. Which holiday traditions have your family outgrown? Have you continued the traditions you learned from your own parents even when they don’t always fit your own family or even don’t represent your personal values? Or maybe your kids are older and what used to be fun no longer excites them. Remember: change can be hard for some people! If your extended family questions your choices, remember to keep your answer personal rather than critical. Saying: "Well, I just don’t want my kids to stuff their faces and then watch TV all day" might not be well-received. Instead, an explanation such as "our kids just love being outside, so this year, we are going to the cabin for Thanksgiving to enjoy nature" might be much easier to swallow!


2. What new family traditions would you love to include this year? Perhaps you and your partner/spouse came from very different backgrounds and have struggled with combining your traditions. Make new ones! Have a family meeting, including the kids, and discuss ideas for the holiday season. Work towards a consensus. There will be more harmony if you respect all family members' desires and conflicts regarding familiar traditions before embracing new ones. And don’t throw out something that one member treasures. Try to reach a compromise by including the tradition but with a new spin!


3. What can you do to make this year easier and simpler? Maybe you limit the number of parties your family attends and be more selective. Saying “no” during the holidays can be challenging but necessary (especially for your sanity)! Perhaps you agree to do a gift exchange with your grown family members and draw names instead of giving everyone a gift. Or maybe, just maybe, you take some of the pressure off yourself! Remember, you don’t have to make everything from scratch or knit every gift yourself…What is most important is that everyone has fun and feels connected, even you!

Ideas for new family traditions

• Have every member of the family write out their ideas for family traditions for the holidays. Place them in a big jar and draw one or two to include this year. Next year, you can draw again!


• Write letters to each other and put them in sealed envelopes to open next year.


• Volunteer as a family at a soup kitchen or community event.


• Put together a family scrapbook using all those photos that you have been collecting in stacks over the past year. Let the kids do the decorating!
  
• Help your kids make holiday greeting cards to mail (or email) to family and friends.


• Research different holiday traditions around the world and include some that represent your family’s heritage or interests – or just sounds fun!
  
• Go into the woods and decorate a live tree for the animals! Eve Bunting’s Night Tree tells the tender store of one family’s tradition of sharing holiday cheer with forest creatures!


• Celebrate Winter Solstice (December 22nd)! The longest night of the year is honored by celebrating with light. You can teach your kids about seasons and also create a relaxing evening in the midst of a busy time. Have a peaceful candlelit dinner or just go outside and stargaze!


• Give a gift to someone who is not expecting one from you. Help the kids bake cookies for the mail carrier or make a card for their librarian! Every year, they can choose someone outside the family to appreciate – there’s a great new tradition!