Happy List: #418 Happy Christmas and New Year

Happy early Christmas! This is the last Happy List and blog post of 2025. Yes, it’s coming to you early in the week because I’ll be taking the rest of the year off from the blog to enjoy the holidays.

It has been an absolute delight to share our projects and crafts with you this year. I say it often: we would do what we do even if no one was watching, but it is more fun to share it with friends.

Thank you for being one of those friends and choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here. I hope you have fun, learn something new, and leave feeling inspired. It truly makes my day to connect with you. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook.

Here’s the Happy List!

CHRISTMAS CENTERPIECE

This Christmas village centerpiece by Lovely Indeed, made with, I think, graham cracker houses, is adorable.

It’s a particularly good way to use a package of graham crackers that one of your kids opened and never sealed up. Can you say stale? Those crackers are probably more structurally sound that way.

(image: Lovely Indeed)

SARAN WRAP BALL GAME

Have you seen this Saran Wrap ball game? Prizes are wrapped in a ball of Saran Wrap. Participants wear mittens or oven mitts and try to unroll the ball to release the prizes in their allotted time.

I’m considering doing a version of this for my kids. Directions and helpful tips for the game can be found at Lil’ Luna.

(image: Lil’ Luna)

ELEPHANT SWEATERS

Rescue elephants in India wear hand-knitted sweaters when it is cold. It takes a month to knit the giant sweaters. I couldn’t decide whether to squeal a little with how happy this picture looked, or be sad because there are cold rescue elephants in the world.

Learn more about the situation at My Modern Met.

(image: via My Modern Met)

NEW YEAR’S EVE GAMES

Play, Party, Plan has a bunch of Minute to Win It games you can play on New Year’s Eve using typical party supplies like party hats, plastic champagne glasses, etc.

(image: Play, Party, Plan)

PARALLEL PARKING CHAMPIONSHIP

This week, I learned there is a Parallel Parking Championship in Pittsburgh. People parallel park…for fun. Now I’ve heard everything. The winner this year parked his Prius in 13.38 seconds and six centimeters from the curb.

A spin-off event has already happened in Portland, so don’t be surprised if this comes to your city soon. Read about it at Car and Driver.

The photo below shows the handmade parking cones I made to help teach our oldest how to parallel park. As if the entire experience wasn’t traumatic enough, there were these janky cones to contend with. Hahahaha!

With complete humility, I will tell you that Handy Husband had to assist in teaching this skill. I could be a good parallel parker if I could get over the pressure of performing this maneuver while holding up traffic. Heaven forbid you’re watching me while I’m inconveniencing you for at least 13.38 seconds.

EASY HANDMADE CARD IDEA

If you need just one card, try this idea. Draw a squiggly line with a black marker. Then use watercolor paint or colorful markers to make lights. Add a little square with your black marker for the bulb connector.

HOW PEN CAPS WORK

This week, I learned that fountain pen caps are very specifically designed. Sure, putting the cap on prevents it from drying out. We all know that. But did you know that taking the pen cap OFF creates suction to pull the ink down or re-wet the nib? Physics is where it’s at, folks.

I did not think this topic would be interesting. I was wrong. Read about it here.

P.S. I don’t have a fountain pen photo.

RITZ CHRISTMAS CRACK COOKIES

Homemade Heather has a delicious recipe for Ritz Cracker Christmas Crack Cookies (say that five times fast). I made it this week.

You probably have the ingredients in your pantry already. I like that you make them in muffin liners, so it makes for easy cleanup and cute individual portions. Keep in mind, you can only do this if you have the good quality liners, not the regular paper ones. Otherwise, just make them in a sheet pan.