Christmas Kindness Challenge

Every year when Christmas comes around I am always asking myself how I can teach my kids a more Christ centered Christmas.

This year I want to help them and myself to understand the true meaning of Christmas and the real magic of it all. Sometimes I worry so much about teaching them and making sure they are doing what they need to be.  But am I?  I want to lead by example, like the Savior did for me.

Christmas is such a magical time of year.  It can be a busy time of year though.  And in that busyness, do we sometimes forget what we are celebrating.

In my thoughts as I have been thinking about how I need to remember the simple joys of Christ's birth and not get caught up in the pressures.  I decided to make this challenge.

President Thomas S. Monson said, "Our celebration of Christmas should be a reflection of the love and selflessness taught by the Savior. Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. We feel more kindly one to another. We reach out in love to help those less fortunate. Our hearts are softened. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ."

What was something that I could give the Savior for celebrating his birth.  I want to give back.  I want to live through his example.  What could I give?

Christina Rossetti said,

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd

I would bring a lamb.

If I were a Wise Man

I would do my part,

Yet what can I give Him?

Give my heart.

So here is my challenge to myself and to all of you.

1. Contact 5 people that you have not talked to in a while.  We all have that someone that comes to mind during the rest of the year.  Sometimes we think about them and just don't let them know they were in our thoughts.  What more perfect time than to let them know they are in your thoughts and prayers than now.  Lift their hearts, find out how they are doing, give a helping hand.

Ideas - 

 Send them a private message on social media

write them a good old fashioned letter

Make someone dinner

Drop off a Christmas treat

Give them a Christmas book

Give them a hug 

2. Do 5 random acts of kindness for a stranger.  Sometimes it is easier to do something nice for a stranger.  I don't know why this is, but everyone needs something to uplift their day.

Ideas - 

Donate to a charity

Give a candy cane to the clerk at the store

Pay for the person behind you at the smoothie or coffee shop

Make sure they know you see them, Say hello, give a smile!

Leave an extra tip or just a special note for your server.

Buy a gift for a child in need.

Give an coat or boots you are not using to someone who could greatly use them.

3. I know that both number 1 and number 2 can't be done right away.  It may take a week or two to get both 5 kindness tasks done.  So instead of waiting until you are done.  Let's make sure this challenge gets to as many people as we can before Christmas.  Share the image below on your social media site with the rules of the challenge.  Then tag 5 people who are in your circle that you would like to take on this kindness challenge with.

President David O. McKay said, “True happiness comes only by making others happy—the practical application of the Savior’s doctrine of losing one’s life to gain it. In short, the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit, that makes our hearts glow in brotherly love and friendship and prompts us to kind deeds of service.  It is the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, obedience to which will bring ‘peace on earth,’ because it means—good will toward all men.”

My hope with this challenge is to find the real Joy in Christmas.  Make the Savior the focus.  What better gift to give him than to follow his example.  Gifts of Service, friendship, compassion, kindness and compassion have a greater value than any gift that we can buy.

By any means, this challenge does not mean that you need to spend more money of someone that you didn't originally plan to.  There are plenty of things that can be done that do not cost a dime. 

Pattern Designers United for a Cause

My good friend Frances has put together a fundraiser for 2 fellow pattern designers.

Both with young children at home, are caring for husbands fighting cancer. Both men have served in their country's military, both have a long road ahead of them.

This fundraiser is intended to help take some financial burdens off them and give them room to breathe. These sweet, strong women never complain. Anyone who has ever cared for an ill person can understand the demands placed on these women. It is a long road and a tough battle, but as one of the women said of her husband, "I still choose him so there isn't another option".

If you would like to visit each of these ladies shops, click on their pictures to shop!

Over 65 pdf pattern designers have come together to show support for Naomi and Annemieke. We are wives and/or mothers like they are. We love our families and we know it could easily be any one of us facing the same battle. We are not competetitors or rivals, we are a family. We stand together, united in support of Naomi and Annemieke. We lift them up and hope that we can do something to make life a little easier for them.

Our fundraiser is a way to let them know that even though we can't attend the appointments with them, that we can give them a virtual hug and that they're not going through this alone. They have friends, fans and family that know what they are going through and that we are happy to help. 
We are reaching out to ask each person who visits for a $2.00 donation and/or a supportive comment. You are welcome to donate more if you wish.

The Pattern Designers want to thank you for helping our friends. From now until 11/30, we have a giveaway for you. Please leave a comment on the youCaring site and you will be entered to win one of several pattern bundles from us, no purchase necessary. Thank you for spreading this fundraiser around! 
Some of the designers are also offering percentages of their sales to benefit Annemieke and Naomi. You will see the pattern bundles and the coupon codes by following the link to our Facebook group below.

Please copy and paste the link if necessary. If you are not on Facebook, send a message with your contact info to the organizer so you can be entered into the drawing for the pattern bundles.  Here is the link to the donation site - http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/the-2-00-fundraiser/266093.

Winners will be announced on our Facebook page on December 2. Please visit the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/802201709837740/ 

T-Shirt Re-Do

Do you get t-shirts that are over sized, or just don't give you the fit that you want?  Do you wear them, or do you just stuff them in the back of the closet.  I always tend to stuff mine in the back of my closet for frumpy days.  Because we all have frumpy day's right!?  But sometimes there are those t-shirts that I just love, and I want to wear them not feeling frumpy.

I have had this shirt for 6 months now, and never worn it!  I love this shirt, I worked hard for it, and I thought I should show it off.  But every time I put it on, it didn't stay on, I changed into something that looked better.  If you want to find out what I did to win this shirt, send me a message, you can win it too!

So I made a quick tutorial on how to re-fashion your over sized t-shirts to a regular size.  This is a quick easy job.  No serger needed.  The fabric is knit, and it won't fray.  So anyone can do this!  It took me an hour to get mine done.  I am putting this together quickly, so if you have any questions send me an email or leave a comment below.  Some of the pictures are flipped sideways, and messy looking.  Sorry for that.  I was excited to wear my shirt!

TAKING THE SHIRT APART
 1. Because my shirt wasn't to over sized, I needed to take out the hem, so I had plenty of fabric to work with.  If you can see in the second picture, I have placed one of my favorite shirts over the top to use as a guide.  See step 2 to decide of this is necessary for you to do with your shirt.

2. Cut 2" off the bottom of the shirt.  Make sure the hem is not in this.  That is why I picked my hem out. my shirt was not long enough.  This strip will be used later for the neckline.

3. Cut the sleeve out of the arm hole.  Make sure to take the whole seam out.

4.  I have my favorite sleeve laying over the top of the shirt for a guide again.  To keep the original hem, lay the guide shirt over top with the hem's matching up, and the top of the sleeve matching up.

5. This is where it may look confusing.  You are more than welcome to email me with any questions.  I needed to use the seamline of the guide shirt on my sleeve.  So I folded the shirt out of the way, and cut the excess sleeve off that I didn't need.  If you look at the second picture here, it helps pull the idea together.  Keep in mind using the guide shirt, you will need to remember to add enough for your seam allowance, or your shirt may become too tight!

6.  Again I put the guide shirt over top of the shirt.  Notice that I have folded both shirts in half so the side seams are together.  I wanted to make sure they were the same on both sides, so I would recommend doing this for you.  Then cut.

7.  Now the shoulders.  I trimmed off about 3/4" on the top and curved it down to the arm pit.

8.  Still working on the shoulders.  The front of your body and the back of your body are not the same, so I wanted to make a little less ease for the front of the arm hole.  So only to the front of the shirt, I cut a little more of an angle.

9. Neckline.  Fold the shirt in half, having the center front and center back of the shirt be the fold line.  Cut the neckline off of your shirt, unless you want to keep it the same.  I wanted a v neck shirt, so I cut a slight v at the front of the shirt.

PUTTING THE SHIRT BACK TOGETHER!
10. Sew the sleeves into the arm holes with right sides together.

11.  Sew the side seams with right sides together.

12. Neckline.  Measure the neckline of the shirt.  Cut the trim piece you cut off on the beginning to the same length.

13. With right sides together, sew the short ends together.

14. Fold the trim in half with wrong sides together.

15.  With the right sides of the trim and the right side of the shirt, sew together.

16.  If you chose to sew a v neck also.  Sew at an angle on the trim piece down into the seam of the v.

17. Hem the shirt.  I chose to use a double needle.  When sewing with knit, you will need a double needle if you do not want your thread to bread every time you put your shirt on.  If you do not have a double needle go to this link for help with sewing knit fabrics - http://mytaylormade.blogspot.com/2013/06/sewing-with-knit-fabrics-how-to.html

18. Stitch around the neckline to give the professional look.  Again, I used the double needle.

WEAR AND ENJOY!  YOU DID FABULOUS!  Now you can show off your figure instead of feeling frumpy!  Go YOU!  I want to know how your shirt turned out, email me a picture, or post it below.

 If you want to find out how to win this shirt too, leave me a comment or send me an email!