merry everything! a few last minute Christmas FAVES!

Our Grand Lives
2 hours ago
9 min read

Friday, December 19, 2025

Whew!

The hustle and bustle of the season is gearing up and hitting high speed

as this final week before Christmas continues!

We both had to giggle when we read the following meme…

Sadly, this is what life feels like these days!

DO YOU AGREE?

Yep, Christmas is knocking at our doors and if you’re still looking for simple ways

to make the season feel merry and bright,

we’ve got a few ideas that have worked well for us these past few weeks.

Our Merry Everything list is filled with last-minute favorites

that bring joy without stress…

Perfect for squeezing in a little extra magic between now and Christmas Day!

We’ve got two easy projects for the Littles,

two activities that will get all ages laughing

and festive eats that are SIMPLE while pleasing any crowd!

Plus, we’ve included two recent Instagram/Facebook posts, too…

all Christmas FAVES, just for you!

Here are two projects that have kept our Littles busy these past few weeks!

🎄 Beaded Christmas Tree!

Check out this simple project that Laura’s Little L and Little P made during a recent visit! In addition to being fun, this project provides great practice with eye-hand coordination and fine motor skills, too!

Supplies Needed: green pipe cleaners, playdough and pony beads

(Optional: a wooden dowel or skewer)

Beforehand, build an evergreen tree (older Littles will enjoy making their own). I stuck a wooden skewer into a mound of playdough but you can also push a green pipe cleaner into the playdough. Then twist lengths of green pipe cleaner to the center skewer/pipe cleaner as shown above. “Trim” the pipe cleaners to look like an evergreen tree.

Let your Littles thread the “ornaments” (the pony beads) onto the horizontal pipe cleaners. Young Littles may need your help in holding the pipe cleaner as each pony bead is threaded.

Little L wanted to add a star at the top

(made out of playdough using a cookie cutter)

and a bow at the bottom of the tree

(we twisted a red pipe cleaner into the bow).

🎄 Toddler Christmas Trees!

Young Littles enjoy really simple things! Recently, Laurie’s two-year-old Little P wanted to “decorate the tree”. Laurie quickly cut a tree out of paper and found some stickers. Happy Little, Happy Grammy!

In yesterday’s post we shared our favorite Candy Cane Games

which are always a favorite during any large group gathering!

You can find those games described here!

Earlier this week, Laura attended her Bible Study’s annual holiday brunch.

As part of the morning, her leadership team planned two fun activities

that could easily be recreated at home

(or even saved for next year, too)!

🎄 Decorate a Tree!

This was SO fun! One of the women on our leadership team had heard of this idea and so we recreated it for our event. On each group’s table, we set an 18” artificial Christmas tree and draped a cloth around the base. This also served as decor for the middle of each table! We found our trees at Dollar Tree for around $2.00 each.

After our meal, each group was given directions to decorate their tree using only the contents found in their purses! Each group was also given a bag with ribbon, tape and scissors to aid them in their work! When the signal “GO” was given, every team got busy and had 10 minutes to decorate their tree!

Let me tell you - the conversations that followed were rich and the creativity flowed! There were trees decorated with post it notes, a tube of toothpaste or chapstick, nail clippers, hair ties, band aids and more! There were also a few ornaments and earrings found in purses which added a lucky touch for those groups!

When time was up,

the pastors (our judges) walked from group to group

and ultimately named a winner!

I’m happy to report that my small group was the winner!

🎄 Christmas Dice!

This table game is a great way to get the conversation going! It can be played at a family dinner or an evening with friends or at a Bible Study brunch or a gathering with colleagues! We’ve used the game (or some variation) in multiple situations! All you need is one die and the game sheet. (Feel free to take a screenshot and use this version that Laura created on Canva!)

To play, you simply take turns going around the table, rolling the die and naming the Christmas favorite asked of you.

As we said earlier in the post,

our social calendars have been full these past few weeks.

Laura has brought food to multiple events

and has three simple, delicious and festive dishes that are worth sharing here!

🎄 Cranberry Orange Cream Cheese Spread!

This is one of the easiest appetizers to take to a holiday gathering and it is soooo good! I tend to make my own cranberry orange sauce each year but you can also purchase it from most grocery stores in the refrigerated section this time of year.

You all are probably familiar with the hot pepper jelly/cream cheese spread and this appetizer mimics that! You soften a brick of cream cheese on a platter and then, before serving, add a few spoonfuls of the cranberry orange sauce over it. Spread the sauce over the cream cheese as needed, letting some spill over on the sides. Serve with crackers and enjoy!

🎄 A Christmas Tree Fruit Platter!

Since my husband is gluten free, I typically bring some sort of appetizer/dish that I know he’ll enjoy. Sometimes that’s a shrimp platter or a fresh veggie tray. For a recent gathering, I brought a fruit plate that I turned into a Christmas tree! It was so easy to make - I included at least 4-5 different kinds of fruit and chose ones that varied in color. I cut the fruit into bite size pieces and then I arranged the fruit on a large rectangular platter.

I used a small cookie cutter to make the star on top of the tree. Then to transport the platter, I crumpled up some tin roil and placed it around the fruit tree so that it would keep its shape in the car. I then covered it in Saran Wrap for the trip to the party! My tree made it to the party intact! This proved to be a very welcomed and refreshing addition to the appetizer spread!

🎄 A Christmas Wreath Salad!

Earlier this week I hosted a dinner party for 8 colleagues from my teaching days. We had such a wonderful evening together, catching up! I knew I wanted something we could nibble on and then something that would be light and mostly healthy! A friend and I planned the menu and we started with this “star” charcuterie platter and also a warm gooey cheese dip while we chatted and enjoyed cranberry mules, mocktails or wine, too.

Then, for dinner, we served mixed greens (romaine, arugula, spring mix) on a big round platter to mimic a holiday wreath. It was so festive and so easy! I’d put a glass bowl in the middle to house the dressing before I added the greens. Then I added sliced fresh pears, mandarin orange slices and pomegranate seeds to the greens. Since the salad was our main dish, alongside the wreath I had bowls of two proteins (chicken slices and shrimp) as well as a bowl of crumbled goat cheese and pistachio nuts. (I didn't add these to the salad ahead of time because I wanted each person to be able to customize the salad to their liking.) I had two options for dressing. We served warm bread and butter with the salad and it was the perfect compliment. This was so easy to prep and everyone loved the salad!

For something sweet, we had this pistachio dessert that a friend had shared with me earlier in December. I topped each slice with a fresh raspberry and it was a delicious ending to our meal!

If you need any more inspiration,

check out this popular post from last December…

You’ll find details for Cherry Pecan Cheddar Dip,

A Caprese Tree, A Veggie Wreath, A Red & Green Veggie & Fruit Tray,

and A Wreath of Shrimp!

Holiday Appetizers! Our GRAND Ideas!

Are you hungry now???

Finally, we have two more recent FAVES for you…

Compliments of Laurie from our Instagram and Facebook accounts!

We’d love to have you stop by to see what else is going on there

since our social media content doesn't always match what's on our blog!

And, of course, we’d be delighted to have you follow us on either site (or both), too!

Below you’ll find the two posts we’re highlighting here!

🎄 A Holiday Bagel Bar!

Are you having a morning get together with family or friends this holiday season? Maybe you just want to have a few friends over for a breakfast gathering? Though many people love to decorate tables and serving areas when entertaining (Yes, Laura, I’m talking about you AND my dear DIL, too). I do not! Just getting the food on the table is enough for me!

Last Christmas season we had a (large!) family brunch and served the classic egg bites, yogurt, fruit and bagels. To jazz it up a bit and take away from my lack of decorating ability, I cut a large rectangle of craft paper and laid it on our center island. Then I set the food on the craft paper and wrote around the empty spaces with markers.

My husband came up with “bagel servers” which he made out of wood (he attached a dowel to a base) and we stacked the bagels on them.

These proved to be a great space saver compared to a large serving tray. All easy to set up and easy to take down.

We finished the day with a rousing game of BUNKO. We play a large group game every year and our nutcracker provides the winner with a trophy that includes the history of the games and past winners, too.

You can find our Instagram post here!

🎄 Nativity Trail Mix!

One of my teaching partners (who also happens to be my niece) and I made this snack for our Second Grade Sunday School class this Advent season and it was a hit!

To make the trail mix, you need Hershey Hugs, mini marshmallows, pretzels, popcorn, almonds, stars (candy or snowflake shaped pretzels), gold chocolates and a Ziploc bag.

Mix all the ingredients together and then divide the mixture into individual Ziploc bags.

It would be fun to make a batch of this trail mix with your own Littles prior to Christmas Eve. You could review the story as you add each component to the bowl. Then your Littles could take their bag of Nativity Trail Mix to church with them… It’s the perfect snack to nibble on during the service!

An Added Bonus… With the Bible verses attached you have the opportunity to review the Christmas story with your Little(s), as well! OR, as a bigger challenge for older Littles, hand out the mix and have them guess what food item represents each part of the Christmas story!