ETA: It looks like most of the prices have gone back up, but if it's anything like the past few years, there will be more good deals to come! Good luck!

I am letting you in on a huge secret of how I get great gifts for my kids throughout the year for amazing prices. This is usually the best toy sale of the year, at the beginning of December! I have gotten crazy, crazy deals for the last couple of years that are even better than Black Friday. Even if all your Christmas shopping for your kids is done, think of the angel trees, toys for tots, birthdays, cousins, toys for the "gift closet," etc.

Here we go...back to the Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby! I have a shelf in my built ins on either side of my fireplace that needs something holiday on it, so we're going to come up with something without breaking the bank. I buy:

At the Dollar Tree:

Hello, and where did November go? Is anyone else trying to play catch-up on Christmas with such a late Thanksgiving?? I thought I was going to be all prepared, but it has completely blind-sided me. Why, oh why do we have to do everyday things like laundry, dishes, plan class parties, change diapers, make meals, and keep the house in a semi-functional mode during Christmas? Shouldn't we just all be able to bake cookies, sip eggnog and watch It's a Wonderful Life all day while some magic fairies take care of all the rest?? *sigh*

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day~I'm thankful for each one of you: for stopping by, for leaving me sweet comments, and helping me make a little extra money doing something I love. I'll be back with some fun Christmas projects soon, but I wanted to leave you with a few goodies as we head into the holiday weekend:

This is one of my favorite recipes of all time. I could drink it by the gallons.

It was served at my sister's wedding and I got the recipe from her mother -in-law, Jill.

I made it this weekend when we had friends over for football and I'm bringing it to Thanksgiving dinner as well! It's soo good...

Okay, kind of a random post I know, but as we're heading into cough and cold season, I had to share something that works for us! My oldest daughter is a magnet for coughs. If she gets any type of a cold, a cough comes along with it. She had RSV when she was 9 months old, and her lungs have always seemed to struggle a bit more than my other kids. Cough medicines just don't cut it and she coughs all night long. I heard of this trick somewhere last year, and it has been one of my favorite tips of all time because it works! If you or your kids have a cough, generously rub some Vicks Vaporub on their feet before bedtime, cover with socks, and it just opens their airways through the night and there is no coughing. I couldn't believe it. I don't know all of the medical reasoning behind it, but it has worked for us and I used it again last week when 2 of my kiddos had the dreaded night-time coughs. Worked again~all night.

Aren't most of your nerve endings in your feet, including your lungs?? Hopefully someone can explain it to me. I wouldn't use it on babies under 1 or 2~I know they make Baby Vaporub, and I'm assuming you could use that for them. And, kids like it SO much more than yucky cough medicine. Anyway, just wanted to pass it on to all of you wonderful blog buddies. Here's to a season of no night-time coughing! (hopefully!) Let me know if you try it and it works! Do you have any other great tips you use for winter coughs?
320 Sycamore is now on Facebook~click here to come join us!

Kels and her husband

Well I feel completely honored to have a guest spot on this blog. I am no where close to my sister's talent, but I like to think sometimes that I got a little bit of her decorating niche in me- and I do mean very little! My ward was doing their annual craft Saturday and since I was on the committee I was in charge of putting together some type of craft. After searching the Internet I decided to be bold and take on the task of making an antique clock. I had always wanted a big clock so I decided, 'Might as well make it!' After doing much research and experimenting with a few different things I finally was able to complete this project! I love the way it turned out and am so proud to say that I made it myself! It is very inexpensive to make and it will be even less expensive if you have one of those oh so common table tops that Melissa has found numerous uses for already! Here we go!