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    The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure
    The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure
    The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure
    Ebook336 pages1 hour

    The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure

    By Marianne Baker Ball

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    About this ebook

    The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure is rooted in a family project begun over twenty years ago. Based on the lyrics of the Christmas carol “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” this holiday project involves giving someone who needs a little Christmas cheer 12 gifts over the course of 12 days. Gifts are rhymed, realigned, or downright twisted to fit each verse, such as a "TurtleBack Glaze" on Day 2, "Octopus Bread" on Day 8, and edible drumsticks on Day 12. Sneaking around can be part of the fun, (as gifts can be given anonymously), followed by hoots and giggles. This easy read offers many ideas for homemade gifts as well as purchased items that fit "The 12 Days" theme. It also includes a URL link, where readers can post their own gift ideas, interactively enabling others to expand their repertoire of "12 Days" gifts. This project can be carried out by an individual, a couple, a family, or a group. Particularly fun for homeschoolers or youth groups seeking a service project. Renew your own holiday spirit by joining the adventure this Christmas.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarianne Baker Ball
    Release dateJul 9, 2015
    ISBN9781311074294
    The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure
    Author

    Marianne Baker Ball

    Raised in the Midwest, an Air Force wife for twenty years, Marianne developed practical ways to create holiday adventures for her family. She enjoys organizing, upcycling, couponing, crafting, baking and helping her 90+ year-old folks stay out of trouble. For twelve years, she worked as a writer/educator for a non-profit organization and received recognition from a Florida Congressman for her work with teens. She is grateful that God's mercies are new every day.

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      Book preview

      The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure - Marianne Baker Ball

      The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure

      Copyright 2015 Marianne Baker Ball

      Illustrations by Sara Jane Ball

      Published by Marianne Baker Ball at Smashwords

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

      or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,

      please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and

      did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your

      favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Dedication & Acknowledgments

      To the Jagt Family, who forever changed my approach to Christmas.

      MANY THANKS to the companies who granted permission for use of product images:

      7-11

      Artist Elizabeth Brownd

      Author Heidi Grant Halvorson

      Bananagrams

      Bigelow Tea

      Conagra Foods (Swiss Miss)

      Crayola

      Fiesta Candy Co.

      Fisher Price

      Green Turtle Market, Melbourne, FL

      Jordan Almonds

      Love Bugs Bakery, Melbourne, FL

      Mattel Inc.

      Ocean Spray

      Robinson Home Products

      Rubik’s Brand Ltd

      Scholastic Books

      The Hershey Company

      Tootsie Roll

      University Games

      Veggie Tales

      Warner Bros. Records

      World Vision

      Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company

      I extend a THANK YOU as well to the owners of these websites for sharing their gifts with me:

      Catholicmissionaryfamily.com

      Cesarsway.com

      Countrykitchensa.com

      Easy-crafts-for-kids.com

      FunEZcrafts.com

      Family Fun Magazine

      K-3teacherresources.com

      Kitchenmeetsgirl.com

      Makinglearningfun.com

      Mommienation.wordpress.com

      Mycookieclinic.com

      Most of all, THANK YOU to Sara for her sweet illustrations, from turtles to stables, and to Bobby, who was always willing to eat photo cookies, be they angels, reindeer, or frogs. I’m so grateful to both of you for never wavering in your support of this project.

      **************************************************

      NOTE to reader: Depending on your reading device and app used, spacing and

      formatting may shift, but content will remain unchanged.

      Table of Contents

      Dedication and Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      CHAPTER 1: Birds, Bears, Pears, and Pairs

      CHAPTER 2: Turtle Doves and Turtlenecks

      CHAPTER 3: Hens, Pens, Tins, and Grins

      CHAPTER 4: Unlimited Calling

      CHAPTER 5: Five Golden Things

      CHAPTER 6: The Joy of Six

      CHAPTER 7: Swans and Rainbows, Dwarfs, and Potter

      CHAPTER 8: Crazy 8s

      CHAPTER 9: The Whole Nine Yards

      CHAPTER 10: Leaping and Steeping

      CHAPTER 11: Pipe Dreams

      CHAPTER 12: Pa-rum-pa-pum-yum

      CHAPTER 13: Thinking Big

      CHAPTER 14: Frequently Asked Questions

      Final Thoughts

      Index

      About the Author

      Introduction

      The evening of December 13th 1993, our doorbell rang. I opened the door and found on the doorstep a Bijou pear and this note:

      I didn’t get it. I looked around, but saw no one.

      Our kids - seven, thirteen, and sixteen at the time - thought it was cool and raced outside to catch the perpetrator. The mystery person had vanished.

      So, began The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure.

      It’s an adventure we have been perpetuating ever since.

      12 days. 12 gifts. 12 days of giving and surprising and sneaking around and hiding and laughing and spreading good will. That first 12 Days of Christmas Adventure was the best Christmas experience our family ever enjoyed, and it’s one we have relished passing forward every year since.

      The Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas offers the structure for The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure. 12 chapters of this book focus on a different day of the song. Each chapter offers at least twelve gift suggestions related to (but delightfully veering from) the traditional gift for that day.

      The instructions are simple.

      1.    Choose your giftee - a family, or individual you would like to bless over the holiday season. This is the perfect gift for people who have had a rough year, for whatever reason. But, it can be given to a dear friend who has it all as well. I always have our giftee in mind by September.

      2.    Create/purchase/devise 12 gifts. The first gift will be presented December 13th, and the last gift will be given Christmas Eve (or Christmas Eve day.) Gifts need not be expensive or extravagant. (Our Day 1 gift was a pear!) One purpose of The 12 Days is to bring simplicity and family projecting back into the holiday season. You can look for/create gifts all year long and store them until the adventure begins. That avoids the rushed, frazzled feeling that comes in November, when the commercial chaos is in full swing.

      3.    Create your greeting notes. Once you’ve decided on (not necessarily completed) your 12 gifts, haul out your craft/sewing/school/art supplies and old Christmas cards you don’t know what to do with. Half of The 12 Days Adventure is writing/creating cards to accompany each gift. They can be as fancy or unadorned as you like. You can make all twelve cards on a rainy afternoon in November, or make them one day at a time as you go along – whatever fits your lifestyle. (There are copious gift card examples in the book.)

      4.    Starting December 13th, deliver your first gift and card. Continue with subsequent daily gifts, ending with your final gift on December 24. You can drop the gift, ring the doorbell, and run (as our kids did every year.) On December 24th, visit your giftee with your final gift and enjoy the laughter and stories that follow the squeal, It was YOU! OR, you can present all the gifts at once. (If your giftee is an elderly person, this method might be preferred.) Simply number each individually-wrapped gift and deliver them in a festive bag with instructions to open only the designated gift each day.

      5.    Reap the heart-warming benefits that come from this holiday adventure:

      a.    Devising imaginative gifts for sometimes little or no cost. (One year, we had a toddler friend help us decorate some peanut butter reindeer cookies for gifts.  Her creations are pictured below.)

      b.    Seeing your kids get excited about giving instead of getting.

      c.    Drawing, snipping, pasting and baking works of art that your giftee will cherish forever. This project makes great use of art/Christmas scraps - wrapping/construction paper, cards, ribbons, glitter, stickers, etc.

      d.    Experiencing the holiday spirit in a prolonged, sneaky, angel-like way.

      I don’t know who started this project.

      I freely admit it was not my idea. (It’s a bit Secret Santa, Hanukkah, and Pay it Forward combined.) It was bestowed on us by dear friends who had it bestowed on them. Those friends had it bestowed on them. And so on. Or backwards. I suspect every family has altered it, or expanded on it to suit its resources and creativity.

      There are as many ways to orchestrate this project as there are families.

      This book will just get you started. Don’t be intimidated by the creativity part. As you’ll see throughout the book, The 12 Days offers many ideas that can be used as is, or altered in endless ways. This project emphasizes giving, creativity, good stewardship, and spreading holiday cheer. If you have the resources, you can add this project to what you already do for family and friends during the holiday season. (The cost of The 12 Days will vary, depending on your giftee and your resources any given year.)

      As we integrated The 12 Days into our annual holiday budget, I found myself increasingly directing more funds and energy to this adventure. Our three kids received plenty of gifts over the years; this project gave us the opportunity to reduce our own Christmas stash and direct our giving to our 12 Days recipient. Over time, the gifts in our home became smaller and simpler – and nobody complained.

      Additional notes:

      1.    All photographs in the book, unless otherwise noted, were taken by me with a simple digital camera.

      2.    For every day of gift-giving, there are gifts that can be purchased, crafted, or baked. I am immensely grateful to the companies who approved my use of images of their products. In addition, a few writers/bloggers allowed me to use adapted versions of their crafts. I acknowledge all originators of material that is not mine.

      Welcome to the Adventure!

      CHAPTER 1 – Birds, Bears, Pears, and Pairs

      On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me a partridge in a pear tree.

      If you have an angel on your shoulder, you might spot

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