Source: FamilyFun.com

These darling Easter Bunny beanbags are super cute, super easy and a fabulous project to make with your children or classroom.

You will need

• Dried lentils or rice
• Spoon or small funnel
• Decorative ribbon
• Several pairs of children’s socks. Dollar stores are a great place to find these.
• Rubber bands
• Colored felt – black, white, and pink
• White pom-pom or cotton ball
• Tacky glue
• Scissors

Instructions

1. To make your own bunny beanbag, use a spoon or a funnel to add dried lentils to a child’s sock, filling it up just past the heel. Close the sock with a tightly looped rubber band.
2. To create the head and neck, tie a ribbon around the sock just below the heel.
3. Use scissors to cut the sock’s cuff into two ears, rounding the edges to give them the right shape.
4. Cut a nose, teeth, and eyes from felt. Attach the facial features and a white pom-pom or cotton ball tail with tacky glue.

This is a fun Valentine’s project for older girls.

Materials:

• Food Coloring
• Water
• Oil
• Glitter
• Satin cord or any other kind of necklace cord
• Sealing Wax (or candle wax)
• Small bottle with cork stopper – available at many craft stores). Look for mini message bottles.
• Funnel

Instructions

Start by adding a couple of drops of food coloring to some water. Pour the colored water into the bottle, using your funnel, until it fills up to the halfway point.

Next, use the funnel to pour in oil until the bottle is almost full. You can use any type of cooking oil for this part. Sprinkle in a pinch of glitter and then stop up the bottle with the cork.

Tie the cord around the neck of the bottle and leave enough cord on either side to tie loosely around the neck.

Next, melt sealing (or candle) wax around the stopper to make sure that it will not fall out. Once the wax is dry, you can tie the cord together to make a necklace. When the bottle is shaken, it almost looks like a lava lamp as the colored water and oil swirl together with the glitter.

For even more flair, try making shrink-dink charms that say “Love Potion #9” or add pre-made heart charms from your local art store.

Simple Valentine’s Projects Your Kids Will Love

Materials

• White Crayon (or pastel)
• Water-Based Marker
• Watercolor Paint
• Paintbrush and water cup
• Watercolor Paper (or thick construction paper)
• Newspaper

Instructions

Start by folding your watercolor paper in half to make it into a card shape. Crease the fold and then open the paper back up and lay it down.

Next, take a white crayon and draw images onto the paper. The images can range from hearts and words to abstract swirls. Flip the paper and draw with white crayon on the back as well. If the white is too difficult to see, you can use a pastel crayon instead. Once all of the drawings are done, lay the paper on top of a stack of newspapers, to keep your workspace clean while you are watercolor painting.

Next comes the fun part.

Using your watercolor paint, brush streaks of color across the entire page. If children are too young to use watercolor paint, you can also use water-based. You will see that the parts covered in white crayon will stay white. Kids are amazed by how magical this process seems and it instantly turns the Valentine into a vibrant, one-of-a-kind card.

In light of the difficult economic and financial conditions facing us today, the choice of “Joy” as the focus of our Christmas celebrations this year may have seemed untimely at best. The bad news seems to keep coming, with little consensus as to when we may reach bottom and begin the upward climb. Yet, December is also the month when “Joy to the World” was sung all across our land, commemorating that centuries-old angelic proclamation: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”

So, in the midst of all of today’s gloom and doom, is there a place for joy? Well, in the words of Mother Teresa: “Profound joy of the heart is like a magnet that indicates the path of life. One has to follow it, even though one enters into a way full of difficulties.” That theme was echoed by author Robert D. Foster, who wrote: “Joy is an inward singing which cannot be silenced by outward negative circumstances. Yes, even when life seemingly is falling apart.” No matter your current circumstances, hold joy and appreciation in your heart and you will get through these difficult times with a smile on your face.

Operation Letter to Santa and Santa’s blog wishes you great joy in your life and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

As you know, Santa has an enormous list of children who are expecting him to deliver Christmas goodies on Christmas Eve.

In order to track Santa’s progress around the world, NORAD has organized a global tracking system to help you determine when you can expect Santa to arrive in your neighborhood.

Remember to put out milk and cookies for Santa and even some reindeer food before saying your prayers and nodding off to sleep.

Click here to track Santa!

USPS carrier not allowed to deliver while wearing Santa suit.

By NAT LEVY
Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer

While dreams of Santa popping down the chimney on Christmas Eve to deliver presents were extinguished for most during childhood, a select few Bellevue residents have seen St. Nick trade in his sleigh for a mail truck.

Until now.

For more than a decade now, letter carrier Bob McLean has driven around Bellevue each holiday season, delivering a little Christmas cheer while wearing a full Santa getup for two or three days. But this year, a local grinch complained to the U.S. Postal Service, and McLean has been banned from bringing his alter ego to work this year.

“The government is shutting me down because it’s a non-postal regulation uniform,” said McLean, who has been with the postal service since 1971.

McLean began donning the red and white when a stranger at the mall told him he looked like Santa Claus. Always the crowd pleaser, McLean took to the comparison, went out and bought a suit, and then another.

When he first started delivering mail in full Santa garb, McLean immediately noticed the attention. He said he’s caused traffic jams on his route on Old Main as passing drivers attempted to catch a glimpse. Merchants along his route have watched for years as McLean has been the center of attention to tourists and residents alike.

“They stop him on the corner and want group pictures with him,” said Brenda Archuletta, manager of Amore Chocolates. “Little kids – they just stare because they wonder.”

They wonder because he fits the character. Every bit Kris Kringle, McLean sports a white beard and a tuft of long white hair. Looking the part is no easy effort, either. He dyes his blond hair, and keeps a careful eye on the calendar when he trims the beard.

The only part of the Santa look he lacks is the portly figure, after losing 95 pounds.

McLean has brought his alter ego to Bellevue’s most popular Christmas attraction, Snowflake Lane, where he took his family a few years ago. He said they were pushed aside as 50 people lined up to take pictures.

He’s also been a big hit at the Aegis Living of Bellevue senior center. He visits regularly as both Santa and mailman. The residents know him well, and  are always excited when Santa knows their name, he said.

But only a few days after Thanksgiving this year, he was pulled off his route by a supervisor saying someone had complained about the uniform. He didn’t know who he had upset, or why the complaint was filed.

“This was the first time; I don’t know what happened,” he said. “I don’t step on anyone’s toes. Being Santa isn’t religious to me; it’s secular. It’s about giving.”

USPS spokesman Ernie Swanson said the complaint came from a fellow carrier. Decked out in the full on Santa suit, McLean was not recognizable as a USPS employee.

McLean is still shocked over the outcome. He sees carriers wearing Christmas gear all the time. Either way, McLean said, he will bring the Christmas cheer, and he plans to don the Santa suit at work one last time: Christmas Eve.

Bob McLean delivers mail along his route while dressed as Santa Claus in 2009. CHAD COLEMAN, Bellevue Reporter File Photo

Contact Bellevue Reporter Staff Writer Nat Levy at nlevy@bellevuereporter.com or 425-453-4290.

SANTA GETS EXTRA SUPPORT FROM SOME UNEXPECTED HELPERS

By: Jahkedda Akbar and Ariel Merrick, Common Cents Interns

“We have $500 to buy items for needy families,” fifth grade students from PS 163 in Manhattan explained as they rode the subway to the 34^th Street Post Office. They headed there, led by Sue Knaster, the school’s Math Coach, as part of a “Dear Santa” Neighborhood Service project they organized to help families during the holidays. The students were excited to help, but knew they would have a difficult task ahead: they could only choose 3 families to support.

At the Post Office, the students headed right to the Santa Station — a section of the post office where all of the “Dear Santa” letters are kept during the holidays – and gathered around a long table. Dear Santa is a national program run by the United States Postal Service each year to help families in need during the holiday season. Children and parents write letters and then local donors purchase items they request. This year, the students at PS 163 decided to be the local donors and help brighten the holidays.  

At the post office, students were given a batch of Dear Santa letters to consider. One student commented, “I don’t know how many of these I can read. It’s so sad.” They were shocked to find families that did not have basic necessities like clothing. After reading several letters, each student selected at least one family they wanted to help.

After two hours the group decided to help three families and set off to buy the items on the list. Together, the students walked to a local clothing store, split into groups – one for each family – and scoured for the best deals and the items they thought were the nicest – they wanted each family to have a big Christmas with lots of gifts. Each group had $100 to spend; one student asked, “If we don’t go over $100, can we buy something for the mother too.” Another student followed by asking if she could contribute her own money if they needed more.

After the shopping was complete, the students returned to school to wrap the gifts and prepare them for Christmas morning. By the end of the day, it was clear that not only would these families have a happier Christmas, but the students would as well.