Cookies and Crafts for Sandy Hook: Southwestern-Style Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt

Our post is a bit long today, but it's for a great cause!  Please read it all if you can!

Last Friday was an awful day in our nation's history. 20 children and 8 adults lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary and it has affected us all.  When tragedy strikes, our impulse is to offer help somehow, but we often don't know what we can do.. Fortunately the blogging community is a friendly community, and there have been some great ideas of how we can join together to help this grieving town.  Cookies and Crafts for Sandy Hook was born out of a discussion on this very topic..  Our "mission" is twofold:  Honor the fallen children with a cookie or a craft in their memory, and hopefully raise funds for those working to help that community heal.  Many shops and blogs are even donating a portion of their proceeds for the day to help.  You can donate below:

We  have 3 elementary aged children and 2 more very close to it, so of course the tragedy hit home with us.

Like everyone else, when news of the shootings spread, we went home and held our children closely, knowing that this could easily have happened to any of us. So today, in memory of those innocent lives lost, we share with you some crafts we've done with our kids.   Crafting together is a way to share what we love with them, and, of course, to spend more of that precious time together.
Please click on the button below to find out how you can help, and thanks for joining us today in remembrance of  those in Newtown, Connecticut.



Laura: Sometimes it's just about the simple crafts and the time spent together. My son and I spent an hour or so making paper snowflakes and then hung them above his bed. He will be able to look at those and think of the magic of Christmas and hopefully the time spent together.

Valerie: One thing we love to do with our kids each year is to travel around a neighborhood known for its amazing Christmas light displays.  We ooh and aah over the creative decorations on each house, then finish up with some delicious hot cocoa.

I've seen a few Christmas Light Seek-n-Find printables this year, but I wanted one that fit with our Southwestern decor.  When I moved here I was taken aback by the cactus (cacti?) wrapped in Christmas lights and palm trees lights wrapped around their impressively tall trunks.  But now I treasure it as part of our Arizona culture.  If you're like me and live somewhere in the Southwest or maybe even one of the other warmer states, you might appreciate my Southwestern Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt Printable:

I made sure to include images for the younger set:  my son is still learning to read and needs a little help!

You can click  here to dowload the printable.

This year, words cannot express how thankful I am that I have my children home safe with me to share this fun tradition with.

If I have time (ha ha!) I may link this up to some of these parties- come party with us!

Cookies and Crafts for Sandy Hook is brought to you by the following blogs and shops.  Please take time to visit them (and buy from them!) today!

This event is brought to you by: Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks, The Red Headed Baker, Real Housemoms, Crazy for Crust, Something Swanky, Life After Laundry, Two Kids Cooking, Frugal Foodie Mama, The Doctorate Housewife, Heather's French Press, Operation Dinnertime, Lovely Pantry, What's Cooking Love?, Cupcakes and Kale Chips, Occasionally Crafty, Pint Sized Baker, Pineapple and Coconut, Wine & Glue, Lemonsforlulu, A Sweet Baker, Mom On Timeout, The Freshman Cook, Sweet Twist of Blogging, A Family Feast, Julie's Eats & Treats, Eat at Allie's, Here Comes the Sun, The Kitchen is My Playground, Just My Crazy Kitchen, The Sweet Chick, The Tasty Fork, Wholly Delicious Dishes, Chocolate, Chocolate and more , Yours and Mine ARE Ours, Kitchen Meets Girl, Daily Dish Recipes, Sweet Bella Roos, Mom's Test Kitchen

Persnickety Plates