Thank you all so very much! Here are a few more I found, in case anyone else is also looking for ideas! Yarn Hat Ornaments Cinnamon Stick Christmas Trees Yarn and Popsicle Stick Angels And for those with a little more time and simple sewing skills, these Woodland Animal Felt Ornaments are adorable!

Oh, my, these are all lovely! Thank you all so much! I knew you'd come through for me. ❤️ Please keep them coming!

I'm in need of a Christmas ornament craft for four girls, ages 8 to 11. They'll need to complete it in about 45 minutes. I have a closetful of craft supplies (felt, yarn, paint, all kinds of paper, beads, etc.) and would prefer not to buy anything extra. I've done a bit of googling but nothing is really inspiring me! Christian or winter-themed is fine, but preferably no Santa Claus stuff. We don't have easy access to an oven. Please help me out, Hive! 🎄

I love all the babies!!!! 💕💖

I am all about machine-washable rugs! I'd never heard of these! I do love my machine-washable rugs from Hook and Loom: https://hookandloom.com/browse/flatweave-eco-cotton-rugs/. They are a great company--excellent customer service and environmentally friendly.

Interesting thoughts, thank you! My DD does love folklore and fairy tales and mythology, much of which is quite dark and definitely pits good against evil! She has a strong sense of justice. 🙂 I'm sure part of the appeal of video games is what you've described here. However, we are, generally speaking, against war and find that usually neither side in such conflicts are fully in the right. We also dislike the hunting culture which is very prevalent in our community. So...to see her playing with big guns even on a screen is not something that really jives with our family culture. It may sound cliche, but I really do feel like she is becoming more desensitized to weaponry and violence as she plays these types of games. It concerns me. We do give her a lot of freedom in what she reads and watches and she often draws the line sooner than we do. However, I think I am going to say no more first-person shooter games after this.

You are of course 100% right. 😞

I would prefer no violence at all, but not all violence is equal. Hunting for meat in a game is violent, but not what I would call necessarily wrong or immoral (unless it's a hunting game in which the entire point is the "fun" of downing animals). On the other hand, thinking of Xenoblade--the characters land on someone else's planet and start killing the indigenous creatures there, and seem to do so pretty much non-stop. It seems to be almost the whole point of the game. That kind of thing reminds me of world views I consider immoral and wrong. I's not the kind of thing I really want imbedded in her mind, and certainly not if the only point is entertainment. When she was younger, especially, we tried to avoid acting out in play things that are sinful. We didn't allow shooting at each other with toy guns, that kind of thing. (Yep, we're those kind of crazies.) We are not perfectly consistent, obviously, and we've become a little more permissive as she's grown older. I am sure there is some killing in Legend of Zelda other than for food. My DH usually oversees that kind of stuff, but just walking through the living room a few times I could see that Xenoblade was different.

See, this is interesting to me. My DH doesn't agree with this--why *are* peaceful and open world at cross-purposes? He has been a gamer his whole life and is a hardware and software engineer. Can someone explain this? 🙂 She likes Minecraft but finds some of it too scary. Apparently there are zombies? She enjoys all kinds of mythical and magical creatures but for some reason she can't stand anything with zombies in it.

Yeah, my DH chose Xenoblade because of its lack of gore and overtly scary elements. He didn't realize it was going to be so gun- and battle-focused, however.

Skyward Sword, yes, but she liked it much less than Breath of the Wild. She is eagerly anticipating the release of the next Zelda game. 🙂

Ah, that's too bad. People should make more unicorn games! 😉 We'll think about using Steam. Thanks! No, not just non-shooter. She likes exploring open worlds and using strategy. There were weapons in Zelda but it was more about killing for meat that you actually needed in the game. Xenoblade is basically just a battle game and I don't like the worldview that seems to be behind it. (Humans crash-landed on a planet; therefore we will kill and conquer using Increasingly Big Guns while running around in sexy outfits.)

Thanks, WendyandMilo, that's super helpful! My DH says she has played Gorogoa. Hat in Time looks like something she would like. I will check out the XBox games, too.

My daughter played through and loved Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I didn't love it but was okay with it. I am *not* okay with her latest game, Xenoblade Chronicles X. Think big guns and killing off indigenous alien life. I'm looking for something peaceful, positive, and fun. Action is a plus. Strategy is a plus. Girl characters are a major plus. (She pretended Link was a girl.) 🙂 We have an older Wii system. I am not a gamer and don't know much about video games. Please help me out. ETA: If we need a new console (is that the right word?), I am open to suggestions.