preparations: part II

I had really high hopes this year to have a handmade Christmas, or at least a partially handmade Christmas in regards to the gifts that were being given. The reality of it is that there just wasn't time or energy this year to sit down and diligently sew and create each evening after the children were tucked into their beds.

So instead I entered the wonderful world of cyberspace for some inspiration. And this is what I found...

I had been dreaming about this line of costumes every since I first saw them sparkling and shining in all their vintage glory. I was inspired by the lion cape and decided to make each child a cape for the make-believe and role playing that they spent nearly all their waking time participating in. The boys are always asking me, "Mom, can you tie this blanket round me like a cape?", so now they can just tie one on themselves.

Again, once laying eyes on these amazing, felted wool slippers, I just knew how much use the three little pairs of feet in our house would get out of them. If only they made them in adult sizes.

I couldn't let these little crayon rocks pass me by and so I am stuffing them into Elias' stocking. Perfect for little toddler hands to squeeze and scribble away with. Perhaps this means no more broken crayons?

But perhaps the most unique gift that is currently in hiding until Christmas morning is this authentic folding military shovel from Vision Forum. Yes, this was actually requested in words and drawings by, you guessed it, Nicolas. At least now he will have his own tool to work with as he continues digging his way to China in our backyard.

All in all, I am happy with what we chose to put under our tree this year. But most of all, I am thrilled to know that my family is keeping it simple and focusing on the true meaning of this holiday season.

preparations: part I

These past few weeks leading up to our Christmas celebration have been filled with lots of peaceful moments amidst the everyday hustle and bustle that life has been bringing our way.

We started our official winter break from schooling two Fridays ago and the much-anticipated respite from formal academics has been welcomed with wide open arms by children and parents alike. Now that Mike and I are sharing in the homeschooling responsibilities, we were both really looking forward to these several weeks during the Christmas season where we could simply let our children spent all their waking time playing, playing, playing!

We pulled out our bin of winter favorites that we keep set aside for special reading this time of year. Some of our favorites include (but are not limited to!)...

Tracks in the Snow
The Big Snow
A Little House Christmas
The Tale of Three Trees
The Nutcracker story
Owl Moon

We've also been reading (and attempting to memorize) Luke 2:1-20 which tells of the birth of Jesus and have been practicing our singing of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Sophia is taking special pride in being able to recall all of the people and their actions along with their certain day of Christmas!

There was a theme with our decorating this year:

if you can't make it or do it with your hands, then don't do it at all!

We let the children decorate the tree once I strung the lights onto it. Allowing them to decorate how and with what they chose has produced a beautiful tree with lot of empty spots, several broken ornaments and a few that go missing each day as they are used as toys during play time.

I also rehung my favorite Martha holiday idea from last year that was made last year with a few simple items: a wooden embroidery hoop, red paint, festive ribbon and gingerbread reindeer.


And although the gingerbread recipe requires a lot of cookie-making enthusiasm (and time), the wonderful, spicy aroma that this Scandinavian-inspired mobile brings to your home is well worth the baking time.

It seems that each Christmas I make a new set of fabric Christmas trees for my mantle. Last year I made these Stacking Fabric Christmas Trees that I first read about on SouleMama. This year it was these gorgeous wool felt trees that I read about on Wise Craft. They look wonderful and wintry. Simple and adding a lot to the feeling of coziness over here!

{more to about our Christmas preparations to come tomorrow!}

enjoyment

Enjoying...

a constant stream of old Christmas music from our satellite radio

several batches of sugar cookies from the large batch of dough we made last week


the luxury of being able to spend this Saturday morning in our pajamas

looking over Nicolas' wish list portrayed in pictures rather than words- filled with drawings of bows, arrows, swiss army knives and other adventurous tools

Elias getting himself to the potty on time and insisting that he go in alone (scary, yet successful so far!)

the wild anticipation of one little girl as she looks forward to her first Nutcracker performance of the season tonight!