The Countdown Begins!

The kids were so quick to get their candy, I couldn’t get a good picture. They wouldn’t pose for me either…something about wanting to eat their candy. Oh well.

25 days left…is anyone panicking, yet?

[I am]

xo

nessa dee

The Countdown Begins

Happy first day of December!

Eeek! Is it December already!! I better get my act together and start doing some Christmas shopping/decorating/baking/etc. etc. I hope you’re more prepared to greet this last month of the year than I am!

xo

nessa dee

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere

Can you guess what we did over the weekend? I’ll give you a hint:

Have you figured it out, yet? Yep, our house is an explosion of tinsel and lights. It’s a bit early for us, I usually pull all of the decorations out the day after Thanksgiving, but since we’ll be travelling that day, and since I kept promising my eager children that we would start decking the halls soon, I was doomed. But, now I get to enjoy everything even longer!

I think my absolute favorite thing when decorating for Christmas is giving the kids free reign to hanging our ornaments we’ve collected over the years. I put myself in charge of the boring ornaments like the glass balls, and berry sprigs, but my kids get the rest. For me, as a child, there was such magic in unpacking and hanging all of the ornaments. It was just as exciting as opening presents on Christmas morning. Now, I love getting to see the wonderment in my kids’ eyes. It sparks such great memories. Plus, seeing where my kids choose to hang their ornaments is just icing on the cake. It’s not perfect, but it’s so much more charming and beautiful than I could have ever dictated. And every time I walk by the tree, I can’t help but smile.

The kids get their own tree to decorate as well. It’s housed in Audrie’s room and it’s full of bright colors, birds and memories from our Disney vacation the Thanksgiving before Finn was born. It’s always the first thing out of its box when we start to decorate.

And then there’s the advent calendar. Audrie and I made this last year, and it’s now one of our favorite things. I’m not sure where to hang it yet, but it will find its place, get filled with candy, and utilized to its fullest, my kids will make sure of that.

By the end of all the decorating, with boxes and glitter and pine needles everywhere, I kind of turned into the Grinch. But, once I got everything cleaned up and out of the house, and saw how excited my kids were when everything was done and lit and sparkly, my heart grew three sizes and quit being green and grumpy.

Now, back to work.

xo

nessa dee

Counting Down

Every year I make it a point to fill up my to do list with a ridiculous amount of Christmas themed projects with which to "deck the halls." In my mind it will be this time of togetherness with the kids filled with crafting, hot cocoa, and warm fuzzies, completely stress free of course. Handmade presents will be beautifully wrapped, resting under the tree by December 5th, each gift thoughtful and unique to its recipient.

This year was no exception. My to do list included making new stockings, wrapping styrofoam balls with yarn to create ornaments, crafting a homemade snowflake garland, painting a piece of artwork for __________, ___________, and __________, baking cookies for the whole block and making an advent calender for the kids to enjoy.

Well, December snuck up on me yet again. We finally completed our decorating on Sunday so I could remove the boxes that had been sitting our dining room since December 1st. The outside decor consists of a lovely string of lights bordering our flower bed, and a Charlie Brown Christmas tree by the front door. All of the projects on my list have flown out the window (you can laugh now MiMi) because I am still working on projects for others that have nothing to do with my personal list. But, I promised my kids Christmas crafts, and they were going to get Christmas crafts whether they liked it or not! I finally took a break from work to create an advent calender with my daughter.

Felt was used for the pockets, antique lace makes up the angel wings, and yes MiMi, that is hand embroidery on the snowflake (albeit much simpler than the ones I pointed out in the store). Audrie came up with most of the ideas for the pictures, including the use of chenille for the snowman. Black thread was used to sew on each piece not for the look, but due to the fact that I was too lazy to change the thread on my sewing machine.

I finished the calender on December 6th, in the evening while the rest of my family watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We stuffed the pockets with candy.

It looks handmade. The pockets are crooked, the stitching isn't the best, but my kids love it. And now I have a daily reminder of the dwindling time left to shop before Christmas. :)

ND