building holiday cheer

these past few weeks have been so full. full of parties, making things, making lists, celebrating life inside the walls of our house and building the excitement of the season. preparing for christmas has been a big part of our days, but so has pure celebrating through our advent tree's daily gifts.

one day our fortune was to finger paint. this is something that bee craves every time the paint is out, and sadly, i discourage it. it's just usually a bad time... we're off to school soon, i am in the middle of cleaning, etc. so, i figured that it would be a welcome treat. what i didn't figure was that henny could do it too! he was sweetly tentative, but still loved it. what a sight for me to see my two kids painting next to each other.

another day the advent calendar told us to bake cookies for the neighbors. this coincided with the first big storm of the season. bee and i trudged up and down the street, dodging ice patches, and spreading good cheer.
this activity was another that really exceeded my expectations. all of the neighbors who we encountered were so amazingly grateful. they invited us in, showed bee the christmas decorations, thanked us profusely and complimented our good deed. it was such a positive experience for me and for bee. i got so much out if it, as a pure act of giving. i am so grateful that bee probably got the same things out of it. 
we have also had super fun fortunes, that just create opportunities for family fun. things like, painting each other's nails.....
or building a block tower (or block city) with all of the blocks in the house (A LOT!).....
much of our time has also been filled with coordinating a big adopt-a-family effort. we have participated in this program for about 5 years now. we share the responsibility with a bunch of family members, but we do all of the organizing and delivering. it's quite the effort in the end, but so rewarding. seeing all of those boxes packed up, and imaging those gifts being opened on christmas, well, it's really more than i can take. i just feel happy that we are so blessed to be able to help, even in this small way.

and then there is the christmas card. we sent our card to over 60 families this year (a record). the act of writing out the cards and mailing them out is small compared to trying to get a good picture to use. 

some of the out takes.....

and finally, a winner.....

fun kid craft, pretty pictures.

the other day bee and i made a cute paper chain for the christmas tree. we used some instructions for a no tape or staple version. it's so pretty and was so easy for bee to help. just loop them, and loop them some more!

in related news, i am officially in love with the christmas tree. it glows so brightly and it's so full of all these ornaments that we love and cherish. it is so sparse and thin and simple, yet so lovely when all of the decorations are on it. i feel like i breathe deeper each time i pass by it.

hunting for, cutting & trimming the tree... with the help of a wild bird

this past weekend we headed out to get ourselves a christmas tree. a few years ago we discovered this sweet old tree patch behind a man's house in a nearby town. he must have planted the trees 25 years ago and just let them grow. he charges $10 and you just go out and get whatever you can find. we usually cut off one of the tops. we aren't fussy, it looks just as beautiful to us as any $50 tree would, once our ornaments and lights are sparkling.

so, this year was the most exciting ever because we had a pheasant accompanying us. when we arrived, we noticed it at the edge of the trees. it didn't seem to be scared of us and when we went to walk around through the trees, it followed us the whole time.

i'm serious when i say that it followed us the whole time. through all the trees, up the hill and back down again. it was scared off by the chain saw, but then found us again soon after the tree was down.
you can see it below, if you look carefully, right at D's heels. 
this funny bird followed us all the way back to the car and then just sat there watching us put the tree on the roof. we decided to spoil her with some of our abundant crumbs in the car. so, as we left, she was munching on crackers, popcorn and an apple slice. she's lucky that our kids are so messy!
at home we trimmed the tree with some fantastic retro lights and all of our beautiful ornaments. bee loved helping and henny just loved everything. when i placed the skirt under the tree, henny climbed under and laid down on it, looking up at the lights. meanwhile bee curled up on the top of the couch and did the same. our two cat-like kids, enjoying the tree.

thankful for....

... a partner who quietly brought the kids out to play in the living room this morning so i could drift off for an extra hour. i'm even more grateful to wake up and come out to find a new cardboard box "cat house" being built and played with. lots of meowing and laughing followed.

... a daughter who passed me two notes, both spelling out "i love you", at the restaurant this morning. 

... a son who is able to tell us so many things now, through words and signs. my frustrations from a month ago about his communication are melting away. i fell so grateful every time he pats his chest to ask for help which is a world away from his previous exclusively fussing for help. 

tiny village

bee and i just wrapped up a fun crafting session. we made a tiny snow village with these sweet little houses. it is so simple and addicting once you start.

we set it all up at the bottom of a plant. the pot is huge, so there was plenty of room for snow (white felt), roads (brown felt), the houses and trees. of course the houses needed residents, so bee moved the horsies into the neighborhood. unfortunately for the aesthetics of it all, it just looks like a bunch of horses died in a sweet little village.

fruity silks

i have a list a mile long, i my head and on paper. it's of all of these cool and inspiring ideas for handmade kids gifts. i have been psyched for months to make things for christmas. now that it is closer i am finding that the balance of time, motivation and organization is a bit tricky. but nevertheless, one night last week i got down to business and made some sweet play silks, dyed with kool aid!

i dyed 12 silks, ordered from dharma trading. i found the kool aid at a few different stores. i used cherry (red), grape (purple), lemonade (yellow), orange (orange, hello!) and pink lemonade (pink!). i also had some sweet blueberry kind and like a dummy i added a bit of this other weird kind that i though might be blue too. turns out it was red and it totally turned that whole batch purple. so, i ended up with extra purple. i wish i had more of the pink lemonade because it's the bomb. and oh wow, that stuff sure smells good. but now that i see what it can do to cloth, i am hesitant to ever drink it again for fear of what it will do to my insides!

i used directions from a few different places. most had similar instructions. in short, what i did was about this:

• soak silks in water (1gal.) & vinegar (1/2 cup) for about a half hour.
• using 2 large, microwavable bowls, made up kool aid dye (3 packages of kool aid, 2 cups water, 1/2 cup vinegar, per silk. use gloves, or be VERY careful!
• i usually did 2 silks per bowl, so i just doubled the recipe in each bowl. 
• rotate bowls in the microwave: 3 minutes "cooking", 3 minutes "resting", with a little stir in there too.
• do the cook/ rest routine 3 times each.
• rinse in the sink, although not too much dye was leaving them after three rounds in the microwave.
• air dry
• iron when dry.

i'm so excited about how these came out. i plan to give henny a set, and give the others to some of our other special little ones. i love the idea of open ended toys like this and i can't wait to see what henny and bee come up with to use them for. bee is on board to give them to henny, but i think that she is just super anxious to get her hands on them. i can't wait to see her clipping one on henny for a cape, or the two of them sitting down to a felt food picnic on one. the possibilities are endless!

advent tree

ever since bee was 2 we have had some sort of advent calendar. we are not religious but find this tradition to be a nice addition to the simple christmas that we want to provide, as well as a good way to promote the type of holiday traditions we like. we want it to be amazing and magical for the kids, but also without the materialism that is all around us. 

last year i hatched a plan to do an advent calendar that is more about family fun than candy or prizes. we made a calendar out of toilet paper tubes, and put a "fortune" in each tube, each day. the fortunes were anything from "paint mom or dad's nails" to "go looking for christmas lights tonight" or a real material prize. bee loved it and we loved the way that it encouraged us to make special moments happen throughout the season.

this year we did the same sort of thing with the fortunes. we tried to make them inclusive of the whole family, including henny. 

the toilet paper tube set up didn't hold up too well, so i made a new system that seems like it may be a keeper for years to come. i made muslin pouches and cinched them up with ribbon. we hung them on a branch that bee and D found around the yard.

i printed out a nice font and traced the numbers with fabric markers. we put the fortunes in the baggies, and coordinated them with the calendar. we won't be "baking cookies for the neighbors", for example, unless it's a weekend or one of D's days off. any time that the kids get a material prize, they will find a fortune that tells them where to look for it. 

i'm pretty psyched about this new advent calendar. we have already been dreaming of future holiday seasons.... finding the branch, filling and emptying it and finally burning it in the fire on christmas morning.