Very Merry

I sure hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas!

Around here, things were CRAZY! I was sewing right up to Christmas day and didn’t have time for anything including laundry, cooking, cleaning and least of all blogging. Crazy I tell you.

And yet, this has been the best Christmas I can remember. The kids really got into it with the decorating, cookie baking, and present making. The best is their total belief in Santa. We don’t talk much about him around here except to say that he’s a very generous man who brings every kid a present. We’ve never made them sit on his lap or brought up the naughty list thing. It makes things a little less complicated.

So, we got all dressed up and thanks to Auntie Mary, they ALL matched this year:

How cute is that? I kept thinking all night long, how darn cute they were all dressed up.

Christmas day was filled with lots of surprises and lots of chocolate. And if you live anywhere near the NW, you know that we got an extra special treat that morning- SNOW!

Chris claims that it’s snowed on Christmas day only one other time that he can remember so you can imagine the excitement. It snowed for about 3 hours and there was enough to have a great snowball fight, but everything melted by the time we got ready to go to Grandma’s for dinner. Perfect.

I hope your Christmas was great and filled with many moments of happiness.

Give

It’s been a challenge. This is the first Christmas where Augie is truly understanding the whole Christmas + presents thing. I mean, he understands that he will be receiving gifts. I’ve been trying to emphasize that it’s not all about gifts, but then most of what he hears is what he wants for Christmas or what to buy people.

We’ve sat down several times to try and make Christmas presents for his aunts, uncles and cousins. I really wanted him to take the time this year to be involved with the whole gift giving part. The problem though is that it’s been a disaster every time. I’m trying to have the kids make things that won’t end up in the garbage or that are so tacky even I wouldn’t want it hung up. I’ve racked my brain, spent hours online reading crafts sites and blogs trying to get ideas. Things are either too expensive for the basic supplies or are simply above their abilities. I have a Xyron 900 which can laminate things well so I plan on having them draw everyone a picture that I will make into an ornament or luggage tag or something.

In the end, I’ve come to a conclusion: They are just too young for good home crafting. (Augie is 5, Eddie is 3 and Ms O is just 18 months.) Instead, I went to this site and ordered some of these with a picture of each kid on a mug. For $80, I think these would be appreciated more and they should last for some time.

Or am I giving up?

It’s Up

We decorated this morning. After seeing so many Advent Calendar’s out there, I was really missing mine. Now before you scroll down to see the picture, know that this was made two years ago when I couldn’t sew a straight line to save my soul. It’s loosely based on a very loved one that my MIL has and that I’ve admired for years. I sat down and tried my hardest to copy hers, but came up with my own version:

No, the picture is not crooked.

It’s the calendar.

This thing is *seriously* off kilter, but let’s just call it good. It’s about 22″ x 36″ and made entirely out of felt (crappy felt, because I didn’t know there was any other kind!) The numbers are just glued on to the pockets and we use straight pins for sticking the figures on the tree.

The kids were fighting over who gets to see what’s in today’s pocket and so far on the tree we have the a star (that’s always gotto go first, eh?), a train and a razor clam “gun”. The rest of the pockets contain everything from presents, little animals, everyone’s initial, fruit, and of course Santa and Baby Jesus.

Since we are catholic, our calendar goes to Epiphany. We also have the four advent candles with tiny felt “flames” to be put up with each week as well. So all in all, it’s a very thorough calendar. Maybe someday I’ll make another, but I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of this one since it already has so many wonderful memories.

Another decoration I wanted to share are these teeny paper doll ornaments I found in Chris’ Grandma’s stuff years ago while sorting through boxes after a move. Everyone wanted me to toss them, but I couldn’t bare to throw out these mini little people.

I’ve never put them up before, but I found the perfect spot this year so out they came after I think many, many years in a box. (For the picture, they are in my kitchen on the “snack table”, but really they are displayed in my living room on a picture frame shelf. It’s too dark and rainy today to get in a decent photo in that part of the house.)

I’m so excited to see them out! Each doll has a hand drawn face and it looks like they just used a pencil. They stand less than 3″ tall and have pipe cleaner arms, but I can’t figure out what their faces are made with… maybe paper-maché?

On the bottom of each one, it’s just stamped “Japan”, but it looks like they were all riped off of something else that was paper. I wonder where she got them from? Grandma passed away this summer so it’s nice to finally get these out and remember her.

She was a Lady. Yep, that’s with a capital “L”.

Making It

Chris and I’ve been known to make things rather than buy it. Some think it’s wonderful, but others think it’s just being cheap. Because of this, I’ve always felt a little unsure of myself when I give a handmade gift so I used to supplement it by buying a little something as well.

Recently and especially for this Christmas, I no longer have any hesitation. Mostly it’s due to my discovery of craft blogs. I love seeing what everyone else is making and how proud they are to be giving the gift which they created. This has squelched all misgivings I have about giving lots of handmade gifts for Christmas this year.

Do you see my Handmade Holiday’s button? Please check it out if you haven’t already. SewMamaSew has devoted the whole month to gift giving ideas and even great tutorials to go along with it. Cotton Spice is also doing something similar with Last Minute Gift Countdown. (You’ve *got* to check out the owls!) How could you go wrong? I’ve even read that many other blogers have taken the Buy Handmade pledge. I’m not sure I can totally commit to buying or getting *only* homemade, but I love hearing that others are willing.

So with all this spurring me on, I’ve already started my “To Make” Christmas list and went out the Depot yesterday for more supplies.

Here’s a little sample of what I’ve already whipped up ~

Cloth Grocery Totes for the family:

These were easy to sew and are a great size. Using my Aunt’s suggestions for the measurements and French seams, these look great and should work out well. I still have many more to make, but I just picked up some great fabric tonight so I can’t wait to whip up more.

Cloth Slippers for the kids:

I used Stardust shoes’ “revised” pattern and enlarged them enough to fit the kids’ feet. I had to trim down the pink ones because when I enlarged the pattern 130% to fit a 18 month old, they turned out to be way too wide. The train one is lined with fleece and the pink on is lined with minkie. I also did not use suede for the bottoms, but instead used the polka dot “sticky” fabric. I figure that they will likely grow out of them before I have to worry about the fabric wearing out. I have 4 more pairs to make, but it should go faster now that I have the kinks worked out.

My list of other gifts is still growing daily, but at least I will be crossing things off as well.

What will you be making this Holiday Season?

(Oh, and be sure to check out SewMamaSew on Monday, Nov 19th. My little creation will be featured again as a gift idea. How cool!)