Hello, everyone!
Our December has been a fun one so far! We've been on break ever since baby put in an appearance, and we've been officially on "Christmas break" for two weeks. My goal for Christmas break has been to keep things calm and to try to have one activity or outing per day for the children (usually activities, as opposed to outings - we're mostly staying at home). It's been great!
Surprisingly, I have had plenty of ideas for easy Christmas crafts - without having to do internet searches or run to the store for supplies. We've just been keeping everything super-simple, and it's been a fun two weeks.
December 1st - Put up our Advent calendar, and made an Advent garland. Those two activities, plus breakfast and chores, took till noon. Welcome to a house that has a new baby!
December 2nd - Made some pre-made Thanksgiving crafts that a sweet friend gave us. I love pre-made crafts!
December 3rd - Scrapped our planned craft and spent the morning outside.
December 4th - Decorated our Christmas tree!
December 5th - Paper snowflakes. And treasure maps. They go together, right?
December 6th - My husband and the boys participated in a local Christmas parade. They had a blast!
December 7th - Church.
December 8th - Painted our pumpkins - you know, the ones we bought in October. Nothing like procrastination. We also made fake snow (recipe = baking soda + hair conditioner). I get double credit for mommy points today!
December 9th - Paper airplanes, at the request of the 8yo. Very Christmasy.
December 10th - Dug up our garden, also at the request of the 8yo. We're only two months past planting season!
The boys also had fun at their Keepers club - crafts and getting dressed up as a snowman!
December 11th - Made pinecone crafts that we've had ready for a couple of years. Again, nothing like procrastination. Pinecone + puffballs + glue + 10 minutes = done!
We also (finally) got out our Advent wreath - only two weeks late! I didn't have taper candles on hand, so we used what we had.
December 12th - More outside time in the morning, and then a local "Walk Through Bethlehem" outing in the evening.
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I anticipated a calm and peaceful rest-of-the-season, but yesterday I realized, quite suddenly, that in the next two weeks I need to...
- Shop and wrap children's gifts for two parts of the family who send money rather than gifts
- Host family for Christmas
- Cook Christmas dinner (plus hosting dinners for visiting family for Christmas week, plus Christmas Eve dinner, plus...)
And I have prepared for absolutely none of it.
Crumbs.
Apparently, it's time to get to work. But more importantly, time to see if I can manage to maintain our sense of calm and balance through the next two weeks - even with all that needs to be done. Is it possible?
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
Have a wonderful weekend, dear readers!
What a sweet and manageable Christmas season you're achieving! I wish you well as things get a bit more hectic (the same shift is about to happen at our house, too.)
ReplyDeleteBoy, is it ever a challenge! This is generally the time of year that I start gritting my teeth and promising myself that we're going to move to northern Siberia to avoid having to do Christmas ever again. Let's see if I can manage to avoid all that - best of wishes to you on the same front!!
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