'Twas the Week Before Christmas

 

 

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring...

screech! Wait.  Stop.  Are you kidding me right now?  

Not in this house!

The week before Christmas is right about the time when I decide I need to get serious on the gift-making.  And then it takes a few more days to actually act upon that decision. ;-)  But there is a general movement toward that end at this point, and with just four days to go, it's a good thing!  The house looks like an Elfish workshop- and indeed, it is.  

Good thing for me the extended family Christmases are happening NEXT weekend, over New Years.  That gives me a full extra week of procrastination!  

Corynn is getting a lot more accomplished than I am- she has even been commissioned for several gifts- aprons and stuffed dolls.  As for me- my list covers an entire piece of notebook paper.  I wish I could show it to you, so laughable it is, but many eyes peer over my shoulder as I type and there would be no surprises left.  I have had to set some things aside for next year like the ride-on stuffed camel and woodland dwelling I had intended to make.  Hopefully, these things will keep and I can get them done someday.  I've intended to make them for years- even as my younger children aged out of them.   I have a new baby again- I just need to make sure to actually make them (instead of intending to do so) before she outgrows them too.  

Speaking of the baby...tomorrow is Ineke's first birthday!  I sewed her a birthday outfit the other day using up the leftover fabric and fur from Adele's birthday outfit.  I had intended to make a little dress but there wasn't enough fabric.  There was exactly the right amount of fabric and fur to make a skirt and matching bonnet though- with just the teensiest little trimmings of scrap from the fabric to throw away.  The fur was the exact measurement I needed, no trimming necessary. Amazing.  

I am also working on a waldorf baby for Ineke  but I can't decide if I should go with the style I have made before (more appropriate for a slobbery baby) or try something different.  A blanket body?  A pillow body?  A body body?  A little pixie hood?  Or hair?  (I love hair but will it stay nice with a one year old?)  The poor thing is awaiting her face and body as I am seeking inspiration.  Help? 

We had our tree-trimming party a few weeks ago nd we ate snacks and sang carols.  The tree trimming party means snacks for dinner and some years we feel positively ill with gorging on food we don't normally eat.  Cream cheese dips, little smokies, jello jigglers.  Those sorts of awesome morsels of health and prosperity.  This year I leaned a bit more toward some healthy options with a fancy cheese tray and grapes.  Real treats for us- AND we never got bellyaches!  Ineke got her first taste of eggnog and was amazed that there was a tree right in the living room.  She pointed and jabbered as if to say "What are these crazy people doing?!? Don't they know trees are outside?"  The girls diligently tucked ornaments in branches and the boys diligently made box forts and messes and Papa led us all in carols.

I made our chocolate letters this year instead of ordering from the Dutch store to fill our klompen.  They were very pretty (and delicious) except Matt's.  He was out of town for St. Nicholas and so I tucked his away carefully for his return.  He pulled in the driveway and was coming in the house so I set out his klompen and the baby got it and broke it to pieces.  Everyone loved the homemade chocolate letters- except Matt.

In my klompen, I found a letter from St. Nicholas!  We've been reading this book and I think maybe  someone was feeling inspired.

I decided, very spontaneously, to draw and then paint and then GLITTER the Christmas cards for this year.  I don't know why other than I saw a picture and felt the urge.  (I should have been working on gifts!)  Obviously I am not an artist.  Nor am I Catholic.  But it was just the right itch to scratch that day.  Some days a person just needs to do something quiet and reflective and...with paints and glitter.  No matter the outcome.

So the halls are decked and the rooms are full of busy people.  And all of them, all of it, is merry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kcco