preparations

I have most of my decorations up now, although decorating for Christmas is more of a process than an event for me. I enjoy going through my boxes of ornaments and putting them up a few at a time...savoring the memories that come with them. My front door wreath from the past few years had gotten pretty stale. Seriously, it was really dull. So, I freshened up a grapevine wreath (made from our own grapevines) with odds and ends from my Christmas boxes, and I think the end result is pretty! What do you think?
We put up a sticker nativity scene for YaYa. It's actually an advent calendar (from Oriental Trading), and it has big numbered star stickers for each day. I helped her place baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary and then let her put the rest of the stickers wherever she wanted. We had a similar calendar last year, and it was so cool for me to see how her reasoning skills are developing (for the most part, the wisemen aren't in the sky upsidedown this year). She put all of the jars together and all of the birds together. Then, she wanted to make sure that the animals all had a bucket of water, and most people ended up holding a sheep. The calendar is underneath our actual nativity set, so I hope that it gives her lots of creative play as she starts to gain an understanding about this very special baby.
So, I love snowflakes! They're everywhere in our house this year, and I've even gotten out some of my all-time favorites! I love cutting snowflakes...I think it's a gift of mine, passed down to me by my mom. The ones hanging on the window below are favorites of mine, exploring all sorts of shapes and forms. Although it's not pictured below, I've even cut a Hanukkah snowflake before, complete with Star of David, menorah, and dreidel...I'll have to show you in my next post!
What shape/object/theme would you like to see in a snowflake? I'm always looking for new ideas and inspiration!

Chair,

crafty gifts and other goings on.

Where did November go? Can it really be the 20th already?

Although I have been a bad blogger lately, I have gotten lots of crafty things done, including: 2 sets of beanbags, another hedgehog, some new illustrations, a memory game for YaYa, and this owl (for a good laugh, see my first post here):

Hooty Hoot Hoo! I love this guy...I whipped him up while watching a very exciting Colts game last weekend with the hubby. His body is the arm of a thrifted, felted sweater; his ears the cuff. Oh, how I do hate my wood paneling, though (as pictured behind Mr. Owl). I would love to see this room painted, but I'm afraid it's too full of our life (2 computer desks, 2 dog cages, a dining room table and misc. toys) to ever be emptied and painted. Ah well, I am way too thankful for everything that I DO have to get stuck on that. :)

And here is the memory game I made for YaYa for Christmas. Hubby had been given boxes full of old science textbooks to e-bay or get rid of as he liked (still sitting in garage), so I took two books that were the same and cut out matching pictures from each, pasted them on cardstock & laminated them. There are 16 sets of cards in the deck, but we'll probably only play with 5 or 6 sets to start. It's a gift that can grow as YaYa does!

On Monday, YaYa and I broke into her very first pomegranate. Pomegranates have always been such a magical fruit to me, and I wanted to share that magic with my little one. When I was young, my parents had an Indian friend, Om, who would bring us over exotic fruits to try, including mangos, pomegranates & starfruit. Twenty-some years ago, these fruits weren't available in the grocery stores like they are now. Pomegranates were so amazing to me, with their hundreds of sparkling red jewels inside!! I think that's why I like these garnets so well now, they remind me of the pom jewels. Anyways, YaYa was as impressed and amazed as I had hoped she would be, and gobbled up the pretty little jewels until she was covered from head to toe with the purple juice!!

mmm...I love seeing those chubby little fingers reaching into a bowl of such beautiful fruit!

Till next time...

Chair,

Hav