3 days: finishing touches

This Christmas has been the year of crafting at our house. With Calvin being old enough to really understand the give and take of Christmas gifts we wanted him to really get involved with the gift giving process, and since he doesn't have any money to work with craft projects seemed like the way to go. We've made a number of projects throughout the month, and today we finally put the finishing touches on the very last project. With only three days to go, you might call that "just in the nick of time."

4 days: baking up a storm!

Tomorrow is the day the milkman cometh, so today is the day we broke out the mixer and all sorts of other baking implements and set to work on a few batches of sugar and ginger bread cookies. I probably said this last year, too, but doing this always renews my sense of respect for those people who make and decorate Christmas cookies that are either a) beautiful and error-less, b) turned out in high quantities, or c) all of the above. It is a fun activity, though.

5 days: Christmas jammies (in the snow)

Every year we get new Christmas pajamas. this morning the several of us enjoyed snuggling up, still in our jammies, to read some Chrsitmas books. When we were done reading books he wanted to stay in his pajamas for breakfast. After breakfast he wanted to stay in his pajamas to play with trains. When we started dressing to play in the snow his pajama sentiments had not changed, so we let him slip his snow wear on over them. Now he can say he made a snowman in his pajamas.

6 days: dreaming of a white Christmas

It's hard to believe that we are already 19 days into December and until this morning had not needed to dust off the shovel. We had just started to despair of any hopes for a white Christmas when we awoke this morning to a world blaneted in white. It wasn't a thick down comforter style blanket, more a light coverlet, and by late afternoon it had started to compact down between the blades of grass, but white it was, and enough to make me finally break out the shovel. Looking at the week's forecast we still don't carry much hope for a snowy holiday, but we'll take what we can get.

7 days: counting down

Our advent calendar is one of our favorite traditions. Each morning we open another door and add another figure to the nativity scene in the middle, and while we're at it Calvin usually takes the time to rearrange those figures. Today they are all flying. It's a fun way to start the day (with the advent calendar, not flying).