christmas photo shoot

Festively dressed on the Sunday before Christmas. I wish I had grabbed my nice camera for these, but phone shots are pretty much the standard now. Everyone was giddy with the anticipation of Grandma and Grandpa's arrival that night. Also, Ben was doing a silly dance that was making everyone laugh.

the nutcracker.

Maybe one year we'll actually go see the Nutcracker but this year the girls and I had fun making this cute Nutcracker Suite puppet theater (pattern from Sarah Jane Studios).

donuts, kisses, gingerbread houses and more.

Duck Donuts (a popular donut shop that originated at the Outer Banks) just opened up 15 minutes from our house. Hot and made to order. Yum.

 Simon had fun sneaking into this bag of kisses one night.

 Captured this hilarious moment...after I took the photo I realized he had squatted down to take care of some...business.

 Mesmerized by the Swedish angel chimes. 

Ben had a few late nights building these doll bunk beds for Amelia and Elsa. They turned out so well. I stayed up late with him one night to help make the mattresses. 

  Decorating the gingerbread house.

christmas cookies

I tried two new cookie recipes this year. Turtle cookies and chocolate chip walnut macaroon cookies. Both recipes came from the local newspaper's holiday cookie contest. I loved both of them. The other four kinds were salty chocolate nutella thumbprints, orange slice cookies (my grandma's recipe), chocolate peppermint bark cookies, and peanut butter kiss cookies. (I ran out of kisses toward the end and substituted rolos. I might have to make a permanent switch. They were good, especially warm.)

I made the cookie doughs over the course of a few evenings. Then I baked 12 dozen cookies in one day so I could get them delivered to friends while they were fresh. Simon pretty much tore apart the house while I tried to get the baking done. He recently figured out how to open the fridge and spent a good amount of time emptying the contents of the fridge. It kept him busy so I didn't stop him. Until he started squeezing the mustard everywhere. He also wiped chocolate all over the couch cushions and pillows. He also unwrapped a few presents from under the tree. And dumped out a case of CDs and scratched them up. But then we enjoyed cookies for days so maybe it was worth it.

 I think he even exhausted himself. He rarely stops moving.

advent calendars.

As always, a few new additions to the advent calendar collection this year...

Our Christmas book collection, wrapped and ready to be opened. We've done this for a few years now and the kids love opening a book every day. Also, Ben built these fantastic shelves with some beautiful reclaimed wood we found. Perfect for keeping Christmas decorations out of Simon's reach.

My friend Jessica, knowing my love of advent calendars, sent me a few ideas she found online and I loved this wreath advent. It was easy to make, although time consuming to wrap all those tiny presents (stickers, small stamps, chocolates, erasers, pencils, etc). I used greenery and berries from our yard!

I found this old soda crate at an antique store a few months ago and immediately thought it would be perfect for an advent calendar. I made number tags and hung them from small boxes using washi tape. I attached a vintage Christmas picture on the other side of the box so each day we turn a box around after we remove the contents. Each box contain a puzzle piece for an advent puzzle of a nativity scene, with scriptures on each piece. (An advent within an advent. Yes, I'm crazy.) The puzzle has been the one advent that has really helped Oliver understand how many days are left until Christmas.

 

I got this cute little paper village from Paper Source and it came with a joke to put in each little house.

The kids have loved the Playmobil advent. It's the first one they do in the morning.