Well, it has been quite the flurry of hoilday goodness around here. I pulled Rylie's Advent activities together on December 1, because there is nothing like waiting until the last minute. During the entire month of November, I was contemplating if I wanted to attempt it or not, it wasn't until December 1 that I got a clear idea of what I wanted to do. Largely inspired by this post, I thought that fun activities both big and small would be a great way to fill our days leading up to Christmas. That way we are not filling our already brimming space with more stuff, and we get the fun of working on projects together. Here is what we've done so far and what we are planning to do in the next few weeks. I play parent perogative if I need to do a last minute switcheroo based on the rhythm of the particular day. I figure I have a few years yet until Rylie fully catches on to the concept :
December 1 - Make hot chocolate with all the fixins
December 2 - Get Christmas tree and decorate
December 3 - Make cookies
December 4 - Make salt dough ornaments
December 5 - Make snowflakes
December 6 - Downtown Christmas tree lighting
December 7 - Go out for sushi
December 8 - Hanukkah begins! Latkes and applesauce for dinner
December 9 - Use puppets for a bedtime story
December 10 - Indoor picnic
Decemebr 11 - Make gifts for Grandma & Grandpa
December 12 - String popcorn
December 13 - Holiday boogie with friends
December 14 - Wrap a toy and donate to charity
December 15 - Fancy dress for dinner
December 16 - Handmade gift tags
December 17 - Ice skating after dark
December 18 - Make gingerbread houses
December 19 - Make ice cream snowmen
December 20 - Christmas movie with popcorn
December 21 - Go out for a Christmas treat
December 22 - Go see Christmas lights
December 23 - Take a bubble bath
December 24 - Christmas Eve concert with friends
In other making news, I saw this and just could not help myself. As someone who hoards fabric, yarn and anything else useful for making stuff, it was extremely satisfying to put some of my scraps to good use. I went back to the thrift store last week and walked away with a much more respectable haul of yarn, after they had brought out more of their stock from the back. I got this chunky, variegated ropey wool that worked perfectly.
And in a fit of inspiration I began knitting a Christmas dress for Rylie last week after my initial visit to the yarn stockpile. I promptly went home, downloaded this pattern and began knitting with the one skein of Blue Sky Alpaca sport weight I had on hand and ordered more straight away. For some reason I didn't read the pattern though because I didn't order enough and I will definitely need to get more as this dress is EXTREMELY full! Like 332 stitches per row!! I have been burning the midnight oil on this one, knitting stitch by stitch into the wee hours in hopes that I can finish it by Christmas Eve at the very latest. The largest size on the pattern is 9 -12 months and Rylie is 29 months, but no bother. She is petite and last week I had her in a dress that was 3-6 months! I figure that she may be able to wear at as a sweater instead of a dress if it is too short, and it is so full, it really ought to fit. Fingers crossed . . .
Oh, and those washi egg ornaments! Aren't they so pretty? My neighbor's mom, an expert washi egg maker, offered to teach me how to make one and I replied, "Yes, please!" They are delicate hollowed out eggs that you glue thin rice paper to and add a string and varnish. I felt a bit like a cartoon version of myself with massive and mostly uncoordinatd hands, but Nancy was full of grace and gentle guidance. She even sent me home with more hollowed out eggs and paper all ready to make more. And you know I will.
Hello! I'm Liz Scott - mama to two little ones, maker, and all around curiosity chaser. I live with my family in Los Angeles, where we seek to fill each day with adventure, joy and creativity. I write about it all here on the blog. Thank you for visiting.