Christmas Craftin'

It wouldn't be a holiday if I didn't sneak in some crafting of some sort.  The idea of bringing the outdoors in is always appealing to me and when I saw this idea for table centerpiece I had to do it.
I basicially just took a cut log from outside.  We've been clearing some land so there were plenty to choose from.  Once I found the perfect log I had my handy hubby drill a few holes the size of a tealight.  I stuck in a few tealights, cut some greenery from outside and then I had myself a wonderfully rustic centerpiece!

I also decide this year that I wanted some Christmasy coasters.  Before I had a chance to look for any in the stores I found a neat idea online.  The coasters are just small terracotta saucers.  I painted them and added some holiday scrapbook paper to the bottom.  Then I sealed them with some clear varnish. They were so easy and quick to make that I may just have to make some for every holiday!

New Tradition

This year we added a new tradition to our Christmas festivities, or actually swapped out one idea for another.  Each year we usually add a piece to our Fontanini Nativity set, but the store that we usually get them from no longer sells the size we had been collecting and it was hard to find that size anywhere.  Also we had many pieces in  our collection and would soon run out of room if we continued collecting them.  So since we are all Lego fans we decided that collection the Winter village would become our new tradition and it was one that everyone could enjoy putting together and playing with.  Kenzie really had her heart set on the Village Post Office and was very happy when the elves granted her wish. Since it's completion the Post Office has been a very busy gathering place for the Lego minifigures.  The girls soon got busy naming the people and creating scenes.

Even some of the characters from the Lego Star Wars advent calendar have

made an appearance.  It seems even Wookies and droids have letters to send!

Wordless Wednesday

On the Naughty List

I know looking at that sweet face it might be hard to believe that he's on the naughty list but he most certainly is.  Tuukka is in fact number one on the naughty list, at least in this house.  You see Tuukka seems to like to chew things up when no one is home.  Only he doesn't chew up things that you normally expect a dog to chew up, like shoes and stuffed animals-lord knows there are plenty of those all over the house to choose from.  But not Tuukka.  Tuukka climbed up on the couch to reach the end table where he found a cordless phone to chew on.  He also seemed to think it would be fun to pull some of the keys off the laptop while he was up there. Oh and then there was the lighter...That was just one days destruction.  He has also chewed up several books, magazines and plastic cups-just to name a few things.
Needless to say Tuukka is back in his crate(now also known as the Box of Shame) when no one is home to watch him.  There are just too many Christmas decorations to risk having him loose. 
I will take some of the blame because when I was walking them consistently he didn't get into any trouble and that is when we decided to let him out of the crate.  I am now trying to be more consistent with the walks and maybe after the holidays we'll let him out of the Box of Shame again.

Its Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

A week into December and the holiday is quickly approaching. The house is nicely decorated and cozy. And many of our holiday traditions are in full swing.  The kids receive daily treats from our advent calendar, usually it just a little candy, but about once a week I'll throw in a little extra goodie.  Our two mischievious elves made their return on December 1st. They arrived with a Lego Star Wars advent calendar.  A lego a day until Christmas now that is cool!  The elves have been up to their usual antics which have included a tea party, baking cookies and making an appearance in the nativity! We've also kept ourselves busy with games of  holiday Yahtzee and Christmas trivia. So for the most part we are in the holiday spirit.  The only thing that makes it not seem holidayish is the lack of snow.  Though we've had a few storms the snow has quickly melted and the weather generally had been mild, not the norm for this time of year.  I'm not complaining but I do want snow on the ground for Christmas!

Here Becca gets a little help putting the star on the tree from Daddy and Grampy.

Wordless Wednesday

Holiday Happenings

We had a very nice Thanksgiving which included a wonderfully yummy free range, organic turkey as the guest of honor.  My parents joined us for dinner and then spent the night so they could join us for our version of black friday.  Our version of Black Friday involves staying as far away from any malls and retail outlets as possible.  We do venture a mile down the road to the local tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree and the rest of the day is spent decorating the house for Christmas. We cap off the day cuddling on the couch with some cocoa and a Christmas movie.  It was nice to have my parents join us on our tree cutting expedition and I think they had a good time.