Handmade Christmas cards, and yes, I'm obsessed with Polka Dots. If it's a phase, it's been going on for several years now so I'm not sure when I'll grow out of it.
I have so many favorite homemade Christmas ornaments, but this is definitely one of my favs. I mean, it's hard to beat Jared's 3-eyed snowman made when he was about 3 yrs. old.
I just love this nesting Nativity set that my mom made for me before I got married. It has held up through many years of play from the children. Our favorite story about this set is when we were doing school one day and Amber was off playing, we suddenly saw baby Jesus go flying through the air. Amber had discovered that if she put him on top of her flip top toy and then opened it, Jesus became airborne. We had a good laugh about it, then encouraged her to use a plastic bear instead.
Also handmade by my mom is this Nativity quilt. This is the first quilt that she hand-quilted. I love the colors and sometimes leave it up year round. This also has a story. One day when Clarissa was probably about 5 yrs. old, she felt she had been unjustly corrected by Mom and Dad and went up to this quilt and started talking to Jesus, something to the effect of, "Jesus, my Mommy and Daddy are being mean to me, but I know that you love me."
I love my Victorian decorations for the tree. The rose lights, the gold beads and ribbons, and especially this red snowflake given to us by our friends, the Stewarts. It reminds me of our cold Christmases up in Wisconsin filled with the warmth of good friends.
Speaking of Wisconsin and cold, I bought this snowman from a neighbor in Wisconsin from her annual craft sale. I fell in love with it and so have my girls. Most of the time, it is not to be found where I put it, but wandering around the house as the star of their latest make-believe play.
I can't remember where we got our gold angel from, but she has been the pinnacle of our Christmas tree decorations for years and will be for years to come.
I love our mismatched stockings. They might not match, but they represent each of our individual personalities and our family in all it's quirkiness.
I made both of these plaques with friends. The wise man tile picture was made with friends in El Paso and reminds me of them and the Joy was made with friends here in Virginia.
As much as I love our mismatched stockings, I also appreciate some funky coordinating wrapping paper.
All these things are just a few reasons why I love Christmas.
Amber's hair is getting long. She likes to refer to herself as having Rapunzel hair, thank you Disney. I enjoy creating pretty hairdos, but she doesn't let me do it very often, so I was lucky to capture this fleeting moment.
Jared with his Ninja training center Lego creation. Much cooler close up, but he's too cute to leave out of the pic.
On a whim, Jared decided to build the London Bridge out of K'Nex. Any guesses as to what profession he is most likely to choose. By the way, I should be getting paid for all this name brand advertising.
A friend of ours was collecting blankets for birth mothers of adopted babies so we decided to make it a family service project to make a couple and donate them. Jared wanted to do a fleece tie blanket like the one his Aunt Michelle gave him years ago (in the background on the chair). He picked out the fleece and did it all by himself, including adding ties to the middle. I didn't get a picture of the one the girls made. They picked out some coordinating flannel and Clarissa sewed it together on the sewing machine. They both came out really good.
A friend taught me how to make these hair bows and a couple nights later, the girls and I made a bunch more. They enjoyed picking out the fabric and embellishments and even did some of the twisting.
Here's Krystal wearing one of the hairbows on a headband.
I have been working on printing many of our photos to decorate the house with. I got this collage frame on sale and couldn't wait to fill it with family pictures of famous or interesting places we have visited. It is hanging in our hallway.
This is a one-of-a-kind creation by Amber. She collected scrap wood from Chris's workshop and glued a broken necklace and beads to it. I love how she came up with this idea all by herself. What a budding artist, modern art, that is.
