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sending big fat love from our home to yours. wishing you peace and a happy heart this christmas!
em xo
ps i'm going unplugged next week to chill out at home with my family...i'll be back here on january 1st, with a brand new journal-fest-fun for 2012...see ya then!
we marked the official start of winter (hello, has it not been winter for the past 6 weeks or more?!!) with a solstice bonfire in our field tonight. amusingly, it was quite 'warm' for here, not even a mitten was needed to be outside with!
i can do this i can do this i can do this!
i'm in a much better place emotionally than i was at this time last year - and although the weather here is ridiculously unpredictable and i have no idea what to expect from this winter - i do at least have some understanding of a long, cold winter thanks to last years insane experience. and i got real snow boots and a coat - should help, yeah?
having been here a whole year now i at least 'see' the cycle of the seasons...i couldn't even visualise spring or summer last winter, and that about did my head in at the end of march. but green comes again - later rather than sooner but it comes! and the transformation of the earth here is something you have to really see to believe.
so king winter - bring it on! we are ready for a white christmas...there are two little girls asleep with their pajamas on inside out and back-to-front in the hopes some snow will come tonight...
we will see!
this funny ol tree that was cut from a friends land makes me so happy every time i come into the room. i love the dainty, drapey branches - bare patches and all - i love the height, we've never had such a tall one before! most of all, i love the homemade decorations and ornaments hanging. with all their memories and love attached.
(*felt star made by ivy last year, *toadstools for each child made by granni, *fancy egg ornament my mum made when i was a baby, *new stamped ornament from a friend, *glass ball filled with glitter paint a-la yindi, *sweetest paper snowman from a much younger ivy, *little fabric stocking made by mum in the 80's, and *glass soldered baby ivy ornament i made several years ago)
what i cherish most about christmas is family love + togetherness, making and giving and creating special moments with each other. and simple. simple and special...just like our tree :)
i've been busy crafting for the past few months for this years stocking stuffer swap. this is the 3rd year my friend vicky in nz and i have planned the shenannigans - 7 mamas making little somethings for all 15 children between us, and sending packages across the seas = lots of excitement!
my biggest roadblock is deciding on what to make for each child. i write lists, i lose the lists. i get ideas, i scrap those ideas. and then i finally make some things! my faves from this year were the toadstool treasure boxes (which were based off the ones in the book felting for baby - though had i followed the instructions instead of winging it they might have turned out less gigantic. hope you have big stockings for your boys v!)
in my needlefelting frenzy i made a few gnome couples (instructions here), and then i went back to wet felting and made a wee pair of slippers for 2 year old sage...
my girls both love dressing and undressing and redressing their dollies! so i made several sets of doll outfits for the girls in the group. pants i traced around existing doll pants we already had (and used old tshirts for the fabric), and the top is a really simple-to-make but adorable pattern i found here.
i'm waiting by the mailbox daily for our package to arrive from nz and see all the goodies! then hide them away to be tucked into stockings on christmas eve...i'm not sure who it's more exciting for - us or the children!
i still need to finish 2 things to send to morgan's children (check her blog to see some of the stuff she's made!) (last minute? me??) and it's a wrap.
we celebrated our sweet girl's 9th birthday over the weekend - with a 'little house on the prairie' party. perfect for this old fashioned girl.
a giggly group of 9 girls and one boy, pinafore dresses and bonnets ran around the house all afternoon to the sound of fiddle music playing in the background! we played musical chairs, stick wrestling and pass the parcel ("whats a parcel?!!") and of course ma was at the ready with some hearty apple cider donuts and milk to feed hungry bellies.
outside we had egg and spoon and three legged racing, followed by some exploring of the woods and a bonfire to warm up by...with hot dogs, beans and cornbread muffins for supper.
i had a vision for the cake, and lucky for my my lovely friend georgia bustled in the kitchen making my vision a reality! chocolate cream cheese frosted cake, with pizelle wagon wheels and wax paper cover for the wagon!
good old fashioned fun was had by one and all! love my precious prairie girl SO MUCH and cannot believe she is growing up so quickly!
may i guide you to some lovely handmade goodness should you be needing some last minute gifts?
first of all - a local mama has been making these insanely adorable gnomes from upcycled wool sweaters (she had me at gnomes and upcycled wool sweaters!) to raise money to send her son on a semester program next year. i die at the cuteness. i offered to put them in my etsy shop for her in the hopes that they can go to a wonderful home! there are only 2, as well as 2 pretty flower fairies and some herbal dream pillows too. they will ship priority mail.
next up my talented and lovely friend georgia handmakes these gorgeous decorations and ornaments...who doesn't love a happy ornament for their tree? great gift for those tricky people to buy for...check her shop for all kinds of cool and clever handmade things...
i can never get enough of liz's jewellery. so cool and so heartfelt. if i'd been smart and written this blog post weeks ago you could have ordered a custom piece, but she does have heaps of lovely read-to-ship items in her shop, and a gift certificate for a friend to have a custom piece made would make an awesome prezzie too! i've been a fan of amber beads for babies since yindi was a wee one - and i recently ordered a child size necklace for her from angela's amber - yindi often gets tummy aches and amber is known for its healing properties in not only teething but stomach pains too. she looks so sweet in it and i am tempted to get one for myself as well...
ifyou are yet to find a great gift for the toddler or small child in your life, i have a good one for ya! in fact, two of these are tucked in my attic ready for banjo and yindi on christmas morning...
at our kindy they have these beautiful and simple 'rocker boards' - which are a curved board of wood that can act as a rocker, a balance board, a slide, a tunnel...i love toys that have multiple purposes!
i tracked down the place that made them to order ours, and wanted to share. i believe if you ordered now, they would arrive by christmas. ($65 + $15 shipping if i remember correctly) there is no website, as they are made by a small community in NY, if you are interested you can contact larry - who says the following:
Our shop is a very small part of the Fellowship Community www.fellowshipcommunity.org, an Anthroposophically oriented intergenerational community, centered around the care of the elderly, and the care of the land. We are a non profit facility, licensed in the State of NY.
All the of the sales from these rockerboards goes into our scholarship fund, which allows us to pay the tuition for the children who live in the Community, to attend the Green Meadow School up the road. Every rockerboard sale supports a worthy cause.
Sometimes, we have to work extra hard to keep up with the demand, especially around the holidays, where so many moms want one for their child for Christmas.
Anyone interested can contact me at rockerboards@aol.com
happy last minute shopping!
the other morning i invited some mums from kindy over to make needle felted nativities. it was such a nice time to have people in my house crafting and drinking tea! i need to do it more often ;)
i'm not a fancy needle-felter at all (one day!), but this sweet nativity is so simple to make i thought i'd share it here with you...
(keep going with the layering + needling until all the white is covered)
(for the baby jesus, i loosly wrapped some wool around my fingers to make a manger, then lightly needled the ends of the fibres together. the wee baby was made the same way as the gnomes, just much smaller and without a flat base)
with the simple cone shape, many festive figures could be made - including sweet christmas trees (i imagine a bunch of them in different sizes and colours), and of course, old st nick himself...
christmas crafting is my favourite kind of crafting :)
we've got the beginnings of some christmas decorating happening, thanks to 'mutha urth'!! the girls and i went to a wreath making gathering over the weekend, with baskets and bowls of forest greenery and berries freshly picked for our creations. the room smelled delicious and we all had our favourite things to add into our wreath - for ivy, the holly (because it goes with her name), yindi the red berries, and i loved the milkweed - so magical looking!
we are very proud of our wreath and think it looks quite fine on our door!
(most exciting is having a lovely wooden door to hang such a wreath upon - unlike our plastic front door of 2010)
and while we were wreathmaking, the boys were off with a friend getting a christmas tree from the friends land. knowing my man - well, i wasn't holding much hope for an attractive looking let alone symmetrical tree! but he surprised us all by finding this beauty! oh yeah, we're in the christmas spirit now...
a wreath and a decorated tree on the first weekend in december - i'm giving myself a pat on the back for that!
at least 3 christmases ago, my dear friend vicky made us the sweetest advent. and for at least 3 christmases, i have never got my act together to set it up for my children (and felt guilty every year!)...this year, i am please to announce - i got my act together. well, i got the advent together. my act is to follow soon. i hope!
inside 24 gold painted walnut shells are little wee treasures to be discovered each morning, and placed on a silk (in a high up place where banjo cannot destroy). as the days go by we will open animals, special stones, dried flowers, teeny candles, shepherds, an angel, a star, three wise men, and then mary, joseph and on christmas eve baby jesus. it is so simple and sweet! i had such fun all on my own fussing with the little figures and then popping them into the walnut shells and glueing onto a strip of fabric that now hangs on the wall.
it is just as exciting for me as it is for the kids i think!
here is vicky's completed advent from her house last year...i will keep you posted on the progress of ours!
thankyou lovely v for such a special special gift. and happy advent to one and all :)
