It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we decorated for Christmas:

I grew up with an awesome advent calendar where each day in December, we got to pin a felt ornament on a felt Christmas tree. I loved it! So, I've wanted one of my own for a while. Several years ago, my mom found one similar to the one we had growing up, except that it was a nativity one. So last year, I started trying to figure out how to make one. It didn't happen. But this year, I finally put my thoughts into actions and finished it by the 1st so Michael could start counting down to Christmas. Here it is:

I painted a nativity scene using watercolors. I did watercolors so Michael could paint with me at the same time. It turned out better in my head, but it was an inspired decision in the eternal scheme of things, so I'm just going to be satisfied with all the imperfections. Anyway, I mounted my watercolor on a tin serving dish (couldn't find a plane sheet of metal), and Mod Podged it on. Then I made the calendar part out of fabric and put the tray in the pocket things on the top and hot glued it in. I painted numbers with puff paint, lamenting the entire time that I couldn't find pre-cut numbers to use.

And I filled the pockets with the little figures I made using wooden beads, leftover fabric and ribbon, and a ton of hot glue:

Each figure has a magnet on the back. I made a manger that goes in spot Number 1. It has a magnet on front so that the baby Jesus can sit there when he arrives on the 24th.

The animals were tricky. I'm not that good with fabric, hot glue, and wooden beads. So, when I found foam animal stickers at Michael's, I figured that would have to work. The pack I bought came with horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. The horses were far too cheesy to use, and the chickens were border-line (you can see one above), but the cows and pigs weren't too bad. I put the foam stickers on felt and tried to embellish them a little to get them to kind of match. I was about to work on the pigs when it hit me that I couldn't use them. This was a Jewish family before the Law of Moses was fulfilled, and so they would never have stayed in a stable with pigs! Unclean! So, I did the best with the chickens and cows. Thankfully, I could make tons of sheep using cotton-balls, feet from the foam animals, and black wooden beads! So far, Michael has been loving it, and when I see the many imperfections, I remind myself that my kids won't see the imperfections. Hopefully, all they will see is a wonderful, cherished family tradition that their mom made just for them. 

I've also been frantically working on Christmas projects. I want to stay busy so that I don't have time to dwell when I'm not feeling well. So far, it is working. And I'm panicking a little by how fast December is going. I think I'll make it and finish by the 21st, but I'm still worried and sewing like mad nearly every day. 

Last week, we did a day of working on Michael's Christmas projects. He painted, and I supervised, so I was able to take care of a lot of little things that have been ignored during my sewing frenzy, and he got a day of lots of Mommy attention. We went to the store and he picked some stuff out to work on as well as some paint, and then we came home and he painted for 4 hours! I taped off areas so that it would still look good, which is why it took so long, but he actually did most of the painting. I really did very little.  

 These two pictures have been censored so no one gets and early peak at their present from Michael!

And here's our traditional picture in front of the tree for our 2012 ornament. Next year, we hope to have four of us in this picture!

 And yesterday, we all made sugar cookies together. Michael had no qualms about almost literally diving into the fun:

Here's hoping you all are enjoying a wonderful December!