Slowing Down to Enjoy the Holidays

Now that Santa has made his visit, and we've all caught up on some sleep, we've been able to slow down a bit and enjoy the holidays together. Here, the boys are learning the art of rod hockey or table hockey, a gift from their great aunt and uncle.

I even managed to complete some last-minute Maine Morning Mitts, an easy, relaxing pattern from Clara Parkes' new book, The Knitter's Book of Yarn, for my sister who really liked the Noro Kureyon colorway (90) that I chose. I'm sorry the photo isn't the best and doesn't accurately show all the colours of the yarn, but it's a very versatile colour if you wear a lot of darker colours. I've even made a felted earflap hat for my husband in the same yarn. And he wears it too!

Anyhow, I hope everyone is enjoying a restful, happy holiday.

Much Needed Comic Relief

Me: Drink your milk R.
R: Yes sir!

or

R: (in the car) I'm hungry!
Me: We'll be home soon. I'll make you something to eat when we get home.
R: I want to talk to my lawyer!

When the pressure is on to get presents bought, the house clean for a Christmas tree that's been sitting outside for days, and to eliminate thoughts that you behaved, or rather misbehaved at the "office" party, it's good to know that your little boys are always there to provide you with lots of comic relief. R, our three-year old, has been making us all laugh lately with his spontaneous lines picked up from movies that he's watched. I believe R's "Yes sirs" have come from Buzz Lightyear of Toy Story and the "I want to talk to my lawyer!" is a line from Ratatouille, a movie I haven't even seen yet!

Our First Advent Calendar

It's the official start to our holiday season now that we've put up the advent calendar. I have a store-bought one that I've never used somewhere in my Christmas decoration boxes, but I thought it would be much more fun to make one after reading this whip up post. I liked the ideas of incorporating a family activity each day and of teaching my two little guys how many "sleeps" there are until Christmas.

Our first activity was to learn how to cut paper snowflakes for our window, seeing as we woke up to this in the morning, and it is still snowing as I write.