I have put all my scarves and playsilks on sale in my shop and you can still get your order in time for Christmas if you hurry! There are a few really gorgeous teal scarves available as well as a couple of other colors!
I hope you are having a peaceful Advent! We’re trying to. We are on our Christmas break now, and I am so glad. Our homeschool co-op met last week for our end of semester celebration and we won’t meet again until almost mid-January. We started the day of the celebration with Mass and because there weren’t enough altar servers, Gabe offered to serve. My older boys have chosen not to become altar servers for various personal reasons, so this made me happy and very glad that I had remembered my camera. His friend Joseph prompted him through the Mass and he did well.
At the celebration, the kids performed various speeches and other things they learned throughout the semester and my middle school biology class shared habitat dioramas that they made. Larkspur made a desert diorama. Beatrix made a burning rainforest. It was a little hard to photograph Bea’s because of the type box she made it in, but I think you get the idea. I asked her if she would like to paint over the words “United Dairy egg nog” on the front of the box but she declined, saying she chose it specifically because it said “egg nog”. I didn’t question her logic. As a family, we do love egg nog.
Each mom was supposed to plan and supervise a craft project at the celebration. I planned to make beeswax birthday candles with the kids. For various reasons, that didn’t work out quite as I envisioned it would (see image above).
I have had a couple of successful projects lately. One thing that I did (with some help sanding from Jonny and my boys) was refinish the top of our kitchen table. I took before and after photos as well as some in the process, but those are all on my external hard drive that stopped working last week. That’s a little upsetting-not the loss of those particular photos but all the other ones on that drive! The table photos in this post are all “after.” Anyway, our table has needed refinishing for years, but I have been bugging Jonny to build us a new one for just as long and I’ve been holding out for that. He doesn’t have time and the top of our table was in such bad condition that you could get splinters wiping it down. The finish was gone, there was craft paint all over it, and embedded glitter. My goal was to have it looking nice again by the first of Advent and I did it!
Last week my friend Rachael taught me and my older girls how to make wreaths with fresh greenery. This may be one of my new favorite crafts to do. I made my wreath with cedar, boxwood, and pinecones and I love it! I didn’t manage to get a photo of it, but if we get it hung on the front door (haven’t managed to yet) I will get one! I think I want to make fresh wreaths year-round. It definitely seems like a very good Advent craft at the very least. I don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner.
Our other favorite thing to do right now is puzzles. My Aunt Genie sent the nativity puzzle and I bought the Autumn puzzle. (affiliate links) It’s neat the way you can sit down to work on one and even the older kids gravitate over to help. There’s definitely something very soothing and satisfying about the process. When I was a little girl I remember my stepmom always having one going. I understand why.
p.s. If you are looking for my gift list it is here. My book list is here.
karen says
I hope you can take the hard drive to a techie who will get your photos back. I have been neurotic on saving my photos to: flash drive, hard drive and then to Flickr. I’m so afraid of losing something!! I pay the $50 bucks a year for Flickr and I set the upload to private in an album just for me. I do all of this at the beginning of each month as well as back up my computer.
We will be doing puzzles over the holidays with the adult kids and I’m excited about that 🙂
Gillian says
Thank you for letting me share your family and their activities. I so love your photographs. Have a peaceful holiday.
Gillian says
Thank you for letting meshare your family and their activities. I so love your photographs. Have a peaceful holiday.
Bee says
Oh, I love your wreath! It turned out beautifully. I’ve been wanting to make one too, but have not been able to find the appropriate craft supplies anywhere. Maybe next year :).
I have been doing a lot of puzzles as well lately – there’s something very cozy and quiet about it that I need right now. Occasionally I listen to a podcast while doing one :).
Linda says
Merry Christmas to you Ginny and family. Thank you so much for all the beauty to bring to us all year long. It’s always such a joy to see a new post from you in my email 🙂 !!!
Laura says
Oh I love your wreath! It is gorgeous – you did a beautiful job! Thanks for the puzzle links. A friend sent us a puzzle a while ago and we had the best time working on it together. I’ve been wanting to pick up a new one!
Grace says
Your wreaths look gorgeous! My friend Kim & I used to make them every year but we didn’t have quite as much variety in ours as you do and we haven’t done it in so many years. I miss making them, seeing yours!
Julie Churchwell says
Lovely pictures. Our Advent was too fast and furious this year, and I am hoping to reclaim it this week. Thank you for the inspiration.
Marilyn says
Hope you and yours can have a pleasant remaining two weeks of Advent. We decorated our tree today.
Marilyn
Marion says
Congratulations to Gabe for doing a great job as an Altar Server.
Marion
Joan says
There is nothing like afresh wreathe.
Joan
Julie Zilkie says
I would love a link to a tutorial on how to make those wreaths! And you are also making pomanders! Is there a link to where you do that, too? These are both on my to-do list, but just haven’t gotten it done yet!!
Julie Churchwell says
I agree with Julie.