Holiday Cheer

I love holidays and Christmas is a favorite. This year we're staying in London for Christmas, which we've only done one other time in the 5 years we've been here. Even when we go away, we always decorate a bit, 2013 being a favorite, before we re-arranged our house. I thought we'd go all out decorating like mad, but I'm a little behind in all the things I had planned. But it's still quite festive and we've done a good bit of Christmas crafting and baking. We made a lot of paper snowflakes, which are addictive and really easy to make. They're in our front window and so pretty to look at in the evening light.

I made the girls an Advent calendar with little pouches, which they've gotten a kick out of this month. Each pouch has two little chocolates and a treat of some sort. I've filled them with things like bendy pencils, pretty paperweights, and some special pouches have mystery cards that send them on a treasure hunt of sorts around the house. Sometimes those cards lead them to a trinket or little gift of some kind or tickets to something like ice skating or to see a film. I made little happy tree cards and wrote the hunt instructions on the backs of them.

We also made some carolers out of toilet rolls. I just love these little carolers, they are so cute! I saw the idea on pinterest and had to copy it with the girls. They mostly just painted the toilet paper rolls and I did the rest. Every time I look over at them, I can't help but giggle. 

Of course we mailed Christmas cards and have done a lot of gift wrapping. I had pinned some Evie Barrow printable gift tags and decided to use them this year. They are so fun and cheerful. I also ordered some custom wrapping paper made from many favorite instagram photos from Wrap.me, which was actually hard to take scissors to but it's really great wrapping paper. 

And we always make Christmas cookies using a great recipe. It's hard for me to let the little ones decorate the cookies how they want to. I'm always struggling not to micromanage them into creating something less messy, but mess is an inevitable and huge part of the fun of being a kid. 

And then there was decorating the tree. Our tree is so pretty. I think we picked one with a really nice shape and fits so well in our front room. It's filled with Christmas cards from this year and years past and so many of our beloved ornaments. 

Tomorrow we'll make our gingerbread house, and of course I picture the sophistication of one of these, but with the tots being the lead builders, I have a feeling it will be more of a sideways, icing smeared gumdrop pile, which will still be fun to make even if not entirely edible. We'll also go to Christmas eve dinner at a great local pub, which we're all looking forward to. Lois has already picked out her "high heels" to wear with her Christmas dress. Right now though we're all just enjoying Google play Christmas stations and the holiday cheer. Here's hoping you and yours have a wonderful, cozy Christmas!