Hi, and welcome to the week. First, I'm sorry I didn't give a heads up that we wouldn't be posting on Friday. I expected to, but we got some sad news (we had to put down our kitty) and decided that we would make the most of some family time together before Bret departed for China this weekend. So it was a mixed day - sad for the loss of our first baby - but we tried to make the best of it by soaking up each other and even shopping for some housey things. Nothing soothes grief like retail therapy.
And now there's so much to share! I'm making a lot of progress in the kitchen, organizing our tools, baking Christmas cookies, making holiday cards and generally feeling on a roll. But let's start with what we'd planned for Friday: our lazy (wo)man's advent calendar.
Lou's very own tree. I swear, she wore that to school on Friday. I consider that dress her Angela (from My So-Called Life) dress; she wears it all the time, with combat boots, natch.
At three-and-three-quarters, Lou is really starting to grasp the concept of time (the days of the week undies are remarkably good for this, we've found - and she LOVES them) and she is also fully embracing Christmas. We heard a lot from other parents that four was the very best age, and took that with a grain of salt, figuring that anything that came after three must seem awesome. But for the holidays, (approaching) four is awesome. She's into Christmas carols and decorating the tree and writing Christmas cards. We went to see Santa yesterday and she ran right to him and gave him a huge hug. (Before going, we discussed whether this Santa would be the real Santa, or one of his helpers that takes photos and helps compile lists of Christmas wishes. I told Lou she could decide which one he was when we got there. He turned out to be a super cheesy Santa - his beard actually slipped off during a few of the pics - and his "boots" were those plastic things you wrap around your shoes. Afterwards, I asked Lou if she thought he was real or a helper, and she said, "Oh, he's definitely the real Santa." The spirit is strong in that one, is what I'm saying).
So I really wanted to make an advent calendar for her, to help count down the days. I remember ours growing up - we moved a mouse from pocket to pocket - and there are those that are actually a series of small gifts. We considered repurposing our still-huge stash of Halloween candy in that way, but figured we didn't need to force anymore lollipops into Lou's diet. But as we were unloading our stash of Christmas decor, inspiration struck. I had two small fake trees, and Lou immediately claimed one as hers. Then I found a box of small ornaments, and even a wee star for crowning the tree. We decided that Lou would hang an ornament on her tree every night, with the star serving as the Christmas Eve ornament. I considered adding number stickers to the ornaments and hanging them on a curtain rod or ribbon to await their turn on the tree, but maybe I'll do that next year. For now, they're in a small glass basket that belonged to Bret's grandmother, and Lou chooses which ornament she'd like to hang.
I also hung a small chalkboard up on a Command hook, and Lou writes the new number of days 'til Christmas every night. (I wrote it here, for the photos). Then I taped up a December calendar page, just to really drive it all home - which it seemed to. We circled the first day of winter, Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Year's Eve, and she seems to understand how they all relate to one another. The whole little zone is very casual and Lou-sized.
So, though it's not super original, this pretty well aligns with our mantra of bang-for-the-buck DIY projects. Lots of bang. Very little buck. We'd love to hear about how you count down the days to the holidays! Have a great one, and I'll see you tomorrow.