The Night Before the Night Before Christmas

Thought I'd do one more catch-all post before I sign off for 2010. I must say once again what a delightful advent season this has been for us. The time since Thanksgiving has gone quickly, but the weeks have been full and fun with just the right amount of busy. There has been some project or event nearly every day that has kept us all very much in the spirit of the season.

So without further ado, here are a few more from the "miscellaneous" Christmas pile:

Note to self for next year: Don't take on a mass-production edible Christmas gift idea until the recipe and technique has been fully vetted. This peppermint bark involved a lot of near-cursing, and I was not fully satisfied with how it turned out. Tasty enough, yes, but not quite what I envisioned.

However, one project that turned out even better than I pictured it was this Christmas dress for Amy's bear, Shuffle:

Shuffle is the Build-a-Bear Amy made about six months ago. She named her "Shiffle" at the time, and it morphed into Shuffle. I have no idea where she came up with either name, but it has stuck, and Shuffle is a good buddy to Amy. Over the last month or so I've found that I can secure sewing time during the day if I am using it to make clothes for Amy's dolls or critter friends. She gets an idea in her head and instantly we drop what we're doing as she says "Mommy, let's go make a dress for Shuffle!" As long as William is napping, this is all quite doable.

I am having lots of fun with these doll clothes because I can use material from my stash (this happens to be leftovers my mom gave me from a print she used to make me a Christmas dress when I was three years old). And, because they are small, they are really quick to do, but with all the techniques for full-size clothes, so I am learning a lot about garment sewing in general. Oh, and I even figured out how to do that little tail opening just like the purchased Build-a-Bear clothes.

Moving on. I went by me-self to the dentist yesterday, and before leaving I tasked Don with removing the dryer vent to clean out any crud that might be accumulating - maintenance long overdue. Since I wasn't around to make him stop, he proceeded to take apart the entire dryer to see how it works. Everything was back together (and functioning) when I returned, but he did fess up, and even took this picture mid-project. Yikes.

Earlier in the week Amy and I did some coloring:

Pretty good for a three-year-old, you say? Yes, it would be. Not so good a twenty-seven-year-old. I can do many things; drawing is not one of them. Too bad, because Amy is always asking me to draw things for her, and her requests are very specific. Here she wanted to draw the Nativity Scene, complete with Shepherds in the Field, an Angel, the Wise Men holding Gifts, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus, and an Extra Diaper (very important), Donkey, Sheep, and a Flying Camel. I prompted her on none of this.

Yesterday while I was out I noticed that Kohl's had already moved their remaining pink trees to 70% off status, and since Amy has ooh'd over this one all season I thought I bring it home for her room. I assembled it while she was out shopping with Don later in the day, and told her all about the two Elves that appeared at our front door carrying this tree for her. I showed the Elves which room was hers, and well, there you go. Magic.

But of course Amy is always one step ahead of me, and immediately needed to decorate her new tree. She found a few odd bits to use as ornaments last night, and I promised her some crafting time today to make something suitable.

Circles traced on scrap poster board, paint, glitter, yarn, patience, and by this afternoon we had 24 pretty things to hang on her tree.

Now. To shift gears a bit, and wrap up this looong post, I'd like to share something that's been on my mind all month. In addition to this Christmas season being full of cookies, sewing, trees, lights, music, and fun, it has also been for me a season filled with a new level of contemplation about the birth of Jesus. Stories that we read every year, like this one, or songs like this one, have been making me downright misty.

I think a lot of that has to do with my own Boy Child. Our Lord and Savior was a little baby, a newborn in His mother's arms. An infant, a toddler, a boy, a man. Did He have rosy cheeks when He was seven months old? Did He like to grab his toes? Did He make Mary smile every time He looked her way? What could it possibly have been like to be the mother of God, and not just the mother of a little boy who makes mommy's heart melt anyway, with his every breath?

There is no way I could possibly know, but I like to think that my own babies are helping me understand Mary, and all of the beauty and magnitude of Christmas just a little bit more that I ever have before...

...and with that, I shall simply wish a Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!