On a Cold and Frosty Morning

The mornings are cold here at the moment. The frost which lies on the ground when we awaken stays throughout the day, lending an almost ethereal quality to the countryside behind our house. Our walks to school, though cold, are breathtakingly beautiful.

The freezing fog we had overnight left its legacy of hoarfrost behind this morning, half a centimetre thick on the trees and hedgerows in the lane behind our house. Even the spiders' webs were thickly encrusted and the threads hung heavy with ice. The fog still lingered as we walked to school this morning, but later in the day the sun came out and shone in all its winter glory. The sun, reflecting on the frosty ground, making it seem as though we were walking on diamonds. These crisp, clear winter's days bring a special quality of beauty with them and, cold as they are, I wouldn't change them for all the world.

A frost encrusted spider's web on the railings around our front garden

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Thinking outside the box!

With the end of term nearing rapidly, we have school and playgroup concerts to look forward to this week and next. There has been much excitement with rehearsals for Tom and Lily and the need to prepare costumes has been a concern. Tom is a narrator for his class performance, so he simply needs to wear smart clothes. Emma will be an angel in her concert next week, so I have purchased a lovely costume for her (I just hope it arrives in time!). Lily's costume proved to be the tough one this year. She is a Christmas present in her class performance. It would seem that children's Christmas present costumes are not exactly ten a penny, so the need to make her costume became clear fairly early on!

This is what I came up with. It is a sort of cardboard version of a sundress! I did buy the sparkly headband she is wearing to complete the look, but the rest of it is basically down to me, cardboard, wrapping paper and lots and lots of Sellotape! I think she looks cute!

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The Nativity

I have wanted a Nativity stable for as long as I can remember. I used to gaze longingly at the ones they used to sell in Past Times at Christmas, but the ones I like have always been out of my price range. Finally this year I stumbled across one that I love that wasn't very expensive and my most excellent husband bought it for me. Isn't he wonderful! It looks just like the ones I used to moon over! I have set it up on a low table in the lounge so the Podlings can see it easily. (They are all very good for not touching it. I have never believed in keeping things out of the children's reach, I have simply trained them not to touch things they shouldn't from a young age.)

I think the Nativity set it is an important visual reminder of the reason for the season for the Podlings. In amongst the excitement of school concerts and events, festive crafts, pretty lights and decorations and the anticipation of Christmas morning, I never want the children to forget why we celebrate Christmas. The wonder of that first Christmas in a stable so long ago should always be in the forefront of our minds during the festive season.

I let Emma help me set it up as she was home with me when it arrived. If you see the odd bit of white in the photos it is because Emma starting breaking off bits of the polystyrene packaging and sprinkling it over the scene, telling me it was snowing. Snow in Bethlehem! I think I managed to get most of it off, but a few bits may still remain.

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Felt Bird Ornament

I had one of my 'I have to make something or I will explode!" moods last night. I get like that when I haven't done any needlework in a while! The result was this little embroidered felt bird. I altered a bird template I found online and then just made up the embroidery as I went along. The leaves of the bullion knot rose are shiny green beads, which catch the Christmas lights quite prettily. I didn't bother drawing out the design, I just embroidered it free hand from my head. I think this shows as the lines aren't as even as they would have been had I bothered to do things properly. That being said, I am very pleased with how it turned out. It looks pretty much like the one I had in my head, which is always pleasing! I embroidered the year on the back so I will remember when I made it when I am old and forgetful! She looks rather lovely hanging on our tree.
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Christmas Crafting

Each of the Podlings had a freshly baked rock bun (on Christmas china of course!) and printouts for an angel and a Father Christmas decoration

I had a Christmas craft waiting for the Podlings when they got home from school today. We used these simple printouts (you can find them here) to make stand up angel and Father Christmas decorations. Lily was lamenting the paucity of Christmas decorations in her bedroom, so I thought I would give her the opportunity to make some. Emma and I had baked some rock buns earlier in the afternoon (without the fruit since the Podlings prefer them that way), so they were able to tuck into those whilst crafting. Lily was thrilled because she had only asked me to make rock buns earlier this week...she really loves them!

Tom wasn't in the mood to craft this afternoon (though he says he will do them tomorrow), but the girls had a lovely time. First they coloured in the printouts, then they had some fun with the glitter glue. Father Christmas even got some cotton wool trimming to his cloak and hat! I cut them out, since they are a bit fiddly. I also stapled them together at the back since these sorts of things have a tendency to keep coming undone otherwise. They turned out really well and were simple and good fun to make. I know because, given that I have never entirely grown up, I had to make one myself!

I laid everything we would need out before I went to collect Tom and Lily from school, so this was the scene that greeted them in the dining room when they got home.

Emma colouring in her angel

Lily enjoying her rock cake whilst crafting...pretty much an ideal afternoon for Lily!

Emma's little angel

Lily wanted me to photograph her angel with her new Christmas decoration

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Special Christmas Ornaments 2012

One my favourite family Christmas traditions is to have each of the children choose a new ornament for the Christmas tree each year. When they were babies we picked the ornament for them, but now they are older they all choose their own. They all get a lot of pleasure hanging their own special ornaments on the tree each year and when they eventually grow up and have homes of their own they will each have a lovely set of meaningful decorations to hang on their own Christmas trees.

This afternoon we went to our favourite garden centre so the Podlings could pick their ornaments for this year. As usual it was Lily who took the longest to choose. The poor girl finds it so hard to make a decision about anything and her agony of decision over something as important as her Christmas decoration can only be imagined! She settled on a very pretty little bird in the end, though she was rather tempted to get a fairy similar to the one Emma chose for a while. Tom is always the quickest to choose. He knows what he likes and he just goes right ahead and gets it. He just wants it in all available colours!

We had a lovely afternoon at the garden centre and we finished off the treat by allowing them some take away fried chicken goodness for tea. My Christmas treat was made complete when Mark presented me with a Starbucks' gingerbread latte...my Christmas tipple! A rather infrequent one given their exorbitant prices, but so tasty I can't resist indulging in the odd one!

After tea, the Podlings hung their new ornaments on the tree before heading to bed. I just love enjoying these Christmas traditions with my family. Christmas is so magical when you have children!

I aspire to owning a Christmas village. They are distressingly expensive sadly!

My sweet boy

Lily with her new ornament

Emma admiring her chosen ornament

Emma chose this sweet fairy and unfortunately insisted on carrying it around the shop. The fairy is rather sturdy, but the wings are made of thick paper and were looking slightly the worse for wear by the time we got her to the till! We have hung her up high as I suspect Emma would spend a great deal of time taking her off the tree to play with otherwise!

Lily chose this pretty glittery bird which has a lovely long tail.

Tom really loved these little glass stars. They were small and inexpensive, so we allowed him to have both the red and the purple one. He is a boy who likes to collect a complete set if a set is available!

Tom's red glass star

Mark bought me this adorable glass fox ornament that I fell in love with. I have named him Rollicum Bitem after the fox in John Masefield's 'The Midnight Folk' which I read for the first time this year. Quite how I managed to get to the age of 35 without reading this charming children's classic I don't know, particularly given my fondness for classic children's literature. Mark bought me a copy of the book this summer and I enjoyed it immensely. I like my ornaments to mean something to me and this one encompasses both my love of literature and my love of the British countryside...he's lovely and even more splendid 'in the flesh'.

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Decorating the Tree

Mark bought the Christmas tree on his way home from work yesterday and the Podlings had a lovely time decorating it this afternoon. This was the first year that Emma was fully able to participate in the decorating and she seemed to really enjoy it. Lily always takes particular pleasure in hanging her own special ornaments on the tree and always locates them as soon as we open the decoration boxes. Tom did really well decorating the back of the tree after I explained the need to have decorations all around the tree for balance. He was the only one of the three to listen to me...the girls both put all their ornaments around the front! He's a good boy!

The Podlings did a really good job decorating the tree this year. It's now beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Lily with her favourite ornament, a little red fairy.

The picture is out of focus, but Lily looked too sweet not to share it anyway.

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