1. Hang stocking on the fireplace! One of the main reasons I wanted a mantle was to have a place to hang the stockings. Now....trying to hang them was another mission. In the states you can get these stocking holder things - like paperweights - but in NZ each one costs about $50. Yeah....Crazy expensive. In the end we used those 3M sticky hook things, and they actually look pretty good.
2. Hang matching wreaths on our front doors. I'm a big fan of wreaths, and I wanted two to match for our double doors. After visiting every single christmas shop in town, and seeing how expensive they were I decieded to make my own. And...they look pretty darn good If I do say so myself.
Since putting up the tree - I've had to redecorate it about a dozen times. Wyatt is our expert tree dissassembly man. Now we only have it decorated from midway to the top. Oh! Along with the new wreaths, we also purchased an angel for the top. That was an exciting day, as I found one 1/2 off last week. In fact, I don't think you should ever pay full price for christmas decorations. Does that make me sound cheap? Yeah, probably but when you are struggling to afford diapers and petrol, christmas decorations are a pretty low priority!
That's enough new decorations for one year. Next year my mission is to find matching fake greenery for the mantle and also for the front hall table. Our house looks more cozy with the decorations up, and I will be sad to take them down - we really do need to get some things to make our home feel more 'homely.' If only we had a Garden Ridge here....
I was hoping to get some cutsy decorating the tree photos with the kids - after all it is Wyatt's FIRST CHRISTMAS but Luca was in a 'mood' and refused to wear clothes, and all Wyatt wanted to do was play with the sparkly balls. Bless him.
I'm at home with the boys every Mon/Tue/Wed until I start back at work full time. It's all good when it's nice outside. We visit friends, we go for walks, we go to the park or for hikes (sometimes twice a day) but when it rains, it's not so fun. I've checked out every children's christmas picture book, and DVD that I could find from the library. We've made cards, cookies, and gifts for teachers at the preschool. Being inside all day drives me crazy. Or maybe it's the kids that drive me crazy.
Anyways, here's a few pics of our cookie making project.
I'm hosting a second annual cookie exhange at my house. My big plan was to make peanut brittle. I failed. 3 batches failed (using two different recipes) - plan B was to make more sugar cookies. 5 dozen more! The cookie exchange was a success. Lots of girl talk and drinking of bubbles. Gotta sample all my brands somehow.
I think I'd rather make these cute cookie jars instead. This way I don't end up gaining 5 lbs from eating batter and cookies laying around the house. Oh, and get this...no one in NZ has ever seen this concept. Well most people haven't. They all thought I was so clever to make this up. Ha, yeah right. Luca loved helping me make them, and he'll get a kick out of delivering them to our neighbors on Christmas eve.
We took the old fashioned steam engine train to fielding to see their christmas parade. Luca loved the train, and of course the parade. But honestly I think the train was the highlight of the day. Oh, and riding the mini ferris wheel with Daddy.
Hard to believe only a few more days until Christmas! We're hosting James' family at our house on Christmas day, so we are hoping for sunny weather so that the kids can go for hikes on the trails and play on the slip n' slide. This whole week has been wet and windy. I almost wish it would snow - then it would feel like Christmas.
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