Hand Made Holidays

Making a decoration for our front door with greens we gathered during a walk.

All done!

Hung with pride on our front door.

Making gingerbread cookies.

This is how Violet helps with cookies.

Eating wads of raw cookie dough.

We kept the cookies she made separate.

We love her, but this is kinda gross.

At least it's vegan - no raw eggs to worry about.

Penelope doing some beading.

Using a real needle, she was so thrilled.

Making wreaths from old sweater scraps.

Making snowman name tags.

Working on Violet's Solstice gift.

Making paper snowflakes. Violet cut her hair off right after this picture was taken.

Hanging up snowflakes.

Tree on the pajamas I made the girls.

More beading.

Violet's box almost done.

Trying on a Santa hat I made for her cousin.

More beading.

A bib I made for the smallest cousin.

I knit so many snowman hats!

Crayons ready to be melted.

Peeling paper off old crayons.

Finished crayons.

In every color.

There was so much elving going on here during the month of December. Penelope was totally into it and able to actually do so much of it this year. She was allowed to use a real needle and thread for the first time, and she was so very proud. She also made the decoration for our front door by herself. And both girls spent a lot of time stringing felted scraps of old sweaters onto wire to make wreath ornaments. We all made snowman tags to put on packages, I did a lot of knitting -  mostly hats for the girl's cousin's, plus a matching hat for Ashley's doll - and a cell phone case for Steve that I like so much I'm gonna make another for myself. I also made a bib for little Isabella, who just turned a year. Steve and the girls turned the girl's old, broken crayons into new flower crayons to give to cousins. And Penelope spent lots of time making a box for Violet with painted spools inside and shoe laces to string them on. She was most excited to give this gift.

And there was all the cookie making, as we experimented and learned how to make Christmas cookies that are both vegan and gluten free. The best cookie making I never got a picture of, and I am still sad that I couldn't find my camera. We had three of the girl's friends over, and their mamas too. The kids played while the mamas had tea and chatted, and when it was time for making cookies all five children came and sat around the table decorating cookies with glittery sprinkles together, all of them, including the boys, wearing beautiful fairy dresses. It was the best.

We made vinegar from raspberries and blueberries we picked during the summer and herbs from our garden and gifted them to people.

There was also an abundance of crafting and decorating, including all the beautiful snowflakes that are now decorating our windows. And during our snowflake making afternoon Violet cut off her ponytail with children's scissors. Yes, cut it off. I am over it now, hair grows back.

I really loved all the making by hand that we shared here together. And mostly everything was made with things we already had on hand, which was very cool. I sort of had a "let's use it all up" attitude. I do tend to hoard materials, but I found myself pulling out everything and saying "Heh, lets use this!". I even let Penelope use my bead collection that I have been saving for years. And when Penelope had a hard time parting with some things (like her old crayons) I decided to lead by example and use up my favorite chenille fabric for the back of Lily's bib. The fabric was perfect for the bib, and Santa brought Penelope a new huge box of crayons. I'm already getting ideas for next year. This was really a lot of fun.