The tragic events of last Friday have served as a poignant reminder to me that nothing in this life is guaranteed. I am so grateful for each moment of every day with my precious boys. Here is how we spent our days this Advent season.
On the first Sunday of Advent, I went (all by myself!) to a wreath-making workshop at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center, one of my favorite places in this area. I was the only one who made an advent wreath - I dug through the boxes of stuff they had there until I came upon exactly 4 candleholders. It was meant to be.
Jude and Felix helped me set out the gorgeous Nativity set that Dan's mom made for us. They love those camels.
We picked up these discarded branches and trunk pieces for free when we got our tree, and they smell
amazing in the woodstove. (I took the boys by myself because Dan is working so hard to finish his dissertation we decided he couldn't spare the time to come with us this year.)
Making ornaments...until today these were all we had on the tree!
The handmade stockings are another amazing gift from Dan's mom...
Henry, of course, has been making all kinds of Christmas-related art.
Chocolate Thumbprints, Henry's favorite cookie and a Christmas tradition around here...
Most of us have been sick for most of the month, Jude and Felix worst of all. They are still pretty snotty/coughing/low fevers on and off. We've made the best of it with lots of snuggle time in our bed watching Christmas movies.
The other big project this month besides the Christmas cards was preparing gifts to mail to family and friends. We finally sent them off on Friday!
We made Gingerbread playdough on Thursday. The boys, of course, LOVED it. I tripled the recipe so we could send some to our friends.
Gingerbread for sale...
On Friday we went to the B & O railroad museum. Henry wrote a letter to Santa, we saw the holiday train displays, and everyone made some pictures.
We had a wonderfully relaxing pajama day today. Dan baked up a storm, and I made Peppermint Bark for the first time! I also finished Felix's owl ornament, and we finally put the ornaments on the tree. Now I need to make ornaments for Jude and Henry, and finish a few other things.
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