Handmade with Love

We had our second annual handmade Christmas ornament exchange.  I love all the cute ornaments everyone made!  We had photo prints of us with our spouses framed in glitter, photos of our kids, ironed onto fabric and displayed in an embroidery hoop, sandy 'snow'men, and round ornaments adorned in sea glass, seashells, and beads.  Every time I create or make something, it feels so rewarding.  It's especially nice being surrounded by others who share that same interest.

A Silent Night

We had our ward Christmas gathering this evening.  The cultural hall was made to look like the city of Bethlehem on the night of our Savior’s birth.  The setting, decorations, and costumes made for a wonderful ambiance.  Faith was an angel so I made some wings out of cereal boxes, foil, and tissue paper.  She was so excited!  She is a little performer, that one, always eager to be front and center and I don’t know who she gets that from!

Earlier today I set up the fake Christmas tree we scored from our neighbor who was throwing it out.  It’s a four-and-a-half foot tall cute little thing. The kids were keen on decorating it and did a great job!  Faith spent extra time and attention carefully placing each ornament in just the right spot while Malik lost interest once his friend came knocking on the door.

merry and bright

my semi-homemade glitter creature creations...

'tis the season...

I was rummaging through all the photos stored on my external hard drive this morning.  So many gems of days past and present, so many memories recollected.  I feel that way about old blog posts, too,  and wonder why it’s been so difficult for me to keep up with something I used to LOVE doing.  There has been so much happening since my consistent blogging days of yore, yet I can’t seem to recall details of what, exactly. My poor, neglected blog has withered.

But, it’s the holiday season and I’m committing myself to starting anew and being better at record keeping.

Enjoy these snowy, wintry photos I dug up from our white Oregon Christmas a few years ago…

Christmas Sage

Christmas

We were all up by seven and as the german pancakes were baking in the oven, we opened presents.
Then we had breakfast and off to church we went!
When we got home, the kids played with some of their gifts while I made some desserts for a Christmas lunch at Aunty Kapua's house.

We pulled names for the kids and they got a gift.
The adults also pulled names but rather than a gift exchange, we prepared an inspired little message to share with the person we chose.
It was a nice twist and most of us cried at some point.

It was a lovely Christmas day.

Christmas Eve 2011

We let the kids choose one present to open

Our impromptu photo shoot

Christmas Gathering

A friend invited us over for a Christmas brunch.
We ate french toast, pancakes, eggs, fruit, sausage, bacon, tater tots and lots of cookies!!
Then we decorated some cookies and had an ornament exchange.
It was a nice get together.

we had an ornament exchange -- something i want to make a Christmas tradition because i love all the handmade ornaments adorning my tree!

chante made the red and black balls, i made the owls, drianne moncur made the Christmas trees, stephanie robertson made the vintage-looking circular ornaments, and sheila rich made the personalized stockings

sheila and i assembled these noble fir tree trimmings she scored for free.
we fashioned them into Christmas 'swags' (i learned a new term today) for the sisters we visit teach.
how very martha stewart of us!

Christmas Program 2011

you can see how different their personalities are.
malik is shy and hates getting up in front of people -- just like his mama.
faith, on the other hand, i don't know where she gets her love for being front and center.
either way, i really enjoyed watching them perform!

this is too funny not to share

what mom and dad santa are bringing the kiddos this Christmas:

(all ordered black friday weekend via Amazon -- and let's not mention any of these in any pre-Christmas conversations with the kids...aiight??  and no, santa ain't gonna be gettin' malik the nintendo dsi he's been asking for this year...we'll wait a bit on that one...)

malik is obsessed with folding paper airplanes -- this book will allow me to help show him the correct and more effective ways of doing so.

malik is also obsessed with all things wheels and he enjoys drawing and stickers

faith loves art, also, and i loved my kit like this as a kid

malik needed some lego building plates for his towns and stuff

i remember these kinds of kits when i was younger and i'm sure faith will love this!  this pocket fashion designer is portable and easy to keep together.  she already has interior and fashion design sketchbooks that she enjoys doodling in all the time.

faith expressed lots of interest in this gadget.  she better play with it everyday!

REMOVABLE wall decals for the boy who likes to put his stickers EVERYWHERE!

Christmastime...

we started getting ready for Christmas right after Thanksgiving...

remember i made these? well they are still holding up!  

   

we've begun making cards, and that means glitter galore!

little white tree, tinsel, and musical snow globe table setup

the kids wanted lights in their room, so we strung some up and also put up the mini tree with colorful lights up on the shelf (don't worry, when they fall asleep, i unplug the lights so that it isn't a fire hazard)

and tonight, we decorated our real, aromatic tree!
sure, it's a little bare, but looking at it makes us happy!