Unfortunately, our creative homeschool projects have taken a back-burner to projects I have to complete before Christmas ... which just so happens to be two weeks away. But we DID complete O's much-anticipated teepee (which was the ONLY thing, on our first day of homeschool, he said he was looking forward to ... sigh). Thanks to a tutorial from my poppet, O's dad and I were able to complete the new teepee - to coincide with our study of Native Americans - in just one day.
Here's O, playing in his teepee:
And now I'm told it's time for Christmas. Really?!? I haven't started shopping. And in fact, our elf, Leaky Leon (Tongue-click), has forgotten to fly back to the North Pole TWICE this week. Anyone who knows me just stopped dead in their tracks when they read that. But it's true: I've been so darn busy that my eyes feel crossed!
I'm so appreciative for the busy-ness, though. I've been making some REALLY fun things that put smiles on my friends' faces ... and (will eventually) help me put a Christmas present or two under our tree. Although, ahem, there are NONE wrapped under there right now. Though it's far past Thanksgiving (though I feel silly saying that since I feel it just passed yesterday), I should probably state: I'm very thankful for Amazon right now.
I feel like a Scrooge! But, hey, the temperature here is supposed to reach a balmy 70-degrees tomorrow, which has been commonplace around here so far this fall; I even stepped on a wasp - barefoot, of course - last week (ouch!), so perhaps there's no better year to feel like a Scrooge since it feels FAR from Christmas around here right now. Who, after all, can get into the Christmas spirit when it feels like May?!?
In all seriousness, I miss the years when Christmas was magical. I try to re-create that for my kids. But, alas, I'm watching as my "big" girls - now 15 and 16 - are starting to wrestle with growing up, too; they want Christmas like it used to be. My oldest daughter asked me about a week ago if I would "do fun Christmas things" with all my babies this weekend. We planned it for today. She was excited, even texting me from winter formal last night to make sure it was still on my agenda. So I sewed like a mad-woman today to try to clear off my dining room table for the festivities. But I guess winter formal took its toll on her - she vegetated in bed for about four hours today, so the Christmas festivities didn't happen. She said maybe we could do it another day this week ...
Sigh.
Christmas is a sneaky little thing. It doesn't matter how far in advance we start thinking about it; it still seems to sneak up on us every, single year.
I was, however, able to successfully decorate a cake this weekend that blended a momma's desire for a candy-inspired cake (since the party was at a candy shop) and the almost-5-year-old daughter's desire for a Grinch cake. At least I HOPE I successfully did it; they seemed happy with it, and it helped kick my Christmas spirit into gear just a little:
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And with that, I've officially completed my 2012 cake-decorating season. Now, my sewing machines are screaming and smoking, and, boy, do I have a looooooong way to go on Christmas gifts.
Two weeks, two days and counting ...
Keep your fingers crossed for me!
