Christmas Wreath

The other week I decided that the boy and I would try making a Christmas wreath (it couldn't be any worse than our Easter wreath), and I figured if it didn't turn out, it could get hung on the boy's bedroom door and I'd put a store bought one on the front door.

Then I saw a tweet from Lindsey at Recreated (@LGrecreated) about this 'Amaze-Balls" wreath she had created, and I thought, hey, maybe I can do that. (Plus her post had plenty of 'balls'  and I have  the sense of humour of a 12 year old boy).

I let the boy pick the balls he wanted to use, and then he told me where to place them when we put the wreath together. I probably would have put more on, but the boy decided we had enough, and since he was the creative team, and I was just the labour, I had to listen to him.

The finished product

The boy loves to show it off to everyone, and I think it's front door worthy, so we're all set - bring on Christmas!

The Boy's view of the Christmas market

We headed down to the Christmas Market this past weekend with some friends to help us get in the Christmas spirit. The weather didn't really inspire any great Christmas-y feelings (it was damp & rainy), but the carollers, booths, food (yum warm nuts!), and general atmosphere made it a great night out. 

Like last year, the boy took his camera , to document the outing, and he's really getting quite proficient so I thought I'd share them.

There you have it, this year's trip to the Toronto Christmas Market was a success, I can't wait until next year to see what the boy finds picture-worthy then!

This is why the boy isn't allowed to dress me

"Mummy, look it's so sparkly and pretty, you should buy it"

Because what every SAHM needs in her closet is a sparkly gold mini dress... 

Although according to the boy I could wear it anywhere, so if you see someone freezing at kindergarten drop off, but looking very sparkly, you'll know the boy convinced me to get the dress.

The real Santa

I'm taking the boy to see Santa at the mall this afternoon to have his picture taken. It's become a tradition for us, and the boy has always enjoyed it, thankfully. No 'hilarious' screaming baby photos for us.

He asked me if it was the real Santa, and not really knowing how to answer it, I just asked him what he thought (best cop-out answer ever). After thinking for a moment he decided that our mall Santa was real, but other mall Santa's weren't, the Santa that was in our local parade was the real Santa too.

Nice to know that he still believes, but since he already realizes that not all Santa's are 'real', I wonder how long it will be before he decides that none of the Santa's are real? I think I'll be using this letter if he ever asks about Santa. But for now, I can still say, 'yes boy, there is a Santa.'

Home made advent calendar

The boy loves Christmas - he's been desperately waiting to get his advent calendar out so he can start counting down the days.  The calendar he uses is the same one I had growing up, and of course he has a chocolate one too (who doesn't love having a chocolate a day?)

This year the boy & I made one for his Dad too. Starbucks was selling a packet of 25 of their instant VIA coffees, and I originally bought it to be part of his Christmas presents. But I got to thinking that he might like his own advent calendar, and these would be perfect for it. 

I had just bought myself a new pair of boots, so I had a big box I could use for it, and then I had to put my thinking cap on to figure out the rest of it. I eventually came up with the idea of using paper towel rolls as the holders for the packets of coffee.

I cut the holes in the box (while having that SNL 'Christmas' song running through my head) by myself and then the boy helped with the rest.

Step 1: Cut a hole in the box....

We attached the tubes, filled them (the boy made 'ornaments for his Dad - basically cut up pieces of paper he drew on) and then we covered them up. 

Tubes waiting to be filled up

We just cut squares of construction paper to cover the holes up. While shopping at the dollar store the other day I found a cute countdown garland that I bought and cut up to use on the calendar for the dates.

Tada! Finished project

All in all, I think for a non crafty Mum with a 4 year old helper, it turned out o.k. I think my husband will love it, because the boy helped make it, and now I won't feel so guilty if I buy myself a chocolate advent calendar on Dec 2 when they're on sale!