Happy Birthday my sweet little one

My sweet, snuggly boy.
So full of love for all of us...
Giving so many hugs, rubs and sweet words for each of us...
I love our every morning cuddles, the way you charge into my bed with such ferocity and happiness, I love pulling the blanket back for you and enveloping it over you again.
Your warmth = bliss...
Your fire is so strong, full of life. You know what is right and wrong and stand your ground. I say, way to go my strong fellow, you will need that some day... ♥ ♥ ♥
Happy 3rd Birthday my fiery winter boy...

Home for the Holidays

Pure joy to celebrate Christmas with the kids in the blissed out nature that was my own childhood

Happy to be home visiting with dear friends,

baking with Nana,

and making ice cream with Boppa.

Lots of walks, good food, playing with the animals... Such a Merry Christmas! Hope you are enjoying a sweet one too...

Handmade Christmas

Quiet tea with the littles gazing at handmades made by us for others and the wonders arriving by mail...

Working hard myself in these last days to finish up Santa's handmades for these sweet two...

New backpacks almost done and ready to be filled with some special surprises... Kap has been wanting a backpack "with straps, HERE (on his shoulders) to hold all my treasures."

A little bed for those dolls I worked so hard on last year... New outfits and shoes were in order too of course! In the most purple, fancy fabrics I could find for girl's "Dollie", and some sweet little overalls for the boy's friend (not pictured). Dollie also got her own little lovie because she might want that in the dark nights...

Just hours left and so looking forward to the joy and celebration of these next days with family...

Fire light, star bright

::Winter solstice:: The sun is at its southernmost point in the sky:: Darkness turning into light:: The longest night:: Longer days to come... ::Celebration! We have been celebrating solstice these past few years with the kids to embrace nature's rhythm, remind ourselves of the changes happening in our world with the changes of season and to emphasize our connection with the natural world. It means a lot to the hubs and I to have quiet family time, just the four of us, to celebrate before the holidays. It also gives us time to celebrate the season further from K's birthday - stretching the time a little. Then Christmas becomes more about celebrating the birth of Christ, with a little stocking from Saint Nick and plenty of food and fun with family. I love having the whole season sprinkled with reasons to celebrate! The day started with lots of food preparation (or just playing, depending on who you asked)...

AnaSofia wanted a jul log cake after reading Clever Beatrice's Christmas. I think this will definitely be a yearly tradition. We made a lemon cake and rolled it with a lemon curd filling and frosted with chocolate icing. We used marzipan (Tak FarMor!) to make mushrooms on the log and a chocolate sauce homemade and sent by friends as the caps. YUM!

Before devouring dinner and dessert we had a sweet little fire outside in the barely there snow and talked about our wishes for this next year (or ate marshmallows, depending on who you asked)...

Happy Solstice! Bring on the light!

These days

Nisse the house elf has been opening his door this month to leave little handmade gifts for us each day. In return, the kids have been creating elaborate scenes for him as well - it is such a magical time of year!

We are continuing to create a storm of goodies, including beautiful swedish stars from a favorite upstate NY blog

Or just decorating ourselves as ballerina reindeer

Or working on the sewing machine (AnaSofia is starting to get into helping me - YAY!) with fabric scraps to make some sweet garlands to send out!

So busy in a quiet, joyous, cozy kind of way!

oh my gourd!

This year's homemade handmade for littles is a culmination of a year's work. Growing gourds in the garden, drying them out, drilling and sanding each one and painting the outside and inside before filling them with a few sweet wooden peg people. The kids were a part of the process the whole way which made me so happy. I envisioned us doing at least 20 of these and we only managed to do four, but I am so happy that it was such a fun progression.

I hope they bring friends as much joy to play with them as we had making them... Happy Crafting!

:: Advent ::

(definition: a time of expectant waiting and preparation) Little bits of nature are traveling indoors, little festive bits...

A little here and there...

Packages arrive from overseas filled with love...

And opened with great excitement...

Holiday cheer is here!