Nativity - Angels

Today we added angels to our nativity set - I couldn't decide how the dress should work so I made two different ones.  I love their feathery wings - donated by Aunty Suz.  Thank-you.  We also painted the stable, and the table and ourselves!!

Hands-on Nativity Set

Those of you who know me, know that I have a very special Nativity set.  The Willowtree set lives on the top shelf of my bookshelf all year round.  Aquiring this set was progressive, I got a new bit of the set for a number of birthdays and Christmas'.  It is strictly a 'hands-off' nativity set for our boys. 

But the idea of the nativity is very important to what we believe, so I was very excited when I found the toilet paper nativity set by SquiggleMum.  This is our current Christmas Craft.  We have made ours a little differently, people are generally toilet rolls but our animals are playschool style, (flat cardboard decorated with pegs for legs).  Each day we are building, making a little more of the set.  So far we have made Mary, Joseph & a donkey, stable, manger, Jesus, cows and a pig.

 

There is still lots to make, angels, shepherds, sheep, star, wisemen, camels.  I'm thinking I can make this last all the way to Christmas.  By then I'm sure they will all be very loved and we will have to throw them away and start again next year. 

Isaiah is really enjoying the process of the set building a little more each day. 

This is what it is all about to me - the process of him learning what Christmas is all about in a hands on way that brings it to life for him.  Today, we were talking about Mary being pregnant and having baby Jesus when they got to the stable.  So Isaiah grabs Jesus, sticks him inside Mary and says, 'He has to be in there first Mum, then he comes out'. Isaiah then lifted Mary up and put Jesus into the manger.  I was amazing at how well he is picking up what was going on.

I'll show you the progress over the next few days.

Christmas Crafting

I really wanted to do something to help focus on the lead up to Christmas but wasn't able to organise myself enough to find and do an advent activity that I liked and felt helped us focus on the true meaning of Christmas.  So instead, we are doing just a little Christmas craft each day and while we are sitting at the table, I talk about what Christmas means to us.  The birth of Christ, giving, thinking about others etc.

Here are some of the crafts we have done so far.

All of these have come from the Kids Craft Weekly newsletter I subscribe to.

Scouring pad Christmas Tree with simple brad decorations

Shortcut pastry, seeds pressed in, painted with egg yolk and baked.

Pipecleaner wreath with bead and bell

Ribbon and alfoil garland

Each of these decorate our tree, although they do seem to get removed from the tree regularly and played with lots, which is so much fun.

Inside the bags

These are the present that were in the bags I showed you before our family Christmas. 

 I made cool rainbow shorts for the nephews.

And cute skirts for the neices.

They were all very happy with their new clothes.

Family Christmas

We are off to enjoy celebrating family Christmas with Scott's family this weekend.
Here are all the presents ready to go - mostly simple homemade things.



I'll reveal the contents of these bags next week.

Owl Pants

I made a pair of pants with cute owl farbic for Jai this week.
Isaiah loved them and requested a pair too.
The request included green and pink ones please.
So I said yes and thought I would get to it sometime in the next few days.

Well, apparently I was taking too long to get to it
because on Tuesday Isaiah came to me in the dining room carrying all the required fabric.
'Here mummy - here is the stuff for my owl pants.'
So with him climbing into his chair to watch (read make sure I did it straight away) I started his owl pants.
I did managed to include some yellow too and use a watermelon pink rather than pale pink.

Fortunately for me, I managed to distract him with playschool for a while
so I did get some other things done before having to finish the pants

Anyway, with a late night on Tuesday night and an early morning Wednesday
He wore these yesterday and is wearing them again today.
Not sure if they'll ever be allowed in the wash!!

The best part of making these pants for him is listening to him exclaim things like
'it's going to be soooo exciting'and
'they are so fantastic'and
getting a huge hug with a big 'thank-you mummy, I love my owl pants'.

Garden Update

We did some gardening this past weekend.
Isaiah loves to help, he is 'ploughing' the weeds.

Beans are looking happy

This lemon tree grows lemons that taste terrible so it is going!

Here is the replacement
A birth present for Eli from his Aunty and Uncle, very special.