St. Nicholas Icon figure on our Advent table from Sue Dow
Advent/Christmas books (all of which can be found on the sidebar of the blog)
You may have seen over on the FB page that St. Nicholas came for a visit. The children shined their shoes on the eve of his arrival and placed carrots in them for his weary donkey. They awoke early the next morning to their usual treats of clementines, wishing walnuts and honey sticks. The girls also received new Saint Lucia paper dolls as well as Saint Therese and her sister Celine paper dolls. Therese and Celine came from this set. I couldn't muster up the energy to cut out every single family member and their clothing (twice!) in the set so this year they just got the two sisters and then next year they will get the rest. Because these dolls are so special I took the advice I found here to laminate them and then use poster tack to stick on their clothes. It's really quite a brilliant idea, considering all the Saint Lucia paper dolls we have gone through (heads being bit off and what have you.) I sewed little drawstring bags for the girls to keep them in, too. That was more for my sake so that I don't find the dolls scattered all over the house.Little L received a new hammerhead shark to cuddle with. Hammerheads are his favorite sharks so needless to say he was over the moon. I fear for the future of hammerheads (all sharks, really) and worry over whether they will still even be around when Little L is grown. I hope his love for them encourages him to raise his voice and be their advocate in the future.
St. Nicholas always brings a new Christmas book for the children but this year things got out of hand and the children had three new books - St. Nicholas the Wonder Worker, the Baker's Dozen and Lucia, Child of Light. I blame K's love of reading.
We went around the house today putting branches everywhere to celebrate the second week of Advent. I have a feeling most of this week will be focused on the children creating whatever it is they have in mind for one another. If we don't start out early enough they become too rushed, and that is the last thing we want during this blessed Advent season.
