Christmas 2010

And i’ve managed to get these up by February-that’s excellent for me!
First up, a tie-dyed t-shirt for each of the kids. It looks a bit ‘crazy homeschooled family’ when they all decide to wear them at once and are sort of matching, but meh.
 

For Oods, a book bag. She is a total bookworm, so now has her very own bag with pockets for her library card and other treasures. Instead of adding her books to the family pile and having us do it all, she does it all herself. And doesn’t she just love it?
I’ve got all the pics for a tutorial for this-i’ll get around to writing it sometime.

I made the boys a backpack each, using the pattern and tute from Indietutes. If I did it again I would line them, but overall it’s pretty good pattern for beginners. All from stash fabric, i’m still attempting to use it all up-I swear, it BREEDS.

The husband gets the credit for these beauties-he’s completely onboard with the handmade now, and made these for the clones. Five is probably a bit old in mainstream terms for hobby horses, but no-one has told them that so they’ve been thoroughly enjoying them.


For the husband, the Bastard Shorts. He didn’t actually get these on the day-he received a parcel of the pieces cut out because he didn’t get out of the house enough for me to finish them. They’re bastards because he made me make them properly-waistband, facing, fly etc ad nauseum. I was just going to elastic waistband them-he told me that he is not a toddler and wears real clothes. Ahem. The Spotlight pattern was terrible and I swore a lot-BUT I DID THEM. Now I can erase them from memory.

The kids made presents for each other too, but I don’t have photos of much without them in it. However, Oods made this patchwork cushion for the husband all by herself, having never done patchwork before. I was pretty impressed.
 
Then churned out a small bag for each of her siblings.

Santa brought a set of Derwents, a box of craft supplies and the Planet Earth/Life boxed set, which we’re still working through. Plus a few little things that we never get them otherwise, like hairclips. We’re not good at frippery, so we’re lucky Santa is.
Then, the food. Oh, the food! Unconventional, but proof you can have a delicious feast without killing anything or putting on 5kgs.

Grissini and crudites with tzatziki and spinach, garlic and feta dips. Lentil balls with relish and vegies baked in cheese sauce. Chocolate pudding and blueberry cheesecake. And lots of fresh fruit. All made from scratch, including the yogurt for the tzatziki, and some of it homegrown. It took us two days to finish it all up, and I was sad when we did.

Christmas craft, day 24-Crackers

These are the last thing to be done, ready for us to stick a little something in them tonight. The kids hoard toilet rolls for them, but if you’re some weird germ freak you can buy them. Idiocy. Then twist wrapping paper around. We normally make a paper crown and pop something small like stickers inside, then tie the other end up. They don’t crack, but they don’t care.

Christmas craft, day 18-Countdown

Countdowns are big in this house. They are created for every occasion, and Christmas is certainly not excepted.

Christmas craft, day 17-lacy decorations

We didn’t actually do these today. As the husband was born on this rather inconvenient day 28 years ago (and he wasn’t even SUPPOSED to be born until March, he just likes to be difficult) we went out for the day.

But if you’re desperate for yet another Christmas related craft, try these. Easy-peasy, pipe cleaner through eyelet lace. Hang on tree. Done.

Christmas craft, day 15-mice

Outsourced again, library I love you!

I assume these are because ‘not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse’.

Christmas craft, day 14-colouring competitions

I didn’t photograph these-but we dropped five advertising-filled colouring competition entries off to the supermarket today. Ever since Nanna left a That’s Life! magazine here and I explained the concept they’ve had a keen eye for entering competitions. They have my genes-something for nothing!

But I hope no-one wins. The prizes are all branded, electronic rubbish. I’d have to sneakily break it as a good excuse to throw it out.

Christmas craft, day 8–angels again

Outsourced again to the library-I sent them off with the husband and got some uninterrupted work time. Only to be told the like the library’s version of angels better than mine! Ingrates. They can’t hairdress these ones.

Christmas craft, day 5-reindeer

Hands and feet reindeer, always a hit. Especially good for tracking growth-but very sad when I realise my nearly two year olds hands really don’t qualify as ‘small’ anymore.

Yes, there’s one missing-Sparkles hadn’t finished hers to her exacting standards. Shorty, however, gets the prize for biggest buck going by the points.

Christmas craft, day 4-Angels

These are a bit of a tricky project-we did them two years ago and it was an exercise in patience. This year was much easier. They took particular delight into ramming a metal skewer through each head to facilitate easier threading of the halos. Barbarians. 

Frosty decided to pull his all apart halfway through, then the girls helped him reassemble it into Alien Angel.

Hairdressing of the angels was the best bit in their opinions-they have had plaits, pigtails, haircuts, the lot. They’re all looking a bit punkish now.

Christmas craft, day 3

Paper chain. There must be kilometres of this, all around the house, where ever there is something to attach it to and drape it over.

 

Christmas craft, day 2-patty pan wreaths

Cheated, and outsourced…….they made these wreaths today at the local library’s kid session.

Christmas craft time-Day 1

Two years back we decided to use Christmas to ‘out-craft’ the kids. Considering they usually craft everyday it was a bit of a challenge. The goal was a craft a day from the first to 24th of December-they made it to the 19th before they started complaining. I didn’t mention it on the 20th and neither did they. Success, we beat them!

Anyway, it’s turned into a yearly tradition. I start collecting all the Christmas books from the library in November, before they all disappear, and write down a big list of crafts with their book and page number, as well as a list of stuff I need to buy.

Day One is always putting up the tree. This must be done solely by the children with the assistance of a ladder-hence it looking as if it’s been through a cyclone.

It’s much better than it has been previous years though, when they’d stick all the decorations on one square foot and leave the rest naked. It’s also a work in progress-they often move things around on their way past.