DPP 2012: kitschy Christmas

They're rather cheesy, I know, but I love our shiny wire star garlands. A little worse for wear after many years of use, they still shine with the season. Peanut loves them, too, and informs me they will be hung in her room.

kitschy Christmas

DPP 2012: snowflakes

paper snowflakes hang from tulle "snow" drapes in our living room

DPP 2012: love letters

**This is yesterday's post because a bad cold or flu has me entirely knackered**

Love letters

Peanut has been learning her letters pretty organically. We've done a few exercises to work toward mastery, and she has magnetic letters on our steel front door that she plays with quite often, but mostly we've just been reading and identifying letters for her whenever she asks. No instruction, no pressure. She's four: we have lots of time.

Yesterday, she was playing with a crayon and a little slip of paper left over from my paper stars. After a few moments, she held it up for me to see that she had written her baby sister's name, unannounced and unassisted. 

A first. Letters of love.

DPP2012: paper stars

Old and neglected sheet music becomes paper stars

DPP2012:Christmas music

Christmas music, complete with a heavy helping of banjo. Fabulous!

DPP2012::december 2

Advent begins

The first candle of our wreath is lit.

Advent began today, though not how we had planned. Saturday was to bring a pancake breakfast with Gran and cousins and my sister and brother-in-law. Today we had planned our weekly worship at church with a gathering of friends in the afternoon for a new advent tradition: an advent spiral. Instead, we had two sick children (Baby's First Gastro Bug is not nearly as enjoyable a milestone as most are) so our planned weekend of visits and festivities became a weekend of Christmas movies, the Muppets and Glee, naps and a lot of laundry. This morning, though, both girls were feeling chipper and well - a very welcome change from the day before - so though we lay low to continue resting and recuperating, there was fun. And beauty: there is always beauty.

We began our advent journey this evening. We lit the first candle - Bubby, being the youngest child, assisted in lighting it, while Peanut will assist in lighting the two candles of the second week - and did our first reading of this week's devotional. We hung the strands on our chandelier from which we will hang our beads, and we chose our first beads - one for each of us - and strung them. 

Four little beads. A seashell, two glass beads and a pearl, in keeping with this week's theme of stones, crystals, seashells and bones. 

And the walk to Bethlehem is begun.

DPP2012::december 1

Our home turns toward the new season.

Snowflakes and berries in our nature display. 

Last Saturday Bubby and I walked down Bank St., she wrapped on my back and bundled in a snowsuit. A skiff of snow blew across the street, a sign of things to come. This past week brought more snow, enough to warrant snowsuits, boots, mittens and hats and a long walk making prints in virgin snow and making the season's first snow balls. A new season is upon us. 

Welcome, December. 

2012 December Photo Project

I'm in for another year! Daily photos posted here, on my Facebook page and on the DPP Facebook page. I hope you'll join me!