happy december (and an advent countdown)

Hello there, sweet friends.  Happy December!

This may sound ridiculous, but, much as I LOVE hosting fabulous series' around here (especially ones that stock my Guy To Make list as well as this last one did), I miss being able to just check in with y'all! I feel like I get to the end of a series and have a whole conglomeration of things to tell you (most of which are absolutely not worth a blog post- haha)!

So, how are you? What have you been up to? Decking your halls? Shopping for (or making?) presents? Baking?

We have been busy around here! Besides normal life (plus Adam's Boards- which are DONE as of Tuesday!), there has been the usual pre-Christmas present making, decorating, shopping flurry. And, while I always have a project or two in the works, I have about seven half-finished/barely started projects going right now. Call it Creative Energy... or working under a deadline... or maybe just chaos. I also have a couple of projects/announcements in the works that I can't wait to share- stay tuned!

One already-complete project is the Advent Calendar Countdown that Burke and I have been working on. Ever since Burke discovered the concept of Advent calendars (in an aisle at Target early in November, actually), he has been talking about how we need one for our house. Truth be told, I love all things Christmas-Tradition-esque and couldn't be more thrilled that he's 'getting Christmas/Advent' more this year!

Luckily, Burke's pretty easy to please and Piper Jane takes all of her cues from him. And so our Advent Manor is simple as can be- a bulletin board covered in muslin, with some dollar-store-box 'windows' and 'doors,' all labeled with numbers one through twenty five.

We did add in a couple of felted wool trees, a garland of lights, and a white pompom "blizzard" (after Burke repeatedly requested a "snow storm") and a ruffle-y white garland. Very fancy.

Of course, this little gem includes the all-important daily treats- each little window/door contains candy! There is also a daily activity or to do from our December List tucked into each day's slot.

A quick how-to on the advent calendar? 1. Stitch a 'house' outline on your fabric (optional). 2. Wrap the fabric around a bulletin board and pin in place. 3. Trim the handles off of the dollar store boxes (ours came in a twelve pack) so you're left with open topped square boxes. 4. To make window panes, wrap twine around the boxes... 5. ...tape in place on the back. 6. Using pushpins on the insides of the boxes to secure in place as windows and doors. 7. Add little paper divider so each box can hold the treats for two days. 8. Add numbers one through twenty five (I printed numbers out on sticker label paper). 9. Add treats and daily activities/to do's from your December List and you're done!

On our December List? Cocoa drinking, Christmas light sightseeing, zoo lights, fudge making, tree decorating, cookie exchanging, ornament choosing, lights at the Botanic gardens, birthday cake baking, "cozy picnics" and movie watching (we have FOUR different Christmas movies that we watch every year- Elf, Polar Express, Family Man and The Holiday [that last one sans kiddos]), reading the Christmas story from Luke, a movie at the theater on Christmas Eve (and new jammies that night!), making Christmas presents for Jesus... Should be a fabulous, full month!

Do you have an advent calendar? Do you make a December List?
What are your holiday traditions?
Also, let's play catch up- what did I miss in November?