Here’s a post about mid-late December of last year.

Grandma picked up the kids for a candle making date at her house!

They played Settlers of Cataan, and then they made up new rules and played it again,

We had friends over.

We watched the kitten climb the holiday tree.

We worked on top secret holiday projects (the kids made bath fizzes, choosing from our essential oils collection  after smelling all of them, the ones I use to make my own deodorant and perfume, which I thought was both interesting and sweet: jasmine, sweet orange, lemongrass.

The kids made dried flowers/leaves mandala sun-catchers. Lilah made stationery sets with adorable pictures, mostly of cats.

We made orange and peppermint flavored chocolates in molds of owls, hearts and castles. Gavin worked on his book, and gave a few coupons for copies when it’s ready.

 

Chris and the kids picked out projects to make on raspberry pi computers. They put together and coded an own-cloud and a motion-triggered camera to take pictures of pets. It was really fun watching them working together on them, eagerly reviewing options, typing, proof-reading, problem solving.

We read.

We sledded with my sister

and shoveled lots of snow.

We went to an animation presentation at the library with friends.

We read. (Yes, we do a bunch of this and yes, it’s worth mentioning several times in the same post.)

We baked.

They worked on Mad Libs, chatting about adjectives and nouns while giggling.

We visited a trampoline park, the first time since Lilah broke a leg when she was five. They were careful and safe and had a wonderful time and were never still enough to get a clear picture of.

Here is a project I worked on for a holiday gift for Chris: an embroidered version of Calcifer from Howl’s Moving Castle:

We celebrated the winter solstice, the shortest day, longest night of the year. We lit and used candles instead of electric lights, made pomander balls out of clementines and cloves, made a lasagna for dinner and had a little dance party in our warm house.

We celebrated Christmas (early) with my parents and sister and baked cookies covered in red hots and enjoyed each other.

We celebrated Christmas (late) with Chris’ parents and read books and played games and enjoyed each other.

There was much, much more goodness, but this is a bit of what we were up to.