Countdown to Christmas

I love the Christmas season. Every year our family celebrates the upcoming Christmas holiday with advent calendars. We have several. I'd love to share them with you along with some other ways that you can count down the days to Christmas.

For those of you who do not know, I'll define advent. Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming") celebrates the days leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The calendar counts backwards (usually from 24 to 1) or, it fills in the 25 days of December until Christmas.

I made this first calendar for myself with a black cookie sheet, ribbons, scrapbook paper and lots of fun things from my craft box. The calendar starts off with a blank grid and then I put one of the magnetic numbers on every day.
The next calendar is my niece's. It is made of felt, buttons and glitter. Every day she takes a little roll of paper from a heart. She is given instructions for that day. Today she needs to do something special for someone. This next one is really fun. I was in an advent calendar swap. Each of us made 2 numbers and we swapped them. I made the cookie sheet background very similar to the first calendar. Next up is my mother's calendar. It has 24 little windows. In every window there is a magnetic character from the Christmas story and a piece of chocolate. It is fun to watch the scene be built throughout the month. Lastly, we have a fun "24 Chocolate Days 'til Christmas calendar that was given to my niece this year.

There are lots of other ways to countdown to Christmas. Here are a few I found on the internet:

• Make a paper chain with scripture references. Each evening, remove a chain until you get to the final link.
• Pop down to Christmas. Make a countdown calendar out of recycled bubble wrap. Pop one of the bubbles every day until Christmas. There are a few other cute ideas on this site. Search "advent."
• A coloring sheet with scripture references every day 'til Christmas.
• This one requires a little advance planning but everyday there is a scripture reference, a suggested family activity, and an ornament hidden behind a door.
• The advent candle gift idea. Everyday the recipient burns the candle while reading the scripture.
• Open an envelope with an activity idea. Free printable and some fun ideas of things to do as a family.

How do you celebrate the days leading up to Christmas. Do you have a calendar or do you do special activities? I'd love to know (and see pictures.) Thank you again for allowing me to share my ideas with you.

Happy Thanksgiving

It's time for another open house. Please enjoy these images from my home. Let's start with the front door. My sister painted our Grow pumpkin. Once you come inside you are greeted by Paris. I don't think he likes his pumpkin costume.

Let's go in the kitchen. This is the shelf above the sink. The turkey in the middle was created by my niece when she was in kindergarten. It's part of a series.



Then, above the front window hangs the banner I sewed this year along with a welcome sign painted by my sister.

All of the glass cupboards have pumpkin ephemera inside.

 

Let's go in the dining room. We have china we only use for Thanksgiving. The wheat plates were from my mum's mum. Later, we'll put the Thanksgiving serving pieces out. They are from my Dad's mum.

 

I am really excited about my new project this year. It's a "stuffed" turkey. I saw it on the V and Co blog and I knew I had to make it.

I made little pumpkin place cards for everyone with a gingerbread cookie mix and melted orange chocolates.

 


This is a funny pillow that sits on our living room chair.

.

Here's the top of the piano. My niece worked her magic there.

That concludes our Thanksgiving open house. I hope that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for you.

Tour de Wales

We interrupt this craft blog to give you some images from my recent 10 day trip to Wales. I think a lot of people are unfamiliar with Wales so I'm hoping that you will enjoy a little cultural geography from me. First stop: St. David's. The cathedral is named after the patron saint of Wales. It lies in the adorable city of St. David's. The city lies within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.All of those windows are beautiful stained glass. The inside is so much more beautiful than the exterior.It is still at active church. They are having a Handel's Messiah Christmas concert next month. I bet that will be amazing. Back up. On the way to St. David's, we passed a sign that read, YMCA Camp 1 1/2k. I had to check it out. And, I happened to be wearing my YMCA thermal. This Y was awesome. They go kayaking, surfing, rock climbing. I almost applied for a job there.

Here I am with the huge ropes coarse/rock climbing wall in the background. Super fun. Next stop: Castle Carreg Cennan. This is my view out the window as we drive to Castle Carreg Cennan. The castle lies along the Black Hills on the border of the Bracon Beacons National Park. Before going to the castle, you have to stop at the farmhouse. We had a traditional Welsh soup called Cawl served with buttered bread and a slice of Welsh cheese. Our version was vegetarian. I tried to take a really cool foodie picture but the cloudy scenery out the window wasn't cooperating. There is a hike up to the castle with lots of sheep along the way. I'm goofing off in this thingy. Here's the view from the castle. Underneath the castle there is a long, natural cave. I explored it alone. Spooky. Next stop: Tenby.

Tenby is an old seaside village in south Wales along the Pembrokeshire Coast. On the way we made a detour in the town of New Hedge to shop at a county market. I took this picture of the Heather they were selling for 1 pound 99. I also had the yummiest almond croissant of my life and bought two loaves of bara brith.

This is the harbor at Tenby. Tenby has beautiful beaches, great shops, lots of B & Bs, and restaurants. The homes and shops are very colorful. The whole town is surrounded by a stone wall.

Here I am standing against a wall, overlooking the beach and a couple of islands. Another view of the beach at Tenby. I don't know what this is called but I thought it was pretty. I did some shopping in Tenby at the 1 pound store (think 99 cent store.) I stocked up on silicone baking things. I also found a Cancer Research thrift store. I love a bargain.

This is Tesco, a place I where I spend a lot of my time in Wales. It's like Target Greatland. I think I went there 5 times while I was over there. I stocked up on the Welsh version of Airborne.

One can't do Britain without a little culture. We saw a ballet/modern dance at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff (the Welsh capital.) During intermissions, the Welsh eat ice-cream. Welsh ice-cream is very creamy and thick. Mmmm.

So, needless to say, I came home with some extra pounds and I'm not just talking about currency. Wales is a beautiful country. The people are very friendly. The food is yummy. I love it.

Thanks for letting me share. Have you been to Wales?

Under the Sea Party

We do parties pretty big at the Grow house. This last week was my niece's 8th birthday. Most of the stuff we did ourselves but the cake was from Baskin Robbins. We added the sea life candles from Oriental Trading. Let's hit the food table first.No Grow party is complete without Krispie Pops. This year I did an aquarium and clownfish. I made a chex mix with goldfish and oyster crackers.

Fruit plate with cute fish toothpicks.My sister saw these clam cookies somewhere and recreated them. The pearls/eyes are yogurt raisins.Silly games are always part of our festivities. My sister painted a dog cone to look like a shark. The game is called "feeding frenzy. The kids have to throw shark bait at the shark. One party goer loved the shark cone so much that she ate her cake with it on. We also had an obstacle course that was completed wearing goggles and flippers. The kids collected "pearls" in their bucket along the course.In a kiddie pool, the kids did a dolphin ring toss and a fishing game. . Now, some decor pics. Here are 3 partygoers on a beach towel in front of the kiddie pool and very large banner that my sister made using poster paper and fish cut outs. My niece pulled out all of her ocean books and stuffies to decorate my piano.

The patio was decorated like an aquarium with hanging fish, balloons and metallic streamers.

Lastly, this is the front of the invitation. My sister designs and makes them herself every year. Not pictured: the dolphin pinata, goodie bags and my niece in her mermaid costume. Also, the swedish fish and gummie sharks were gone before I could take a picture of them.

The Grow Garden 2009

This is our garden this year.

These are going to be yellow pear-shaped cherry tomatoes. I planted 4 other kinds of tomatoes too.
These are chili peppers we planted last year that grew back. There are 3 plants with different kinds of peppers (one is called chocolate pepper.)
We planted green onions outside of the garden to keep the critters away.
These are eggplants from the plant we planted last year. They also survived.
Here is a small cuke. I planted one cucumber plant and it has gone crazy along with the 4 zucchini plants.

This time last year I had a major critter problem in my garden. So far we've been lucky (knock on wood.) I buy most of my plants from Rogers Gardens in Corona Del Mar, Newport Beach. They sell lots of heirloom plants that do well by the beach. And, if you love gardens, gourmet food and art you should visit this place. It's amazing, especially at Christmastime.