Christmas Dresses and Holiday Traditions

While T's parents were here I was able to get some sewing and crocheting done. I thought I'd share the dresses I made. It was so much fun to put together the fabrics and ribbons! I used some old shirts, so it felt good to recycle from the way too big stash of clothes the girls have. I also put together the outfit for G using a pair of leggings she never wanted to wear... until I sewed the ric rac on and they matched the dress. :) Most of these will be given away as gifts, and that feels really good, too!

I am *almost* done Christmas shopping. Just a few things left, for few people. One I know will just be a gift card (J) and another is for my step-mom and I'm waiting for some ideas for her. My dad's gift will require a trip to the store which I don't want to do on the big shopping days! I don't enjoy the crowds! I've had fun doing the shopping, though. And now I look forward to being more relaxed through advent, and hopefully concentrating on Jesus and making sure the kids understand Christmas is so much more than Santa. (Though Z announced that he didn't think Santa was real, and my heart just fell!) I'm just looking forward to doing the holiday traditions we have. I'll share a few of mine, and I'd love to hear yours, too!

-We make a construction paper advent chain on Thanksgiving. Each chain link has a nice thing about one person in our family, written by someone else in the family. We all love it! It's fun to take off each link of the chain and count down to Christmas with compliments.

-We act out the manger scene, using figures, stuffed animals, or people. This is also very fun, and the kids love it! We try to do it a few times each week before bed.

-The Christmas Story movie. (T brought this tradition to the family.)

-Making spritz cookies with the cookie press - T does this with the kids

-Making mints and chocolate covered peanut butter balls and chocolate covered ritz cracker peanut butter sandwiches - I do these with the kids

I'd love to hear some of your family's traditions! Please share!

I'm Back! We're Adopted!

Wow! This past month has just flown by! We prepared for and celebrated G's 5th birthday. Then it was getting ready for H's adoption with announcements and party planning. Then it was here. We really have been busy, but it all went very well!

You can see this picture of us with the judge on H's adoption day. The judge was wonderful, along with the whole court. They all came in on their own time on a Saturday to do 12 adoptions in our county! You can see all of us with the judge, plus T's parents, who came in for the occaision and stayed until Thanksgiving.

H was very excited. She had some pretty rough days as adoption approached, and regressed back in some behaviors (yikes!!!) Thankfully we had our therapist telling us it was all normal and to be expected, so we didn't freak out. And by the time adoption day came, she'd settled down quite a bit. I figure once Thanksgiving vacation is past and we settle into more normal times we'll see how she's doing.

*I* had a last minute crisis when I realized I'd handled everything but had forgotten an adoption day gift for H! Because of J's adoption she knew to expect something. So, at the last minute I put together the blanket H and I are holding. It's silky on one side and soft and shaggy on the other. A local monogram shop added her new name and adoption date. It was very fun to do.