Trip home-Looking forward to and dreading at the same time

The hubby, little R and I will be spending Christmas with my parents in their home this year. I'm looking forward to everyone being together one last time-my brother and his girls will be there too. I'm also glad that I will be able to give my Dad a break from the caregiver role for a few days and give him a chance to get out of the house without feeling guilty.
However, if I am truly honest with myself, I am also dreading it just a bit. My Mom's condition is not good, there is very little left of the woman I remember. My Dad is declining quickly too. I know my brother and I have to have a very direct, uncomfortable conversation with my father about my mom's condition and his plans for after she is gone. Up to this point, he has just said we will cross that bridge once we get to it. My Dad and I share a dislike of confronting the uncomfortable, so I definitely know where he is coming from. It has come to the point where plans must be made and preparations must be started.
Our trip will also include some major cleaning out of the parent's house. My Dad is a saver of all things-he came up in the depression, his family was impoverished, and they went without the things I would call neccesities. Because of this, he keeps EVERYTHING!! He feels if it costs money you should keep it, no matter if it is broken, useless, etc. My Mom was the type to buy stuff, lots of stuff, and sometimes use it, sometimes not. She also would buy for other people and sometimes forget to give it to them or misplace it. Mom also would collect clothing, houseware, books, etc that people were giving away with the intention of giving it to someone in need or just someone who might appreciate it and those things too would sometimes end up staying in the house. She enjoyed buying and enjoyed helping others, it was just sometimes to an excess. So, bottom line, I have a TON of stuff to go through and decide what should be donated, thrown away or possibly put on ebay. I'm guessing alot of things will just be trashed.
I know I will enjoy our time together and the memories we make. The busy stuff and other details will just be fleeting.

Merry Christmas
 Feliz Navidad

Handmade Christmas

I still have tons to do with ONLY 11 days left...panic is setting in. Well, not really but kinda close.
Finished so far:
Purple tutu for baby R w/ matching tutu for doll
Fairy wreath w/ purple flowers for baby R and a matching one for doll
Pink tutu
Fairy head wreath w/ pink flowers
Felt strawberries, sunny side up egg, pancakes, bacon, lettuce, tomato, ravioli and bow tie pasta
Flavored Vodka
Shaving soap in mug for the guys
Pink fairy wand
Purple fairy wand
Altered clipboards x 4
Refrigerator magnets x a bunch
Flower clips x 10
Banana cake in jar


STILL LEFT TO MAKE:
Felt food: bread, cookies, sauce for ravioli
PJ pants x 3 for Christmas eve
Herbal soap
Applique tees
Magnetic paper dolls-taking these w/ me to cut out on the way out of town
2 fabric drawstring bags for felt food and magnetic stuff
cookies w/ Splenda
More cakes in a jar
if I have time-bow holder x 2, I was thinking I could take paint and brushes and ribbon w/ me out of town
4 picture frames to paint or decoupage or something
Coasters are another maybe-decoupaged -I could do these while out of town too.

I am most concerned about the PJ pants. My sewing skills are extremely lacking and I'm thinking this may be above my skill level but I was unable to find matching sets for adults and toddlers at a price I was willing to pay. So, to keep with the tradition of matching PJ's, I will give it a go. I did find absolutely adorable fabric at JoAnne's-yellow rubber duckies on a snowflake background.

A look back

At the beginning of this year I came up with a few goals to work on. Here is what they were:

- Spend more active time with baby-DONE-The hubby and I make it a point to take her outside to play, dance around the house, play chase, etc


- Less TV more music or even silence-Partially Done-still working on it


- PURGE the clutter [massively hard for me-I like stuff:)]-DONE-but need to do more, the next step is my massive crafting stash


- Learn to sew ruffles on jeans and skirts-NOT DONE-I have made 1 skirt w/ a ruffle-not a pretty sight but I let her wear it anyway


- establish a bedtime routine for baby R-HAHAHA-that should say it all


- stick to bedtime routine-refer to previous answer


- try out the freezer cooking method-DONE-now, I need to do it again


- Have at least 5 meals in the freezer at ALL times-umm, once again, refer above answer


- More fruits and veggies for me and the hubby-Partially Done


WOW, I have alot to work on.

Christmas Advent

I made a super simple advent paper chain for our family this year. This is completely new for me as we did not do this in our family nor do I remember anyone else doing it. So, after reading about it on numerous blogs, I gave it a try. The aesthetics of it are less than spectactular and it still doesn't have a safe home but we started our special activities last night.
Our first activity was coloring Christmas pictures-both secular and Christian. Other activities included in the advent are:
Make cinnamon ornaments
Make pipecleaner and bead ornaments
Put up tree and decorate
Gather natural materials for decorating the house
Hang wreaths and lights
Decorate cookies
Drive around and look at lights
Make green Rice Krispy treats
Watch Christmas movies
Camp out around the tree
Hot chocolate and jiffy pop
Make smores (hopefully on the fire)
Make handrpint and footprint reindeer
Handprint on canvas for present for Dad
Paint on canvas for grandparent gifts
Singing Christmas carols

Some of the activities are repeats (coloring, movie, singing) but I think there are enough unique ones to make it interesting. Maybe I'll get the hubby to make a fancy advent tree in the workshop for next year :)