It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

There are 2 more days left in the 12 days of Christmas series. I had so much fun doing this series! In fact, I decided to stretch it out just a wee bit more. The 11th day will appear tomorrow and the 12th on Wednesday. Wednesday just so happens to be my sweet husband’s 30TH birthday.

We’ve been preparing for Christmas around our house. I even made stockings this year! One for each of the kids, my niece and of course for our little one in Ethiopia. I’m not looking forward to another Christmas without him, but at least we have a cute little stocking waiting for him!

The stockings were pretty easy. I traced an old stocking for the pattern. Then I chose a fabric, a lining and a batting for the middle. The lining is just candy cane fabric, nothing special. So each stocking involved 6 pieces of fabric. The outer layer, the batting in the middle and then the lining. I quilted the 3 layers together for each side of the stocking, lined them up with the lining facing out, sewed the whole thing up, added a ribbon to hang them with and voila! stockings. I also used the reverse applique technique to add a little personality to each one. They are a bit time consuming when you make 4 at a time but not terribly bad.

We have also started our chocolate advent calendars. The kids are pretty happy about eating chocolate in the morning. Our family Christmas devotions will also start this evening. I’m really looking forward to slowing down and reflecting on this season with the kids.