Advent

My little girl, Moo, is almost 3 and is, for the first time, excited about Christmas. We have begun our Advent calendar. I bought a beautiful reusable vintage wooden box from Lark. It is more than I would usually spend but it was exactly what I wanted.

I want to make the lead up to Christmas fun and exciting but I also want to be able to teach Moo about the Christmas story. I bought an ebook called Truth in the Tinsel.
"Spend December impressing God’s Word on your kids’ heart! You’ll get 24 days of Scripture reading, ornament crafts, talking points and extension activities. Plus fun printables and templates!"
It did all the work for me and we are having fun making an ornament everyday.

We are also doing some family activities from The Little Book Club. Their advent calendar family activity list is here.

There is always time from more craft and playing. So I am planning to make some little finger puppets to enact the nativity story from Activity Village.

I like these too from hart of the mountain.

Calendars

This is the time of the year when I begin to think about what calendar I need for the next year. I like to have mine on my fridge. I like it to be simple and I like to be able to write on it. Miriam Bereson has a beautiful full year calendar which this year was a brilliant orange and came with a stovetop coffee maker magnet. 2012 is multi-coloured. 

bookshelves

I love reading and I also love books. I love having them around my apartment I just wish I had more space and I wish I could actually mount bookshelves onto the wall.

Image source: Remodelista

Games for kids in the car

Pilosale, which I have talked about before, has an innovative way to keep your kids entertained during a car trip - car bingo. I wish I had one when Mum and Dad used to take us across the country from Perth to Sydney every year for Christmas.

Alphabet books

Inhabitots featured these beautiful handmade fabric alphabet books made by pilosale. They have a linen cover and felt pages.
I have already bought, although my child is only 8 months old, the alphabet book that features the artwork of Charley Harper.

When once asked to describe his art style, Harper replied, "When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures. I regard the picture as an ecosystem in which all the elements are interrelated, interdependent, perfectly balanced, without trimming or unutilized parts; and herein lies the lure of painting; in a world of chaos, the picture is one small rectangle in which the artist can create an ordered universe."

I also see a sense of humour in his illustrations.
You can buy the book and some of other books featuring his artwork here in Australia through bebe online

Baking

My current favorite biscuit is the indulgent chewy chocolate biscuits from the Orangette blogspot.
Image: Orangette

It is a US recipe and I have adapted it for Australian measurements.
Yummmm....


Chewy Cocoa Biscuits with Chocolate Chips
Adapted from Alice Medrich by Orangette

1 cup S.R. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
60 g unsalted butter
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup plain yoghurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave briefly, until just melted. Add the sugars, and sift in the cocoa. Stir to blend well. The mixture will be somewhat thick and pasty, like wet sand. Add the yoghurt and vanilla and stir to mix thoroughly. Add the flour, and stir to just combine. Add the chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.

Drop the dough by generous tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies have crackled slightly and look set. Transfer the tray to a wire rack, and cool the biscuits on the tray for 10 minutes. Transfer them to the rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Not useful for this recipe but there are some lovely biscuit cutters at Bisk Art


Image: Biskart

Gift Tags

How cute and simple are these gift tags on the wrapping done at Cradle Rock

Patricia Zapata at A Little Hut has tutorials showing how to make these simple, elegant gift tags