Downtown in December

I thought I'd share a few photos from the Santa Claus Parade that I took the boys to a couple of weeks ago.  I had never actually been to this parade, and the boys, besides feeling quite cold by the end of it, seemed to enjoy the variety of floats that went past.  It seems that parades these days are just advertising for various community groups, businesses, or kids programs and this one was no exception, but I guess masked in the spirit of Christmas it was still pretty fun to watch.

It's interesting to think about how we pass on traditions to our kids.  On the one hand I want to take time out of our everyday life to do special things with my boys that get them excited about this season.  The other part of me wants to slow things down, keep things simple and retain the core of what a season is all about.  Joy, peace and love.  Goodwill towards all.  The story of a baby bringing hope.  The giving of gifts to those we cherish.  And extending a hand to those who most need it.

Finally feeling more like Christmas

We finally picked out a tree this past weekend and spent Saturday putting up decorations and re-working the living room around where the tree was going to stand.  Our little house feels crowded these days with 2 growing boys at home for the holidays.  We have craft projects a-go-go, all the papers from school to sort through, Lego that trickles it's way from the bedroom to the bathroom to the living room, and the instruments have made their way out of the closet and into the open for frequent 'concerts'.  We are having fun all cozy in this little house of ours, reading 'the Chronicles of Narnia' and 'Harriet the Spy', watching all our Christmas movies, making sugar cookies, and doing some knitting. Just the sort of stuff I've been dreaming about doing over my holiday.

One last story of Christmas

One of our hopes over the holidays is usually to make some special memories.  One of our favourites was attending the Caravan Farm Theatre, where we were able to travel from scene to scene of a play on the back of a horse and carriage.  The play, called The Story was based on the Nativity scene.  A babbling angel Gabriel, a rhyming Mary who's expanding girth miraculously happens all in one scene (with the help of a balloon getting blown up?), some peculiar wise men and a singing madrigal playing our favourite carols on the mandolin made for some great Christmas entertainment.  A warm fire and the horse drawn carriages guiding us from scene to scene made for some really lasting memories for us all! 

Christmas cheer!

 

The Christmas tree finally got put up on Friday, just in time for Dean's Birthday party on Saturday. The boys had their school Christmas concert- the little angels singing and doing actions were soooo sweet!  There is a little post I wrote over on Stephanie Levy's blog for her advent Calender series that you should check out. I've been loving all the posts from various artists all over the world!  

I've delivered all the Christmas gifts I made for people and today the boys and I will be making some Christmas gifts for my sister's new baby (due in March).  Hope you are enjoying some time off to make presents and put your feet up too!

The Christmas Spirit

No snow on the ground but it's a little brisk out there these days!  We are listening to Johnny Cash, making Ginger bread cookies and houses with sheds, writing Christmas wish lists and starting to get very excited!
I had my interview for a great magazine article yesterday, and I'm starting to make the studio ready for the photo-shoot, next week.  I got a little worked up about what to wear for the shoot, whether to pluck my eyebrows or not- you know, silly stuff.
I'm also excited to have lunch with Eva and Kirk from Sycamore Street Press this week! They are in Vancouver to visit friends on their show tour and were kind enough to want to have lunch or tea with me! So nice to meet internet friends for reals!

starting to look like Christmas

With the boys getting excited about Christmas I pulled out their little Christmas Tree and all the little ornaments that they've made over the years to get us all in the spirit.  It's a real menagerie of stuff, but it makes the house feel cozy when it gets dark and cold by 4:30pm.  Along with a few of our Christmas Records from the Vinyl collection, we are starting to listen to Christmas music too.  Also been checking out Bliss in a Teacups Christmas playlist she has on her blog these days! Worth checking in on daily:)
My Etsy Shop might look a little bare, but I do have a fair bit at the studio and am taking last calls for Christmas orders by December 10th. This really only works best for local people as shipping just gets more dicey and expensive after the 15th of December.  I've still got Shiny Fuzzy Muddy coming up on the 12th and 13th with some new work coming out by next week!  Busy Elf!

artists advent calender starts today!

Here's a little winter photo from last year to get us in the holiday spirit!  Also, I'm looking forward to the Artist Advent Calender that Stephanie Levy is hosting on her blog this month!  Nina Van de Goor from the Netherlands is the first one with photos of her lovely ceramics and small holiday decorations during the season!  I'm working on a post myself, so stay tuned!

Indie Love

The Poppytalk Indie Love Market opened this morning with some really lovely hand-made items brought to you in time for a little early Holiday shopping! I know it's only mid-October and there is lots of time to shop, but if you are like me and try to avoid the Malls at all costs, online shopping is the way to go! And better early than later or your shipping costs and time-frame get tighter- that's stress I could do without!

I did another attempt at a photo-shoot yesterday afternoon- it was pretty cloudy outside, and while it's certainly not anything close to my professional images, there is a bit of a 'charm' to them. Anyways, it's still clear to me the home photo-shoot is something I have to work on this coming year- I might just have to buckle down and buy some lights and a good backdrop!

On the studio front I finally came up with a good Christmas Tree Decoration for this year. I do try to come up with one every year and this year I was drawing huge blanks. I really didn't want to do a cookie cutter ornament, let's just put it that way. So some prototypes are in the works and I'll post photos when I have some samples!