Hello everyone! It is bitter cold out this morning! It is fifteen degrees, feels like temp of negative 2! I’ve got our little fireplace on, and I am drinking my coffee and enjoying the warmth of it all. Pretty soon I will get up and make a peanut butter sandwich for the squirrels, and maybe today I will cut it up in little star shapes for them. I might throw some raisins out there as well. Right now though, I am happy to enjoy this time to sit and write, with Wyatt playing with his magnatiles on the floor, busily occupied.
We have Scouts tonight and it is our winter solstice celebration! I have some fun, I hope, activities for the kids to do tonight; they are building winter solstice lanterns decorated with gnome and woodsy silhouettes, and edible campfire cookies to bring the “scout” aspect in as well. I am looking forward to taking field trips with these guys soon, which is what I am going to start researching after the holiday.
I think the late Thanksgiving threw me off! How is it only two weeks until Christmas? I feel like I am just starting out in my Christmas journey. I don’t like it! I need more time to make the magic happen! I have most of the presents bought thank goodness, but I thought we had more time for all of the other stuff, the making of Christmas, you know what I mean? We will be binging Christmas movies starting tomorrow night, with an old old favorite, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. It is nostalgic for me – I loved the movie and would listen to the record of it every night during the holiday season as I fell asleep as a little girl. I can remember laying there in the dark of my yellow Holly Hobby bedroom, listening to Big Bird try to figure out how Santa fit down the chimney, and I would eventually fall asleep before he got his answer. I also can’t wait to watch Emmett Otter, another favorite of mine from childhood that I have gotten Wyatt to love as well.
I have done a few Christmas-y things. Last Sunday, I went to the Potter’s Market with my friends Chrissy and Kelly. I love this pottery show, and I have been going for quite a few years now, minus the pandemic years. I always find great gifts, or sometimes just things for our family, like this year.
It is set up with table after table of handmade ceramic pieces, starting out with the smaller items like ornaments and winding its way up to bigger things, like serving bowls and decorative items. You get a basket and just jump in and start shopping. There were so many cool things there, that I switched out what I wanted multiple times. They have it set up so that you can pick stuff up and if you change your mind as you wind around, you can set the discarded items on the tables at the end, and the volunteer potters put them back where they belong, which is genius.
I did not take many photos, I just forgot as we chatted and laughed and filled our baskets. Well, not filled exactly, but added a few things. Lol.
I did make a reel for Instagram:
I ended up buying a happy little snail ornament for Wyatt and his bedroom tree, an ornament for the family, and then the cutest little toad house for our yard this spring! I did see a big serving bowl I coveted, it is in the video actually if you can spot it. It is is black with birch trees and a moon and I wanted it but thought what in the world would I do with it? I also really liked the raku rabbits which were so wonderfully made, and adorable.
Last weekend we spent a good two hours as a family crafting together. We had such a great time! We made little reindeer “portraits’, and it was so fun to just sit and not hurry and add in all the details that we wanted. Mine is the red background reindeer, Wyatt is the blue background, and Billy made the “Cousin Eddie” from Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation version. Afterwards, we ate some peppermint popcorn and watched the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was a wonderfully cozy evening together.
This weekend we have plans for baking! Billy has a gift card to a local home improvement store and we are buying a small deep freeze, and I plan on filling it pretty quickly with baked goods for Christmas, before filling it with more practical things. We are going to start with ginger pancakes in the morning and then go from there!
And with that, I need to finish up school and scout prep today – and hopefully order some groceries too!
Before I go, I also wanted to share that I was asked to give a quote about my favorite movie to an article published in an article on Rent. It is a super cool article, with lots of suggestions that pair some of your favorite Christmas movies to interior design styles.
I was quoted in a Rent. article!
Read the full article here: Design Styles to Try, Based on Your Favorite Holiday Movie
Rent. is a subsidiary of Redfin.com
I hope you all have at least one small moment today that makes you smile!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 
That scout lantern project sounds like a lot of fun. I have never heard of that Sesame Street Christmas special/movie before. I’m kind of surprised since Sesame Street is rather “big” in our area because the man that played big bird lived in the next town over.
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They turned out so cute!! The kids loved them. They all went “Oooo” when we turned off the lights and turned on their tealights. Oh wow that is cool he lived near you! It probably came out in like 1978ish… lolol. Maybe that is why?
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I agree, it feels like Christmas is getting here faster than I can do all the Christmas things! My kids and I are doing Christmas movies and a puzzle this weekend, but it’s going too fast!
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Right?? I thought I had more time! Lol. Doing a puzzle and watching movies sounds perfect!
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Looks like all 3 of you are very good at crafts. My kids made me a lot of things for Mother’s Day and the holidays when they were in school and I still have quite a few of them.
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I was never a crafter at all before I was a mom, and I am loving this new side of myself. Lol.
My husband laughs at me because I want to save everything!
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Oh, goodness! I really didn’t realize it is only two weeks away! I have to get busy! I have most of my shopping done, but there are still some that I need to do. This week has been quite full. My best moment was today when Mike said he walked without a cane or a walker during physical therapy. That’s a first since maybe April or May!
I love that little toad house. I would be in real danger at a pottery market, I can tell you that. Thank you for always being a bright spot in my day, Erin!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
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Right? Wyatt’s therapist pointed it out to me and I almost fell over. I am not ready!! I am close but, not quite there.
Marsha, that is awesome news!!! That deserves a celebration!!!!
Isn’t that the cutest? That pottery market is a blast. It is hard not to go crazy there! And I am glad that my blog brightens your day! 😉
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I had never heard of the Sesame Street Christmas Special, seems it was only broadcasted as a whole once in Germany.
I love pottery, but am always trying to hold back because of space. That blue berry bowl in the one picture is gorgeous!
Since we don’t have Thanksgiving here, I have been getting into the Christmas spirit quite early, even if it’s a bit toned down for me with my little decorations. I hope you will be having enough time to get ready yourself!
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I feel like it probably came out in the late 70s?
Me too!! My house is tiny but my love of art and pottery is not. Lol. I know, I loved that bowl!
I feel like this year I went more minimal with our decorations. I feel like next year I could add just a few more. Something is missing and I don’t know what it is.
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I think Thanksgiving threw a lot of us off — me, for sure. But you’ve done a lot! The Solstice thing sounds good. Baking sounds wonderful — something I’ve yet to do. You remind me of so many lovely things, especially Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Lots of joy here!
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Scouts is always a frenzy of activity but it was a blast and the kids loved it. The crafts turned out so cute!!!
I feel like December is flying by and I have done barely any Christmas. Maybe it is the lack of snow or how warm this month is adding to that feeling. (with the exception of the past few days!) And thank you Jeanie. 🙂
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This was so lovely to read! We have a bit of a quiet one happening, I had both my parkrun pub breakfast and my BookCrossing Not So Secret Santa gathering on Saturday and I’ll be running parkrun on Christmas Day then we’ll have a nice roast dinner, but it’ll just be the two of us as family Christmas with two frail seniors and our sister-in-law’s widowed mother was going to be too chaotic so we’ve stepped aside and left brother and sister-in-law with them. I’m enjoying seeing the Advent Windows being put up around the local suburb – one set east of the high street, one west, and there’s one road with beautiful huge Edwardian houses that always does one itself we’re going to visit on Christmas Eve on the way back from seeing my good friend Ali.
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Nope that’s too cold. I absolutely couldn’t handle it! The pottery place looks so fun and I would have bought way too many pottery animals but I would have had no regrets! That’s so fun about being quoted! I’ve been having a bit of a slow week and really focusing on doing things that make me happy. It’s been really nice.
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Lol!! It has been very chilly out!!
I wanted to buy all the things! There were so many cool items, it was hard not to just go nuts.
I am glad that you have been focusing on things that make you happy! That is so important!!
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