0 days: May your Christmas be merry and bright!

7AM has come, and so has Santa.

1 day: Twas the Night Before Christmas

2 days: all wrapped up

We've been wrapping slowly throughout the month (I'd had enough last minute wrapping marathons in the past to finally change my ways), and today we wrapped the final presents and curled the final bows. The key word here, of course, is "we," and many of this year's packages don't quite have the same polished look that I've given them in the past, but I can say that the wrapping job has been way more fun. Calvin usually mans the tape dispenser (some of our packages have tape in very odd places), and is also the reigning voice on artistic choices, like ribbon colors and tag options. It has been an exercise, not so much in patience, but in my ability to give up artistic control to the whimsical fancy of a three year old. Hard to believe I'm talking about wrapping paper and cheap ribbon, eh? In any case, this shopping season is all wrapped up.

3 days: finishing touches

This Christmas has been the year of crafting at our house. With Calvin being old enough to really understand the give and take of Christmas gifts we wanted him to really get involved with the gift giving process, and since he doesn't have any money to work with craft projects seemed like the way to go. We've made a number of projects throughout the month, and today we finally put the finishing touches on the very last project. With only three days to go, you might call that "just in the nick of time."

4 days: baking up a storm!

Tomorrow is the day the milkman cometh, so today is the day we broke out the mixer and all sorts of other baking implements and set to work on a few batches of sugar and ginger bread cookies. I probably said this last year, too, but doing this always renews my sense of respect for those people who make and decorate Christmas cookies that are either a) beautiful and error-less, b) turned out in high quantities, or c) all of the above. It is a fun activity, though.