Can we do crafts?
A week or so before then you asked, “Mama, can we do some crafts?” I said, “but you color and paint all the time.” “That’s not the same as crafts… I would really like to do crafts.” So we did. Five fun crafts over the holidays:

1. The dangling snowperson ornament – first made with Marlie and then you taught your cousins Niklas and Gabriela as well as Oma and Bianca in Michigan.

2. The marshmallow wreath – Madeline and I made this together one night after you headed to bed. We had such a ball! Laughing, talking, burning ourselves. And we were very proud of the way it turned out. Earlier that night we had a beautiful family night – home cooked meal, eggnog, fire in the fireplace, “Charlie Brown’s Christmas Special,” gifts of special ornaments from Austria – and then – a house filled with smoke with all the alarms going off and Mommy and Daddy Jim fighting about how to fix it. Sigh… I guess we aren’t perfect. We laughed about the night many times since. Anyway – here’s the wreath.

3. Melting snowman cookies – We weren’t sure what we were doing, but the three of us (Madeline, you and I) gave it our best shot, and I think they turned out AWESOME!!! Super cute! We took them to Daniel and Madeline’s piano recital, and they were a big hit!!

4. The Christmas card wreath – I was inspired by this idea because we really needed some way to share and see the Christmas cards we received… so we brought the stuff to Michigan and made our first one for Bianca and Mark. I think its pretty – what do you think? Next year we’ll have to make one for us 😉

5. Singing carolers – Last one was a collaborative effort that turned out quite fun – what do you think? Maybe because it was the last of our crafts, maybe because it was the most messy – but few were still standing at the end – Gabby and I finished it up together.

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