Advent Calendar Activities

I have been having lots of fun doing my advent calendar activities this year.  There are a few that we have not done yet and still lots more to come.  Apparently a few videos I thought we owned we don't so we didn't end up watching them on the day I put them on.  But if they are on tv before Christmas we will be watching them for sure!  But I thought it would be nice to share some of the activities we have done.  If you are on instagram you would have already seen these pics.

 

Make Marshmallows!  These were delicious and surprisingly easy.

Go to Christmas Carols.  Imogen got to wear her adorable elf shirt that she was given by the darling Movie Mazz.

Put up the Christmas Decorations.  These are obviously in no particular order because this was the first activity we did for the month.

Make a gingerbread house.  I was lazy this year and used a kit from Aldi.  I have made my own the last two years and I am hoping next year I will have time to again.

Go to myer and buy new Christmas decorations.  I used to work at myer and loved their Christmas decorations and Christmas section so I wanted to take Imogen there and buy decorations.  I basically waved decorations in front of her and bought the ones she laughed at.

Make Imogen's santa sack.  This was a super simply project so I didn't bother posting it.  I bought some retro Christmas fabric from Spotlight and sewed it along the bottom and side.  Then I made a channel and used some red bias binding for a tie. Simple & quick!

Go get santa photos.  This was hilarious! Imogen was not impressed at all but on the plus side she didn't cry.  The minute we took her off santa and put her back in her stroller though she started cracking out the smiles and giggles.  Cheeky little monkey!

Wrap presents.  I had a bit fun this year wrapping our presents in brown paper, red ribbon and doilies.  I  actually made a super cute little pom pom with doilies that I want to share in more detail this week.  Stay tuned for that!

Write Christmas cards.  

Buy a new Christmas cd.  This year I bought Glee.  I really wanted Michael Buble but I couldn't find it the day we were at the shop.  Hopefully next year!

Make Polar Express Hot Chocolate.  This is delicious!!! Seriously guys make this hot chocolate and why not chuck some homemade marshmallows in there to top it off.  Recipe here.

Make Christmas Decorations.  These were super fun to make and easy too!  I am hoping to make Christmas decorations each year with Imogen so our tree will slowly be taken over by handmade decorations.

So that's it so far.  We still have a few more to do this week.  I can't wait for Christmas though. It is my favourite day of the year!

Homemade Marshmallows

One of my advent calendar activities for this week was to make marshmallows.  I was a little bit nervous about making them because I had it in my head that they were going to be super difficult.  I have wanted to make them for ages but I was always too scared to tackle it.

I am so glad I finally tackled this cooking goal because they are really delicious.  They are quite gooey which I though was because I made them so thick but mum said it's probably because of how hot it is at the moment.  I am going to try making these again in winter and see if they set a bit firmer.  But I quite like them gooey.

So I made Corey hot chocolate on Monday night using this recipe and when I was making the marshmallows he asked me why I didn't make the marshmallows first so he could put them in his hot chocolate.  Clearly I didn't think about that when I was assigning the advent tasks to dates.  Oh well! Next time.

Now in the spirit of full disclosure I must admit not all the marshmallows turned out as cute little hearts. This one took me 15 minutes to get out of the cookie cutter because it stuck to it.  Even though I dipped it in icing sugar first it still stuck.  So the rest of the marshmallows ended up looking like this....

 

Homemade Marshmallows via Donna Hay Kids Magazine

3 1/2 tablespoons gelatine

1 cup boiling water

3 cups sugar

1 1/3 cups liquid glucose

2/3 cup water (extra)

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 cups icing sugar

1/3 cup cornflour

Place gelatine and boiling water in the bowl of an electric mixer and set aside.  Place the sugar, glucose and extra water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and boil without stirring until soft-ball stage on a sugar thermometer.  

With the mixer running at a high speed, slowly add the hot syrup to the gelatine mixture.  Add the vanilla and beat for 12-15 minutes or until the mixture is thick and fluffy.  Pour into two 20cm square tines lined with non stick baking paper.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Sieve together icing sugar and cornflour.  Turn the marshmallow out onto a surface lightly dusted with a little of the icing sugar and cornflour mixture.  Cut into squares or use a cookie cutter dipped in icing sugar mixture to cut out shapes.  Marshmallows should be stored in an airtight container.

Wrapping Presents

Yesterday's task on the advent calendar was to wrap presents.  We have a big family on Corey's side so wrapping is a big task.  We only buy for the kids, Corey's parents and his little sister and her fiance (as they don't have kids) but that still gives us 16 people just on Corey's side.  We have done quite well this year with only 4 presents left to buy.  Usually we shop for Corey's family all in one big hit the week before Christmas because Corey hates Christmas shopping.  This year though I started while I was on maternity leave so we have made good progress.

This year I decided to put a bit more effort into my wrapping.  I went with brown paper wrapping with doilies and red and white ribbons to match in with the colours on our tree.  I actually had a lot of fun wrapping these presents.  The little one at the front with the pom pom on it is my favourite.  Who doesn't love pom poms!

Unfortunately, I didn't buy enough ribbon so not all the presents are wrapped just yet so this advent task will have to be "to be continued"....

Homemade Ornaments

Day 4 on our advent calendar tasks was to make ornaments for our Christmas tree.  I decided to make some super simple air dry clay ornaments because they were quick and easy and could be done during Imogen's nap times.

They are seriously super duper simple!  Just roll out your clay and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  I then used a small piping tip to poke holes in the top of each shape.  I left mine to dry overnight and they were perfect in the morning.  Keep in mind we are in the middle of a heat wave on the Gold Coast so f you are in a cooler climate they may take a little while longer to dry out.

This morning I cut my lengths of ribbon and threaded them through the holes and popped them onto the tree.  So simple it's ridiculous!  There are so many things you could do with these too. I chose to leave mine plain but you could paint yours or emboss them before cutting out the shapes.  Little Paper Lane used hers as gift tags on her present.  Use your imagination and have fun with them!