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!

Christmas Wishlist

I thought it might be fun to share a few things that are on my wishlist this christmas.  Also I know Corey hates christmas shopping so hopefully this will make his life a little easier.

1 - Nigella Cookbooks - I have one but I would love to add more to my recipe book collection.  I can read Nigella cookbooks like novels.  She has an awesome way of writing.

2 - Sophia Bustier Maillot by Seafolly - I need some new swimmers and I am loving this vintage style one piece.  Plus who can go past a bit of gingham.

3 - Rococo Rose Vintage Maillot by Seafolly - another gorgeous one piece.  I love the blue and the floral.

4 - The Mat - this is a food grade plastic mat that you use to roll out fondant and cover cakes.  My friend lent me hers once and it makes life so much easier.  I would love one of my own.

5 - Wittner Peppermint Heels - Are these not the most perfect heels you have ever seen?  They are to celebrate 100 years of Wittner and they would be perfect to wear with my vintage dresses.  The only problem is I can't choose between these two colours.

6 - Marianne of Maui Coral Hawaiian Fabric - I want to make a vintage style playsuit and this fabric would be perfect.  Such a gorgeous colour for summer!  I am think a circle skirt and top kind of like this.

7 - Bernie Dexter Capri Pants - I have wanted these pants forever!  They are like my dream pair of jeans.

8 - Glass Drink Dispensers - I have visions of parties with glass drink dispensers full of pink lemonade and glasses with striped straws.  I need these in my life!

9 - Wilton Ribbon Cutter & Embosser - this would have made my life so much easier when making Corey's pacman cake.  It's not easy to cut straight strips of fondant with a knife.

So what are you wishing for this christmas?

  

Tis The Season

The first item on our advent calendar was to put up our tree and decorations.  We managed to get the majority of the house decorated on Saturday but I am just needing to finish up our stockings so we can hang them.

I am so in love with our Christmas tree.  Growing up I always wanted a colour coordinated tree and I love our red, white and silver theme.

I feel like we need a few more decorations for the rest of the house though.  We only have a few little things and I want more.  I also have never really been into outdoor lights before because they just seem like so much effort but a few houses in our street are all decorated and now I wish we had some lights.  I think we might need to pick a few things up but I worry about them getting stolen.

I can't wait till Imogen is old enough to help us decorate.  This year she sat in her bouncer and watched us with her santa hat on.  This one is obviously way too big for her.  I think I might need to make her her own little hat to wear when we go to carols next weekend.

Have you finished decorating your houses for Christmas?  Do you do outdoor lights?

Advent Calendar

 

 I am a little bit excited that it is December!!!  I am so pumped for this Christmas.  I have so much planned for December and I really hope we get to do it all.  I want to make Imogen's first Christmas as special as I can.  The first project I did was to make an advent calendar.

We have an advent calendar that we hang with chocolates but I wanted to make one with activities for us to do each day in the lead up to Christmas.  There are things like write christmas cards and wrap christmas presents and then simple ones like watching The Grinch as well as little outings like to get Santa photos and see the Christmas lights.

After I decided on all the activities it was a bit of a jigsaw figuring out which ones to do on each day.  There are some that need to be done on a weekend and with limited weekends between now and Christmas as well as us having some other plans already in place it took me a little while to get everything in the right spot.

So our first activity for today is to put up our Christmas decorations.  I put the tree up yesterday but it has no decorations on it yet.  As soon as Corey gets home from work we will start decorating.  I am so excited!!!