It's still officially Christmastime around these parts. We keep the decorations up until after Epiphany (I usually surprise my husband by taking them all down on one of his first days back to work after break), and this first week of the new year is quiet for us. We've been reading, playing Christmas songs on the piano (a little me, mostly Elisabeth now), and playing with our gifts. I wrote and sent our Christmas cards -- although late, I figured it was a necessity since we moved this year.

I ended up making one major gift and a few smaller ones this year (more on those later). But what turned out to be the big handmade project this year was something I hadn't planned on doing. A few days before Christmas, Daisy (our puppy) mauled Elisabeth and Fiona's dolls. After I lot of finger crossing and breath holding, I plunged in and repaired their little faces. My repairs were pretty successful, and inspired me to try and clean up all three dolls and make them all new clothes for Christmas. It was a last-minute project and very time consuming. Looking at this picture, I realize Claire and Peter (the older dolls) could've gotten even cleaner, but it was a huge improvement still. Claire got new hair, and in addition to the plastic surgery on faces, they all needed other minor repairs. I was so excited to set them out for the children to find on Christmas morning and they were so happy to see their dolls so freshened up. It was wonderful.

I'm looking forward to a few more quiet days before plunging back into the normal schedule on Monday.

(PS: We did have a little snow -- just an inch or so -- on Christmas morning. It was just what I'd hoped for.)

uncommon grace