Santa & The Fairies

It snowed this weekend. I have to say for those of you who don't know me, I HATE snow. I mean it's beautiful and all, in photographs. But I learned early in life that in order to get snow you have to have cold, and that's what really bugs me. Plus the shoveling. And the slipping and sliding. And being and cold and wet just stinks. So there, I am a winter party pooper I guess.

So when we have a snowy cold weekend, I send the fellas out and I hunker down with my tea and some books or crafts and enjoy the view from the heated comfort of my floating home.

I finished and packed up the goodies for my Seasons Round partner, Mary over at Poppies & Milk. Cheeck our her fabulous new etsy shop too!

Zach and I were invited to participate in an Advent Spiral walk at a Waldorf school in Baltimore. What a magical, special time that was! And we had a small, rather spontaneous celebration of St. Nicholas Day for the first time. I remembered just as Zach was about to go to sleep, and told him the story which woke him right up again as he scurried out in to the cockpit to leave a shoe with a carrot and hay (which we have laying around for the guinea pig). He was talking in his sleep about checking the shoe all night. When he finally woke, he was over the moon to see a little, golden bag of nuts and chocolate coins waiting.

I also found a sweet, sweet book I wanted to share. It's called The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum (the man who brought us The Wizard of Oz).

The story is 100 years old and newly illustrated in rich, fabulous images. Did you know Santa was raised by fairies? Yep, the tale goes that Nicholas is a mortal child found in the forest and raised by a band of woodland fairies and elves. He grows up and learns to whittle toys from wood. He's introduced to the human world and makes it his mission in life to make children happy by creating and delivering toys. It's a lovely book, check it out.

Finally , we spent rest of the weekend hanging lights around the boat and starting our holiday decorating. We made some ornaments for our wee tree  from beeswax and some from applesauce cinnamon dough, and the rest are our collection from years past. Zach checks his tomten mailbox everyday (our version of an advent calendar) to see what news the little guy brings -- making snowflakes? Feed the birds? Make hot coco? It's a busy time of year for our family as we celebrate Hanukkah, Solstice, and Christmas covering the beliefs and upbringings of our entire crew. Hope you're all happily celebrating the season in your own special ways!