Tutus, holiday wreaths and Advent...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving and I hope you did too.  The turkey wasn't stuffed, but the rest of us definitely were!  All the kids were here, grandparents and my brothers made it out.  This is the weekend of  leftovers and for that, I am grateful.  We'll gobble them up with gladness.  I plan to make a turkey-noodle soup with homemade noodles for tomorrow's lunch.  I can't wait!

So.....why are there two tutus on my blog?  Because we made them over Thanksgiving to give as gifts.  We girls put our hands to work and came up with pretty pink and white tutus -- one for my 3 year old niece and one for Hazel Peach.  They were so simple to make using instructions from MomdotCom.  We used tulle-on-a-spool which was 6" wide so all we had to do was to cut it in lengths and tie on.  Easy!

 Today daughter-in-love and I got together while HP was napping and made ourselves some Christmas wreaths out of coffee filters.  Another almost-instant-self-gratifying project.  We figured it took us about one hour to make a wreath.

Various instructions call for a styro wreath base or a straw-filled wreath, but we made ours with cardboard circles.  I traced around a 10" dinner plate and then used a small bowl to trace out the center.  Cardboard bases are very easy to work with.  One thing we figured out after our first wreath was to put a row of rosettes on the back of the base first and then fill in the top of the wreath by going around the outside first and working inward.  In the picture above, I had the wreath completely filled and and decided to put the extra layer on back so I took the picture to show you how it was done.  The second wreath below is made from an 8" piece of cardboard as the base.  The smaller size is really cute.  I added bows to mine, but you could just loop a pretty piece of ribbon on back to hang the wreath. 

We found the idea on The Nester and I highly recommend that you go look at some of the other projects she has made with coffee filters.  I love the light pendant and think it would be fabulous for a wedding.   There is a rectangle-shaped wreath on Pleasures of Homemaking that I think you'll like too.

Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent.  Our family has always taken time to reflect upon The Coming of Christ by observing Advent.  I like to burn a special candle or make an Advent wreath with candles to light every night as we read our devotion or sing a hymn.  One of our favorite books to use is Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader.  The daily readings are interesting and the book comes with a CD which includes selections from Handel's Messiah that go with each reading.   When the children were Littles, we used Family Celebrations by Ann Hibbard.  Back then, I made all the felt symbols that went along with each daily devotion and the kids put one of them on our tree each night.

This weekend I ordered some sweet Advent Calendars for the Littles in my life.  Did you ever have an Advent calendar that counted down the days till Christmas?  I loved them!  I remember some from my childhood that had small chocolate candies behind each numbered square and some calendars had pictures behind the windows.  I found this Advent calendar on sale!  Perhaps you made a paper chain that helped you to count down the days to Christmas?  Such anticipation and excitement.

Wishing you all peace and joy as you prepare your homes and hearts for Christmas.