Happy St. Nicholas Day!! St. Nicholas paid a visit to the little one recently. She was so excited. The night before we polish our shoes, write a letter to St. Nicholas, bake a special treat to leave him, get some hay and a carrot for his horse (apparently his horse's name is Snowflake! Who knew?!), and we leave it outside her bedroom door. In the morning, the little one finds her shoes filled with gold covered chocolate coins, a candy cane, and a special gift with a note left by St. Nicholas.
This year she awoke to find a special horse harness for play made by one of St. Nicholas' elves. Wow. St. Nicholas even told her that the bells on the reins were from his very own horse. She was so excited.
We also began celebrating the first week of Advent on Sunday. We got out our birthday ring which also doubles as an Advent wreath. We sang our candle lighting song for Advent:
"I light the night my candle burns,
I light the night my candle burns.
First one, then two, then three, then four,
my heart is shining like a star."
Next we read the words for the first week of Advent:
"The first light of Advent is the light of stones.
Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones."
We placed some special crystals the little one got for her birthday, some seashells we found on the beach this summer, and some beachstones as well.
And there wasn't really a better day to celebrate, because we got our very first winter snowstorm today! It was SO much fun. I was very satisfied with our snow activities...we made chili (for a chilly day!), cornbread, apple crisp, shoveled the driveway and the porch, went grocery shopping, took out the fall plantings in our window boxes and put in a variety of winter greens, went sledding, I made a wreath (my first one!!), had three delicious homemade meals, and got some knitting done. Such a good day.
I love that we live in this little town. The little one calls it "our cozy town." It was slippery out there and so very snowy, but we could walk everywhere we needed to go. We trek through our backyard to get to the co-op and I bring this amazing basket Sasa got me for my birthday. It fits all our groceries, usually ends up weighing more than I do, but is so nice to be able to carry our food home on foot.
The wreath making was so exciting and super successful. I cut some berries and vines out back and added them to the greens we got at Sasa's sister's house over the weekend. I think the wreath turned out pretty great and it now hangs on our front door!
So yay for winter and St. Nicholas, and Advent! Tis the season for sure!
Happy Monday y'all! xoxo. Oh, and stay tuned for another awesome giveaway on Wednesday, and more to come next week!!
