Christmas is coming...Mummy and Daddy are getting crafty...

Christmas for me is a time for love and a time for family; a time for giving and a time for sharing; a time for joy and a time for laughter and peace. 

I have always loved Christmas and just about everything that comes with it these days -  the special church service, the feast, the family, the gifts(!). Both Mr O and I have really fond childhood memories of Christmas time and we're keen to create warm memories for Baby Girl too. 

One thing that I always remember is the gorgeous advent calendar lovingly handmade by my elder sister during her textiles GSCE. It was over a metre long and had 24 Christmas themed pouches... there were Christmas tree pouches, present pouches, snowman pouches and the 24th of December was a Father Christmas pouch, if I remember correctly. Our parents filled each pouch with random confectionery and myself and my younger siblings took it in turns to retrieve the contents each morning and share them out. We loved our advent calendar!

Christmas is fast approaching and Little Miss O is constantly asking about her role as Mary in her nursery nativity play, talking about 'Baby Jesus' and questioning the whereabouts of 'Father Christmas'. So, Mr O and I feel that this year an extra special advent calendar is in order...

That's right, we have taken it upon ourselves to make (!) our gorgeous mini-we an advent calendar. Our brief is 'classic but cute, gender neutral, pouch style, advent calendar garland, with nativity not just 'Christmas' theme'.... 

Depending on the quality of the finished product and how it fares this year, we're hoping to use it year after year! Now, we're still in the making stage of our little creation but here are some of the advent calendars that have inspired us...

Source: philipsfab5

 Source: liltulip

Source: JennMatthews

 Source: pickles

Source: making the world cuter

Now, we can't promise that our 'version' will be as hot as these lovelies, BUT we still look forward to seeing Little Miss O's face when she sees her bespoke advent calendar garland next Wednesday morning...bring on the festive fun!

Do you remember having an advent calendar? Or is it just me?! ? : )

Mrs O

x