Thanksgiving, Part 3

Paula got the crazy idea that over Thanksgiving, we should recreate the felt Advent calendar mom made for us when we were kids. I say crazy because Paula is not really a "crafty" person and crazy because it was a pretty big job to take on, but we did it! Chad helped by updating some of the shapes and creating a few more, but many of the shapes on our trees are based on the originals from mom's. She still has the pattern she used, though she's lost some of her felt ornaments over the years. Here are our finished products, created with love and laughter by Paula, Chad, Tracy, and some special help from Andrew and Kate. Laura started this project for her family a year or two ago so Chad made a boot for her tree in Alaska too. Ours is on the left and Paula's is on the right. They're the same except for a handful of unique ornaments we each wanted for our tree.


The Advent calendar was an evening / kids are asleep project. As I said before, the days were spent mostly playing outside.






And finally, here are the cousin pics! Kate, Claire, Owen, and Charlee.