Holiday fun for the kids and winter gardening advice.
I have been in my garden since the first of April last year. I just pulled everything out of the ground due to my hose freezing up from the cold weather. I started everything from seeds this season and have had plenty of lettuce and kale from under my greenhouse tunnel, but it had to come to an end. Without the sprinkler, I would have to uncover the tunnel and hand water everything in the colder every day, which is not up my alley. I am not a cold weather person. So, with the upcoming expansion of the garden, I hope to make a walk-in green house for the following fall/winter season. I will keep the tunnel greenhouse for other plants next year; I don't know what yet though. My dreams are to create a dreamy little seating area with lights near the garden as well. A girl can dream! Oh, and we have a mole problem right now. It keeps tunneling in and around the garden. So, we need to fix that problem before spring gets here.
As for the chickens, my husband had built a nesting box for them, but the girls weren't laying in it. They were laying their eggs beside the nesting box in the corner. So, I nailed a roof on top of the nesting box for them to feel more cozy, but they continued to lay eggs in the corner. I will have to figure out another option for them so I don't have to search around for their eggs.
Over the Christmas break, I have tried to come up with simple, inexpensive ways to keep the magic alive with the kids. I always do the countdown calendar every Christmas. This year, we were dealing with a lot of sickness. Almost every time I planned for us to see Santa (a part of our countdown calendar), someone in our family was sick. I finally just made us go out of nowhere when everyone was feeling good enough. We went to see Santa in Social Circle, and it was absolutely precious. I highly recommend it because it was so quick and so beautiful; they even give the kids a small stuffed animal and/or book. Plus, their message is "Jesus is the reason for the season", which I always appreciate.
Other things that we did for the countdown calendar:
Make salt dough ornaments (recipe below)
"Find the Pickle" (our version below)
Make s'mores
Meet Santa's reindeer on the Covington Square
Drive Thru Nativity at the Covington First United Methodist Church
Make a Christmas craft (wooden gingerbread house with dad)
Christmas lights at Chimney Park
Salt Dough Ornaments
4 cups flour
1 cup table salt
1.5 cups water
Stir all ingredients together with a wooden spoon. You may need to add more water or flour to make your dough easy to work with (not too sticky and not too stiff). Knead the dough for 3-4 minutes and then roll it out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out your ornaments with cookie cutters and bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Seal with Mod Podge.
"Find the Pickle"
This is a German Christmas tradition. A pickle ornament is hidden on the Christmas tree. Whoever finds the pickle on Christmas morning, gets an extra present. How we changed it: I allowed the boys to search for the pickle 12 days before Christmas. I gave them 1 minute to find it. They didn't find it. So, I gave them an extra minute. They didn't find it. I said they had to try again the following night. I gave them 1 minute to find it. They didn't find it. So, I gave them an extra minute, and they FINALLY found it! I had wrapped a gift for all three of the boys to share, which is what I allowed them to open. It was a fishing game, and they had so much fun playing it that night.
I hope some of these ideas will help you come up with your own countdown calendar with your kids. We had so much fun this holiday season. I'm already making notes for next year!
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