Countdown to Yuletide

Photo from my ordered purchase from cardsdirect

Welcome, December!!!

December is a lot like November, in that it creeps up on you very quickly after a much-anticipated holiday.  I have begun holiday shopping and creating, wrapping and baking, lighting lights and decorating.  The kids have made some paper snowflakes (thank you http://www.marcels-kid-crafts.com/snowflake-pattern.html) and ornaments. I also picked up a set of color-your-own ornaments (from a local crafts store) that the kids have been slowly working on. 

We've had holiday music on for at least a portion of each day (I just love www.pandora.com, where you can create your own music "station", choosing artists and songs you love), accompanied by cups of cocoa or hot tea while we work on our holiday goodies. We have our own personalized "Advent Calendars", and will enjoy counting down the days to the Winter Solstice, as well as to Christmas 

(since we honor both in our home).

Yule pic from Yule page on Facebook

We had the great fortune of having it snow again today! We only received a light dusting of snow, but it was enough to create an enchanting landscape of our neighborhood. I am truly dreaming of a white holiday. It just always feels more magical with a nice layer of snow on the ground come Yuletide.

Today our home got a good cleaning because we were expecting company. I just love how the anticipation of company causes everyone to scurry around and dust, sweep, clean and organize our home. This means that tomorrow I'll only have laundry and window winterizing to tend to. Those are the only "should do's" on my list. I also have our box of gifts for Australia to get sorted and ready to mail on Monday. The rest of the day, then, can be filled with whatever seems to tickle my fancy. I just love lazy Sundays like that!

I do also have a bit of a homeschooling update to make. 

We will likely be amending our son's schedule to include MORE days at home and FEWER days in the public school (YAY!!!). This is mostly because my husband's schedule will be even more crazy over the next few months, but it also has been a heart-felt desire to have our son home more. As I've posted on several occasions, the public school is not serving as well as we might like it to...not that there was an expectation that it would. It has served a purpose, and we are not quite ready or willing to completely pull our son out of school and away from friends he has made this year. 

We'll therefore find a balance that works for our family. 

We've always done a combination of homeschooling and public schooling. It is simply what our needs and desires have been, and I've discussed those reasons at length before. It's too bad that there is not a local homeschool community that we can join, classes that have room for us, or nearby homeschoolers with kids our son's age. It seems that we're destined to go our own way, making a hs/ps combo work.