My Elves Have Been Busy Of Late

Well, we haven’t gotten our craft on yet, on account of The Big Nasty being the houseguest clearly oblivious to his unwelcome status, but at least the boys have been able to craft it up a little at school this week. On the days they’ve been well enough to attend, at least.

My younger son made this Christmas tree in art class. It’s a fairly traditional craft, but I love the color combination.

But here’s what excited me in particular. My older son came home with these yesterday. Given our coastal location, I’m assuming, his teacher chose to have the class make three ornaments, all with coastal themes.

By the way, here’s a very tenuously-related side note: If you live on an island and decide to make simple wooden coastal ornaments with your small people that you may or may not have seen on Completely Coastal, be prepared for the fact that the materials may or may not be there when you get to the closest craft store to your island. Apparently the coastal people of my area prefer coastal themes in their ornaments to, oh, say, hearts. Or pigs. The bins were overflowing with hearts and all manner of land animal ornaments. But the bins with crabs, seahorse, dolphins and the like were all empty. So does this mean that Kansas stores are void of all wheat ornaments as well? Now I’m curious as to the magnitude of this.

And now we return to my son and his ornaments. This one is made out of small sand dollars. My son chose to add the shirt with a small dragon on the front as a way of personalizing it.

I love this one, as it reminds me of the beach angels I featured on my post earlier this month. I could so totally make this one. Probably.

And this one, I think, is borderline genius. The teacher gave everyone crab shells and they painted the face of Santa on the top of the shells. See, this is another one of those things I could have gone my whole life and never, ever thought of doing on my own, even if a combination of monetary and dark chocolate incentives were involved. Yes, my son’s Santa needs a bang trim. As does my son.

In other news, after few reptile sightings of late, likely due to the now fluctuating temperatures, one of my little friends appeared again on my deck yesterday, peeking out at me between the railing. Look closely. That’s my buddy right there. He likes to eat bugs, so we get along splendidly.

Finally, my younger son, the one most plagued by The Big Nasty, has officially turned a corner, opting this afternoon to sit out on the deck and indulge in a cup of hot chocolate.

Oh wait, one other thing. We’re starting another Christmas tradition, this one to complement our Elf on the Shelf tradition. This one’s called Small Santa in the Box. You never know when you might walk in your living room and see him. We’re unclear as to his purpose at this juncture, but we now stand as witnesses to his authenticity.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, y’all.

10 Replies to “My Elves Have Been Busy Of Late”

  1. I’m totally loving the oyster angel! So fun!! No ocean creatures in the bins!? Hmmmmm. Thanks for the mention!!

    1. Thanks. I can’t tell you how excited I was when he came home with that and the other ornaments.

  2. I had never thought about that. In MN we don’t have any particularly “special” regional themes that would warrant a run on ornaments.

    1. That’s probably good. That way, you can pick and choose which themes you prefer, without everyone else doing likewise. In some ways, it probably makes things more interesting, too.

  3. I love the beach angel. How cute!

    1. I know. I wish I had thought of that idea!

  4. Great ornament ideas. I looked, while that the craft store that starts with M here, and there were no wood ornaments with a beach theme. Just the standard mittens, snowmen, santa hats, etc.

    1. Interesting. I think I’m going to look around Halloween next year, to see if I can catch them early.

  5. Handmade ornaments made by kiddo hands are quickly approaching my favorites on the Christmas tree. Their creativity is amazing. I never would have thought about beach themed ornaments before seeing your photos. The crab is kind of cute. Your little gecko friend is definitely cute. Must be nice to have such a useful, outdoor pet!

    1. It’s so much fun (but still so shocking!!!) to realize my kids now have lives outside of me and can actually produce things without my assistance. It’s mind-boggling, really. And honestly, I’ve heard of it happening, but I’ve never had a gecko in my house. They always stay on the deck, so it’s all good!

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