Chistmas is coming.......

Today I have been and got Stephanie the christmas present which she has been asking for for months! So am looking forward to a very happy girl come christmas morning. :-)

We visited the library this morning and got some christmas inspired books. I found some craft ones, am feeling rather inspired by this one christmas decorating. it has lots of fab ideas for making wreaths and table decorations. We will be going for a Sunday walk tomorrow to see what items we can find to use. I really want to make a traditional christmas wreath, so according to the book I need to find some;

1. pine spruce
2. twigs
3. fir cones
4. sweet chestnuts

I know we found sweet chestnuts on the ground in September so am not feeling very optimistic about inding any tomorrow- or do they have a very long season? (I suspect not!)
Even if we find all the things I do not think that my attempt at making a wreath will look anything near as gorgeous as the one in the book, but miracles do happen- right??

Stephanie and I spent some time this afternoon making christmas crafts. We made these;

aren't they great? My Nanna taught me to make these snowmen many years ago, so it seems only right that I continue with her teachign and ensure that my children knwo how to make them. Dylan was lucky enough to make them with my nanna when he was young, unfortunately this is not something Stephanie has been able to do. Both children have agreed we should leave one at my grandparents grave so that it is christmassy there. So anoher reason to visit the churchyard tomorrow, or Nanna's garden as my neice has renamed it.
Keep watchign fo rmore christmas crafts over the next few weeks.
I also need to make Stephanie a new dressing gown as we seem to have totally lost her NEW one. I have some fleece which will be perfect for a dressing gown, very snuggly and warm. The difficulty is that the pattern I have is for a 7 year old, and Stephanie is in 3-4 year old clothing. I measured her this evening and she is waaaaaaaaaayyyyy too small for the pattern. So the evening has been spent searching the internet to see if I can find a free pattern with no luck.
That leaves one option I need to work out how to alter the pattern I have so that it fits her. That will be my mission for tomorrow when she is up and about and able to be measured against. unless anyone knows a pattern I can download- or has simple instructions for altering the existing pattern?

Answers in a postcard please? (or a blog comment will help!)