Life in the time of Corona, Part 12

 (Also, can I just state here that I wish this wasn't part 12 already, and that the original "stay safe at home" campaign in MARCH had been effective?  I mean, I'm an introvert, and I like to stay home, but GEE WHIZ I'm ready to be ALONE in my house or wandering through a store already?)

We spent the week of Thanksgiving at the family beach house.  We managed 3 days of school -- two sort of "normal" homeschool days and one field trip.  We went to the swamp and got up close to the pitcher plants and the venus fly traps.  We've been learning about plants off and on throughout the fall, so this was a fun way to sneak an extra plant category into our science learning -- we'll be reading about them a little for follow-up over this week (and writing about them and drawing them and so on). 

Did you know that Venus fly traps are very small?  The average size we saw was about the size of my thumbnail. Perhaps you can see them better if you zoom in?

It was nice to be at the beach house; it's always nice to have a little break from my real house and the endless "shoulds" of being home.  It was a break with tradition to eat our big meal on Sunday before the week at the beach, but then again, so much of this year has been a break with tradition.  I almost always enjoy staying in the same house as my mom and dad, who are happy to help share the "adulting" responsibilities: food prep, child care, kitchen clean up, etc. And we decorated a tree to leave in the window for the holidays; though we might not return until January, it was fun to be festive and also provided many crafting opportunities for the children.  No store bought ornaments on that tree!  All handmade by little people. 

I managed to pack up a few sewing projects ahead of time -- a few long sleeve knit shirts, and the flying geese quilt.  I completed one shirt and only have the neckbands missing on the other two (I cut them incorrectly, but didn't take the extra fabric to the beach house, so will need to re-cut now that I'm home). And I spent several naptimes working on the quilting of the flying geese quilt. Progress is progress: I managed to quilt in the ditch(ish) between the columns, then zig-zagged back and forth on each column.  I probably need to zig and zag the opposite way down each column, too, but I am now fighting the lazy-bug and feel very tempted to go ahead and bind it.  I hope I can convince myself to quilt it more; I used a combination of different types of fabric, and I have some concerns about whether the quilt will survive my children using it and the frequent washing it will need from them using it. 

I'm most concerned about the linens and the tencil twill....I really should add more zigzags before I call this finished. Crossing my fingers that the motivation stick will hit me again soon!

Finally, I've managed to clear off enough of the sewing table to use the embroidery machine again.  Just in time for Christmas pajamas!  My sister and I ordered from primary.com, and all I needed to add were the kids' initials. There are a few other outstanding embroidery projects on my list; hopefully I'll get to them before the machine gets pushed aside again. 

Tomorrow begin the 25 day advent calendars; they are still tucked away in the attic, so that's on my list, too.  I'm hopeful that a slow but steady approach to decorating will help stretch the excitement of what is certain to be a slightly dulled (by lack of people and parties and other festive activities canceled by Covid19) holiday season.  I'm slipping into a bit of a slump after the decision that my husband will travel back to Chile to spend New Year's with his father and brothers, as this is the first one without his Mom on earth; I'm feeling sad that the "best" travel plans have him leaving on Christmas afternoon.  I'm dreading solo parenting the week he'll be out of the country and also the two weeks that we'll probably need to spend away from him after that as he self quarantines from the travel.  In preparation for the self-care I'll need while he's away, I've ordered excessive amounts of fabric and a few new-to-me sewing patterns. I'd like to have the quilt finished before he goes...so that means before Christmas....but we'll see whether I can pull that off, or not!  And he won't be allowed to pack until Christmas eve, when the Santa gifts are arranged by the fireplace -- the big suitcase is the best place for us to hide the gifts!

Where do you hide gifts?  Are you finished decorating?  Have you finished shopping? Do you have a favorite Advent practice that you think I should look into doing (either by myself or with my children)?