It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Oh my goodness, isn't Christmas just creeping up on us so quickly?! Today I went shopping with my mother so we could finish up some of our gift buying. I have been so incredibly busy and I haven't even gotten out most of my Christmas mail. Ugh! I will get it done tomorrow for sure. I just don't know what happened. I had plenty of time and not I hardly have any. Yikes! I have also been painting some gifts for Noah's teachers which has taken me two days. I still need to add a few touches and voila they'll be done. I'll show them off here in a couple of days-hopefully. Until then let me show you a few other things that have been keeping me busy. :)
I wanted to make most of my Christmas cards but I didn't get many done again this year so I'm afraid some of my friends will have to settle for bought cards. :( Here are three cards I did make this past weekend.

I thought I'd show you some of the decorations in our sitting room.

Every year since Noah's birth we add a house to our village. We haven't bought this year's yet. I love this family tradition.

What a strange mix here. None of the decorations really go together but I like my buffet looking this way. My mother crafted the snowman and his lady, I painted the tree with the children building a snowman on it and then my painting teacher Linda did the rectangle lit box with the snowman design.

I absolutely LOVE opening little surprises from a stocking. This was the stocking I had as a child. Santa fills another stocking for me now so this one is only used for decoration.

Last weekend we went to the Christmas Bazaar hosted by Noah's school. Every year the parents' committee has one to raise funds for the winter carnival in February. Of course we had to buy a few things. The crafts were so nice. This box was hand-painted and filled with sugar cookies which Jeffrey loved.

I love this decorated box filled with yummy fudge.

A pretty ornament Noah chose. The bear is painted on a lightbulb with a knitted hat. Isn't it cute?

Another one of Noah's choices.

One of the best things about December is receiving a bunch of Christmas mail almost daily. Last week I received a bunch of cards and some packages. The cards I opened but the packages are waiting under the tree until Christmas morning. This card is beautiful and made by my very talented friend Rosita from Finland.

Here are a few other cards I received as well. From left to right, Santa card from our vet, another cute Santa card from my friend Margaret from Scotland, a pretty Japanese card from Reiko in Japan, a very cute handmade bear card from my friend Susi from Austria and another handmade card by my friend Maiken from Norway.

Today I received these three cards, Suzy Zoo from Judy from England (I love these characters), a pretty handmade card from Gaby from Germany and the adorable cat card is from my great friend Molly from USA.

My sweet friend Beate from Norway sent me an Advent chocolate calendar and handmade card. Noah and I have been enjoying the chocolates.

I also received these very pretty decos from a group swap.

And, that's all she wrote today! :)