Christmas preparations... or baby Jesus found!

We're getting closer to being ready for Christmas.  Our tree is up:

And baby Jesus has been found.  (Hooray!  Thank you, TM.  Now I can show you pictures.)  These are the nativity dolls I made years ago which live under our tree during December.  Early on we decided that we would not put presents out early.  It was a too-great temptation for toddlers, plus by having wrapped gifts to stare at for weeks, it would shift our children's focus from celebrating the birth of Jesus to "What am I going to get?!?"

No, I know there are no shepherds, sheep or angels.  I even have the patterns for a couple of them, but over the years have never got around to make them.  What I should do is get it all out in the middle of July and do them then.

We also have a more traditional creche.  It is carved stone and was made in Vietnam.

And some other decorations.  What's the point of having a staircase like this if you don't do something with it?

But really, what I have been doing the past couple of days is sewing, sewing, sewing.  Mostly gifts, which I can't show you yet, but also some clothes which I can.  Here are G. and L.'s Christmas Eve dresses.  They are from taffeta (the fabric was a gift from a friend) and stretch velvet.  The pattern is the Twirly Dress from Sew Baby.  I really love this pattern.  It goes together easily and makes a cute and comfortable dress.  (It is the same pattern I used to make these twirly dresses.)  My only complaint is that it only goes up to a size 6.  I have a feeling that H. would like this style of dress, but she is heading into size 10.  Why is it so hard to find cute dresses in larger sizes?

I also made a skirt for P. out of the same taffeta.  Can I brag a moment and say that I made this without a pattern?  It's only a simple gathered skirt with a waist band, but I'm still a little proud of it.

Now to the less glamorous shots.  When you spend all your time sewing, it leaves your bedroom looking like this:

We've been living with the pen taking up most of the room because it was the only way I could sew and stop the little girls from creating chaos.  It makes it tricky if J. or I have to get up in the middle of the night.

And then there is the table littered with wrapping stuff.  It will probably look like this until we clean it up on the morning of Christmas Eve.

All of this preparing leaves children with not enough to do and maybe a little crabby.  The little girls have dressed themselves in costumes and have succeeded in strewing the contents of the third floor around the first and second.

L. wearing her superman costume (backwards) with an empty wrapping paper tube.

G. as a fireman, complete with sparkly shoes (which you can't see) and 3D glasses left over from the older children having a big Tin Tin movie screening party last night.  (Yes, they did see it at midnight.)

Now that I have nearly done with all the projects that needed to be made, I suppose it's time to put the house back in order and see what else needs to be done.  At least I can cross 'find baby Jesus' off my list.