Creativity's Calling

The Peanut only has a half day of school today.  They've been studying Ireland the past couple of weeks for an International Day performance and feast at lunch, and then she'll be done for the day.

For the record, I've made a big pan of colcannon and some scones to take over for the feast today.  

But since The Peanut will be home about noon or so, I'm trying to come up with several options of things to do. 

One thing we should definitely get started on is putting up some of the easier Christmas decorations.  The last couple of years, I've started putting them out in bits and pieces instead of trying to do it all at once, and that makes a huge difference for me in terms of how tired I get while decorating.  If I pace myself a little better, it's less difficult for me and everyone around me.

So, there's decorating.  Sure.

But what else?  She's not going to be content to just tote stuff around, even if it is Santa-related.  So I'm trying to come up with something crafty for us to do this afternoon.


Maybe we could embellish a shirt for her American Girl doll.  We have a couple of plain t-shirts for her, and some assorted bits of ribbon, cute buttons, and a few patches that could be sewn on as well.  That might be fun.

Or maybe she could paint or color a picture for Santa's elves or for grandma?  That's always good for an hour or so, at least.

There is always pulling out a coloring book or two and watching a movie while covering a few pages in broad strokes of color.  Or working a puzzle.  Or playing cards or some other game for a bit.  Or...well, there are a lot of options.

It occurred to me that thinking about them beforehand isn't just useful for today, but that it gives me a working list of things for snow days to come this winter.  So if you have some suggestions, I'd love to hear them...

(Photo via pierre_pouliquin.  Love the saturation of color in this shot.)