Happy December

Holy crap, it's December 1 today.  I can't believe it is December.  That means it is almost Christmas!  When I was a kid I could hardly wait.  I loved a good advent calender, whether it was one of those paper chains, a printed calender made on the computer with that old Print Shop Suite from the 90's (I had alot of fun with that program in the pre-internet days!) or one of those ones with the little doors with cheap chocolate behind each door.  Yesterday would have probably been the Advent party at church that always kicked off the season on a Wednesday night.  I still have ornaments I made at that event on my tree! 

This evening I went to a craft fair downtown called Unglued that features homemade goods that are more modern and trendy than typical craft fair goods (I am thinking about the goods that would be sold at our church auction in the old days).  The items at Unglued are similar to things one would find on websites like Etsy or Pinterest.  It was fun and they had free hot chocolate.  I saw many cute items but didn't buy anything because i realized I could make everything that I liked myself!  Oooh, I love my sewing machine...

Here is a cute and very easy looking ornament idea I found on Pinterest this evening in honor of the beginning of December...

From uklassinus.blogspot.com

So cute! 

Speaking of December, every year I take note of the night sky this time of year and notice the brighness of the stars, the presence of various planets, and the strange hazes and auras that appear around the moon.  Years ago (YEARS...back to the years when we lived in Gillette, WY, and the oil rich school district had a high school with a planetarium attached...NDSU and UND don't even have planetariums!) when I was in Kindergarten I remember being at a presentation about theories behind the Christmas star and the speaker running the show mentioned that the sky is at its most fascinating and beautiful at this time of year.  Hopefully I will be away from the city lights enough times to check it out for myself!