This is our son's first visit with Mr. Claus, he doesn't look thrilled, but I promise he was!  I hope Santa brings you something good!  Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Back in the day when I was a working gal, the company I worked for always had a great Secret Santa game that lasted one week, for four days you brought your "person" a small $1-$3 gift, and then on the fifth day, we had a party, and you presented your "person" a $20 gift and unveiled yourself as "Santa!"  I love this game, so fun to see everyday what you will get, and even better to try and figure out who is your "Santa."  The first year I participated, my "Santa" gave me this village set (a few pieces at a time) for the first four days!  How awesome is that!  It is a small set and the houses are small too, about 8" x 8,"  but the perfect size to set up every year.  I look forward to it every Christmas now, and we added LED Christmas lights underneath the "snow" to add that additional light and glow!  Every year when I set it up, I now think to those "working a real job" days and the few perks (and people) that made "the grind" fun!  Have you ever played "Secret Santa" and ended up with a gift that you truly loved?  I hope you are truly enjoying this Christmas Season and remembering the "Reason for the Season!" 

What am I doing?  This is Christmas time, I'm not supposed to be talking about Halloween!  Oh well, I wanted to show off my little trick or treat bunch that I am so proud of.  I did finish these guys before Halloween, and they were proudly displayed until a few weeks ago when I put up our Christmas decorations.  I bought the kit for these guys from a great etsy seller The Cheswick Company.  The kit was easy (though it did take a lot longer to make than I anticipated) but, was well worth the invested time!  The kit includes the pattern and materials for five of these guys, and the little kitty was an additional pdf pattern that I purchased to add on, because I thought she would fit in so well!  Don't you think so!  If you want to make some for yourself, hop on over to the The Cheswick Company to find everything you need.  They also have great Christmas decorations as well.  I only changed a few things from the original pattern, for example, most of the faces were supposed to be painted on, but that made me way to nervous, so I just hand stitched the faces.  See below for close-ups on all of these great little guys, and thank you Cathy for great patterns and materials!  I hope everyone is truly enjoying the holiday season!