Is it too late for a Christmas post?

I realise it's 5 days into the new year already, but I really wanted to do a post about my Christmas sewing project (that I finished on the night before the 1st December). I embarked on a mass-production challenge (as I tend to do) evidenced here and here. I decided that I'd like to give handmade Advent Calendars to some of my nearest and dearest friends.

The biggest challenge was deciding how to get the numbers 1 through 24 onto the fabric. In the end I went with hand sewing, and spent a crazy week hand stitching in the backyard, in the car (passenger seat only of course) and in the company of any poor soul who came to visit during that time (and yes - I did provide visitors with a spare needle and thread and their help was very much appreciated).

I (and my helpers) stitched up 6 sets of numbers, as I had intended to make 6 calendars. In the end though, I only made 3 (time was not on my side, and I will make up the remaining 3 some other time). One went to my favourite little Australian in Canada. Another went to a friend here in Brisbane. The other was for us.  All 3 were different (yes, photographing them before giving them away would have been a good idea - no, I didn't do that).  The only photographs I have are of the 'bunting' style one that I made for us.

We only put stickers in the pockets this year (Lola is too young for some of the great 'activity' ideas I found online, and we thought she'd be eating enough chocolate over the festive period).

But Simon has an idea of how to use the calendar better next year, and it will also tackle the problem of the kids having too many things to open on Christmas morning and losing interest in the process half way through (not a bad problem to have I realise).  We're going to use the calendar as a treasure hunt clue giver, and spread out most of the little Christmas presents over the month of December.  Well, that's the plan anyway. We've got plenty of time to work out the details. 360 days to be exact!