How has your week been? Otis and I have been baking lots of gingerbread and doing jigsaw puzzles. Caspar has spent a lot of time working on Lego Technic. The boys have also been enjoying swimming and lots of hiking. If you are looking for some weekend reading, I can recommend:

• Our Montessori Indoor Garden - A post that combines my two loves, Montessori and indoor plants! Gorgeous pictures.
• Cleaning House and The Hands-Off Mom Method both at Design for Mankind. Love the hands-off approach. 
• 10 Tips for Nurturing Attachment During the Holidays at Attachment Parenting. 
• The Best Gift You Can Give This Christmas (and Where to Find It) at Becoming Minimalist. 
• We are currently enjoying the bedtime reading of Owl Moon "When you go owling you don't need words or warm or anything but hope." 

If you are looking for last minute Christmas gifts consider your favourite charitable causes. This year we have worked with Oxfam who have a large range of unwrapped gifts. This year we have allowed the boys to select and donate to their own causes. I don't know if it was a good idea. It was so difficult and heart-breaking, especially with Otis who chose to give to UNICEF. There may have been a few tears shed. Caspar chose to support refugees locally. 

Yesterday my Aunt visited, she is a (permanent) foster parent to two children (around Caspar's age). It was wonderful to see her children playing with mine. My Aunt is doing a fantastic job of raising the children and it's not easy, I really admire her commitment.  Sometimes we forget there are children in our own community who are very much in need. So I would like to give a big shout out to all foster parents - thank you for all that you do!

Thank you also to everyone who left comments and suggestions on my Facebook post about multicultural dolls. There were lots of fantastic ideas put forward, please let me know if you would like me to put these into a blog post. 

Thank you for your continued support. I will be back next week with a couple of posts before the New Year.

Sending you lots of love and light. xx