Well, he is counting down the days until Christmas, but that’s not all… Bored during a recent snowstorm, he put on some different outfits and had a photo shoot!

Which picture is your favorite?

Not only does Raymond love baseball, but he also loves many other sports. Remember when Raymond went to London, England during the 2012 Summer Olympics?

Raymond has been very excited about baseball for several weeks. He watches it whenever he can, talks about it quite a bit, and pretends to play baseball with snowballs.

One afternoon when Raymond was taking his mid-day nap, he fell into a deep sleep and dreamt about baseball.

In his dream, he went to a baseball park.

He stood on home plate, pretending to slide into home, scoring the win!

Then he trotted around the pitcher’s mound.

He even dreamt he got a signed baseball by his favorite player.

He wanted to try on the fielder’s glove, but it didn’t fit him. Silly Raymond! That’s not how you wear a baseball glove!

When he woke up, Raymond excitedly told everyone at Santa’s Secret Village about his dream!

Later that night, Raymond found a baseball next to his pillow. Maybe it wasn’t a dream after all

Greetings, folks! Our Christmas countdown continues, and to celebrate today—March 25th—I’m sending you a hearty salutation, saying “Happy 9 months until Christmas!”

As you probably know by now, Raymond loves to travel. So when he heard that I was traveling to California, he eagerly offered to accompany me on the trip. While we were there, we took a stroll along the coast in Ventura, CA. We enjoyed the salty scent of the Pacific Ocean and the peaceful surging and ebbing of the waves on the beach.

After gazing at the beautiful scenery, Raymond trotted off to play in the sand. He dug a hole in the sand with his shovel and guess what happened next?

He covered himself with a mound of sand… with a little bit of help from me

Then Raymond spotted some seagulls.

He was tempted to chase after them, but just as he realized that wouldn’t be a kind thing to do, the seagulls flew away.

What else do you think Raymond is up to?

Yup! You guessed it. Raymond.

He eagerly came to the workroom to help me pick out some ribbon for my most recent project, but he got all tangled!

I could go on and on about all the wonderful things happening at the North Pole, but I’d like to hear from you.

What have you been up to this month?

I did make a resolution to eat healthier (again), but what I’m more excited about is (drumroll, please)… trying a new recipe every week. So far so good! I’ve tried a handful of recipes from a healthy cookbook, and I found my new favorite cookie recipe! They are called Carnival Cookies. They’re primarily made from bananas and oats, so they’re super healthy and you don’t need to feel guilty if you’ve eaten 5 or 6! I shared the first batch of cookies with the other elves and reindeer here at the North Pole, and everyone loved them!

Especially Raymond.

Raymond loved the cookies so much that he begged me make another batch of cookies. It didn’t take much prodding for me to agree to bake some more. (Who can say no to cookies?) So Raymond and I headed to the pantry to gather the ingredients.

But first we needed to put on our aprons.

Then we got all the ingredients together. Raymond mashed the bananas while I mixed the dry ingredients.

After we added all the ingredients, we put the cookies on baking sheets, and then popped them in the oven to bake. About 15 minutes later, Mrs. Claus took them out of the oven. In the meantime, Raymond and I eagerly waited for the cookies to cool.

Looking for more yummy recipes? Click here to view the recipes in Mrs. Claus’ Kitchen.

What’s your favorite cookie?

We wanted to take a moment to express some gratitude. First off, thank you to our corporate sponsors who have helped us tremendously with the cost of developing and maintaining northpole.com. So, thank you very much to our Diamond Deck-the-Halls Sponsor, Restaurant Technology, Inc., and our Platinum Poinsettia Sponsor, SimTrain! (Interested in sponsoring Northpole.com? Click here for more information!)

Also, thanks go out to YOU for spending part of your Christmas with us! We appreciate every single one of our visitors, and we are so happy that you came to visit Santa’s Secret Village. We do hope that you’ll spend part of next Christmas with us as well!

As 2012 draws to a close, there are now 362 days until Christmas. We won’t be posting on the Elf Blog quite as often over the next several months, but come check back every now and then because we might post some surprises between now and next holiday season

And in the meantime, you can still check out all of our awesome content, such as the craft ideas, gift ideas, and Raymond the Reindeer’s adventures.

Thanks again for spending part of your Christmas with us here at northpole.com, and we wish you a very happy and healthy 2013!

Here are some of our favourite photos from yesterday and today!

Sandra B. said, “My daughters with Santa ”

Carey O. said, “Waiting for the Guest of Honor, a.k.a.The Big Guy.”

Jimmy C. said, “My Norwegian friend loves her Raymond! Thanks Northpole.com!”

Sarah R. said, “We just moved to Alaska just 5 days ago and my son was dying for us to put up our tree (it was literally the only thing he talked about during our trip from California to Alaska) so we put it up and let both my son and daughter decorate the tree. As you can tell by all the ornaments placed only at the bottom of the tree ) We are very excited for Santa this year.”

Does your family have any Christmas Eve traditions? Let us know in the comments below!

Christmas is a faaaabulous time of year! Brighten up any area with this wintery pink arrangement of branches and icicles. This quick & easy centerpiece could be on your table in no time. Pick whatever type/color of winter branches you like from the craft store. I got about 4 stems of a linear branch (hot pink), and 4 stems of a bushy branch (light pink). You may need more if you have a large vase. (My vase is 10.5″ tall with a 4″ opening.)

Supplies & Tools:

• About 8 stems of branches
• Tall vase
• Clear glass pebbles
• Mixed pink pebbles

Directions:

1. Add clear and pink pebbles to vase.
   
2. Slightly separate the breaks of the branches to make them appear fuller.
   
3. Add the shorter branches to vase, criss-crossing the stems.
   
4. Add longer branches to vase.
   
5. Add a ribbon or other decor as desired. For instructions on how to make a bow like the one below, click here.

Etsy Seller: Matti’s Millinery & Costumes

Snowmen are a classic winter icon! Bring the charm of these frosty, round men indoors with these delightful rustic burlap balls. Decorate them any way you wish!

Snowman

Supplies & Tools:

• 3 burlap balls, different sizes
• Wiggly eyes
• Scraps of felt
• Small buttons (optional)
• 2 twigs – about 0.25″ diameter and 3″ long
• 2 thin twigs for arms
• Hot glue
• Hot glue gun
• Hat & scarf (directions below)
• Broom (directions below)

Directions:

1. Make burlap balls (instructions are here) or reuse the ones you made previously. You need different sizes—small, medium, and large. Mine measure: 1.75″, 2.5″, and 3″.
2. Add facial features to the smallest ball. Add wiggly eyes. Cut out small shapes from felt for nose and/or mouth.
3. Add small buttons (or scraps of felt) on the medium ball.
4. Use hot glue to glue balls together.
5. Glue sticks to bottom of the snowman. The sticks will help stabilize the snowman, enabling him to stand up.
6. Glue thin twigs to the sides for arms.
   

Hat & Scarf

Supplies & Tools:

• Printable template (download here)
• Felt (any color)
• Marker
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Hot glue
• Hot glue gun
• Ribbon (about 3/8″ wide)
• Ruler

Directions:

1. Print the template and cut out pieces.
2. Lay felt on a flat surface.
3. Lay pattern pieces on felt.
4. Trace pattern pieces on felt using a marker.
5. Cut out pieces.
   Note: Fold #1 in half, and then cut lines in center, DO NOT CUT the dotted line.
   
6. Roll the rectangle piece #2 so that it forms a cylinder shape, overlapping ends 1″.  Glue in place.
   
7. Begin gluing piece #2 to piece #1. Gluing one at a time, apply glue to the triangular tabs of piece #1 and press against the inside of piece #2.
   
   
8. Continue gluing until complete. Now it’s beginning to look like a hat!
   
9. Fold over the tabs of piece #2. Place a small amount of glue on each tab, one at a time, and press piece #3 into place.
   
10. Slightly lift the rim of piece #3. Apply a thin line of glue along the top ridge of the cylinder. Immediately press piece #3 down. Work in sections until the top of the hat is complete.
    
11. Cut a piece of ribbon that is 5.5″ long.
12. Apply a small amount of glue to one end of the ribbon. Immediately place onto hat. Wrap ribbon around the hat and finish by securing with a small dot of glue.
    
13. To make the scarf, cut a piece of felt that is 0.5 x 12 long. Cut lines on the ends of the strip to make fringes. Wrap around the snowman’s neck.

Broom

Supplies & Tools:

• Scrap pieces of burlap, at least 5″ x 5″
• 1 long thread, burlap or thin twine
• Thin twig about 6″ long
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Pull threads from the burlap and neatly gather the threads.
   
2. With the longer piece of thread (or twine, or yarn) tie a knot around the middle of the threads.
   
3. Fold threads in half. Place twig near the knot. Gently pull a few threads of broom to cover the twig.
4. Now take the long thread (that is tied in the middle of the broom) and wrap several times around the broom bristles.
   
5. Tie a knot and trim excess thread.
6. Now your snowman has a broom!