Dilemma

... or actually two dilemmas:

1. Christmas tree or not?
They started showing up about a week ago. Christmas trees - in all sizes. And the girls have been asking when we'll be getting ours. I told them it's too early still and that we should wait for at least another week. But should we really buy one, I wonder. Every year I have mixed feelings about getting a Christmas tree. I find it somewhat cruel, killing a tree just so we could decorate it and enjoy it for a mere two or three weeks at most, after which it gets dumped. I know they're just grown for that, just like I know they get recycled to some extent, but still... However, I also find it cruel towards my girls not to have one. They so much enjoy having a tree in the house, and so do I actually. We had a fake one before, but that's not any better for the environment, if not worse. I've seen alternative trees, wooden frames, or trees made out of twigs. But no way you can hang balls and ornaments from those - and we have plenty. So, what should we do? Most likely we'll get one, but I'll feel sad for that poor tree again...

2. Flu vaccine or not?
The French government started a mass vaccination campaign to fight off the H1N1 flu pandemic. And again we have no clue as to what would be the best, getting the shot or not. Everyone is talking about it, at school, at the gym, in the elevator, at the store, on the metro... And no one seems to know the answer. I think we should wait another week and see... Oh, I'm so good at procrastinating...

And that's exactly what I did with the advent calendar too.
I didn't want to get a store bought one. I had plenty of ideas for making one. But, as I said, I'm a bad planner and so on Tuesday night we still didn't have any and so we whipped this one together. We joined efforts: I cut the paper, the girls stamped every sheet, I folded them and glued them to pockets of different sizes and shapes, they distributed the chocolate coins equally (important!), put them in the pockets. I finally stapled them randomly to some twine, hung both calendars up near the dinner table and done... Each girl now has a nice and cute, very personal advent calendar.
And after dinner the girls both climb onto their chair to find the corresponding date...

Note: I can't believe how crazy things have gone in the post below... Thanks, everyone for participating and for your nice comments! If you'd like to make a bunny of your own, I found the pattern in a Debbie Bliss book, I believe it was (Toy Knits: more than 30 irresistible and easy-to-knit patterns). I no longer have the book, unfortunately. I got rid of it at our moving sale, which I now regret...