Merry Christmas

I love Christmas.

We ate a ton.

We spent a lot of time with family.

The joy of the coming of our King and Savior abounded.

We celebrated. We laughed. We ate some more.

Merry Christmas.

Dinner Party

Last night we decided to have a small dinner party. It was kind of a “enjoy your Christmas break-see you in a month-just because we can” kind of dinner party. We told them to dress up.

The boys looked like gentlemen.

The girls looked classy.

The table was cheery.

The food was satisfying.

The company was delightful.

simple, stamped place cards

table set for six

two mismatched tables
four types of chairs

mini feast prepared:
roast
carrots
mashed potatoes & gravy
buns & honey butter

bon appetit

Christmas Goodie Boxes

I think I have gone a little psycho for Christmas this year, and I totally love it.

I wanted to make my neighbors some goodies. Yesterday I spent the day baking and preparing some goodie boxes.

 

First I made my baking list:
- Oatmeal Fudge Bars
- Funfetti Cookies (on side of funfetti cake mix box)
- Snowball Cookies
- Holiday Fudge

Second, start baking. Go on. You can do it. Turn on some Christmas music, make yourself some hot chocolate and just dance around your kitchen. Wash dishes while items are in the oven. It takes the stress off of having a mountain of dishes at the end.

Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.

Snowball cookies
with chocolate chips
mint chips
&
pecans

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Boxes Loaded:
Funfetti Coookies
Snowball Cookies
Fudge (underneath cookies)

All wrapped up.
Tie gift tags to the treats with ribbon.

Be sure to include a list of what was included in the package.
I also listed where I used nuts. Just in case of allergies.

Then, just place the package outside your neighbor’s door. You don’t even have to knock, or even sign the card! They will stumble upon them and be delighted.

Spread your holiday cheer!

Christmas Gift Exchanges

This time of year everyone seems to be hosting their own Christmas party with a gift exchange. All those little gifts can add up quick. Here is a simple little gift to throw together for anyone on your list.

Here is what I used to make this simple delight.

- gift bag ($1 at Target)
- pair of gloves ($2 at Target)
- hot chocolate powder
- sugar cookies
- long wooden skewer
- paper from an old book
- a mini baggie
- glue
- tickets
- stamps
- mini clothes pins

First, put enough hot chocolate powder in a mini baggie to make one cup of hot chocolate.

Next, make a few tags to label your gifts:
- “Hot Cocoa”
- “Keep Warm”
- “Sugar Cookies”
- “Merry Christmas”

Then attach your labels to your gifts with glue or clothes pins.

Make a little flag with the persons name to stick in the gift.

To assemble the gift, place all the items in the gift bag. Stick the long skewer in the bag. stuff crumbled paper on top to use as tissue paper.

Now you have a simple little package to bring to any gift exchange.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas Cookies

Friday night we decided it was time to bust out our Christmas decorations, along with the cookies. The cookies were very necessary.

Naked sugar cookies.

Fancy sugar cookies.

Massacred kitchen.

Totally worth it.

Go make some holiday memories.

It Is Finally Here.

I have been waiting through all of November. It is finally here. The air is cool and crisp and frigid. I don’t love the cold, but I love Christmas. I love December. It is fabulous. It is sparkly. It is light. It is magical.

I know I already talked about some other Christmas decorations. Guess what. I made another one. That is how excited I am. I ignored homework for craft time.

A few weeks ago at Anthropologie I saw some delicate and delightfully homemade-looking paper garland. I had to make it.

It was a really simple project, but it took a little bit of time. Totally worth it.

Supplies:

- paper of choice
- straws
- scissors
- glue
- thread

How to:

- cut long skinny triangles out of paper
- cut the straws about half as wide as the base of the triangle
- smear glue at the base of the triangle, place straw on glue, roll
- smear glue at tip, glue tip down
- repeat. repeat. repeat.
- string onto thread
- wrap around your tree, drape across a wreath, hang it in a window

Merry Christmas Friends.

Preparing for the Holiday

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Eating. Family. Sleeping. Relaxing. Shopping. Cooking. Eating again. I love it.

But after all of our stomachs recover from eating for three days straight, the magic of Christmas begins to enter our homes.

Christmas has been attacked by the media and become highly commercialized and the meaning of Christmas is often left in the dust. I choose to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, celebrating the birth of my Savior. This makes Christmas such a magical time of the year. God created one very special life on this earth. That life brought joy, peace, hope, and security.

To prepare my home for the holiday, I desire to make it a magical and beautiful place.   A place filled with white, and gold, and red. A simple color scheme, it brings unity to the decor.

Last year I hand stitched animal ornaments for our tree. This year, I have two new projects for our Christmas decor: Painted branches, and “JOY”.

 

Painted Branches:

First I gathered branches. Then I trimmed them down to the size I wanted. I measure 6” down from the top on all of them. Then I painted the top six inches white.

 

 

 

“JOY”:

I love words and letters as decor. So for my Christmas display I wanted to fancy up a word that was inspiring and simple. I purchased the  cardboard letters for JOY at JoAnn’s. Then I painted them a bronze/gold. They were beautiful in just that, but a little extra sparkle never hurt anyone. I lined the tops of the letters with glue in an icicle looking format, then sprinkled them with gold glitter. Perfect touch.

 

Take some time to make your home beautiful for the holiday.