Its here, its here!

Merry Christmas to you and yours...

My Christmas day is lookin' a little something like this...

Wake up snuggling some puppies (okay, they are grown dogs- but they'll always be "my puppies")
Make some hot coco in my PJ's with Ryan... throwin' some Baileys in there
Ryan's family is coming over at 10am to have breakfast and open stockings
Relax a little, eat a little, play with my nephew...
Then shower, get ready and head to my uncles to spend the day with my family
Eat a late lunch, Mmmm- I still need to get a pie for that -eeek.
Around 5 we head over to my in-laws to eat dinner with Ryan's extended family- and that's a lot of people!
Once we are nice and full, and tired out... we're going to head home to snuggle on the couch and watch a movie until we fall asleep. I can't wait!

A Christmas Prayer

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Loving Father,
Help us remember the birth of Jesus,
that we may share in the song of the angels,
the gladness of the shepherds,
and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate
and open the door of love all over the world.
Let kindness come with every gift
and good desires with every greeting.
Deliver us from evil by the blessing
which Christ brings,
and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning
make us happy to be thy children,
and Christmas evening bring us to our beds
with grateful thoughts,
forgiving and forgiven,
for Jesus' sake.

Amen.

Just add Egg Nog

The Christmas decorating has come to an end, and I have nothing left to do except to look around and enjoy it all. I'll share with you some of my favorite holiday decor around here. I loved putting ornament all over the place, not just on the tree. They are cheap and add lots of color quickly. I found most of mine from Goodwill over the last few months.

Here are some hanging from my chandelier, with some pearl garland.

Hangin' out in my China Hutch...

 

Hanging FROM my China hutch...

 

On a mini tree in the kitchen...

And from some photos on the wall...

 Another thing I did for Christmas was make a Christmas card holder. Last year I had them sitting all over the place, and they never had a good home. This year I decided to make a card holder with some ribbon that I bought from Michaels. I picked up this "Christmas Blessings" sign from Ross for $4.99. I thought that would be a perfect fit for our friends and families cards, since that is just what they are - Christmas Blessings. Cheesey? Ohhh Yes, and I love it.

I just hot glued the ribbon to the back, and glued some clothes pins to the front of the ribbon...

 

 Cheap and easy... just how I like it. Don't take that the wrong way you dirty little mind. ;)

 

 

 

One last Christmas project that I did also involved ribbon and my hot glue gun. Oh how I love hot glue guns.  I cut my ribbon so it would hang down from the top of my bookcase. I cut the ends in a banner cut. Then I used antique gold spray paint on some little wooden letters that I got for $1 each at Michaels. I hot glued them to the ribbon and wa-la... a little custom banner to frame my shelf. ...just in case I forget which day Christmas falls on. (insert sarcasm)

Yeah, kinda pointless I know, but it was fun to make. ;)

 

And that wraps up my little tour 'O Christmas decor. That's all folks!

I hope you enjoy your Christmas Eve's Eve tomorrow and stay warm.

Set the Table

I decided to "set the table"... I always see tables set up in magazines, but it seemed unpractical. I decided to give it a whirl. It looks so pretty and clean, but I'm not gonna lie, it IS a little unpractical. When we eat, we move the place settings and just use one regular ol' plate. So... kinda annoying- but fun. =)
I just used our regular plates (from Walmart), they are a brown, see-thru glass (only $1 each!). Then I used our china salad plates, then a gray hors devours plate that I got at Kohls on clearance ($2.35 for four!). Topped it off with red berry napkin holders that my mother in law was getting rid of in a yard sale, with napkins from Target, and green place mats from Target.

I love the shape of the little hors devours plates, and the little dots on the edge.

 

 I'm all ready for a dinner party, not that I ever have dinner parties. =)

 

Put it to use... its about time

Remember when I (ok, my mom) found this at a yard sale for $1. I didn't know what I was going to do with it. It just sat around for a while until I decided to put it on my coffee table with a little bit of Christmas cheer in it. Yes, that is chessey isn't it?

I like it because I can put all the stuff I want to - out on the table without it being all over the place. Its like a little drawer organizer for the table.

 

DIY Wreath Project

I've had this wreath for a while that I got on clearance from TJ Maxx. I decided to give it a bit of some sprucing up for this season.

I put a buncha extra Christmas decor all out on the kitchen table to decide what I would add to the wreath.  I busted out my handy dandy hot glue gun and used some mini ornaments that I bought at goodwill.

 

I tied some ribbon in a bow... that I already had (from Michaels), and glued it to the top. Its now hanging from my front door to welcome me every time I come home.

 

 

 
 

Fireplace Before & After

I'm back with a new revamp! Its about time, huh? Well remember me crossing my fingers to find a good deal on a "fireplace". Well it happened. Yes! I found this fireplace mantle with electric insert for around $150 on craigslist. I just gave it a painted face-lift and ta-da...a whole new cozy environment. At least it feels like it.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

Now I have a place to hang our stockings...

The fireplace wasn't made of real wood so I started to get a little scared about painting it. It has a super glossy finish to the "wood" so I used Sherwin Williams pro-block oil-based primer. Then I painted about 4 coats of creamy white latex paint, and about 3 coasts of black on the base section. I still need to give it a good poly coat to keep it durable, but the paint is sticking and not scratching up like I thought it might.

Its great to "click on the fire" at night to give our movie watching a little ambiance.

Deck the Halls...

The day after Thanksgiving I woke up with an extra pep in my step. Maybe it was all the good food and slept I got, but I think it was because I knew it was the day. The day we were going to pick out the "perfect" Christmas tree (under $30 that is). Okay, maybe that was a tad dramatic, but I was very excited to get our first full size Christmas tree. Last Christmas was our first Christmas being married and we were saving for our first house. We decided to opt again buying a Christmas tree. Ryan's mom surprised us with a mini tree. I was happy to have a tree in our 500 sq foot apartment. It was a great Christmas. But this year we decided we wanted to large tree to go in front of the big window in our living/dining room. We didn't want to spend much though. First thing Black Friday morning, for us that was 10:00 am - yeah we slept way in. We headed down to a local tree lot where the trees were "fresh from the farm". MAN! Trees are expensive. We wanted a 6 ft Noble Fir, but we were looking at about $50-60 bucks. Ohhh heck no thank you. I remembered seeing some signs at Lowes, so we headed there instead. It was a nice surprise. We got what we wanted and for only $29! I'm tellin' ya.... head to Lowes. They didn't have a HUGE selection, but they had good prices and good trees.

It was fun watching Ryan fit the tree into truck (with back seats folded in) of a Honda Accord. Once we got it home, we had the hardest time trying to get our old stand to make it stand up right. We had many laughs looking at a crooked tree. And then after a gigantic water spill all over the hardwood floors, we finally got it in place. I think its still a little crooked but we don't care at this point.

I put a beach towel under the tree stand in case I over water it again. Then I pulled out my box'o'ornaments including the Hallmark series collection I've had starting in 1991. I was in kindergarten and my mom took me to Hallmark and let me pick out a series that was starting that year. I chose Puppy Love. I always loved dogs, and I was secretly hoping if I chose Puppy Love - I would get a puppy for Christmas. =)

 

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas...

I've been feeling the Christmas cheer here at our house. I'm sure my husband is already sick of Christmas music. I usually don't have much red in my house, so its a nice change. We got a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. It was so exciting! My first full size Christmas tree. I felt very grown up. =) I wish Christmas happened twice a year.

 

 

 

 

I found these little birdies at the Dollar store...

I put one on my China Hutch and one my Santa sign in the kitchen.