The Christmas songs are playing, the decorations are up, LET CHRISTMAS BEGIN! Todd is a bit of a Grinch when it comes to timing of anything Christmas related. The day after Thanksgiving is the minimum date that has to pass before he will agree to anything that has to do with December 25th. I mostly agree with him, but he takes his stance pretty seriously. This year I was able to get the sanction lifted early since it looked like he wouldn’t be home for much of December and he reluctently agreed to let me decorate last weekend instead. I fed him wine and snacks and I think that helped my case.
This is Mac’s first Christmas with us and he was very interested in the tree (and by “interested” I mean that he made himself the official tree inspector and climbed up into the branches for a closer look).
I still love these diamond ornaments that I made last year, they make me so happy!
My favorite Christmas decor item is still this light up sign I made last year. It makes the living room feel so much more magical and cozy when it’s lit. I highly recommend making one if you haven’t and you can store it to use for several Christmases to come. Also, that pom-pom garland is a DIY from last year too.
As you can see, snacks are key to persuading people…
I also made these leather stockings last year too. Man, I reused so many things, I hardly had to make anything!
Now that we are all decorated for Christmas we can sit back, turn the fireplace on, and relax our way to December 25th. Perhaps I’ll add in a cup of Nutella hot chocolate? Happy decorating!
Tag Archives: Christmas
Home For Christmas
Well, we are finally home and (mostly) unpacked from our Christmas trip back to Pennsylvania. I can’t tell you how sad I was to leave my lovely little family. The night before we left my dad gave me a giant hug and begged me to stay another week- I wish so badly I could have said, “Your wish is granted!” and extended our stay, but alas, life in the midwest keeps rolling onward and with it we must go. There were too many favorite moments to count, but here are a few highlights:
My brother Joel bought his first house! So proud of him…
I got to meet his girlfriend Sarah for the first time in person. She’s smart, funny, and loves Adventure Time and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. We like. Her hilarious sister Annie is also a family favorite already.
We also met my new sister-cat Gracie. I say she’s my “sister-cat” because she’s my mom’s cat and you determine your relationship to cats based on who their mom or dad is. A child of my Mom would be my sibling, therefore Gracie is my sister-cat and she’s also the aunt-cat to my kitty Charlie. Duh. Gracie and Charlie are look a-likes, so her constant sweetness and lap napping helped us miss our little fur ball much less while we were gone.
I haven’t seen my sister Rachel since January and she isn’t usually able to come home for Christmas due to her husband’s work schedule, but we got to spend one full day of human sister time catching up on gossip over lattes, so that was a rare treat.
You can see our Christmas Eve dinner tradition of fried shrimp and a dish we call “potato puff” as well as our annual Christmas brunch. Most of our traditions revolve around food, but I think that’s pretty normal I guess…
Anyways, I can’t even tell you how precious my parents are. They are the cutest, sweetest, kindest, most generous, adorable humans to walk the earth, and I really do treasure every moment with them. It doesn’t happen often enough.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well!