Christmas Card Wrangle

What do you all do with all those Christmas cards, after the season? I couldn't bear tossing them, for some reason this year....it all went by too quick. So, I just wanted to show you what I did with them all.....

I had some great red/white twine left over from the gifts, and I used my handy-dandy hole puncher to punch each one.

Did you have a favorite card? This was mine. My littlest bro and his great wife and daughter. They just had their second baby, this month. My other brother (the one who's photography blog I've highlighted here before) took their pics....super adorbs.

Anyway, back to "weaving"....I just kept weaving the twine thru the hole punched in all the left top corner. Also known as upper left corner. Ha!

Tied 'er up, labeled the date, and filed under "Family" in our personal files. Hopefully, I'll remember to do this for years to come.

What is your Christmas card "philosophy"? Read once, toss? Keep for the season and toss? File? Decoupage on a bench? Line kitty litter boxes? What else is there?

xo

Quick and Easy Christmas Centerpiece

Need something

1. Quick

2. Free

3. Easy

for a party, this Christmas season?

Check out this centerpiece that I made in two seconds. First I found a Christmassy casserole dish to be the container. Then, I pulled out a box of rice-roni, and 2 jello boxes and wrapped them in my fave wrapping paper...taped them together, then wrapped all with a gold bow. I had some leftover ball ornaments. Propped up the boxes on a little tiny bowl, and filled the dish with the balls. Done. Didn't spend a dime...not even on the boxes!

Go forth and DIY for free!!

Mom's PB knock off!!

I love "beating the system", "sticking it to the man"....you get the idea. Well, over Thanksgiving break, Mom and I were walking through our local Pottery Barn, and she said, "LOOK AT THAT!"

She loved the texture-y basket layered on the leather ottoman, as did I. They (my parents) actually have a similar leather ottoman, so she got to work on a knock off of this look, as soon as she got back to Alabama! She's a "tad" worried about the grandkids playing with some of this great decor, but since its in a handy dandy basket, she can just lift if off, for a while then put it back. Here's Mom's version:

She was able to find Christmas "bling" that she already owned, and then supplemented with those great PB knock off baskets from the Smith and Hawken section at Target! Yeah!! The PB basket was $119! Eeek! I think she said that the Target versions were on sale for $7 each. Wa-hoo! The rest is live greenery, including poinsettas, cut greens from the yard, etc. I think she also said she went to Hobby Lobby to pick up the apothecary jar!

Yeah Mom!! What are you knocking off this Christmas season? No need to spend a lot...go to local high end stores, then figure out how to knock off their looks for less!

Favorite Things #6: Clover Lane Recipe Book Idea

There is a beautiful new blog that I have recently discovered. Clover Lane has posts on every topic for women and mothers that you can imagine. She is a mother to 5 children 17 on down to 4, she cooks real food for her children, and loves them well. These kind of women are my heroes. I long and strive to do my job of mothering with excellence, and its heartwarming when I find another compatriot.

She has done something I think is an amazing feat of strength, but would be such a fun legacy to pass onto daughters and daughters in law. Your very own cookbook. She used a program called Blurb, and it looks absolutely beautiful. She organized her own recipes, filled in some of the "holes" with tried and true recipes, then created this book with pictures and the recipes. What a great gift! Her blog is beautiful, and so is this idea.

Probably too late for this year, but this is definitely something I'd love to accomplish with my mom, a great cook! What a fun project for a teen daughter to create with her mom. The ideas are endless....hmmm..ideas swirling in my head. Thanks, Sarah!

Update on a Post: Homemade Gift Giving and Making

Ok, so remember the other week when I was saying that I was going to make these as our "homemade" Christmas gifts for friends and neighbors? Ok, well here we go.

I went to my fave packaging site Think Garnish for all the packaging things. I spent $40 on packaging for 12 gifts. These cute little baskets are a perfect size. Our gifts are smaller than the original picture, and I didn't do the syrups, but I think its still a great gift.

I went to Top Foods' bulk candy section. I got peanuts, mini M&Ms, and gummy bears. The cones were in the boxes as usual. I ended up spending about $50 on the food part. So, that's less than $8 per gift. Pretty good, I think!

I loved the red/white tie, so I also got some of that and some oval labels from Garnish. So cute. 

Here's the finished product (minus the label...still printing). So fun and unexpected. Something fun to have as a treat over the Christmas break!

Ho Ho Ho!

The Problem with Me is Me.

You’ve heard the expression, “Pushing a worm”? That’s how the holidays feel sometimes to me. As the mom, or the executive of this operation, sometimes I feel like I’m the only one that cares if that darn Gingerbread House ever gets decorated and plopped on top of the fridge.  Well, a few years ago, I finally wised up, and actually had a con.ver.sa.tion. with the hubs, aka the other executive of this operation. Lo and behold, things started going a lot better. Oh wait. Did I mention that my conversation was through lots of tears, and “you always” and “you nevers” and “why can’t yous”. Shoot. I guess I didn’t mention that. Ok, so then it went better. I was mainly referring to how he always didn’t help me shop for Christmas presents or how he never planned/shopped/made Christmas dinner, or how he can’t pick up wrapping paper off the floor. As I’m sure you can all relate to, this display didn’t go over too well at first. It was bad, then it got worse, then it got good. That was 2007-ish. Then 2008 came by, and we had to have this teeth-gnashing conversation all over again. Can you feel me?  

Why, oh why, do we do this to ourselves as moms? No, I’m asking. Why? Why can’t we (preaching to myself) let some things go, lean into the planning, start early, and be grateful? This is my new tradition. I’m doing all the “Mom-Holiday-Work” in November, without complaining, then planning all the fun stuff with the kids in December, after the work has been accomplished. I am not going to complain (another word comes to mind here, other than complain, starts with a B—keepin’ it real) to my husband about all the things he doesn’t do, but instead affirm the things he is doing. Like, providing for our family, and faithfully going to work. He supports me at night in helping with the kids, and even thinks it’s great that I have fun things with friends every once in a while. I truly believe that some of the conflict that we, as moms, have over getting it all done, comes from US. Shall I say that again? Lots of our interpersonal conflict and angst stems from US. Let some things go. Prioritize what definitely has to be done, do those things early, and the rest is fun stuff. The kids will be more relaxed. Daddy will be happier, and mommy will be able to enjoy and remember the traditions that you’ve worked so hard to cram down everyone’s throats, er develop lovingly over time.