christmas decorating.

12.14.2011

decorating the house for christmas!
advent calendardecorating the house for christmas!
decorating the house for christmas!
decorating the house for christmas!
decorating the house for christmas!

I thought I would share some photos of our Christmas decorations. This year I finally put together an Advent calendar! I'm so proud of myself for actually doing one this year. Every year I wanted to make one, even just a little one with numbers on a string or something. Then I would get busy, as I do every year, and I never got it done in time. Well, this time I decided to just buy some little gifts and write some fun notes to my sweetheart. So every day Jed has a little gift to open or a note to read that I wrote to him. Sometimes there are little things and then there are a few larger items. Most of the notes have little ideas that we can do together during the holidays. Simple things like snuggling together while sipping hot cider or going sledding or ice skating. I had so much fun putting it together and I feel like a little kid watching Jed open a gift every day! I know, I'm such a sap! I hope this becomes a tradition, even if I'm only able to only write notes for each day. It's a fun way to make the holidays last a little longer than just one day.

We also picked up a real tree this year! I've never had a real tree, since my parents always got fake trees. We lived with a Charlie Brown looking tree for most of my growing up years. Mom picked it up at a garage sale years and years ago. I think she got it for $5 and we had it all my growing up years. Then one year we all decided it was time to upgrade and we all picked this huge tree out. It was one of those times when we didn't really think about where we would put the tree. But somehow we've managed to cram that big tree in the living room every year. But for Jed and I, we decided we wanted a real tree, so we went to Whole Foods here in town to see what they have. Since we really didn't have time to go out to get a tree somewhere at a tree farm, this was the next best option. They had some really lovely larger trees and some cute smaller trees. We decided this year it might be best to get a smaller one, since we're going back to Iowa to celebrate Christmas with our families. But I love this little one so much! I'll probably try to keep it up for a long time after Christmas!

For the decorations, since we didn't have any ornaments and I haven't had any time to make a lot of things, I simply sliced up a couple of oranges and dried them in the oven. Then I popped a whole bunch of popcorn (you have to make extra so you can eat half of it)! We also got some really wonderfully smelling pine cones at Whole Foods (that place is soooo tempting during the holidays)! I think we did pretty well for not having too much. Now all I need to do is wrap some more gift to put under the tree! Most of the gifts this year we had mailed to our parents' houses so that we don't have to lug a bunch of gifts home on the bus! But I am hand making just a couple this year. I think next year we are going to try to plan ahead and make more gifts. I feel so much better when we don't spend so much money and focus on making things instead. I have a bunch of ideas already. Perhaps I better start making next year's gifts now??

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season so far! We only have had a light dusting of snow so far, but I am still hoping we'll have a white Christmas!

Here's my Christmas playlist if you need help getting in the mood! xo

::

candles and christmas lights!
candles and christmas lights!
candles and christmas lights!

I feel like it's been a bit of a whirlwind lately and finally everything seems to have slowed down a bit. Not that I don't have a million things to do, but I somehow just feel like taking it easy these days. Jed and I finally got our little Whole Foods tree decorated a few nights ago. It was such a good night. We've been snuggling on the couch almost every night watching sappy Christmas movies. Tonight we watched Home Alone, which I've never seen before. One of Jed's faves and now it's one of mine too! The sappiest movie we've seen yet has to be 12 Men of Christmas with Kristen Chenoweth. I'm a bit of a fan of hers from when she was in Pushing Daisies (love)! I'm not sure I could recommend the 12 Men of Christmas movie to anyone, though, but I gotta say Jed and I DID kind of like it... :) Actually yeah, if you are OK with some bad acting and a not so-great plot, a bunch of guys that look like JC Penny models (or maybe more like Patagonia models?) and you like Kristen Chenoweth, go watch it! Sometimes I like sappy girly movies with bad plots. But I've also been watching some of the good old classics. Here's a list of my favorite Christmas movies!

Holiday (1938)*
Love Affair (1939)*
Bachelor Mother (1939)*
Remember the Night (1940)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Meet John Doe (1941)*
Holiday Inn (1942)
The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)*
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
It Happened on 5th Ave (1947)
Holiday Affair (1949)
White Christmas (1954)
Desk Set (1957)*
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Little Women (1994)


Enjoy!



*Not strictly Christmas movies, but they are centered around the holidays.

time for a second cup o' coffee.

12.06.2011

i think it's time for a second cup o' coffee!

Working hard on orders! Just wanted to pop in and say hello! I'll be back when I have a little time to write. I still need to decorate our little tree, but I did get an advent calendar up this year! More on that later as well. Hope everyone is enjoying this festive time of year! XO

p.s. i started a little facebook page, if you'd like to check it out and "like" me! :)