Post Christmas Cleaning

I absolutely adore Christmas decor! It's so fun decorating the house up with greenery; Santa pictures from years past looking forward to the years to come; ornaments made with such care by my two crazy boys; it leaves the house feeling pleasantly full. I always get a bit of a let down once all the fullness is put away ready for next year. The house feels so blah. To fight off the blah I've taken to some post Christmas cleaning this year. Basically anything that isn't bolted down is cleaned and has the potential to be either tossed or donated. So far I've got quite a pile for both and it feels fantastic! I think I've shocked the Mr. since he's usually the tosser and I tend to be the saver worried that I'll need or want whatever item is in question. I like to keep him guessing! Good luck with all of your post-Christmas projects even if it's just to relax! I can't wait to finish this project so I can move on to some fun things like sprucing up our regular decor!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you are all enjoying time with your loved ones during the season that we celebrate our Savior's birth!

Lots of Love,

Shelly

Oh Christmas Tree!

For the past 3 years or so we've done the Griswold Family Christmas thing and made the trek up to the mountains with friends to get our Christmas tree. Some years are better than others as far as trees go, but it's always a great time! This year the tree was by far the worst we've ever had. Ash was SO done with the experience by the time we made it up to the top (should have gone after nap time) and so we just kind of grabbed a tree that we figured would work. Did I mention that I everything was covered with a really icy snow that wouldn't shake off so we couldn't really see what our tree looked like!?! But.... the bottom looked really nice. After Thanksgiving we had our tree stand all ready in the corner of our living room expecting a nice pretty tree, that wasn't what we got....



I was feeling a bit sassy and asked if we needed a tree stand or a vase. Micah swore that he had a plan and so the tree makeover began.

Micah brought in the drill and started drilling holes to transplant the pretty branches that were from the bottom of the tree that we lost when we cut this guy down to size.

So she's not the prettiest but that's quite a makeover! Move over Martha...we even craft our Christmas trees!

Paper Garland

Martha has this paper garland that the kiddos can make. I think this would be really fun on a kiddie tree or even just to decorate a play or bedroom. If I were doing this with a little lady I of course would add a touch of glitter here and there (I may even do it with my boys because who doesn't love a little glamour!?!). Super fun and easy!

Mud Room

My next house is going to have a mud room. Right now our "mud room" is by our front door and I'm constantly tripping over things as I try to walk in or out. Oh well....something to dream about. Since I'm dreaming I'd like to dream about a mud room as pretty as this one featured at Room Remix. Now that would be something to walk in to!

Pottery Barn Inspired Votive Holder

I think this Pottery Barn inspired votive holder from Shanty 2 Chic is super cute! You should make one this weekend! Or maybe two and gift me one! Can't blame a girl for trying!!

*Here is the original from PB. 

Christmas Memory Game

For any of you who are snowed in (or rained in depending on where you live) a nice quiet game of memory may be just the thing you want to get your little ones into. Moo Moos & Tutus has a free printable game just for you! Hope you all are staying warm and dry!

Noel Sign

Oh my goodness I was gone for so long! I have been fighting off some nasty little thing lately (and with my super kindergarten immunities you know it has to be nasty to drag me down!) and it had completely wiped me of all energy. I got a lot of you don't look good. Or the one that made me really laugh was, you're so quiet you must not feel good. Can you tell I am a chatter!?! The best was that I had lost my sparkle...how perfect with my love of glitter!  Finally, it turned into a silly cold and I'm happy as a clam to be on the mend! So....hope you all have been busy with your advent countdowns. I was really sneaky last week and traded in some holiday movie and game nights instead of the more high energy plans I had. So that means we're doing Santa prints, reindeer prints, making cookies, decorating graham cracker houses etc. all next week. Good thing it's break and I'll be able to sneak in a few naps!
Anyways...back to being crafty!

There is lots of love going around blogland for this really cool Noel sign and I totally see why! I love it! I really want to make one of my own. I am putting it on my project list for winter break. I just hope mine can come out as good as hers! The Stories of A 2 Z (one of my long time blog loves) has a full tutorial on how to make this Pottery Barn inspired sign.

Photo, Memo, or Recipe Display

I was scanning U Create this morning while munching on the toast my oldest sweetly made me and I saw this project. My first thoughts were cute and this looks like Shanty 2 Chic I wonder who made it. I guess my lurking days are showing because Whitney from Shanty 2 Chic did a guest post for Kari at U Create! I gave myself a pat on the back for knowing their style so well then moved on to how easy this gift would be to make. So go check out how to make this photo/memo/recipe display!

Counting the Days till Christmas Activities...

The holiday season is so full of magic and I enjoy adding as much extra excitement to the season for my boys as I can. I wanted to have something special for the boys to look forward to each day so I created this counting the days till Christmas.
The bags were beyond simple to do. Just plain white bags with red numbers stamped on them.
Once I had the bags I looked at our calendar and typed up things we were planning on doing to put in the proper date bag. For example we're making wreaths with some friends on the 8th so that card was put in the #8 bag. After I had everything that was on the calendar in a bag I filled in the rest with fun holiday things like decorating gingerbread houses, having hot cocoa with marshmallows, watching a holiday video, making cookies, painting an ornament, going sledding, etc. I only have bags 1-10 on the mantel right now. I like mine to be spread apart so I didn't put all of them out at once. It just looked too cluttered to me.
We did our first bag this evening which had a strip of paper that said hot cocoa with marshmallows. The boys were so excited to enjoy their hot cocoa after dinner and are already pumped about what the bag will say tomorrow. We're visiting Santa right after school so we'll let them check it in the morning. It's as fun as I had hoped it would be!

Here's what we have coming up if you need ideas for this week:
1: hot cocoa with marshmallows
2: Santa visit
3: Dinner & a Movie Outreach *our church is having a community outreach evening where we're serving soup, having a movie, and making crafts with the kids.
4: Decorating our Christmas tree (I can't believe it's not up yet!!! Poor thing has been sitting on our back porch for over a week!)
5: Advent Wreath Family Reflection #2