Merry Christmas & Looking Ahead to 2014

Since Christmas is over I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that you were able to spend time with the people that matter to you most. And eats lots of good food too!

Well, I had intentions to post a few recipes that I bake every year but that just didn't happen.

The last few weeks have been busy to put it mildly and by the end of the day I just want to crash!

At least our cat, Sammy, got to take a few naps by the warm fireplace

Jake, our elf, was back again this year. A few times he got a little out of hand! I must say the Mr. had more fun with him than I did! At one point we had to touch him because he fell and the next morning we found him like this (his upper body was under the burlap tree).

 

 

The kids both had awesome art work and crafts that they completed at school this month, both will be added to their scrapbooks/boxes for safe keeping. However, this one was made by our youngest. He showed it to me and said "Mommy, this is you, an angel just like you!" That was so sweet!

 



You see, our youngest got the flu. He missed his birthday celebration at school and and we had to cancel the party here at home. I felt so bad, every year I have made an effort to separate his birthday from Christmas and this year that just didn't happen. We had a small party just the 4 of us but it was no big deal and I hate that. Hopefully next year we can have a big celebration!

 

 

The boys also got to decorate their very own ornaments



Once the flu was over we were able to concentrate on Christmas. It has been fantastic! My car has not left the garage in over a week! In fact the only time I left the house in the last week was for a quick 3 hour trip to the ER.  The Mr. thought he would take the extra trash we had that wouldn't fit into our large trash can to the dump and in one of those trash bags was a glass that I had broken on Christmas Eve. The glass I broke wasn't one of those little thin classes, it was one of those thick tall beer glasses. As he reached in the back of the truck to pull out the bag he cut his thumb. I will spare you the details, it was alot of blood and honestly made me a little lightheaded to see it.... But just for future reference, if you cut yourself and you think you need stitches, just clean it really well, put a splint on it and carry on because after waiting in the ER for over 2 hours just to be seen, it will go back together and begin to heal on its own. Just saying...Can you tell I have little patience?


I love being at home and having no where to go, no where to be.
Enjoying that:
extra cup of coffee in the morning,
extra drink after dinner,
extra Christmas movie,
extra chapter at night before bed,
extra game of Mario on the Wii,
extra glass of wine before bed,
extra yummy Christmas dessert,
extra hour on the Internet,
extra snuggles on the couch.

As you can see I have indulged a little.... :) and honestly I am fighting every minute to keep the obligations low for now. However, I am aware that it will soon come to an end and we will be right back to the hustle and bustle of everyday "normal" life.  But hey! I can hope for snow days, right?!

Anyway, as we look forward to 2014 it looks as if it is going to be a busy one. Lots to look forward to and also an opportunity to meet a few goals both personally and professionally.

Even though I am now working, I will continue to post here about projects and happenings in my life. This blog has been going  since 2009 and I plan to continue. In the upcoming year, I plan to post more about happenings in my life, more photos, getting more real with you guys and sharing more. That part excites me!

Thank you for reading and staying with me all this time! I am looking forward to what is ahead in the New Year!

DIY Christmas Star & Wall Art

For my Christmas Mantle, I wanted to add a little something crafty...

You can see my Christmas Mantle here.

I began by cutting pieces of quarter round floor molding into equal sizes. Then I used my hot glue gun to glue the pieces together and let it dry overnight. I cut strips of burlap and then used my hot glue gun to glue the burlap onto the wood. I wrapped the burlap around the wood and glued it into place.

One little tip of advice....be careful not to burn yourself, that is all I have to say about that!

I wanted the star to hang, so I used fishing line. Using a small piece of fishing line, I looped it around the point at the top of the star and tied in a knot then in another knot to make sure it was secure. Then, I looked for a rock that stuck out a little for me to "hook" my fishing line onto. (This is the reason the star is off center and the reason I had to make the art below for balance). In my head it looked a little different from what I had thought to begin with but I just went with the flow, I mean lets be real, there is no way I am putting a nail in that rock!

For the word art, I had a canvas that I had not used for anything yet and it worked perfect. I believe the size was 16x19. First, I had to prime the canvas because for some crazy reason I had painted it blue...then let it dry overnight. I printed the words out with my printer, cut them out and then glued the letters onto the canvas.
I took a step back and thought to myself  that it could use a little sparkle. So I added glitter to the word JOY.  Took another step back and thought it needed a little more sparkle. I had some red glitter spray paint left over from a while back and thought I would just spray the entire canvas. It looked great until the can ran out and only blew out air....see the top right corner.......but that is our little secret..ok? Then I did a layer of glitter spray paint sealer over the canvas to seal the deal ;)

Hope your weekend was great!

Christmas Mantle

Sorry for the less than perfect photo, not sure what was happening but it didn't matter what I did the photo looked "foggy."

Anyway, this year I wanted a little different look.  The garland, lantern and trees are the same decor that I used last year. I added the star and word art.

I made this, so easy! As soon as the Mr. saw it he was like "how is that hanging up there?"

Made this too, again so easy. I got a little lazy on this one.

I'll be back next time to share how I did these easy projects!

Christmas Dining Room Table

 

Our Dining Room is visible from several rooms in our home. For this reason, I chose to carry the same color scheme throughout my home. My color scheme this year...same as last year...red, green, and gold with a little burlap thrown in for a little texture ;).

I always put a tablecloth over our dining table during the Christmas holiday. We have lots of family over and with 2 small kids I prefer to protect our table with a tablecloth. We never eat in this room unless it is at Christmas. Terrible, I know, this is just one room that doesn't get alot of action. I continued with my burlap table runner. At first I debated, put in on the table, then took it off....I decided to put it back on since I have burlap accents in our family room I thought why not carry that on into the dining room.

Then I added the center piece. I took a lantern added a red candle, greenery, pine cones, berries and a few twigs and viola!

Oh, I added a few red balls too....

And a few red balls with sparkle...

Don't you just love Christmas!?

A Search for the Perfect Tree

While this weekend was filled with family and way too much food, we decided a few weeks ago that this year we were going to pick out our very own Christmas tree.
Yes, there are more than a few local places to purchase a tree, but why do that when you can drive to the mountains and pick out your own??!

The Christmas tree farm we visited was just outside of Boone, NC. We arrived shortly after lunch so we drove on into Boone for lunch at Our Daily Bread. If you have never eaten at this restaurant, I suggest that you do so on your next trip to Boone. The last couple of times we visited Boone we have eaten here. So good, local food. This time we made sure to save room for dessert, carrot cake. So yummy!

After we filled up on a great lunch we headed to the Christmas tree farm. We were handed a stick to use as a guide to measure the height of our tree, once we found a tree, we swung our stick and the farm guys came up and cut our tree down and brought it to the bottom of the mountain  hill for us, then wrapped it and helped load it on our vehicle.

The view from the mountain was so beautiful. We picked out a 9ft. tree, then headed back down the hill to carry it home.

On the way home the sun was setting behind the mountains again such a gorgeous sight.