DIY Christmas Card Holder

I know it may be nearing the end of January and Christmas is no longer on our minds. In fact most of us probably have put the holidays on hold until next season.

I like to take down all our Christmas decor the day after Christmas. I know it makes me feel like a scrooge sometimes. But I just want my house back in order honestly. One thing I waited on taking down this year was our beautiful Christmas cards we received in the mail from our family and friends.

This year I did a little DIY to hang them up. With the hustle and bustle of the holidays I missed out on sharing it with my blog. Therefore I thought I'd share it now for next year. You may PIN this DIY on your pinterest and get a head start for next season.

Christmas Cards DIY Holder 

(Less than $6 Dollars) 

1. I bought my supplies from The Dollar Tree and Meijers. 

2. Supplies: Paint, Paint brush, Heavy duty yarn, Wood clothespins (The Dollar Tree) 

3. Paint the wood clothes pins. You may even use modge-podge and sprinkle glitter on top. Let dry. and your all set. So simple.

4. Hang up your heavy duty yarn. Now your all set to hang your Christmas cards on the yarn with the painted wooden clothes pints. 

What was your favorite part of your Christmas this year?

Our Christmas Recap 2014

Christmas has come and gone. Now all the holiday cheer is packed and tucked away until we meet again in 2015. Wow does that sound strange to say. Are you like me where you still forget and end up writing the previous year on papers? 

All in all this year was a great Christmas well spent with immediate family as well as some of our extended family. Also this year was Betsey's first Christmas with our family. I'd say she fit in pretty well. 

Lastly of course the big jolly of Santa made I believe his last pit stop at our home. I don't think there will be no more convincing my little smarty pants no longer. Does your child still believe in Santa?

Hope you all enjoyed your Christmas!

                                         

That's Not My Christmas Tree

Every year it's tradition for our family to head out to the Christmas tree farm, and find that perfect tree to cut down. I grew up with the tradition and am happy to pass it along to my Daughters.

Do you get a real tree or does your family put up a fake tree?
Although this year things were switched up a bit. I did not get my Christmas tree. Though we did get a surprise tree. It was a shocker once we put it up at home in our living room. Somehow our Christmas tree and another family's became mixed up. They took ours when they left and visa Vera. When didn't think much since the height of the trees and the price were the same until we put the tree up in the stand.

I was not a happy camper. I had a vision all along. I picked out the most perfect tree with my family. It was just skinny enough, the color was so unique as an very off green almost white. The tree we ended up with well....very green and very round. Defiantly not my almost white skinny tree. We ended up having to move furniture to fit this very full of volume of a tree in our living room. All I could think was the poor other family is going to be so surprised too since the two trees are so opposite of each other.

After time, some trimming and squeezing the Christmas tree into the corner the surprise Christmas tree has finally grown on me. After all it is just a tree.

Our Christmas Review

Every year I feel like I am saying the same words, "I can't believe it's already over." It sure is such a magical time of year. This year despite all the illness we were able to experience some lights in the neighborhoods. We spent many cozy family nights watching different Christmas movies.
I think the girls favorite Christmas Tradition had to be baking our homemade sugar cookie and decorating them for Santa.

Christmas morning I could tell the anticipation of finding out of Santa had arrived was eating up our lovely four year old. So much she rushed out into the living room, rushed into our bedroom in a shocking voice she tells me, "mom! Santa brought us presents under the tree last night!!" She then continues to whip the comforter off of me. Why just me and not her dad? I have no idea. Ha ha ha. Once we gather around the Christmas tree, Viv, our silly four year old daughter continues to tell us, "Santa is on my good list this year." Funny part is, she was actually serious.

Ev finally received her American Girl doll. Brings back memories to the Christmas morning when I received my very own.

I love being behind the camera capturing these moments. When their older looking back at the past years they will have a good chuckle. He he he.

Of course underneath all the magic of Santa our girls know the real meaning of Christmas. Baby Jesus is born.  For the rest of Christmas day, we enjoyed it up at the cabin with family and snow.

Merry Christmas From Us To You!

May you all have a blessed Christmas from our family to yours.

Believing In Santa...

Do your children believe in magic of Santa? Did you believe in the magical mystery of Santa as a child yourself? Well I will start off by telling you I did not as a child. Never ever did. You could not convince me that Santa was real no matter how hard you tried. I was that child that told all the Santa believers, "Hey did you know Santa is not real?" and yes even some would start to cry. Of course I would get end of getting scolded by my mother later that day.

That brings me to this modern day. Once we had our first child I thought how neat it would be if she believed in the magic of Santa, and I could play along with it. How fun would that be. My husband on the other hand was a Santa believer as a child. Good thing we never meet as young children. Ha ha! My husband had a conversation along the lines if our girls are believers or not and what we will do. Lone be hold, all three are Santa believers. So far at least. Every year it has been fun listening to them talk about Santa, reminding themselves they need to start being good around Christmas and you get my idea.

Well this year, my four year old is starting to drill me with questions as if I am in an interrogation room. I have done 90 percent of my Christmas shopping on-line this year, which means boxes have been arriving to our house. They have been arriving at the so not perfect time of the days. I can't leave the boxes outside in the rain or snow. Plus my four year old is smart enough to realize we don't usually get these many boxes delivered. Lets just say, "helping Santa out" only is working for so long.  She has also told me that we have the same wrapping paper as Santa. Too smart for her own good. Trying to convince our four year old that Santa can still visit our home even though we have no fireplace can become difficult. I have a feeling the magic of Santa is dwindling with our lovely four year old daughter. And sooner or later she will hopefully not turn into the once non Santa believer I knew twenty something years ago. Instead a gentle non Santa believer.  

DIY Card Stock Ornament

One of my favorite things about the holiday's is crafting. Creating new decorations for my home, creating gifts for family and friends and having fun quality time getting messy with my girls. Here is an easy DIY card stock Christmas tree ornament. 

This craft is fun to sit around the table with a friend or your child and engage in conversations while doing. Appropriate ages for this craft would start around six years. Then again, that is just my wild guess after involving my two and four year daughters in on this more of an adult holiday craft.

 You may hang the ornaments from your tree or anywhere your hear desires. As you can see I hung mine on my dinning room tables center piece.

Supplies needed:          

• Holiday card stock paper
• A cup to trace the circles
• Scissors 
• Pencil to trace with.
• Glue stick
• A thinner yarn

How to step by step:

1. Trace all the circles you need with the glass.
2. Cut out all your circles.
3. Fold all of your circles in half. (fold the ugly side of the card stock facing out.)
4. You will need at least 6 circles for each ornament. (you can use less or more if you choose to.)
5. Glue the ugly sides together.
6. Cut your string and tie a slip knot at the end.
7. Add the string right before you glue the last folded circle in.
8. Trim if needed and your done. 

Our Christmas Preview!

I am determined this year to mail out family Christmas cards. I mean it. I really really mean it. Pinky promise. Call me old fashion, but I would much rather receive a hand written letter in my mail box than a typed out letter through e-mail. I get it, technology has made it so much faster and easier for all of us. Let alone it can even save us money. For example how often do we even buy stamps now? I know I barely but stamps now a days. I can pay all my bills on the Internet now. That part is convenient don't get me wrong. But call me old fashion. I get all giddy when I receive a letter, a thank you card or some sort of fun mail that is not junk mail.

So after life seemed to settled down after the Thanksgiving festivities, we had to take a gander up to the cabin to fetch my migraine RX that I had left up there the previous weekend. Of course I had the brilliant idea of squeezing in a quick Christmas photo shoot of the girls with a fun idea I had in mind. When ever I get an idea my brain it just won't stop. My poor husband right? Kind of like my writing. You know your a true writer when you literally can't sleep at night when you have all these ideas popping into your mind. Do you sleep with a a pen and paper next your bed? I'm guilty as charged. Ha ha.

Therefore I figured I would share some of the photos that I will be making our family photo Christmas cards with. I still can't decides if I want to get crafty and make the cards and inset the pictures. Or save myself time and just print it all together? They did great for the most part. But as a photographer it always seems that my own children do not cooperate as well as well as children clients who are not my own. Weird!

 Always have to try to get a normal one in of all three girls.

This is what happens when your the baby sister. You are overly loved. But is there such thing as over loved? I don't think so at all. She may not always enjoy the kisses. But she does love to dish them out as well.

 The two oldest. The picture pretty much sums it up. They do love each other believe it or not. Yet they may not want to show it right now. They are best friends too. Maybe when they get older they will show it more. At least that's my hope for them. 

 lastly, I will always and forever be thankful and cherish the gift of my three daughters that God has gave me. I will cherish every moment and challenge as a mother of three daughters.

Christmas Review

All the festivities are complete, and the gifts are all put away; we may now recoup.  Although we have our tree up still and Christmas decorations out; which is unusual for us. I'm the type who wants the tree down and decorations put away right after Christmas. But, this year our daughters had requested that we leave the tree up for a few more days.We were blessed to be able to have Christmas with family. I love getting together with our family for Christmas, but I will admit it can get exhausting once the fun is all over. I never noticed this till I became married and a parent. I wouldn't change it for the world though.

   Santa, or should I say we did a good job this year. I absolutely love the priceless expressions on their faces as they open their gifts. Our daughters were pleased with their gifts they received this year.. After all the treats we snack ed on and the gifts we opened, the most important part was spending it with family and remembering Jesus's birth.

 

Myself as a child, did not believe in Santa ever. I was the one who would tell the other kids he's not real and make them cry. Therefore once our oldest started believing in Santa, I went along with it. I figured it would be fun as a parent, and it sure is. We even had Santa email our daughters this year a video of how well they were doing on the Good or naughty list. I'm sure the older they get, it will get tougher to keep them believing. And even though they believe in Santa, they do know the true meaning behind Christmas.

 How long do you keep your Christmas tree up after the holiday??

Popsicle Christmas Tree Craft

This past week one of the crafts me and my daughters did was the, Popsicle Christmas tree. It is a nice little keepsake to keep for years as they grow older. I found it was very easy for ages 3 years and older. They really enjoyed making the Christmas tree and I enjoyed the bonding time. Once they were complete, we placed them on our real Christmas tree as decorations.

The Popsicle CChristmas Tree

Supplies you will need.

*Popsicle sticks

                      *Elmer's glue or hot glue gun.

(I used my hot glue gun to assemble the tree. I did not allow my daughters to use the hot glue gun.)

*Green and brown paint

*Paint brush

*Fuzzy pom poms, glitter, anything you choose to decorate your tree.

*Scissors

Instruction's

*Cut the popsicle sticks to size.

*Color the popsicle sticks green and the trunk of the tree brown. Let them dry.

*Once they are dry glue the stick onto to main popsicle stick also known as the trunk of the tree. Let it sit for a min to make sure the glue has settled.

*Now decorate your tree! We used fuzzy pom poms for ours. 

This is a simple and quick craft that doesn't make a big mess. Have a blessed night.

As Of Lately...

Lately around our home we have been spending a lot of family time. During the busy holiday season it's important to take a step back and remind ourselves what's truly important. This time of the year can become so hectic and stressful. From Christmas shopping with the long lines at the check outs to preparing for Christmas day. So this year I made sure we took that step back and relaxed. I grew up with what I would call, "go with the flow" parents who were rarely stressed. If they were they were super at hiding it. I want to be those parents. 

During our step back, the girls spend special time bonding, remembering what sisterhood is about. Something I wish for them to never forget. 

 While taking our step back, our oldest daughter learned to spell out words and write complete sentences all on her own. We are so proud of her big accomplishment. 

Although we had to take an unwanted trip to urgent care for our youngest daughter due to an ear infection, she did exceptionally well. Her first one yet at 16 months. She is now feeling much better now!

Our silly middle daughter. "take a picture of me mom!"

 We taught Our youngest how to color. She loves it, and does quit well.

We have been spending a lot of time finger painting with sponge brushes.

I snapped a picture when I caught Daddy reading with Baby H. I didn't want him to notice so it's a little fuzzy. I can tell this step back is rubbing off on him finally. 

 At night I may be guilty of letting her stay in our bed a few times. Their only little for so long. I feel so blessed and thankful for to enjoy these moments as a family.

Have you took a step back to relax this holiday season?!

Tis' The Season

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas around here. Sunday we were able to go out and get our Christmas tree. I grew up with the tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree every year. I am blessed to pass the tradition onto my own family now. So every year we go to the tree farm and find that perfect tree to cut. To keep their tradition, my parents now join along with us. There are some years where one of us sick, and unfortunately that happened this year. Vivian's lingering cold took another turn, causing her asthma to flare up really bad. In this case we go to our local store called Horrocks to get our real tree. They previously cut, but we still get to pick out the perfect tree. This year I think we have bought the tallest of them all so far since owning our home. He he. I've always dreamed of having tall Christmas trees as a child. Now that dream has been full filled since our home has cathedral ceilings. 

Because we were unable to go to the tree farm, my parents came over to help decorate the tree with our daughters. Our tree this year was 9 feet tall. Therefore my husband had to get out his ladder to help decorate. The girls had a wonderful time decorating the tree along with the smallest Helen. 

On another note, I have started my Christmas shopping. Believe it or not, this is early for me. I am determined not to fall behind this year. My goal is to be done a week before Christmas. This weekend I was able to find The remake of fisher price's record player. I may just have done a dance in the toy isle! 

Have you started Christmas shopping yet? Or are you a last minute shopper like I am?