Let me start off by saying this post didn't begin as tongue-in-cheek. And while the tone may sound a bit... punky... I promise I am actually enjoying the season.
Last year at this time I was telling myself, "next year, the house will be decorated to the nines and I'll have all my cute and fun projects finished and hung the day after Thanksgiving. It will be great." I thought for sure I'd be ready to add my link to the dozens of fabulous "Holiday House Tour" parties in blogland this year.
And then, the hilarity began. We all got sick right after Thanksgiving. Now we are on Round 2 (why didn't ya'll tell me that's what happens when you have two kids?!?). The renovation that was supposed to be finished by Thanksgiving is just now about done (with two doors needed to be painted on the cabinets, I'd call that "done"). Plus a few unexpected surprises.
Like when the Christmas tree fell a few nights ago. All on it's own. We didn't even provoke it.
Among the casualties: Minnie lost her ears. Rudolf his tail. One of my beautiful blue-green vintage balls-- shattered. Not too bad considering the speed and intensity with which the tree toppled over, though.
Baby's First Christmas Sweet Pea? Also a causalty.
My Partridge in a Pear Tree ornament? That was alllllll Noodle. She threw it on the tile floor. "BALL!" She was so upset when it shattered. As I vacuumed she kept saying "need hug. need hug." so I took lots of hug breaks to reassure her it was okay {even though it was a handpainted fine craftsman glass ornament that I will never be able to replace}.
The funny part is I have no idea how she reached it. Our tree didn't have any ornaments on the lower half (even pre-fall), because Noodle kept taking the ornaments off and saying "Ta Da!"
We figured our tree will probably look like this for the next few years because Noodle is the gentle one. You should see what damage Baby Bee can do in a few minutes flat:
Yup. Off with Snoopy's head!
Thankfully my favorite ornament of all time is unbreakable. That's my husband, circa 1981. Love him.
Okay, onto the tour. First we have the vacuum, a permanent fixture because at last count we have six broken ornaments and one toppled tree.
I decorated our new shelves with a few touches. Yup, a bowl of ornaments and a vintage copy of Dicken's Christmas Carol. Brilliant.
And a few paper trees. Well thank goodness I made those!
My $1 blue glitter houses from Walmart, I'm proud to say that was the sum total of my Christmas decoration expenses this year (except for craft supplies, but even those I kept under control).
Elfie sits on our new bookcase, watching Noodle and Bee to report back to Santa each night. Noodle really doesn't get the whole "Elf on a Shelf" thing yet but she did manage to untie the fake presents he's holding. Next year she'll understand. Maybe.
Finally finished adding last year's photo cards to the scrapbook. What a treat it is to pull it out and see the cards from previous years all in one place. This book looked beautiful until Noodle got ahold of Bee's half-finished bottle and redecorated the cover with milk. I'm not sure if I should attempt to recover it or just have that as a "funny" story to tell each year when we pull the album out.
I did hang our stockings from the mantel with care! The silver reindeer lasted two seconds before Noodle started bashing them against the hearth. Back on the shelf they go.
And, thanks to a comment from Kris, I put all our straggling Christmas books in a basket by the hearth to read under the tree. Before they were just out and about, and now they look nice all gathered together.
Hmmm... it only took 2 minutes for someone to realize that was written in chalk.
Wonder who?!?
That basket thing works like a charm. Check out my little reader!
Here are the family banners I make each year, tutorial and story behind them coming in a post later this week. I used to rush to finish it by Christmas, but this year I'm taking my time and making the 2010 banner by New Years. Traditions are meant to be enjoyed, not checked off a to-do list.
Oh, and wreaths! I slung a few on the walls, too. The feather wreath that looked so fabulous against our brick fireplace last year is now homeless because we no longer have brick (yahoo!) so I put it on the door. It now looks pretty tacky when compared to our wreaths in each window, but I don't have time to make one like I did last year. NEXT year, I will. Probably. Until then I'm embracing the feathers and not apologizing for it!
Despite browsing for hours on Etsy for the perfect Advent calendar, the one we ended up with cost $1.98 at Safeway. Noodle doesn't even eat chocolate. We've had a blast opening the little doors, though!
I put a few vintage houses down the middle of our dining room table. I've collected a few more since I was given these by my husband's nana, so now I'm afraid it's become a collection. A really cute collection of glittery houses. Could be worse, right?
Among the packages to send to my family are tags made from last year's cards. It's my favorite way to repurpose them, and don't they turn out cute?
A semi-homemade ornament colored by Noodle. It cost .49 at JoAnn Fabrics and yet I think the grandparents will treasure it.
Do I sound sad about my lack of decorative inventiveness this year? I hope not. I'm really happy with the whole "Less is More" philosophy this year. Our tree looks beautiful (well, the top half of it). The fireplace is done. We all have semi-handmade stockings. The gifts are all purchased and wrapped and ready for Santa to deliver them on Christmas Eve. I've even baked cookies.
The joys of Christmas have gotten simpler and sweeter. Who needs a mantel that took hours to decorate when you have kids that can undecorate in seconds flat? I'd so much rather use that time reading books by the fire {and snuggling in this blanket by the tree}.
The simple things. Life is good. Even if Baby Bee's nose is running like a faucet this week!
Just because our home isn't ready for Christmas Tour of Homes doesn't mean I don't love seeing your merry decorations. If you have a "House Tour" link, please leave it in the comments so I can check out your holiday spirit!
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(still remember buying it in 1999 after I tried a friend's oatmeal lace cookies) but that's not what made it resonate with me. Mostly it's the way Brittany took the baking of Christmas cookies one step further and involved the family in a special and personal way. I fondly remember making cookies with my parents over the holidays when I was younger, so "kicking it up a notch" by having your children and husband pick out "their" cookie each year (and making it with them) was one of the sweetest ideas I could think of in this busy holiday season.
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