(apologies on the formatting – i don’t really use capital letters on my cell)
to be completely honest, christmas has never been my favorite holiday. not sure why – I enjoy presents, extra time with my family & lights and decor. but for some reason it never grabbed my attention like say, Halloween.
even as an adult, I’m not sure I get it.
I find myself ready for the holiday to be over. this is the first Christmas Eve I’ve spent without my grandpa. for the past 22 years, Christmas Eve was spent with my aunts, uncles and cousins in front of my grandpa’s fireplace, filled with boxes and bags of gifts. each year, we would pray, eat dinner, and patiently wait for the dishes to be clean before opening. as the youngest, my grandpa would tease, “let’s let the oldest open presents first!” to my dismay. of course, this never was the case, as I was incredibly blessed to receive everything a child could want, year after year. and year after year, I was happy.
sitting on my parents couch, I’m not sure if I’m happy or not. again, I’ve been blessed with a good christmas, including an amazing quilt made out of my college tees, but that’s not enough. I’ve lost sight of the true meaning of the season, and the things that truly make me happy.
I’ve got a snuggly puppy who loves
me unconditionally, and parents who want nothing but the best for me. and I am grateful for this and so much more, however I still feel like something is missing. I won’t find it overnight or over the holiday season, but I hope I can find it within myself. I don’t want the joy of the season lost in my own selfishness, nor in the wishes I’m to afraid to make.
to those celebrating, be thankful for those around you, and have a wonderful christmas.
Not to make excuses, but some of my recent blog disappearance can be accounted to my Christmas decorating. This is my first Christmas in my own place, so clearly I had to take after my mother and make everything look fabulous.
Starting with the tree…
With a new puppy (he had to make a cameo), I couldn’t do as much as I wanted with the tree. He has already destroyed my first tree skirt, so currently we’re stuck with a blanket around it. He also seems to think the ornaments are toys, so there is a good foot worth of space at the bottom of the tree. However, I stuck with green and red (Target bundle – greatest thing ever!) shatterproof balls. The red glittery ones are my favorite!
Now we can get into the actual craft part, starting with my front door:
I originally made a wreath(which will make an appearance in a bit!), however I wasn’t completely sold on it. So, after seeing this on pinterest a time or two, I decided to try it myself!
Materials:
Frame (Hobby Lobby sells just the frame, but I don’t see why you can’t just take the back off a regular frame! I used a 9 X 12)
Ribbon (Surprise, I actually only used two. My big bow was able to be split into strips! Again, Hobby Lobby, 50 percent off)
Ornaments (I just used my extra ones, but you can pick them up from the dollar store!)
Pipe Cleaners (Dollar Store, used this with the bow)
Wreath Hanger (3M Hooks work too!)
How To: (SO simple!)
Tie your ornaments with the ribbon, alternating heights. I also alternated colors (red with green, etc).
Create your bow. I wish I could step by step this, but as you can ask my boyfriend, this didn’t go as smoothly as I would have hoped. But, you’ll probably have better luck learning from this video.
Attach the ornament ribbons to the bow. I used a pipe cleaner to tie all my ribbons together due to cutting them too short, but if you are smart and measure things out, you should be able to tie them together. Then, just loop them around the back part of the of ribbon. You may have to play with this a bit.
Attach the bow & ornaments to the frame. This is easiest when you have the frame on the door already, as the bow and ornaments can get in the way of the hook, leaving your frame off balance. I actually tied the bow to the wreath hanger. This way, the bow and ornaments will always be centered on your frame.
I plan on changing out this for new years (party hats and noise makers), valentines (hearts), st. patrick’s (shamrocks)…etc! Super versatile which is SO important with a small space!
OK – last thing. My wall decor (also, via Pinterest)
Materials:
Wooden letters (shocker – Hobby Lobby, $1.99)
Paint (I already had red from another craft, but you could be more creative!)
Wreath (Target had the greenery for just $4)
Ornaments (Again, laying around, or the Dollar Store)
Pipe Cleaners
3M Hook & Strips
How To:
Paint your letters. I prefer spray paint, but you can hand paint them and add some things!
Create your wreath. Add ornaments by stringing pipe cleaners through the ornament top and tighten them onto the wreath. The bow I used was from the dollar store, but you can create one using the tutorial above.
Hang! I started with the wreath in the middle using a 3M hook, then arranged my letters accordingly. I used three photo strips per letter.
