Enjoying The Christmas Season

How could I not enjoy it with this view?  I get to see this every day and I'm loving it!

I find that in order for me to enjoy this season, I need to have little expectation for what it 'should' look like.  

This is a good thing, as I think too many people, at the holidays, have big expectations.  It should be Hallmark like, the family should all get together, siblings should get along, there should be peace on earth...

The realities are often very different and that can be hard to reconcile with our expectations.  If we can learn to hold these expectations loosely, and trust God with them, we can have a good Christmas, even a wonderful one.

Sometimes it's other peoples expectations that we are dealing with. Perhaps we have family that don't share our values, or who think we're the odd relatives.  Maybe you have an aunt that is critical of you but always expects to see you and your family at the holidays.  

The best advice I can give is to pray about it, and ask what you should do.  The right thing might be to drop in to visit your aunt, take her a little gift, let her see you all and then leave.  You can control how much time you spend with her that way.

I have a sweet friend with four young kids.  She said that every year they spent the all day on Christmas going from relatives home to relatives home and it was exhausting for her and her kids.  Two years ago they decided that they were going to stay home, in the jammies, all day!  But they knew that it was important to some of the family to see them, so they let it be known that everyone was welcome to drop in during the afternoon, as long as they realized that her family would all be in the PJs!  Isn't that a brilliant way to handle it?

Often times people don't spend time building relationship within their families, but when the holidays come, they expect everything to be perfect.  This just isn't reality.  Relationships take work to ensure peace and harmony.  If people aren't willing to invest the time to build relationships, the actual time together might be less than wonderful.

For us our kids are getting older, three are married with their own families, and so Christmas days are looking different, and rightly so, than they did even just five years ago.  It would be wrong of me to insist that everyone come here on Christmas!  We give them all freedom to do what they want to do.  

We have older friends whose kids are all grown with kids of their own and some years when their kids have been with the inlaws, our friends have gone on cruises!

Enjoy the Christmas season, embrace its beauty and its gifts, but also choose what works for you this year.  It might be different than in years past and that's okay.  It really is.

Leaf Fun and Family Photos

These photos were taken on Thanksgiving Day.  Tons of leaves in the yard!  They are now all raked up, but the girls had a lot of fun when we went out to take family photos.

Here is the photo we used for our card this year.  

Two weeks until Christmas!  I'm not nearly ready, but I'm not stressed.  I'm enjoying the season, doing some shopping, doing some baking, watching Christmas classics and Hallmark movies.  Enjoying time with these sweet people who share my life.  I'm grateful.

How I'm Wrapping Our Gifts This Year

I've been on a plaid kick for several years now and even though I have some rolls of red plaid paper, when I saw these cute plaid deer and snowflakes on this brown paper and then a coordinating plaid paper at Christmas Tree Shops, I snatched them up right away!

 Last night I dug through my stash and found a big roll of wire edged 'burlap' ribbon, that I think looks great with the wrapping paper.

This brighter red plaid ribbon doesn't quite match but it works anyway, and the gift tag I bought at Target in the dollar spot.  

 I keep my eyes out for nice gift tags year round.  These are navy blue and go very well with the plaid wrapping paper.

I have a lot more wrapping to do, but it'll all get done!  No worries!

So how do you wrap your gifts?  Do you use gift bags only?  Wrap perfect packages tied up with pretty ribbons?

Binge Watching

Season 2 of The Crown.  Having followed the Royal Family over the years, I am fascinated with this series.  It's an original series on Netflix and its very good.

I will be wrapping gifts later, and making a list of what's still needed.  I have to think through events - Tim and I are going with Rachel to her Chick-fil-A Christmas party tomorrow afternoon, I'm trying to find a day to go visit Cheryl at the Pineapple House, and Tim and I are talking about what we are going to do to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary on January 2nd.  Christmas Eve, being a Sunday, is full of church and our Christmas Eve service, but it's also Tim's birthday and we have our traditions.  Lots to decide.

It has just begun to snow here!  The roads are supposed to stay clear, and we are not expecting very much snow, but its so pretty coming down!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Updated to say that Episode 7 had content that I skipped through and if you have VidAngel you'll want to use it to filter that episode!

Christmas Party 2 - Christmas Tea Party

We had 19 ladies and girls here for tea Thursday night.  

We had to rearrange the living room furniture to set up another table, but it worked out perfectly.  It was so good to share good food and tea together.  We also played an ornament exchange game, and everyone enjoyed it very much!

Tomorrow, I'll put away all the tea things, and put the furniture back where it belongs.  For tonight, I want to bask in the light of the tree and think about the lovely time we had together.

How To Take Inspiration And Make It Work Within Your Budget

Terrain is a place of great inspiration for me.  I love the plants, the greens, the homewares.  But I don't love the prices. They are not a store within my budget for many things.  

However, you can take ideas from their displays and look around at stores with in your budget, you can recreate the look you want.

For example - 

These are zinc houses at Terrain. 
                                                            source

This is a metal house at Christmas Tree Shops


                                                                    source

Here is a lovely string of lights at Terrain




                                                                     source

Same kind of lights at Christmas Tree Shops (sorry for the weird photo!)



                                                                        source



However, I did see the best artificial tree I've ever seen.  Even to the touch it is soft and amazingly life like.  The price is amazing too!  The 7ft tree is less than $200!  There is nothing I've seen like this tree!



                                                                    source


Anyway, I hope this post encourages you to take your inspiration and make it work in your budget.  

Here are a few photos I took today of things that caught my eye -

I always like their outdoor living inspiration, even for winter!

 I liked these colored bottle brush trees with the faux birch bark tea light holders.  

 They had a lot of metals in all colors in their candle holders and vases.  They all looked great on the shelves and that showed me that I could mix colors like this in my own home and it would look great, too.

It's always crowded at Christmas, so pardon the people in the shot.  I really love this lighted sphere, and the shot of all the trees with the lights on them!  So pretty!

Let me know what you think, and we'll chat in the comments!

I've Been Shopping, Have You?

Mostly online, but some local shopping, too.  Today we may go to one of my favorite stores for inspiration - Terrain.  We also will pop down to Trader Joe's.  Both of these stores are about an hour away from us, so we don't go as often as we'd like.

I just placed an Old Navy order - I had Old Navy cash to use, and the clearance and sales were good.

I have purchased almost everyone's gifts now, but I'm still looking for my parents' gifts, Tim (he has a birthday on the 24th!), Nate, and Kay, Lindsay and Joseph.  That's still a lot of shopping to do.  We are of the less is good, kind of gift givers.  We like meaningful gifts, and we don't do debt for gift giving.

We buy books, games, clothes, gift cards, chocolate....chocolate is always a good thing!

Tomorrow, I'll post about Christmas stocking stuffer ideas.

So, tell me how your shopping is going?  Are you done?  Do you make your gifts?  Shop online?  Let's chat in the comments!

A Darling New Christmas Stocking

Isla is going to be a big sister in late May!

They told us when they were here for Thanksgiving, but we waited until they made their announcement, which they did today!

May is our busiest birthday month and now we'll have one more!  

We are so excited!

Christmas Tea Plans

We usually have the tea at church, but this year I am hosting it in my home.  We have a small group of about 20 ladies attending and since I use all of my tea things for the teas, I won't have to haul teacups, plates, teapots, creamers and sugar bowls, spoons, to the church!  The tea is Thursday evening.

Isn't this cute?  I think I may do a version of this for the tea.  I have just the right small counter top tree, and I could tie the cups on with ribbon.  Then the ladies could choose their cup off the tree, find the matching saucer and they'd be set for tea!

I'll let you know if I do it! 

We are just back from New York.  We went on a campus visit with Rachel and a Bible school she is going to attend next fall.  It was a quick trip.  Drove up Saturday and came home on Sunday.  We had a good time together.  Its special to see your kids grow and follow God's plan for their lives.

What are you doing this week?  Do you host events at the holidays?

Christmas Party Number 1

19 of us gathered here at the Cottage, to eat, talk, share life, and play a fun game to exchange ornaments!

I still can't believe that we got everyone in by using a selfie stick!  I'm going to buy myself one!

Everyone brought a treat to share, I had coffee, tea, hot cocoa and our favorite Christmas Tea drink for the hot drinks, and ice water and egg nog for the cold drinks.

After we ate and talked, we gathered for a Christmas devotional and then we played our game.  I found this game on Pinterest. 


I'm not going to link to the website as the content is not the best.

You could easily make up your own questions or statements.  It was a lot of fun and I like it better than the game where you can take a gift from someone!

I'm really grateful for these dear women, and am thankful that God has brought them into my life!

A Bit More Christmas

Can you believe its December 1st?  So exciting!

I've got most of the interior decorating done in the cottage, but I'll likely tweak a bit here and there.  I started early because I am hosting a Christmas party for my fellow co-op moms tonight!  I can't wait!


I'm going to show you the areas that are public areas in our cottage mainly the kitchen and living room.

My great-grandmother's hutch filled with my teacups and other tea things.  I think before the month is over that nice candle stick up top will be painted white.  I've been meaning to get to it, and seeing it in this photo makes me motivated to get it done.  

 Every year I love our tree.  Its always a bit different since its a real tree.  

It looks lovely at night.

 I wish the tree topper had more light by it.  Its so pretty and sparkly. I needed a new one so I was very happy to have found this one at Target, and its a dove which is a symbol of peace.

I couldn't get a good shot of the big shelve on the wall but I left it mostly the same but I put a Christmas sign on it and a small Christmas tree.  I'll work on some photos of it.

I did get a shot of the top of the plate rack, with my canning jars of flatware and some greens (both faux and real) and a cute plate.

The tall shelves by the kitchen door are mostly the same but I have a few plaid touches.

And at the end of the hallway, some sweet silver (all found at thrift stores except my baby spoon).  I love that you can see the icicle lights reflecting in the mirror.  These lights make the hallway magical!

I made a few changes in the hall bathroom, which is the one guests use, but it has no natural lighting in there, so its hard to photograph.

With it being December 1st, many of us will be reading advent materials of some sort all month.  Brenda at It's A Beautiful Life has an Advent blog called "Restoring The Joy of Christmas."  

I know for many, the holidays are challenging due to loss, or heartache.  This first post "Watch For Moments" is a good one to encourage you and me.  I'm going to be reading there all month long - I hope you'll join me.