Our December 2014 Recap

The whole month of December seems to have just whizzed by this year.  I have only logged a few posts this month, so I want to recap a few things.

Earlier this month, I had a fun girl's trip to Disney World!

I got a new camera lens for Christmas. Asher gave it to me early so that I could play with it and actually use it for Christmas. I was playing with it one night, and this was as serious as I could get Henry to be.

Cade got a new race track at a Christmas Party, and spent a lot of time in deep concentration. His face was cracking me up!

Henry's preschool class at church sang 2 Christmas songs to the entire congregation. They were all so cute. Henry sang all the words, but was very serious about it.

We had Christmas with Asher's extended family the Saturday before Christmas. Henry got a new Color Wonder puzzle. He went from this excited face to really bummed that there was not a gray or black marker in the set. How was he going to color the minion's goggles or gloves without a gray or black marker?

Cade was excited to get another Lego set to put together.

I painted a few Family Christmas Canvases. One for us, and a couple to give as gifts to a few of my friends. (These were the ONLY crafty thing I did this Christmas.)

We spent Christmas Eve driving around looking at Christmas lights. The boys had fun, but were ready to get home and go to bed. I took a quick picture of them in front of the tree right before they went to bed.

We woke up Christmas morning and piled on our bed to read the Christmas story before we opened any gifts. This is one thing we have done every single year since Cade was a baby.

I didn't get many pictures, but we spent the rest of the day at our house with both of our families. It was a wonderful Christmas.

The day after Christmas we spent the day in the woods at a shooting range, riding 4 wheelers, and and fishing! It was the perfect way to spend the day as a family.

Christmas Home Tour 2014

I sure wasn't expecting to get my 2014 Christmas Home Tour up AFTER Christmas, but I just couldn't seem to get my junk together and get it done. I'm still going to post it because I really enjoy looking back at our home each year.

I did one tiny new Christmas painting, and we have a new to us tree, but everything else is the same Christmas decor that we use every year.

I hope you enjoy our very simple 2014 Christmas Home Tour.

Living Room 

Den - We did have lights on our tree, but 2 sections went out the day before I took these pictures, so I didn't turn them on. We did finally fix them on Christmas Eve.

Kitchen

Dining Room (See Full Post HERE.)

Playroom

And this is the Christmas card I made, but never had printed or mailed out!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!


Linking this post up to:
It's Overflowing

Christmas Decor - Dining Room

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent Cade's birthday and Thanksgiving out of town, so I have a LOT to catch up on. I did manage to get my dining room all ready for Christmas. The rest of the house has a long way to go...

 

I am not one of those people that changes my Christmas color scheme from year to year. I like to use the same thing over and over. I usually change it up a little and a new something here and there, but for the most part I don't purchase much Christmas decor each year. I didn't buy anything new for this table.

The reindeer plates belonged to my mother. I only remember her using them once, but they have become a favorite.

I really like having this chalkboard in the dining room. It's fun to decorate for birthdays and holidays when it isn't covered in spelling words.

Sources:
Green Table Runner - Pottery Barn years ago
White Plates - Pier One
Reindeer Plates - Belonged to my Mother
White Fox and Squirrel - Target a few years ago

Linking this post to:
Dare to DIY - Decor and the Dog
Motivational Monday Party - Curly Crafty Mom
Your Designs This Time - Little House of Four
Share Your Creativity - It's Overflowing

Christmas 2013

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas!

I didn't get my real camera out once throughout the day, but I did manage to get just a few pictures. I guess I was too busy enjoying the day with our family.

The boys woke us up at 5;30 a.m. This was the first year they have ever gotten up this early for Christmas. We started this Christmas morning like we do every year; we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke. Cade wanted the WHOLE Christmas story and we ended up reading some from Matthew as well.

After the Christmas story we stay piled up on our bed and take turns unloading the stockings.

We headed down stairs for gifts and this is where I just kind of quit taking pictures. This was the first year that Henry was really excited about Christmas, and it was so much fun.

Everyone came to our house this year for lunch. I really wish I had taken some pictures. I did steal this on from my sister's facebook page.

(me, my dad, and my sis)

I really enjoyed this Christmas. We kept things very simple and it really made things more enjoyable. The boys had a great time, and that really was the highlight of the day. We certainly missed my Mama, though.

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Merry Chrstimas...

from our family to yours!

Glory to God in the highest, 

and on earth peace, 

good will toward men. 

Luke 2:14

Christmas Home Tour 2013

Christmas is next week, so I thought I would give you the Christmas Home Tour. Most of it is a lot like the last few years with a few new things sprinkled in.

 This is our third Christmas in our house, but it is the first year that we have had something Christmas-y to hang on the front door. I knew that whatever I made needed to be simple and preferably inexpensive since I would need two. I chose to make Burlap Christmas Tree Door Hangers. I really like them, and they were very simple to make.

 This is our main Christmas Tree. It is covered in various Christmas balls and ornaments that have been made by me, my husband's grandmother, and some that we have collected over the years.
I normally stay with a red, lime green, white, and silver color scheme, but this year I added a little bit of turquoise to the mix. I added the ribbon that was left from the door hangers, and then pained a few of the silver ornaments with turquoise craft  paint.

I was inspired by The Nutcracker Mantle by The Crafted Sparrow to paint simple Nutcracker Silhouettes. My version is on a much smaller scale. I just found silhouettes that I liked, traced them onto printer paper, painted them, and put them in the frames that always hang over the piano.

Here are some more touches of Christmas scattered through the entry and living room.

Cade made this at the art class he goes to.

 

 Here is a closeup of the hand painted Nativity set made by my friend Victoria at Tales of and Artsy Mama.

This Christmas Tree Banner was also made by Victoria at Tales of an Artsy Mama. The painting is a Nikki original that hangs above our love seat.

This is the Christmas Tree that is in the boys' playroom. It will always be really special. Everything about this tree makes me think of my mom. The tree was originally hers, and  she bought all of ornaments on the tree for the boys. There are trains, cars, sports related ornaments, planes,  and wooden ones that Cade and I colored with markers. She wanted them to have a fun tree that represented them. I had no idea at the time how special it would become. Cade also puts all of his ornaments on there that she bought for him through the years that used to be on our tree in the living room. If we ever chose to put up just one tree, it would be this one.

The breakfast room chandelier is my favorite place to hang this large ornaments. You really should check out the post where I tried to hang them on the top of the Christmas Tree several years ago. It was pretty funny.

I am thankful for a warm home that I get to share with my family this Christmas. I am looking forward to the new memories that will be made this year. We have been so blessed.