The Day After Christmas

‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through house…yeah that’s all I got. But it really is the day after Christmas and it was a wonderful day!! LAL had a day filled with, cars, princesses, books, puzzles and most importantly family. David’s sister, mom and step father came over to spend the day with us.

Now that Christmas is over its time to reflect. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking with a friend about the magic of Christmas. We were saying how, as adults, we get caught up in what did you get for whom, where we have to go, how are we going to afford everything we want to buy, are the kids going to be happy, etc… That’s not very magical. It’s so easy to get caught up in the what, rather than the who and why.

Last year I went crazy and bought LAL tons, too much to be completely honest. It was chaos here and talk about over stimulation. We made a decision at that point to keep Christmas simple going forward. My strategy this year was three gifts each plus stocking stuffers. Surprisingly, I actually kept to it!! I’m proud of myself. Christmas morning was much more manageable. They all loved their presents. Smiles all around.

Back to the magic. After that conversation, I figured maybe I should start making some magic and seeing the magic that is right under my nose. First, in an effort to teach LAL Christmas is not only about them, we took a charity ornament off the tree at the Y. We purchased a coat for a young boy. It’s definitely becoming more of a challenge telling three toddlers we’re not purchasing for them. But after some explaining they understood. We also made gifts for their grandparents along the lines of this from Pinterest. Sadly I think it only works with black permanent marker. We tried it with colored and it didn’t work out so well.

Something else that always warms my heart are Christmas lights. I personally don’t enjoy crazy over the top light displays. I’m more of a simple elegance type girl. This is how I decorated our house

I love seeing a lit up Christmas tree through people’s windows.

Every once in a while marketing teams hit the nail on the head with their holiday commercials. Here are my three favorites. Two of the three are from this. The coffee commercial is from a few years ago but never ceases to get me choked up.
Coffee

Air freshener

Computer

Though these commercials did not make me run out and purchase their merchandise, I do think they are very special.

And last but not least, Christmas PJs!!!!!! I don’t know why but for some reason I LOVE Christmas jammies. I’ve always done it for LAL but this year I stepped it up a notch and got them for David and I, too!!

I hope you found the magic in your own special way.

Christmas Crafting

On Wednesday Audrey said, “Let’s go get a cwistmas twee.” At first, I was hesitant but then thought about it and realized I really didn’t have a reason for saying no. I said, “Okay let’s go!” She was surprised. We got in the car and headed to our local nursery to pick out a tree. LAL are like me they all wanted the 12 foot tree, I’ve already made the mistake of getting a tree that was too big once. The kids often ask who drew on the ceiling and I go into the story. We all agreed on one and chose an eight foot tree. Once we got home I put it in the stand and told LAL we couldn’t decorate until tomorrow so the the branches could settle. Now for the magic to begin…

Thursday LAL went to school and Cubby the elf went to work!!! By the time they came home to decorate our tree the house was decorated for Christmas. They were in awe when they walked through the door. They still are. I love that they are so proud of the work that Cubby did they show anyone who walks through the door multiple times. We put Christmas music on and got to decorating.

Oh I’m completely off track I’m supposed to writing about crafting. Here it goes…

I love Pinterest! I love it for recipes, crafts, and anything really. One day I was looking for an easy DIY wreath from my front door. And I came across this. It looked simple enough. Everything looks simple on Pinterest though so I was hesitant which is why I didn’t take a ton of pictures of “the process”. Well I didn’t take any really. Ok one…here.

That picture was really for me to see what it looked like. Not for blogging purposes. Maybe one day I’ll learn how to use my fancy camera and actually take decent photos. Anyway back to the story.

All I bought for this was a whole bunch of ornaments from the dollar store (I think I bought 15 tubes in different sizes), a glue gun, and a styrofoam wreath base. Then I started gluing. And that was it!!! All in all, I’d say it took me about two hours to complete. This is the finished product.

Next time I’ll do a couple of things different. First, I’d spray paint the wreath base. When I look at it up close I can see some of the white. Which drives me bananas. But I’m trying to cut myself some slack since it’s my first one. Second, I’d cover the back with a piece of felt. I thoroughly dislike whenever I walk past my front door seeing the back of the wreath. Again rookie mistake so I’ll let it slide and adjust mine eventually.

If you’re up for it, this is an easy DIY. If not, you can buy one from me!!