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.

Embracing Fall

I usually dislike the arrival of fall. I tend to blow right past it and think about what is to come. Winter. Living in New England during the winter months can be a mixed bag, it might be mild (once every 7-10 years) or it might be miserable with snow…lots of snow. I thoroughly dislike snow. That’s what I think about. Because of this, completely miss the leaves changing, apple picking, apple cider, pumpkin this and pumpkin that. Then I had LAL. Because of them, I told myself to cherish every moment to the best of my ability, I am seeing the beauty in fall or as Lily tells me “some people call it autumn.”

Now that they are three, they get excited when the house is decorated for the season. Last year I had a couple of things for fall. Honestly, it looked slightly pathetic. This year the merchandiser in me resurfaced and I had some fun. I decorated our front porch and the foyer.

My mother-in-law cleaned out her attic a few weeks ago and I found that amazing clay pumpkin in the dumpster she hired. I couldn’t believe it. So I dove in! I love it! And I love free!! The cornstalks are from our garden. Free as well!! The pumpkins and mums I purchased at Trader Joe’s for about $35.00 for three fairy pumpkins and three mums. I don’t know if I got a deal on those, they were convenient.

Everything on the window sill I purchased from Christmas Tree Shoppes a couple years ago after season. We pass a house in the way to school that is all decked out Halloween style and Liam has started asking me if we can make our house look like that one. I told him after Halloween we can get some more decorations for next year because that’s the best time to buy. He was cool with that answer, thankfully.

The table sign, witch and scarecrow came from Christmas Tree Shoppes. And the votive holders, votives, and candy corn were from the Dollar Tree. The plastic pumpkins LAL had gotten last year from somewhere and I decided to keep them. The look on LAL’s faces was priceless! They love it!

We also went apple picking!!! This was my first time, ever, I think. Maybe in Brownies or something but I don’t remember. So this was my first time. It was a time though LAL were over it in about five minutes. I secretly was happy having to be the one to pick the apples. I would show you pictures but I took them with my good camera and have no way to put them on my iPad since none of my computers work. Someday maybe. Anyway, what to do with a peck of apples other than eat them as is. Make apple hand pies!!!! I worried how this would work out for me but they were delicious!!! And ridiculously easy. Thank you Pinterest. I used cortland apples, yum, yum, yummy!!

So if you’re like I was and tend to fly through fall, slow down, take a look, and appreciate the season.