I follow a lot of blogs faithfully. I'm not big on commenting (which I have vowed to be better about - and I really have gotten better at it), but I'm a major lurker. ( : I absolutely love looking at my reading list and seeing what new things bloggers have to say. I wish I could remember which blog I got this idea from, but I am sad to say I've forgotten. Probably I Heart Organizing. I get a lot of inspiration from her!
Anyway, some time last week I saw a post about creative ways to display Christmas cards. Normally, I just set mine up along the mantel and around the bookshelves on either side of the mantel. Which works just fine, though it does tend to make the living room look pretty cluttered. So this year I decided to try somethin different.
My inspiration was from a blogger who hung a piece of red ribbon down the front of a door and attached her cards to it with clothespins. I thought it was a really cute idea, but I don't have any doors that I keep shut that are in the living area of our house. And I wanted to be able to see all our cards when we are in the living room, which is where we spend most of our time. So I adapted the idea for our living room!
And once again blogger has so nicely rotated my picture for me and won't let me fix it. :(
But hopefully you get the idea. You can't see it, but I had some leftover gold ribbon that I hung using a command hook thingy, and used clothespins to hang up the cards. DH was looking at me like I was crazy while I was setting everything up, but even he liked it when I was done. I'm pretty pleased with my little project. It took about 10 minutes and cost nothing since I already had what I needed on hand. If we get any more cards, though, I'll have to start another ribbon on the other side of the living room!
Well, we missed a few days of Advent celebration. Whoops! We had a very busy couple of days, and when we weren't busy, C wasn't in the right mood to sit down and hear a bible story. I sort of feel like an Advent failure since we haven't done a single craft from Truth In The Tinsel. But then I remind myself that its okay. I knew it would be tough this year with C so young. And like I've said before, she's not really into crafts yet (other than scribbling with her crayons - or a pen if she gets a hold of one!). I did look up a recipe for salt dough ornaments last night, though, and I think that's something we can do together that won't be too hard for her. That will have to be a weekend project, though, since them babies have to bake for 2 hours!
We did read from the Bible last night. C was sort of paying attention. When I grabbed my Bible, she grabbed hers and laid down beside me with it. Every few words I read she'd repeat, like she was reading along with me. It was precious! I hope she'll hear these words enough that one day she'll know the stories by heart.
We'll be celebrating her 2nd birthday this coming Sunday after church. I'm so excited for her birthday, but its such a bittersweet event for me. Every day she's another day closer to pulling away from me, which I know will happen eventually (hello teenage years). And every day she's another day farther from being the tiny newborn I held on my chest. *sniff* At our church, once a month we do a "birthday offering." We sing a hymn and if you have a birthday in that month, you go up to the front and give some money, which is donated to an orphanage. My husband has to take C up there because apparently it will be my tradition to completely loose it when C goes up there! Last year, as soon as he picked her up, I started crying, and it was the same this past Sunday. I couldn't even watch her put the money in the plate because I had so many tears in my eyes! I never used to be such a softy, so this is still strange to me. Next year she'll probably walk up there by herself, and I'll probably bawl even harder. Who knew I'd end up so in touch with my emotions? And I wouldn't trade it for anything!!
This is part of a series of posts about
Advent, using the e-book Truth In The Tinsel. Check back here for an updated list
of links of my posts.
I haven't done this in a while. Not sure why, since its pretty fun to think back on my week and pick out the highlights for a blog post. Most of the good stuff happened last weekend, but I'll count it since this weekend hasn't started yet. ( :
1. Last Saturday, I took C to her first parade! She loved it. We met up with my friend Angela and her baby Ashton, who is super adorable. He just turned 1 and C used to be smitten with him, but now she thinks he needs to stay far away from her, which is hilarious. Anyway, my mama and my cousin also met us there. We all had a great time. After the parade, we played in the park, which was also fun. Saturday was a great day. C and I were busy the entire day, but we loved it. ( :
2. Sunday, DH and I took C to have her pictures taken. These are technically her 2 year shots, even though she's not quite 2 yet. We like to do them early so we can give prints as Christmas gifts. We use Erica at Erica Letchworth Photography and she is awesome (and if you go to her site, you'll most likely see pics of me, DH, and C!)! Erica's been taking pictures of me and DH since we got engaged. She did our engagement pics, my bridal portraits, family pics of me, my brother, and my sisters, my wedding, my maternity pics, and all of C's milestone pics. We love her! I haven't seen any sneak peaks yet (Erica is super busy with Christmas fast-approaching), but I know they're gonna be totally awesome. First, because Erica is the best photographer I've ever seen, and second, because C was in a great mood and had so much fun during the shoot. (Normally, she's pouty during a photo shoot, and we can't get smiles out of her.) I brought a bunch of balloons, we had bubbles, and her rocking horse and I cannot wait to see the results!!
3. After the photo session Sunday, we got our Christmas tree! We normally don't put it up quite this early, but I was ready, so I convinced DH. There's just somethin about a live tree in my house that really gets me in the Christmas spirit.
4. This week I started an Advent celebration. I've never observed Advent before, but I stumbled across Truth in the Tinsel and I couldn't resist. This is definitely a tradition that we will continue!
5. This is my cat Jordan. He just makes me happy.
This week I'm linking up with Lauren at from my grey desk blog. And I think its safe to assume that the button I attempted to post below was done incorrectly! I am so blog-posting-illiterate! ( :
Flexibility is the name of the game when you have a toddler. Luckily, I was already easy-going before I had C. She has certainly made me even more so, though! I like to just roll with the flow, ya know? (hehe) Anyway...! I knew when I started Truth In The Tinsel that we wouldn't do all the activities in the book, and I knew C probably wouldn't listen to most of the scripture readings, but that's okay. Exposing her to it is important to me. At some point, its bound to stick in her brain, right?
Last night, she didn't want any part of Advent. I started by asking her to sit with me on the couch while I read to her from the Bible, but after about 5 seconds she was up sayin "I be right back!" Take 2: I laid on my stomach on the floor and asked her to join me. She lasted a little longer in that position, but she still got up, sayin she had to get her Bible. (She has a board book Bible that she absolutely loves.) She brought her Bible back to me, laid down, and proceeded to sing "Jesus Loves Me." How could I argue with that?? So I gave her a quick toddler-speak summary of the scripture for the night. I'm not sure if she actually listened to me, but that's okay.
I'm still planning on going tomorrow to get some craft supplies, so maybe we can actually make some of the cute ornaments in the book!
On a completely unrelated topic...I just had to share this. I am (proudly) still nursing C, and plan to do so until she decides to wean (or before she goes to school...haha). She's not showing any signs of quitting yet! I'll blog more on this topic soon (I'm a huge breastfeeding advocate so I'm really shocked I haven't blogged about it before). But I guess I'm making quite a bit less milk than I used to. She's started asking for both sides lately, and she's never done that in her entire 2 years of life. This week, when she runs out of milk, she pulls back, looks at me and says "Mama, my milk's not workin!" It is so CUTE!! Even DH laughed, and he's not crazy about the fact that she's still breastfeeding. Had to share that adorable tidbit. ( :
This is part of a series of posts about
Advent, using the e-book Truth In The Tinsel. Check back here for an updated list of links of my posts.
This will be quick since I'm on my iPhone. Yesterday I found the e-book "Truth in the Tinsel" and purchased it to start a new tradition with my daughter. Last night my husband left to go on a fishing trip and I took C to my mama's house to decorate her Christmas tree. My brother and I do it every year together. Anyway, so last night we got home late and C was too tired to do anything but pass out!
So I decided to start the advent celebration tonight. C is almost 2 but she's not really into crafts yet. She likes to color/scribble, but that's about it. I don't have any art supplies here yet anyway. So tonight we caught up on the scripture listed in the book. It was quite a lot for a toddler to sit through, and she didn't sit through most of it but I kept reading. After I do finished each passage I gave her a short summary in toddler-speak. She liked that part! Hopefully this week I'll get to a store and get some art supplies and I can help her do some of the projects. But for now just talking about Christmas and Jesus is great.
The second "lesson" in the book talks about Jesus being the king. C didn't know what a king was, so I told her it was kinda like a princess. After that, I told her to say "Jesus is king!" Like she said "Jesus is the light" earlier. Well, she smiled and said "Jesus is the princess!" I cracked up. Not quite right, but I think she got the idea that Jesus is special. ( :
I can't wait to see what else this month has in store for us! This is definitely a tradition I will continue with C and any other children we may have.
This is part of a series of posts about
Advent, using the e-book Truth In The
Tinsel. Check back here for an
updated list of links of my posts.
I have never celebrated Advent. I've never really understood what it was. I'm still learning, but what I'm gathering is Advent is a time of celebration and anticipation leading up to the birth of Jesus. Its a time to slow down and really reflect on and enjoy this season. Awesome. I can totally get on board with that!
Now that C is almost 2 (in 18 days - yikes!!), I feel like she's old enough to start learning the true meaning of Christmas. I've said from Day 1 that I didn't want her growing up thinking that Christmas is just about getting a ton of presents. Today I stumbled across an e-book called Truth in the Tinsel. I purchased it right away, once I realized what it was. Its only $7.99, so it doesn't exactly break the bank, but its full of projects to do each day of Advent - and the best part is, these projects are for toddlers and little kids! I just finished the download and printed it off (so I can have quick access to it at home), and I haven't read any of it yet, but it looks fun. Every day, there is scripture to read with your child, a project to do together (simple, fun things that shouldn't be too hard for a toddler to do with help), and then some ideas for discussion on the topic. I'm so excited to start!
I know we're three days behind already, but that's okay. Better late than never, right? ( :
In hopes that I remember to blog about this experience, I'm linking up with Truth in the Tinsel in their advent experience page!
This is the first in a series of posts about Advent, using the e-book Truth In The Tinsel. Check back here for an updated list of links of my posts.
I can't believe its almost Christmas again. Time seems to really fly by as I get older. And I'm only 29! It seems like every time I blink, its Christmastime. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. Not because of the presents that I've always been fortunate enough to receive, but because we spend so much family time in the Christmas season. Growing up, I was blessed to live very close to several members of our family. My grandparents bought land and built a house on it, then gave land to each of their 3 daughters when they got married. (Their 2 sons chose to move elsewhere, though they've always been nearby.) So I lived on the same piece of land with my grandparents and two aunts. We started out in a single-wide trailer and my parents built a house when I was about 4, so I never really moved. I loved it.
My husband's family is pretty similar. His parents' house is surrounded on both sides by DH's great aunts, and next to one great-aunt are the other two aunts, then his grandma. And a little bit further down the road is our own home. And all of this is 3 miles from where I grew up. To say we both come from close-knit families is an understatement! Our parents never lacked for babysitters when we were younger, and we always had cousins available to play with.
My point is that though DH and I both come from families that get together all the time (and were more often than not barging into each other's homes on a daily basis!), Christmas has always been special. At Christmas the whole family gets together, not just those that stuck close by. And we're all together at the same time for a big meal. I have so many fond memories of Christmas supper at Grandma's....When Papa was living, he made grape wine every year using grapes from his vines. That was some strong stuff! But so good. After eating a huge supper, we'd go to the living room, the adults would drink wine from tiny glasses, Mama would play the piano, and we'd all sing. I should stop typing in past tense, because this still happens, though now we use store-bought wine (preferably Duplin County wine!). Mama and her sisters always end up making up a silly song or two, which they sing for the rest of us with Mama accompanying on the piano. (We sound like a bunch of drunks, don't we? I promise, we're not! We act like that when there's no wine involved, too. We just like our wine on Christmas!)
At some point during the night, we exchange presents, but that's not the part I ever remember after the day is over. Sure, I enjoy getting gifts, and I love seeing someone open a present I picked out for them. But I really love (and crave) is the family time. Just being together, laughing, eating good food, enjoying each other's company. My family is not perfect, but we've always managed to put any differences aside at Christmas and have fun together. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if we all decided to skip presents this year and just hang out at Grandma's.
Which is the real reason for this post. One of the blogs I read recently posted about Christmas and mentioned something called The Advent Conspiracy. Of course I was intrigued so I looked it up. I encourage you to check out their website, but basically its just an informative website to encourage people to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, and forget about all the hustle and bustle of gift-giving. Their video sums is up nicely. Every time I watch this video I get chills!
This may not be the exact video that's on AC's website, but I don't think they change it much every year. The idea is the same. When I first watched the video and visited their website, I was completely on board. I talked to DH about it, and I really pushed for doing something meaningful, like donating our money and time to charity, at Christmas instead of buying a bunch of presents for everyone. He likes the idea, but he's realistic and knows that this is so hard to do.
Since we got married, every year at Christmas we make a loooooong list of people we "need" to buy presents for: our parents, siblings, my sisters' children, grandmothers (neither of us have grandfathers living), and each other. And then there's the "extras:" our bosses, DH's co-workers (I don't have any co-workers), a few friends and special cousins, and then one of my siblings usually has a significant other at Christmas that I feel compelled to buy for. We set a limit for each person, and of course different people have different limits. I am really good at sticking to the "Christmas budget" and I am an excellent sales-shopper. DH, not so much. He absolutely loves buying things for other people. Which tends to make him go overboard. We say every year that our limit for each other is $100, but he has never stuck to that limit for me. (I don't either anymore, because I felt bad he was spending so much more on me than I was on him!)
Usually, DH gives me the money (he's a great saver and saves all year for Christmas, while I am terrible at saving money - mainly because it takes everything I make to pay my half of the bills and my student loans! - and never have any at the end of the year - boo) and sets the budget, and I do all the shopping. He's a great shopping companion, but I am so much quicker than him. I usually know beforehand what I want to get for each person, so when I get to the store, I just pick it up and go. DH is a "browser." So when he does go with me, it takes twice as long, though we always have fun shopping together. He's also great at being a careful listener in the weeks before Christmas, so he knows what people want without having to ask them. So our system has worked well for us for years now.
Except its so wasteful. There are people that we buy presents for that we only see maybe 3 times a year. We don't know them well enough to have any idea what type of things they like, or even what size clothes they wear. So they get gift cards or generic gifts. Of course, who doesn't love a gift card (you can buy exactly what you want), but there's no love in a gift card. Or some stupid little something we randomly picked up because we didn't know what else to get you. We just end up buying something for the sake of having a present. And what happens to that present? Most likely it goes unused. Completely wasted. I know I receive gifts like that, I have no idea what to do with them because they are completely not "me," and then I feel guilty for not using them. (Because what if the gift giver sees you later on and asks how you like the gift?!) SO much stress! Unnecessary stress.
My proposition to DH was to cut back on the amount we spend on each person. Find truly meaningful gifts and not buy stuff just for filler. No one should be keeping up with how much others spent on you. Right?? And for the "extended" people on our gift-giving list, I plan to propose we don't do gifts at all, just get together and have a big meal and just spend time together. Which is what we do anyway. When we get together for Christmas with my sisters (step-sisters, actually), we all have so much fun together that if it weren't for the younger kids pushing us we wouldn't get around to opening gifts. And I think the main reason we do presents at all is because of the kids. But now my youngest nephew is 12, so they're all old enough to understand you don't need a ton of presents. (My daughter will be 2 by Christmas, but she hasn't yet learned that Christmas is a time of presents, so she wouldn't miss it.) I hope to talk to my sisters this weekend to get their thoughts and suggest we eat supper together as usual, and maybe do something fun afterwards (or before), like go ice skating in Raleigh or go see lights somewhere. I have a feeling they'll both be on board.
I also proposed to DH that we tell our parents not to buy me and him anything. Honestly, we don't need anything, and I'd rather they save their money. I'd like to set limits for them buying C presents, but I doubt that'll go over well. He thinks it'll make his parents feel too bad if we say don't buy us anything, like we're doin it out of pity or something. So I doubt that happens. I'd be perfectly happy, though, if no one bought me anything. C's birthday is a few days before Christmas, so she'll get plenty of gifts then, and really she doesn't need many Christmas presents either. But like I said, everyone wants to buy her stuff. (Maybe that'll change one day if we have more children!)
My final proposition is this: For the people we absolutely are buying presents for, we should purchase stuff from local businesses. Like Mary Kay reps (and conveniently, I am one, haha), local bakeries, local specialty stores, etc. That way we're not supporting Target and WalMart, but local people. And the gifts will have more meaning because it took more thought to get them. I'm really digging this idea! (It wasn't my idea, though; I saw a thing on facebook about it and shared the photo.)
So wish me luck on Operation Put CHRIST Back In Christmas around here! Maybe we'll gradually cut back and eventually not buy presents anymore. Whatever happens, I vow to make this Christmas less stressful and more fun and more Christ-focused. ( :
