Enough Already

This is a picture of our little Christmas tree. It's little and I've decorated and redecorated it multiple times. I seem like the kind of person who would love a giant tree that I decorate each year in some Liberace meets Lady Gaga style. I seem like that kind of person, but I'm not. I love my little tree and I love my little mantle and that's really all the decorating I do for Christmas. Something happened to me. Something very strange sank from my head into my heart and just like Cindy Lou Hoo, I believe that Christmas is in my heart and the rest of this stuff is just stuff. What the what?

That's right. I have bought a few presents and I've wrapped them. I'm waiting on a few more to come in the mail but I am really not worried about it. Big Daddy and I sat down and talked about what we're going to do for each other this year and it's completely reasonable and I'm completely okay with it. I am pretty excited about the idea I came up with for my nieces' gift and I hope they love it too, but I'm not going to cry if it's not a home run. You never know with kids and I'm okay with that.

Today I had the day to myself and I was thinking about my life and once again it hit me that I am married to the most wonderful guy I know and the fact that I found love when I did, in the way that I did and that it's all worked out the way that it has--well I don't want to toss around the word miracle willy-nilly but it kind of applies. I have friends who really really love me and I don't have any secrets with them and I absolutely adore them right back. I have a family that I can't talk about with out getting teary eyed because they are such generous and funny and sweet spirited people and I am bound to them all so profoundly. When I look at all of that with clear eyes it's hard to think of things that I want or need. Seriously. So I celebrate the birth of Christ and I celebrated the grace of God and I celebrate the transforming love that gives me the clarity to see the blessings in my life every day. Peace on earth & good will to all men!

Christmas is Coming (the goose is getting fat!)

We have another melt down free holiday under our belts! Thanksgiving only had a hitch or two and I must say that the we are getting much better at working on the fly. Dad and Mary Ann (Steve's parents) weren't able to make it and they were greatly missed. I  McGyvered up some desserts without having to go to the store and no one left hungry.

I had my nieces over for a slumber party on Friday night and we got our decoration on. The first project we did were the beautiful glitter bulbs shown above. This was the easiest project ever. Some how I inherited a couple of strings of outdoor lights and we don't put up outdoor lights. Several of the bulbs were broken and corroded so this was something destined for the trash until I saw this little project on Pinterest! We unscrewed the bulbs, painted them with modpodge and glittered our hearts out! They turned out super cute and are in a glass jar adorning my mantle. The upside to a glitter project with three not so neat girls (and an aunt who's a straight up disaster waiting to happen!) is that not only did we make beautiful crafts but we also made a sparkly rug, a sparkly chair, a sparkly sink, sparkly soap...it's like a troupe of fairies came to party at the Love Shack! Honestly, I'm a crafter so things like this really don't bother me, but if you're messphobic, you might want to do any glitter projects outside (someone else's house).

We also painted these lovelies using vinyl stickers I made with my Cricut. The girls painted over the stickers. Believe it or not, I did not tell them how to paint their canvases (which is rare for me!) and I think they turned out super. I told them that we had to wait until the paint was completely dry before removing the stickers, but I lied. I peeled them off as soon as they left to go wash their hands. I've never been known for my patience. As a matter of fact, I hung them on the wall before they were dried so there are a few drippy dots that are all my fault. While my mom would save these forever, I will probably recover the canvases with burlap after Christmas and use them for a new project.

I also wanted to tell you about my photos. If you like the vintage look and feel of these pictures, and if you have an iphone or ipad (they've got to have it for android too, I'd think...), you must get the Hipstamatic app. I don't pay for apps, but I had to have this one and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! (And seriously, it was $1.99 so it's not going to break the bank.) You can mix and match films, flashes and lenses for various effects OR you can just shake the "camera" and it will choose a random combination for you! It comes with plenty of lenses and film to keep you playing for a long time, but there are little in app add ons (.99) that give you even more stuff to play with. Oh, and you can upload from the camera app directly to facebook or twitter!