For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
       Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
       Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Merry Christmas & blessings upon blessings!

My last one of the year! : )

I was planning on doing a live magnolia leaf wreath with my mom, like the one that was in Southern Living. My parents have a beautiful magnolia tree in their front yard, so I thought it would be perfect. I didn’t realize that it is difficult to find & purchase (at least in my small town) a foam (and not styrofoam) wreath that can be soaked in water. So we abandoned that idea.

Instead, I made another Christmas wreath similiar to my first one, since I had so many supplies leftover!

I’ll say it again… wow, I love making wreaths!!

Here is the before, when I was planning it all out.

This may interest very few of you–but, I’m still going to post it since this blog is a record of our family life, and it’s important to me! : )

I love ornaments! I especially love ornaments with meaning and importance behind them! I thought I would share some of my favorite ornaments that I look forward to hanging on our tree each year. Some are sweet; some are cheesy — but all mean something to our family!

The simple homemade ornament I made last year.

Every year my mom gets us a handmade bread-dough ornament. This was for our first Christmas. Looks like me, doesn’t it? : )

And this one–after Anna was born.

I bought this ornament for Anna right before Christmas–it is a handmade “baby’s first Christmas” ornament from Etsy shopowner, butterbeaninc.

This silver stag was the first ornament I ever bought for Rust–back when we were dating, just shy of getting engaged. Of course, I didn’t realize then that, well, men don’t really care much about getting ornaments as gifts. He was still a good sport! : )

Do you remember those “secret Santa” sales they used to have at your elementary school, where you could buy thoughtful (and cheap) Christmas presents for your family? Well, I bought this beauty for my cat, Priscilla. Yes, my cat. I will not go into how much the small, sweet tabby Priscilla Gertrude Stevens meant to me. Sadly, she died two years ago, and I still miss her (in fact, I occasionally have dreams about her). Anyway, I hang this ornament on the tree so I can remember my most beloved pet and because I think it’s really funny I bought an ornament for her all those years ago.

I love this ceramic house ornament! Last year was our first Christmas in our first house, so I bought this ornament from the Etsy shop, kylieparry. I need to write the date on the back. I keep forgetting.

We bought this ornament and another on our honeymoon in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

I have several different crosses on our tree — this one is currently my favorite — but I want our tree to also reflect the meaning and depth of Christmas, that a little Savior was born into humanity, poor and helpless, utterly humble, for us. I am also going to be looking more diligently for nativity ornaments–as I realized I don’t think I have any! (By the way, Rust and I are almost finished with Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus and it is AWESOME. We are excited to read it again next year! It is so refreshing and encouraging and thought-provoking and most of all, Christ-centered. We recommend it!)

Wait–wait, I don’t think Kewpie’s an ornament! I occasionally hide her in the tree. I love to watch Anna’s face when she finds her.

Do you have memorable or meaningful ornaments you look forward to hanging on your tree?

Since we’ve already had Christmas with the Tatums, I can share wreath #2 with you — a photo ornament wreath! This is the only homemade gift I managed to make this year! With all of Anna’s schedule changes and fevers, I didn’t have nearly enough time to devote to making homemade (though I was able to buy several handmade gifts!) like I wanted to! Always next year, right?

When Hobby Lobby’s Christmas decorations first came out (in October), I bought several photo ornaments they had for half-off. (And just a note… Hobby Lobby ornaments and Christmas ribbon and wreath picks go SO FAST–at least in my town! When I went to look for some things the first week in December, I was so surprised to see almost everything gone! I’m not kidding! So if you have your heart set on a Christmas project–don’t wait around!!)

All the frames fit a 2×2 pictures. I sized them using Photoshop Elements & then printed them out on my own computer. I love this picture of Chris & Mia on their wedding day! So beautiful!

Pretty simple & fun to make! Wrapped Christmas ribbon around the wreath; hot-glued the beads/berries; and I crimped the wreath branches around the picture ornaments instead of gluing them, in case Cheri (my mother-in-law) would ever want to change the pictures.

Here are some other photo-inspired wreaths!

We Are THAT Family :: Picture Frame Wreath

The Laughing Place :: Photo Wreath

Scrapbook Photo Wreath

Family Photo Wreath

A Beautiful Mess :: Instant Photo Wreath

parrishplatz :: photo wreath

We just got back from having Christmas early with the Tatums! It was such a great time, and I can’t wait to post pictures! For now, though, since I have an unending pile of laundry and a long to-do list to get ready for Christmas with my fam this week, I will just share a video of our little ewok. (That awesome robe was a Christmas present from Mia (my sister-in-law) and Chris, Rust’s brother.

PS. Sorry for all my breathing on the video – I was trying to laugh quietly! : )

Last week, I had a “professional” — okay, my really sweet and fun friend Brittan — show me the how-to on wrapping lovely presents! This girl has such a talent for wrapping presents that are so pretty you don’t want to open them, but you could just spend time looking at them. She graciously agreed to share five tips for wrapping pretty presents! Here’s Brittan:

Wrapping can be so much fun! First, you have to set the mood for Christmas Wrapping. Turn on the lights to your Christmas tree, light some candles, grab a warm drink, and make sure the Christmas music is on! 

Pick two or three complementing wrapping papers (thicker paper is always better).  Hobby Lobby is my favorite place to buy wrapping paper because it is 50% off in November. (Lacy’s note… per Brittan’s tip, last year I purchased on sale a roll of foil gold wrapping paper & a roll of foil red wrapping paper! I LOVE the idea of complementing colors! I already have my wrapping paper for next year–silver & dark blue! I love this tip!!)

Then pick ribbon that coordinates with all three. Also, the thicker the better, and layering ribbon makes more of a statement too.

Be sure to pull the paper tight around the edges and crease the paper before you tape.

Next the bow —  it is the most important part. Make sure the ribbon is on the side that does not have the tape. Make the bow big and add an ornament or a tag to it if you can. (I found ornaments at Hobby Lobby for half-off & Wal-Mart for $1-$2 — makes a great accessory for a present! You can find almost any color ornament that will coordinate!)

And…if all else fails and you still hate wrapping,  drop your gifts by my house and I will wrap them for you!  Merry Christmas!

Thanks Brittan for sharing! I think my gift-wrapping is forever changed!!

Yay, early last week I completed my wreath!  I have wanted to make this wreath since last year, when I saw Kimba’s Pottery Barn-inspired wreath on her Wreath-a-Palooza post last December.

I usually buy most of my crafting/decorating supplies after the season is over — for next year — during clearance sales. So, after drooling over Kimba’s wreaths, I bought ornaments & a wreath at Wal-Mart during their after-Christmas sale. Then this year I bought ribbon & the berry picks at half-off at Hobby Lobby to finish off my wreath!

The wreath was $5-10 (I can’t remember); the ornaments were $5; and for the ribbon & berries — let’s say around $2-4. So for this wreath, it cost around $17-20 to make! I like that!

I love making wreaths! This one was so quick–just arranged them as I liked, then got the glue-gun out and went to town! I think it took me a total of an hour, only because I was babysitting John at the time and was chasing around two toddlers. I imagine if I was alone it would have taken less time.

I have seen a ton of these ornament wreaths in blogland, and I wanted to share some links. I never get tired of looking at these wreath, and my eyes slightly glaze over at all the possible color combinations. I think I might try to snatch some more ornaments at Wal-Mart’s after-Christmas sale to see what I can do next year! But here are some other lovely wreaths:

A Soft Place to Land :: Wreath-a-Palooza

Made with Love and Glue :: Easy Pottery Barn Inspired Christmas Wreath Tutorial

It’s the Little Things that Make a House a Home :: My Semi-Homemade Christmas Wreath

Our Suburban Cottage :: Cheap & Easy Christmas Wreath

Thrifty Decor Chick :: The Hardest Easiest DIY Wreath Ever

Martha Stewart :: Glass-Ball Wreath

Enjoy! I am almost finished with another Christmas wreath, and I think this week Mom & I are going to try to knock out a Southern Living-inspired wreath!–excited about this, we are using real greenery!!

Easy-Peasy Vegetable-Loaded Soup

• beef broth and/or crushed tomatoes and/or tomato soup (or bisque) and/or tomato sauce and/or tomato paste
• water, if needed
• diced  tomatoes (fresh adds a great texture!)
• celery, chopped
• carrots, chopped
• onion, diced
• potatoes, cubed
• peas and/or green beans (I used canned & frozen)
• 1-2 heaping teaspoons of minced garlic
• Italian seasoning
• salt & pepper
• pinch of sugar, optional

Add all ingredients into slow-cooker. Mix well. Cook on low 6-8 hours. If using potatoes–would recomment 8 hours.

Thoughts: I know there are a thousand ways to make a vegetable soup. This one is so simple that I have debated since doing Simply Soupy whether to share it or not! I made it up our first year of marriage, and as I just recently made this and still loved, I figured I’d share it anyway. I love this vegetable soup because it is s-i-m-p-l-e and can be modified however you see fit! I make it different every time, depending on what vegetables and broth I have on hand. This last time, I had a little bit of beef broth needing to be used, as well as half a can of crushed tomatoes. Then I added water and tomato soup and tomato sauce until the broth based reached to consistenty I wanted. I raided my pantry and fridge for veggies on hand and threw them in. The more vegetables you add, the farther the soup goes–we enjoyed two meals and four lunches out of this!

Ha, so sorry–forgot to give an update on Anna!

Her fever only lasted Monday, thank goodness, but the rest of the week was filled up with napping dilemmas and schedule changes–again.

It seemed so lovely the first 2-3 weeks we switched to Anna napping once a day. However, things began to unravel after that, and for the last 2-3 weeks she started waking up 45 minutes into each nap, crying hysterically. She’d finally settle back down, only to wake up 20-30 minutes later crying again, before she’d doze off for another 30-40 minutes before waking up for good, crying and frustrated. Oh, it was so hard to hear her go through that, especially since I didn’t know why she suddenly stopped napping so well! After some reading, I think the primary reason was that she was overtired, too tired to sleep for her nap.

So.

Schedule change again–now we are trying out two naps a day, though at totally different times than we have done before, and it is working so far!! Rust and I talked about it, and it might just be something until she gets older where she does a stretch of 3-5 days napping twice a day, then a couple days napping once a day, then back to two naps a day.

All in all, let’s just say I am learning flexibility!

Oh, and a dream I had last night just hit home how much I love being a momma to my little girl and spending the day with her! I dreamed I was back in college and had three classes from 8:00am to 1:30pm. I was so sad because I was going to have to leave Anna with someone (who happened to be a former CPC volunteer I used to work with) while I was at school, and I was dreading it! I was so worried and just wanted to be with my baby! : ) I am so thankful that Rust and I are in a place financially, even with the economy, where I can stay home full-time with Annalou, which from the beginning of our marriage has been a very important choice for us! And I’m so happy I get to have my dream-job. : )

I have fun posts to share this week — mmm, Christmas!!

I told myself that this year, I would take a picture everyday of December to document the days leading up to Christmas & New Year’s. It is one week into December, and I have taken maybe 30 pictures on ONE day and the rest–well. My poor neglected camera is gathering dust– and my poor neglected December mini is forlorn and empty. I have the bare bones of it, but now I am wondering how much of it I will actually fill out! I think I overestimated how much time I would have to craft and blog and chase around a toddler and clean and cook and take pictures and edit them and decorate and shop and wrap and, oh yeah, SPEND TIME with people I love! Ahhh.

Anyway.

Since I don’t have my December mini photographed to show its bare bones, I thought I’d share some inspiration for Christmas/holiday mini’s! Etsy, of course. And there are lots of yummies!

{click to enlarge}

1. Woodland Christmas | 2. Vintage-Inspired Christmas | 3. Christmas Mini Album Kit | 4. Christmas Mini Scrapbook Kit

5. WISH BIG Christmas | 6. Joy Christmas Mini | 7. Holidays ‘09 | 8. Merry Christmas 6×6 

9. 45-Piece Paperbag Christmas Album | 10. Classic Christmas album kit | 11. Mini File Folder Album | 12. Holiday Journal

13. Vintage-Style Christmas Memory Journal | 14. 8×8 Christmas mini album | 15. Holiday Vintage Book | 16. Vintage Inspired Christmas