Christmas Home Tour

Today I welcome you in for a little Christmas home tour of sorts.  I had a lot of fun this year doing some different handmade projects, keeping it simple and keeping the focus on Jesus.  

The first few photos are from our kitchen, some of my favorite things are my nativity sets I have gotten from the different countries we have visited.  I have also gone crazy with chalkboards and they are everywhere.  But I love that I can customize them for the season.

I made several of these little fabric and ornament garlands to use around the house and help to tie everything together.

Our living room is up next.  We love having a real tree, every year they are a little different and we think this tree might be our favorite.  This year I found some antique bead strands at the Nashville flea market (wow, that place is awesome) and also added some burlap ribbon, its just really soft and pretty.

These rustic wooden stars are one of my most favorite diy Christmas projects I have made.

Thanks for stopping by today and taking a little Christmas tour!

Linking  Up Here

#idhtbptbbchristmas with The Nester

DIY Citrus Ornaments

Each year Silas and I have made a little handmade ornament or decoration together for Christmas.  We have done salt dough ornaments, cinnamon ornaments, paper garlands last year and this year we tried our hand in dried citrus ornaments.  Silas had a blast helping with these and this is a super simple craft to do together with your kids!

This was such a fun craft that Justin joined in on the festivities and I kicked back and snapped some photos, listened to a little christmas music and drank some coffee with a little lot of peppermint mocha creamer (I'm pretty sure I'm now addicted to that stuff).

We started by slicing our oranges (and some limes) for our ornaments.  Silas was in charge of arranging them on our baking sheets.  I didn't use any sort of paper baking liner - we just put them straight on the pans.

Next, Silas added some cloves to some of our ornaments for a little festive touch and for an awesome Christmasy aroma.

It really is best to try and make your slices all about the same width...some of ours were a little off but it worked out fine.  

After the citrus slices were all ready we baked them on the lowest setting in our oven for about an hour, then flipped them over and baked them another hour.  You may need to bake them shorter or longer depending on your oven temp and slice width.

After they were all dried out Silas used some modge-podge and painted one side let them dry and painted the other.  This helped to seal them and make them a little more durable.

After they are dry you have some great dried citrus slices for all sorts of decorating.  We used our as ornaments on our tree.  They are so pretty with the lights shining through.

You could find all sorts of ways to use dried fruit for decorating, they would be pretty in a simple jar gathered together or strung together for a little garland.  I love the added touch of homemade to a home at Christmas!

You can also check out my diy chalkboard ornaments and yarn wrapped ornaments for more ideas!

Ideas for Observing Advent

We've been out of town and other things happening so I'm a little behind on my christmas blog posts, but better late than never.  Today I wanted to share how we are observing Advent in our home this year.  Each year since we have had Silas I have tried to come up with a way to teach him about Christmas and make our home more about the Joy of Christ than anything else (even though I still enjoy all sorts of fun parts of the season).  We've done calendars in years past which have been great and this year we decided to add in doing advent candles as well.  Its just a way for us to sit down as a family, remember the meaning of the coming of Christ, talk about what it means for us together and set time apart to focus on God.  

So, this is really a non-traditional way of doing advent candles.   I just used things I already had - I didn't really have the exact colors and its also not in a wreath form but it still works.  I don't know if its so much about making sure colors and shapes are right as its more about setting aside time in your hearts and having time to worship together.  

I put together 4 of these candles just using jars, a little faux snow, candles and an ornament.  I also have a larger candle set aside for the Christ candle that we will light on Christmas Eve.  

This year I just really wanted to not get too caught up in the meaningless things that this season can bring.  I had so much fun decorating our house (I'll share more this week)  but I chose to only use the things that had meaning and that we enjoyed.  I didn't put things out just because I have them (we have way too many christmas boxes in the attic).  Our tree only has ornaments on it that has a memory, Silas decorated with all of his homemade treasures and we had fun - (not stress) doing it.  Things just seem simplified but still really festive and meaningful and we are loving it.  

In addition to the candles I also utilized our newly painted chalkboard door to make a calendar to help us countdown.  This year we chose 25 names of God to represent each day until Christmas.  I love this so much.  Its such a great reminder and has been a constant place of encouragement.

Below I listed the names in case it was hard to read off of the photo so if you wanted to do something similar you could!

I hope that your season of advent is full of joy and purpose as we remember the awesome promise that God made through his Son.   ~God and sinner reconciled~

Easy Christmas Decorating (with Kids)

It's December!  Time to decorate.  There are so many awesome bloggers out there who have had their homes beautifully decorated for a month now, giving amazing tips and tricks along the way.  I love those bloggers but I'm not one of them.  I also love Christmas decorating, but nothing comes out until the day after Thanksgiving for us.  So, now I can go crazy, and if you have seen the outside of our house - Justin already has too (think Griswold).

This year we have a 4 year old, and boy is he pumped about Christmas.  So I decided to take advantage of that excitement and plan some easy and fun Christmas activities for us to do together.  We are starting off with a classic, the Christmas Tree paper chain garland.

We gathered our supplies, just the basics and nothing fancy.  Don't worry, I used the scissors.  I used a combo of christmas craft papers and some neutral papers I had.

This was a team effort, Silas tore the perforated piece off of the papers (probably his favorite part of the whole thing) and picked out which ones he wanted as we went.  He also helped with the stapler, emphasis on helped.

In about an hour we had a sweet couple of paper chains, ready for our tree.

I love the handmade addition to our tree this year.  For me, the more handmade things on the tree, the better.  

Sometimes just a simple, classic Christmas project is just what the season orders.  The sweet time with your kid is the best part.  I have some more little projects coming later this week!  Happy Christmas decorating!! 

Merry Christmas!

Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Sounds through the earth and skies.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Merry Christmas to you all!  

Christmas Home Tour

Welcome to our humble abode.  Over the weekend my friend Erin and I went on our town's historic Christmas home tour.  It was so much fun.  We are so lucky to live in an amazing town with awesome historic homes sprinkled all over.  There was so much inspiration to be found in those homes.  We enjoyed it so much.  Last week Jennifer Rizzo hosted her annual Holiday House Walk.  If you haven't checked it out, you totally should...especially if you love christmas decorating.  So many beautiful homes and hours of enjoyment - warning you will get sucked in and it will be difficult to walk away from the computer.  So make sure you take a peek when you have a good chunk of time to kill - like so many of us do.  Ok, so now its time to take a peek at our little house all decorated for Christmas.  Its simple with lots of handmade elements throughout.  You don't have to go crazy and there are so many things you can do yourself to make your home special during christmas.  So come with me and take the tour...

I love lanterns, especially old ones.  This lantern was my great grandfathers, it has gotten a little spray paint touch up (it was pretty rusty) but I love it all prettied up for christmas and on our from stoup.

This year I really wanted a fresh wreath and I'm also really loving plaid at the moment - so this wreath was born.  

Its been a while since I've updated the blog, but I'm getting there.  So, there are probably many things that look different in here besides the christmas touches.

One of my favorite things I made this year was this little reindeer silhouette.  It was so easy, I'll share soon!

My little square boxwood wreath I made last year found a new home this year.  

Another old lantern sits in our living room housing a nutcracker of course.

Our christmas tree is real, its not perfect or immaculately decorated but I love it.  Our tree every year represents us.  Each ornament means something and reminds of us a special moment of our lives.  

The ornaments are often moved around by Silas and that's totally ok with me.  He loves sitting by the tree and asking about the ornaments and hearing the stories.

I also have some handmade elements on the tree, like this simple scrap fabric garland.  Something I made last year - and from leftover fabrics (so it was totally free!).

We don't have a mantle (even though we have two chimneys..the quirks of owning an older home) so this little place always kind of acts like a mantle for me.

I went simple with the advent calendar this year too.  And reused a banner I made a few years ago (from leftover paper and fabric again).

One of my favorite things we have started is collecting little nativity scenes from the different countries we visit.  Represented here is Ecuador, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Panama.  Silas loves these and I often find them in little places all over the house.

Ok, this is totally a pinterest thing I had to do this year.  I love these little winter scenes.

I love changing around this chalkboard for each season and I love seeing this reminder each day.  

He is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn of all creation. For by  him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  Colossians 1:15-20

Merry Christmas!