This is June and Georgia’s second Christmas and they are experiencing new joys every day, like Christmas trees, lights, the nativity scene, and eating cookies for the first time 🙂
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
A Merry Christmas to All!
A Little More Christmas……
I thought I’d share a few more glimpses of my Christmas decorating with you. We really haven’t done a whole lot this year other than fresh greenery, pine cones found in our yard, and the usual things brought out for the Holidays.
Below is our living room, which I really like how simple it is with the greenery, pine cones, Christmas tree and nativity scene.
I put this cute red tractor out with a candle and some greenery because I love how it made me think of a country Christmas out on the farm 🙂
Here is a little of our entryway (which has had a makeover–post on that coming soon!):
And lastly, a peek at my kitchen open shelving which is really the only thing decorated in this room:
I did not do any decorating in the bedrooms or the family room this year because they just get too chaotic for us at this point in our lives. How about you? Do you decorate every room or just a few?
Have a wonderful, peaceful, and joyful Christmas!
A Little Bit of Christmas…
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around the roost! Can you believe it’s that time of year again?
Come on in….We aren’t quite finished decorating yet but I thought I would share with you what I have up so far (mostly in the living room and dining room). I’m excited to be linking up with the 2014 Holiday House Walk Party:
Here is our front door:
Guests are greeted with this chalkboard sign. I have had so much fun with this chalkboard and have used it now for so many Holidays and parties.
And now we move on to the dining room. I always love using my brown transferware in decorating in the dining room. Below are some shots of the mantel:
This pine cone garland is not really secured well but I was running out of time so I made it by just stringing up some twine and popping the pine cones onto it so they wouldn’t fall off.
With clippings from our yard, pine cones from pine trees on our property, and leftover cuttings from our live Christmas tree, I can give our home a wintry and festive feel. And when it’s time to take down the decorations, all I have to do is throw everything in the compost pile :)I guess you could call this the year of the pine cones in terms of decorating. We are blessed with TONS in our yard–so why not use what we have?
Here is a shot of almost the entire room. Just to bring you back to real life amidst all the beautifully adorned houses in blogland, June is eating some lunch here at the table while her sister takes a nap. It was one of the few times I could get any pictures taken! And yes, I of course was shoving clutter out of the way in these pictures–so rest assured our house does not usually look like this 🙂
I used a little ribbon and clippings from the Christmas tree to dress up the dining chairs:
I’m always a fan of using natural materials to decorate for Christmas and this year even more so–mainly because I don’t want to fool with hauling a whole bunch of boxes down from the attic full of Christmas decorations that I have to put back up. Ha!
A little greenery for the sideboard in the dining room too:
The top of the dining hutch:
I love the simplicity in decorating this way for Christmas. Yes, we have a few things that we bring out every year, like our nativity, some linens, and the Moravian Christmas ornaments, but overall it’s so much less fuss and I love the rustic and natural touch it gives to each room.
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| The living room mantel |
And even better, these Christmas decorations are mostly FREE! And the things we did pay for, like the tree and fresh garland, we bought through our church with the money going to our local food pantry.
I have really loved looking at all the beautiful blogs out there and all the unique ways they decorate for the Holidays. Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for visiting!
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Happy Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a great time with family in Kentucky.
Let us remember and be thankful for all the Lord’s blessings not just on this day, but every day!
“Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.”
-Psalm 147: 7-11
June and Georgia’s First Birthday
Cannot believe my babies are a year old. Makes this mama a bit sad that the baby stage is soon to end. June and Georgia’s first birthday was towards the end of October and we had a party for them with family and close friends. The first year sure does fly by!
We had several family members and some close friends in for the party, which was a fall and “pumpkin” themed affair with simple autumn-inspired food and decorations. Here are a few snapshots that were captured by our good friend April of April Cole Photography:
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| June with her Jiji |
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| Georgia with Grandad |
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| June and Georgia with Grandma and Big Daddy |
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| Georgia with Nanna |
We kept the party decor simple and the only items I made prior to the party were the scrap fabric garland and the month-by-month first year of baby photos that were hung on twine and tied around a tree. You can simply print pictures on your computer or order prints through Shutterfly. This DIY banner was easy to make and a great way to incoporate personal pictures into a birthday party. All you need are clothespins, string/twine, and whatever you’d like to hang off the banner!
Another fun thing with pictures I plan on doing for the Holidays this year is making a photo calendar of the girls. These make great gifts!
I used burlap and lace ribbon for the bows on the dessert table and fresh mums were placed around the yard with heirloom pumpkins. The heirloom pumpkins and mums will keep for the rest of the fall season long after their birthday is over so I love that they are not wasted. Before they go bad we will save the seeds from all the pumpkins for roasting and either freeze the flesh for baking or feed it to our chickens.
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| Making this scrap garland is super simple–just cut pieces the same length and tie onto twine |
The day turned out to be beautiful and after everyone ate chili and appetizers for lunch we headed outside to open gifts. The girls had a really fun time and enjoyed playing with the tissue paper and cards just as much as seeing new toys and presents.
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| appetizers and snacks |
Then it was time for birthday cake — June and Georgia got to try their first cupcake and oh my what an experience! They had started to get a little tired at that point in the party but once they had a taste of the cake it changed everything!
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| June and Georgia eating their pumpkin cupcakes |
Georgia dove right in once she had a taste of the sweet treat whereas June wanted me to feed her little pieces of it. June would start to pick the cupcake up and then stop because she didn’t quite know what to do with the icing on her fingers. Ha!
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| Georgia devouring her cupcake |
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| mmmmm…….where has this been all my life? |
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| June stayed fairly clean 🙂 |
Along with the cupcakes we served caramel apple pie, pumpkin pie, and Derby pie. I love serving pies for dessert to feed a crowd–especially in the fall 🙂
A year ago I was overcoming and healing from a traumatic delivery and thanking the Lord we were all healthy in addition to adjusting to the difficulties of mothering twins. I remember praying for the strength to get through those early weeks, which I could not have done without the help of family taking care of me and the girls. Thankfully, it got SO much better and SO much easier as the weeks and months went by. I truly love being a mom and am grateful for such an amazing gift.
I cannot express how blessed beyond measure we are with these two little loves in our life!!
