This time of the year seems to be the busiest for everyone. The hustle and the bustle. I love doing all the crafting and holiday fun that comes with the season. It seems like I never have enough time to do all of the crafts I would like to. In North Dakota it gets cold…. I mean COLD…but I decorate outside the house anyway. My husband is in charge of lights on the house and I do the planters that we put in front of the house.
I was lucky enough to attend a class that was held by a local plant shop where I live that showed us how to make the planters. I am such a fan of these planters, I now make them every year! I love the way they look outside my home. Add a few twinkle lights and they are so beautiful and charming out there in the cold! With some greenery and a few decorations from your local Micheals or Hobby Lobby, you too could have a festive planter outside your home to welcome you home every day.
My husband had knee replacement surgery and my oldest son was gracious enough to come home and help with the Christmas boxes. It was nice having him home, not only for the heavy lifting, but also for the decorating. He was great at lending a hand this year. Both my sons are adults and live across the state from my husband and I, so any chance to visit is great.
While decorating this year, I realized he hadn’t been home to decorate for years. So he (and my husband) were in charge of our “downstairs” tree. That tree has all of our memories on it. It has our very first ornament as a married couple, the first ornament for each of our sons, ornaments for vacations, sports…you get the picture. It is packed full of memories. I love that tree. It represents our life. I often wonder if they see it the way I do. Anyway, he did a wonderful job decorating that tree. It meant so much to me that he did it this year. That he saw all those memories.
I also have an “upstairs tree”. I should come up with better names for my trees. Anyway, I decorate this tree however I feel. The last few years it has been red and gold with a black top hat. It is something I saw on Pinterest. I am creative with this tree. Keep it a little more fancy because it’s in my living room. A total disclaimer here…I am not fancy. I try to put things together and hope they look good. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. I think it turned out ok this year. Oh, and I love my Santa Clause collection. We moved a few years ago and I downsized it. I still have a few, or more than a few. I try to spread them out so my husband doesn’t think there are so many!
One of the crafts I did get around to doing was making new Christmas stockings for everyone. The old ones had seen better days and a different crafting time. Plus, we added a girlfriend to the mix and a new dog. So I got busy. I had some old jeans that I thought would work great. Some ricrac and various trim and I was set. I also added the pocket back on to a few of them. I thought it would work well if I was to put gift cards in them. Genius…right? I am going to cut names out on my Cricut and iron them on tomorrow. Tomorrow being Christmas Eve. Sliding in under the wire.
I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and all the blessings of the coming new year. Be thankful, Be happy, Be kind.
Carla
Simply Beautiful Carla!!