The tree(s) are up. The wreath is on the door. The stockings are on the banister. The kids are in Christmas pajamas. Nighttime stories are holiday and winter books.
I do believe it’s officially the holiday season!!!
It’s funny how things always, without fail, forever and ever fall into place.
Funny how I called my in-laws Sunday night to see if we could come over and visit them on Monday, even though on any normal Monday we’d need to stay home and relax.
Funny how I woke up exhausted this morning after a very long Thanksgiving weekend and looked at the clock to realize that it was an hour and a half later than we usually get up – they had let me sleep in.
Funny how I was still crabby and impatient.
Funny how my impatience was way out of check and that was very apparent in my 2 year old who just couldnt get it together(I’d feel the same if I was getting those impatient/not-calm/not-happy/not-peaceful vibes from my mom and my whole day was thrown off).
Funny how I had called my in-laws the night before and needed that time with them so very much, even though I hadn’t know that when I asked them.
Funny how just stopping yourself as you get in the car, closing your eyes, taking a few deep breaths and asking for a little bit of help from God can bring so much peace.
Funny how getting out of the car and going back around the car and apologizing to a two year old for your impatience can bring you to tears.
Funny how those tears can turn into a smile with tears trickling down your face when that two year old tells you it’s ok and says “Me sorry, too” and you can see her whole body and demeanor relax to know that your crossness is gone.
Funny how the smile and trickling turns into a bigger smile, laughter and alligator tears falling when you go around to the other side of the car to kiss the 8 month old, too, and his gummy smile and excitedly waving hands and feet just because he’s seeing you melt your heart into a million tiny pieces of joy.
Funny how you can still feel more exhausted than you have in a long time, but still feel better.
Funny how a nap in the afternoon can rejuvenate you.
Funny how going to your part-time job and having time alone in the car driving back and forth can seem like such a treasured, novel luxury.
Funny how getting to leave work early bring a bit of joy to go shop for ornaments for the newly decorated and named “Happy Tree” with a gift card.
Funny how you get into the car after buying those ornaments and hear a radio show with a rebroadcast of an old Oprah and the first words you hear are, “You DO NOT have the luxury anymore. You are a mother.” You realie how true it is – you GLADLY no longer have the luxury of being self-centered and choosing to wake up grumpy, of not taking care of yourself, of not setting an example for your children of how to treat others in the world – starting with them.
Funny how you get home, can’t sleep again and start reading blogs.
Funny how you start reading this post and find a link to this post about choosing to turn a day around.
Funny how you’re still tired and need to close the laptop, but want to take just a few more minutes to plan for tomorrow so that you fit in moments for warm cups of tea, just playing with your kids if everyone is still feeling worn down and plan for cozy naps under big quilts.
As we get closer to Christmas, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about traditions. Partially because I need to decide which tradition I will share as a part of the Sew Liberated Holiday Traditions Exchange and partially because I’ve just been doing so much thinking lately about the kind of holidays I want our family to have through the years.
I took my kids to my in-laws’ house today for some time to just play with the grandparents and while we were there, I decided to ask them a bit more about the traditions they had with my husband and his brother and with their families to get some ideas. WOW. So many ideas came out of just one question – I was so touch by all of the beautiful traditions. I was especially touched by how clearly they both held the traditions close to their hearts.
Some of the traditions that they shared:
-More thoughts and memories of each of their childhood holidays with seven fish on Christmas Eve.
-The breaking and sharing of the oplatek (a Polish Christmas wafer). Each family member takes a small piece from the oplatek, then dips it in honey as a symbol of being a part of the Body of Christ, a part of the family as one unit and to begin a new year with sweetness.
-Celebrating the feast of St. Nicholas (the patron saint of children) in early December where children leave out a shoe for St. Nicholas and he leaves small treats, usually including a small candy cane symbolizing a shepherd’s staff, small coins and small toys. This is believed to also be the origin of Christmas stocking being left for Santa Clause. {This year St. Nicholas Day is December 6th}
-Making Struffoli on Christmas Eve Day – fried small bits of dough covered in honey and often sprinkles. They were traditionally made by nuns in Italy to give as thanks for charity throughout the year.
Some traditions that my own family had/has:
-Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve
-An Advent Wreath
-A Christmas Eve meal that consisted entirely of food chosen and requested by the kids. It sounds simple, but we looked forward to that meal all year long. It usually consisted of some sort of combination of chips and dip, mini hot dogs in crescent rolls(pigs in a blanket), shrimp cocktail, doritos, soda and candy.
-Opening one present on Christmas Eve – almost always new pajamas to wear that night.
-At least a couple of us sleeping in the same room(there were 4 of us), so someone would sleep on the floor.
-Leaving out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer.
Some traditions that we want to begin with our family:
-Leaving “reindeer food” (glitter and oatmeal) leading up to the front door to help the reindeer find our house.
-Leaving the manger of our Nativity Scene empty until Christmas morning
-Having a special pickle ornament
-Learning about and making St. Lucy cakes on December 13
-Candles in our windows(symbolic of the light welcoming Mary and Joseph as well as the Star that led them to Bethlehem)
As I listened to the traditions, it was so interesting to me to see the common threads that flow with the traditions that I associate with my childhood and those that my husband had as a child. I can especially relate because many of these have similar roots because both of our families are Catholic and partially Italian. On his side, there is also Russian and Polish and on my side there is also German and Irish.
I loved that while listening to these stories and thinking about the traditions my family had, it reminded me of where the Christmas spirit and festivity and joyfulness comes from. As I have been contemplating the tradition that I will share for the Holiday Traditions Exchange, I kept thinking there wasn’t much that would be very different for me to share. I’m so thankful that I took the time to be a bit more contemplative about this because it has brought to mind so many things that I haven’t thought of in years and all of them make me smile. I’ve spent so much time lately worrying about how I want to make the holidays meaningful and not about presents for my children and I really just needed to think more about how I can use it as an opportunity for us to learn and build memories together as a family.
What are your family Holiday Traditions? Leave a comment or I’d love for you to share your link to your post about them below! {This list will be closed Sunday, December 6th to avoid spam links.}
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{This post is a part of Steady Mom’s 30-Minute Blog Challenge}
I am thankful for so many things, but most of all for a heart and hands that are so very very full of love.
I need to start this post by saying this: I am not naturally crafty or creative with any sort of craft project. I love to do them, but it’s always with inspiration from someone who has already done a project that it looks like I might have a hope of conquering. I started last week and it’s been so nice to sit down quietly each evening for a bit and make attempts at creativity. I wanted so badly so create some special gifts for my little ones for Christmas and I’m pleased so far with the projects I’ve taken on.
Up first: Little People
I ordered them unpainted from gemmielou and I’ve been working on painting them with acrylic paint. They’re far from perfect(though the eyes look much creepier in this picture than they actually do in person), but they are turning out to be SO CUTE! After I have painted them all, they’ll get a coat of varnish to seal the paint and they’ll be ready to be wrapped up and put under the tree!
{Note – If your name is Elise and you are my sister-in-law stop reading now
if you don’t want to know what your daughter is getting for Christmas!}
Upcoming Projects:
-Simple Tote Bags
-Blocks (this one is my husband’s project)
-some fun surprises for my Holiday Traditions Exchange Partner
-a $5 play kitchen renovation
Some other inspiring crafting for the holidays:
- Miss Wrangler always does AMAZING things with her little one. I can’t wait to see how the needlefelt doll turns out!
- Edie @ lifeingrace has an incredible series of posts with 12 Days of Handmade Projects for Christmas:
- Simple Mom has a great list in their weekend links from Nov. 13th – including a link to an unbelievable list of frugal gift ideas via the mothering.com forums.
- Family Fun always has fun, easy ideas for projects you can do with kids that make great gifts for loved ones!
- Melissa @ Day to Day and Fiona @ living on the crafty side of life are posting inspiring Christmas crafts and projects every Tuesday and Friday from now until Christmas. They both have ideas for Advent calendars up that are blowing my mind – I can’t wait to see what else they have in store!
What are you working on for the holidays?
{Another post for Steady Mom’s 30-Minute Blog Challenge}
Seriously – any time anyone asks me what toys they can buy for my kids, I tell them not to bother. The things that get the most love and play-time around here are usually not toys at all. The little one wants only to chew on things that shouldn’t be in his mouth.
My big girl? Well, she’s a little treasure hunter…pack rat…she squirrels little random things away and plays with them through the day. I decided today to write an ongoing list of the things she plays with in a day. So, just today, she played with:
-My sock
-A leaf
-Tap shoes
-My sneaker(just one – it was a school bus)
-A little flashlight keychain(her keys)
-a pretend cell phone/calculator from a Wendy’s kid’s meal (don’t judge – I’m the one who ate the kids meal!)
-scraps of fabric
-a carrot
-multiple plastic cups
-an empty container from her brother’s puffies
-a necklace
-a nickel
-a plastic ring
-a sick
-many acorns
-a matchbox car
-a bathing suit
-a LOT of blankets – a LOT!
It’s so true that kids need only a blanket and their imagination. I always feel guilty when we go to others’ homes for playdates, etc. and I see how many toys their kids have and how much space they have to play. Then we get home and I remember how happy my kids are. I remember how much they love their cozy little play spaces scattered around the rooms of our house. I remember how much I love that any play that they do is within a few feet of me and that I will one day ache to have that time back. I remember and reaffirm for myself the decision that we will not be unrealistic by any means, but we do want to minimize the “stuff” that they have that entertains them rather than them playing with a toy that encourages creativity and imagination.
{This post is part of Steady Mom’s 30 Minute Challenge.}
TWO exciting new product lines in one day – so exciting!!
1. Paula Deen has furniture?? And it’s SO PRETTY! I just saw it on {Just Beachy} this morning and got so excited. I love that she’s seen it in person and thought that the paint finishes and quality were worth the prices. Definitely going to need to head out to check out these pieces in person!
{Love that this one is call “The Bag Lady’s Cabinet” and love this color!}
2. I love Land’s End. The quality for the price can’t be beat. I love that you can get it in Sear’s stores now. But you sort of have to stick with basics or the styling just isn’t *quite* right. They’ve made huge strides in the past few years to change this, but it still seemed geared toward a slightly older group – or so I thought until I saw this post on the Urban Grace Interiors blog! Land’s End has a new line – Canvas – marketed as, “A fresh approach to the essential American wardrobe.” This is some serious affordability on classic styling – especially with a name like Land’s End behind it so that you know you’ll get great quality! I’m definitely looking forward to hearing more about how it’s received! Even GQ is loving the line – you know it must have some good style going on with raves from them.
Perhaps it’s all of the upcoming holidays. Or just that my baby is finally big enough that I have a few extra minutes in the day to finally think more realistically about decorating. Since we moved into this house, I’ve been trying to put my finger on what it is that I want to do to make this house a bit more of home for us. As I was reading this post on Simply Seleta today, it finally struck me: we need more cheerfulness! I was thinking of it when I saw this post on Fly Through Our Window, but I hadn’t put my finger *just quite* on what it was I needed.
Though our style is a fairly “traditional” hodgepodge of hand-me-down furniture and thrift store finds at this point in our lives, we do still like everything we have. Our couch and love seat are mismatched in 2 styles(because the matching green couch was too big to get through any of our doorways, so the red couch intended for the basement needed to stay upstairs for now), 2 completely different fabrics and 2 different colors, but they’re both comfy and in decent condition:
We have great bookshelves passed down from my parents:
A seriously fun built-in corner cabinet:
and old, worn wood floors that need a good refinishing:
{last 3 photos by Candid Moments Photography - Doug is AMAZING!}
So, while we like what we have, the walls are neutral and there’s just not nearly enough blue for my liking. The ceilings are also all painted the same color as the walls, so as soon as we paint them white I think it will make a big difference. We have a lot of project that I’m ready to start tacking. First up for bringing in cheer: The kids’ room! I loved seeing the Simply Seleta post, because it had just the color we’ll be painting their room:
{From the Cottage Living Idea House 2008 designed by Jackie Terrell, images via Simply Seleta}
While I know that our upstairs is desperately in need of new paint to liven it up, I really like the neutral color downstairs. It’s a small space and the uniform color keeps from breaking it into tiny spaces and makes it feel more open. So, my plan is to (for now) add small details to make it more cheerful. A few ideas…
Some artwork:
{From the Etsy shop Dazey Chic as seen on Maine Momma}
In the Kitchen:
Around Elsewhere:
{I can’t remember where I got this image – if you know, please
feel free to share so that I can give proper credit!}
Finally, this space. Oh this space and the thoughts and feelings it stirs in me. Amanda Blake Soule’s blog, Soule Mama, is one of the first blogs I started to actually follow(you know – before I inundated my reader with hundreds of blogs and actually went to the home pages because I couldn’t wait to see if someone put up a new post!). Of all of the images I have seen and saved as inspiration for my own home, these few stand out to me so much more than any other. Yes, I’m putting it in this post because I think it’s cheerful, but it’s so much more. It conveys a warmth and love, rather than “design.” It’s a home that is clearly filled with carefully chosen treasures to enjoy and that have meaning to a family as a whole and I cannot tell you how deeply I see that as beauty shining through in all of the pictures I have seen of their home.
{If you’d like to see more pictures as it has changed regularly, and delightfully,
check out this post, this post., this post, this post, this post, this post,
this post and this post. So much LIFE in this lovely house home!}
Questions
1. What makes you happy and cheerful in your own home?
2. Any suggestions for ours that you think would work well?
{Disclaimer: I’m apologizing ahead of time that the pics are annoying. I just didn’t feel like taking the time to figure out how to get perfect pictures of a book and get rid of the flash reflection. These get the point across and saved me time!}
I love finding inspiration for kid’s rooms in lots of different places. My two little ones share a room and 7 months after moving in, we’ve still done nothing in their room. I have paint for the walls and to paint their furniture and art for the walls, but we just haven’t actually done any of it. I have a whole plan in my head, but I still constantly look for ideas I love – there’s just something so fun and whimsical about looking at how creative rooms for kids can be.
I overlooked an incredible resource, though. Amelia is actually the one found the book. I found her reading it on the floor one day and when I looked closer, I realized what it was – the Sunset Ideas for Children’s Room & Play Yards…copyright 1980. We had it right there on our bookshelf. I have no idea where they got it, but I looked inside the cover and apparently my parents gave it to us for Christmas at some point in the past few years.
Holy cow. SO MANY GREAT THINGS.
I always wanted a bed like this with a slide(does this remind anyone else of the old play areas that they used to have in The Children’s Place Stores?):
And I just love how not-so-seemingly-perfect all of the rooms are – they actually seem livable for a kid. Like this one that’s the image in the introduction of the book:
My mom totally painted a rainbow like this across our closet doors when my sister and I shared a room(and she painted the ceiling blue ceiling with clouds – I LOVED that room so much!):
I had a friend who had a raised area in her playroom like this and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world:
Check out this baby bed – the instructions are basically a hanging basket of plywood and rope(for real):
We definitely had these exact sheets at our house(and – HEY! – that’s the crib my babies have! It really is “timeless!”):
I really want to find some of these, but when I started googling, the only options I was finding were SO expensive:
I love this jungle gym(what’s the right word for them now?) and I’m totally saving this for when they get a bit bigger:
So many awesome variations on bunk beds – didn’t you always want bunk beds with a cool little nook like one of these?:
Did you have anything you loved in your bedroom as a kid? I’m loving this book as inspiration from things that we thought were so great when we were kids!
