Our holiday...

This season was the simplest and quietest we have ever had, and I have to admit- I'm really liking grown up kid Christmas.  We slept in, ate a late breakfast and didn't do our family dinner or gifts until the evening.  Here are a few pictures of our day...

Travis worked days all week, but he managed to squeeze in a bit of time in the evening to hang out with the kids...

Pioneer Woman's recipe for Prime Rib- it was incredible!

The day after Christmas I packed it all up back into the basket.  I was ready to clean up!

I asked for copper pots this year and Travis delivered...

This week Hunter's cousin is staying with us.  These boys are two peas in a pod...

I'm looking forward to lots of snuggle and reading time for the month of January, as well as the start of our laundry room build.  We have some really great plans for that and I am so ready to get that room finished!

New Year's Eve will be low-key- soup and game night.  Staying in and just hanging out.  I may even wear my fancy pjs for the occasion ;)

I hope y'all have a very happy New Year's!

From grocer to giftwrap...

This year I decided to use Trader Joes grocery bags as gift wrap.  I love craft paper, and the bits of red and white print made it the perfect holiday paper...

I used a set of very old (from my childhood) wax seals to give the tops of the gifts a little interest...

Very simple, and free paper ;)

In other news, my daughter and son played the parts of elves for Mrs. Claus checks in.  They had so much fun visiting families and children all over the area from Thanksgiving to just last weekend.

A very good friend of mine just wrote her first book, Shaggy Dog Eats.  The kids and I have had so much fun baking and preparing all of the amazing recipes in it.  The doxies are also very happy with the book, but for obvious reasons.

Christmas dinner will be just us and the kids this year.  Travis is working all day, but we will be together tomorrow night for dinner and exchanging gifts.  This year is so different from past years, but I am looking forward to new traditions.

From my family to yours- have a lovely holiday and a beautiful new year...

Keeping the holidays simple...

If you spend any time on FB or around other people you will constantly hear things like, "It's so hectic right now" or "I can't seem to get it together for Christmas" or my personal fav "Craptasticly Stressed".   The thing is, we are the ones who are making it this way.  We create our own ideas of what the holiday should look like.  Pinterest and endless holiday blogger home tours are of no help either.  Who doesn't spend a little time peruseing the internet only to find themselves in the middle of a craft store to pick up just a few more baubles for the house or just one more gift for one of the kids?

I've done it.  I used to do it- every.  damn.  year.

Until I decided not to.

We did the over the top decorating.  The excessive gift buying (I say excessive, but compared to some folks I've seen I realize that we have always done gift giving on the conservative side), holiday baking extravaganza, gingerbread house contests, holiday card mailing, and chasing every cliche holiday photo op with our kids.  That stuff is exhausting, and honestly, not the memories that stick out in one's mind after the years go by.

I remember one Christmas as a little kid.  I had a go-kart that my sister and I drove all the time on the empty lot next to our house.  All I wanted that year was a set of orange road cones.  My dad waited until we were asleep and then arranged the cones in a line from our bed to the tree.  I don't remember anything else I got that year, because honestly- the cones were all I wanted.  Sure, I listed a bunch of other stuff, but the cones were the golden goose egg for me.

Here is what I do to keep our holidays stress and debt free...

• Gifts.  What's the number one thing on your list?  There.  Just that one thing- that is your gift.  We buy one thing for each of our kids.  The one thing they really, really want.  Simple, and it will be remembererd because it's not competitng with fifty other gifts.  The other thing we give them is books.  Books are the one thing I will buy all year long.  We don't buy our children anything else toy wise all year- but the books, yes to those.  

• Stockings.  Years ago when Travis lost his job we had near to no money for the holidays.  So I started stuffing stockings with shampoo, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant and socks- things they needed.  They never missed having toys in there and opened those stockings with as much gusto and excitement as if it had been filled with candy.  This year we are not doing stockings.  The kids are all grown up enough to know there is no Santa, so I decided to put the extra money into more books ;)

• Baking.  If you follow me on IG you know about my cookie dipping disaster this morning.  It was picture perfect- Sara and I in the kitchen with aprons on, Christmas music in the background, and then the chocolate glooped up in a cement hard mess that wasn't suitable for dipping anything into. Am I stressed about it?  Nope.  We laughed.  I still need to find something sweet for the kid's homeschool co-op teachers- but thankfully we live next door to a bakery, so problem solved.  

• Family Christmas pictures- yeah.  I have teens, and would have better luck getting a dozen kittens to sit for a picture.  Thankfully, they are all together in one place every now and then and I can grab a quick picture.  This year's picture was from Halloween, and I had posted it to IG.   I grabbed it, put it on a Tiny Prints card and PRESTO!  Holiday cards.  I only purchased 25 of them- if someone sent me a card, I sent one back.   Ta da.  

• Decorating.  This year every decoration we have came out of a box that I keep our stockings and vintage postcards in.  Since everything else is in storage, we just went with what we had along with some fresh greenery from the store.  Simple and I can clean it up in no time when the holiday is over. I may do a bit more next year, but for this year I am really enjoying the simplicity of it.  

So that's it.  My simple holiday guidelines.  Enjoy each other, focus on friendships and family.   Less stuff, and more simple.

Holiday windowbox...

Yesterday I decided to spruce up the little windowbox Travis built under the kitchen window.   I have all of our garden herbs in it, but it needed a little holiday cheer.  Our local hardware store had free branches from the Christmas trees, so I snagged a few of them along with some fake berry branches and jingle bells that I had in my holiday box...

 I love how it bulked up this little window box without spending a dime...

Sweet treats...

Yesterday Sara and I decided to do a little holiday "baking".  Well, we heated up some dipping chocolate, so that totally counts as baking.   I saw this idea on Pinterest, and since we had the ingredients I thought we'd give it a whirl.  Nevermind the fact that the recipe called for mini-candy canes and ours are a bit on the large size...

 First we put several candy canes into the food processor.  The original recipe showed the canes more chopped, ours was more of a powder.   Someone got a bit enthusiastic about using the food processor...

 
Sara put a marshmellow on the end of the candy cane, dipped the cane in the chocolate, then rolled it in the candy cane powder...

We didn't really have enough candy canes for each marshmellow, so Sara dipped the remaining marshmellows in the chocolate and then into the candy cane powder....

A very easy and cute treat for the holidays...

Tiny Tudor Christmas...

Almost all of our holiday decorations are still in storage.  It's the last thing we need to go through and clear out, but because of Travis' work schedule we just didn't get to it last month.  I have a basket that I keep the stockings, vintage post cards, and a few holiday trimmings in.   Instead of trying to go through that storage shed, or go buy more decorations, I just decided to decorate with what I had on hand.

I didn't even use everything that was in the basket...

The kids when they were little...

Travis did go out and buy a 4' potted tree.  We set it in an old Vitner bucket and I decorated it with white lights, vintage post cards and some wooden candy canes I had in the basket.  The tree can be planted outside after the holidays.

This is the first year that we didn't have a kid in the house to write to Santa asking for Nikolaus the elf to visit.   I went ahead and put him out to oversee the holidays...

I see lots of commercials for stuff, but we don't need stuff.  I haven't "stuff" shopped since we moved in- partly because space is at a premium, but mostly because we just don't need anything.  The kids have everything they need- our focus is on experiences.  Activities we can do, time spent together, and new places to see.  Those are the things I want to give my kids, my husband and myself.

Another thing we do is pick a word for the year.  Resolutions are not something that are usually followed through, but a word is something we can do.   As a family we are talking about what our word for the year will be, so far we have come up with, Simplify,  Explore, and Patience as options.

What word would you choose?

Around the tudor...

With Travis working this turnaround schedule I seem to spend the majority of my time in the kitchen.  Not that I mind, I adore my little kitchen.  For such a small space it really is light and bright, and so easy to cook in!

Of course, the nicer the meal the more dishes you have to dirty!

I got my slipcovered chairs back from Lsslipcovers, and just like any other pieces they have done for me- they are divine!  I said the word "ball gown" for my vanity chair and they delivered!

Sara's gallery wall finally got painted.  Projects are at a slow pace right now, so getting this one wall done was the limit for the month...

I also traded in Mr.Darcy, my Mini Cooper, for Mr. Bingley, my new Mini Cooper.  I lease my vehicles because I love new cars and can't just live with one!  I upgraded to a bit larger car- the Countryman S.  It seats five, so it feels so much bigger!

Sara and I walked the Step Up for Down Syndrome this past weekend.  I love how aware she is of Down Syndrome and how confident she is in talking to others about what she is doing with her time now that she is out of public school.  She loves homeschooling and adores the classes she takes on Thursdays.

I did get a new rug for the living room- Dash & Albert rugs are my very favorite! I love how preppy this one looks...

Fall decorating is at a minimum this year.  Most of our attic things are still in storage, and we won't get to cleaning that out until Travis is back on a regular schedule.  So the kids and I picked out a mum and a few pumpkins and called it a day...

We are busy with classes, reading, painting signs and just being.  I don't really feel the need to change things around or shop- I'm just content to be here.  I am taking that as a sign that we are exactly where we need to be- wacky neighbors and all ;)