new New Year's tradition

I've started a new tradition this year~ video interviews of each of my kids on New Year's Day. I ask them what their name is, who their friends are, what their favorite food is, etc. They loved it, and I love that I'll have videos from every year that capture who they were and what they were like. I'm sure as they get older, my questions will change to suit their age. After the first round of this year's basic questions, I kind of just let it go from there. At one point my daughter sang the ABC's and demonstrated her favorite dance moves. And I couldn't help but laugh at some responses I got. Apparently my 4 year old's favorite thing to do is to share her toys with her sister. Ha! What a ham!

I got the idea (and this picture) from How Does She.

She had some great questions to start with.

1. What is your name?
2. How old are you?
3. What is your mom’s name?
4. What does your mom do during the day?
5. What is your dad’s name?
6. What does your dad do during the day?
7. What is your favorite color?
8. What is your favorite thing to eat? (what don’t you like to eat?)
9. Who are your friends?
10. What is your favorite song? Can you sing it for me?
11. What is your sister’s name?
12. What is your favorite place to go?
13. What is your favorite thing to do?
14. What do you like about your Mommy? (Daddy, sister, etc.)
15. What do you want to be when you grow up?
16. What is your favorite book?
17. What does (sister/brother) like to do?

Go ahead, grab your video camera (mine was in the back of the closet) and get rolling! It takes 10 minutes and you'll be glad years from now that you have more videos of your kids.

Getting Ready for the New Year!

The year is almost over... and I have cleared out all my Christmas decor and I am staring at a LOT of blank spaces.

Oh my... I have a ton of work to do. My hubby is out of the country until after the New Year so I have my work cut out for me with the goal to be done by the time he comes home!! Wish me luck.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

We hope that you're having a wonderful Christmas and pray that Christ dwells in your heart today and always!

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. Luke 2:11

Love Lindsay & Tiffany

Quick Gift Tags

I ran out of gift tags early this year, so I decided to make my own.

I just used my paper cutter, wrapping paper and double sided tape.

They were cute, different, and didn't require another trip to Target!

Chocolate Party!

Chocolate What a fun excuse to get together!!

We began the night with an open hot chocolate bar.

Complete with wafers, caramels, marshmallows & candy canes.

And then spent the next 2 hours making chocolate covered pretzels, marshmallows and oreos.

Yum!!

The idea was to make goodie bags for girlfriends, neighbors, teachers, etc., but I don't think that many (if any) actually made it into the goodie boxes.

I also got so caught up in all of the chocolate, I mean excitement, that I forgot to take any pictures of us actually making our yummy treats. So... so that you don't have to imagine, here are some of the fantastic things that we made.

Ours turned out EXACTLY like this :)

It was so much fun!

Next year, I'll remember to buy more almond bark!

Christmas Tour 2011

It's a Christmas tour! I have had my decorations out since before Thanksgiving...but just now have found the time to upload the pictures to the computer and onto the blog. Without further adieu...

The Dining Room

The Kitchen Shutter (where my Christmas cards will be displayed)

I had this urn on the mantle for the Fall. I decided it needed a new home for the holidays. I added some glittery Christmas picks to make it festive and added it to my entry table.



This is probably the most important decoration I have. My husband even told me that I needed to add "a little Jesus" to my decor before it made it out of the box. On a side note... how do you decorate and incorporate THE reason for the season? I've found most nativities and Christian Christmas decorations aren't that "cutesy".... anyone have any good suggestions of places to look for cute things that focus on Jesus more than Santa?

Remember how I made this chalkboard? I finally changed the verse that had been up there for 2 months or so and made it a little more appropriate for the holiday!

On my kitchen table I used a $10 glass canister from Walmart and two packages of $5.00 ornaments as an easy and cute centerpiece.

The mantle... ah, always the hardest thing to decorate! I used a Santa that is usually on my front porch to fill up some of the height, hung an old window pane my husband found on the side of the road & added a wreath that I made for a little extra dimension. My lighted garland was made from two lengths of garland from Hobby Lobby and a strand of garland lights. Then once it was hung I just went through and added the ribbon and a few picks of color & greenery.

I picked up this hurricane at our last trip to Canton. And lucky for me I already had stockings that went with the red and green theme that I seem to have going on here.

I made these wooden JOY candlesticks after seeing them on Shanty2Chic. I love their simplicity. This Santa has made it's round through 4 houses in the last 7 years...

Well, that's it for now... I hope you're enjoying the weather where you are and that you are looking forward to the Christmas holiday coming up. I still have quite the list of "to do's" for shopping and parties. Take the time to relax and enjoy... and remind yourself what this holiday is really all about.





Linked to these fabulous parties:
Home Stories A2Z
Ten June
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Christmas Photo Cards - Those Village Cards

Tiffany shared with you yesterday about our future Etsy shop selling some of our goodies.
Today I'm here to tell you about another Etsy store.

Those Village Cards


If you're in the market for custom photo cards, announcements or invitations this is your place! I've just launched it and I'd love for you to stop by and check it out.

Thanks!!

Paint Stick Ornaments

I told y'all yesterday when I shared with you the cute snowman gift tag that I'd be showing you some of the crafts that our Bible study did for our "Super Saturday". Today's adorable idea was found through Today's Fabulous Finds. Who'd have thought that making ornaments out of free paint sticks could turn out so cute?

You can find the tutorial here. Or if you're really good at figuring things out from pictures read on... haha.


Have your paint sticks ready in various colors (ours were red, cream and grayish silver).


Gather your supplies. The template for the words can be found here.



Put it all together and here's what you'll get. Super cute and super inexpensive ornaments for your tree or for gifts!

Cute Christmas Gift Tags

Tiffany & I were a part of a Bible study at our church this Fall called Transforming Christmas. One Saturday this month our leader set up a "Super Saturday" for us to work on a whole bunch of cute Christmas crafts to use for gifts and/or decorating. This week I'll be sharing some of them with y'all. Hopefully you'll be inspired to try some of them out for yourself and take care of some gifts for those teachers/neighbors/friends on your list.

To start with, look at these cute gift tags that some of the ladies created.

This is such a cute way to label a gift that doesn't cost much, and is so much more adorable than the little stickers I have used in the past! I think they'd look so cute on solid colored bags.

Check back this week for some more fun ideas.

Christmas Countdown

I love this time of year. I love hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. And Christmas lights & my kids excitement about decorating the tree. I love celebrating Jesus' birth and watching It's a Wonderful Life. I love hanging stockings and singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with my kids for the 100th time that day.

So this year, I'm slowing down my pace so that I can actually enjoy all of these wonderful things. Even if that means NOT doing everything on my to-do list. I vow to mail my Christmas cards, finish Christmas shopping, and decorate my house all early enough to sit, relax & take in the blessings of the season. For the next 32 days, I'm going to enjoy Christmas :)