Merry Christmas!
also: Christmas with Elvis
*If you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you’re enjoying a day off anyway! 
Before this week gets away, I wanted to share a little more of a personal post and show you all what we did for Christmas!
As I mentioned I had a head cold over Christmas…. It started cropping up on Thursday but didn’t peak until Sunday and Monday.
Just my luck.
I’m fairly certain I gave the cold to my mother-in-law and who knows who else since we saw pretty much ALL of our families over Sunday and Monday!
Sunday Andrew and I woke up, got ready, and headed up to his parents’ house.
We hadn’t gotten any gifts for each other, so we didn’t actually have any gift exchanges until later in the afternoon ….
We picked up some cow femur bones from our local butcher for the dogs …. with tiny bit of meat still on them and full of bone marrow…. I know it sounds gross, but the dogs LOVED them.
We waited for Andrew’s sister and her husband to come up from Orange County, but were able to open gifts about mid-afternoon….
Christmas with Andrew’s family is always easy and relaxing with lots of laughing….
Andrew’s sister is having a baby in May, so all of their gifts were baby-related….
Andrew’s brother loves walking around wrapped in blankets, so his sister got him a Snuggie!
We didn’t stay very late, since I had a cold and was exhausted …
Plus my parents drove into town Sunday night from Phoenix …
So we did Christmas Monday morning with my parents!
Unfortunately my brother is still in Afghanistan and we missed him, but still a fun “Christmas morning” …
I made my dad make a “Muppet face” for the camera – he doesn’t really smile like that
I made homemade french dip for lunch …. Yum!
In the afternoon, we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house …. They live near the neighborhood where our maybe-house is!
Because both my cousin and my grandmother were staying there with their dogs, the little place was full of FIVE dogs!
All so sweet and mellow and well-behaved. … But still 5 dogs…
It was a weekend full of family time ..
Just lovely!
How was your Christmas?
Thus starts the busy holiday weekend!
Today Andrew and I both work, but then he’s off for a week or 2, and I go back to work Tuesday!
This morning I:
- slept in (because I think I’m getting sick)
- made a Christmas Spotify playlist (because all our Christmas music is in storage)
Christmas Eve we will:
- go to breakfast with friends who are in town
- go grocery shopping for all the family get-togethers the rest of the weekend
- relax at home watching Christmas movies
- maybe bake!
Christmas Day we will:
- spend the day with Andrew’s family (they live about 30 min away)
- our traditional Mexican-food Christmas dinner (favorite!)
- welcome MY parents to our apartment (they will be getting into town Sunday night)
Monday we will:
- do “Christmas morning” with my parents (my brother is still in Afghanistan for another week or 2)
- I’m making homemade French Dip (soo good! My mother-in-law’s recipe)
- probably spend the afternoon/evening with some of my dad’s family that lives nearby. My grandma will be in town!
Tuesday we will:
- go out to breakfast with another branch of the family that is in town briefly
- then I’ve got to go back to work that afternoon!
It sounds busy, I know … but hanging out with our family is usually easy
This weekend, you can expect a Saturday quote, but I’m saving my next DIY link round up for the blog party NEXT Sunday! Get excited!
And regular blog posts will resume Monday morning …
What are YOUR plans?
I hope you have a FANTASTIC holiday weekend – no matter what you celebrate hopefully you have an extra day or 2 off!
xo
-A
- tortagialla – printable bear gift tags
- CraftyPod – Christmas craft round up
- Family Chic – silvery advent wreath
- Homemade Grits – pocket advent calendar
- Sweet Paul – wooden bead wreath
- poppytalk – lino cut stamp gift tag
- love, elycia – wreath
- One Pearl Button – simple gift pouch
- Daisy Janie – advent calendar
- Strawberry Chic – holiday gold stars
- goodknits – crocheted ornaments
- Get Craftee – holiday embroidery patterns
- Dixie DIY – felt tree skirt
- thriftcore – gift boxes
- One Pearl Button – leather leaf ornament
- katie’s pencil box – christmas lyrics glitter banner
- Smile and Wave – tree skirt
- Strawberry Chic – felt ornament
- How About Orange – 3D paper ball ornaments
- Dixie DIY – repurposed vintage greeting cards
- Smile and Wave – advent activity calendar
- Happy Together – felt trees
- Scissor Quirk – embroidered ornament
- root and flower – felt flower ornament
- Design*Sponge – crystal iceberg ornament
- Ali Edwards – Santa tags
- Homemade Grits – nativity scene
- elsie marley – geometric straw ornament
- Campfire Chic – hot cocoa gift pack
- Craftypod – festive chenille flower ornaments
- Design*Sponge – cookie cutter ornaments
- Smile and Wave – doily garland
- How About Orange – printable holiday labels
- How About Orange – striped paper ornament
- Design*Sponge – tree skirt
- Lemon and Raspberry – circle garland
- J Davis squared – downloadable gift tags
- How About Orange – modern paper ornament
- Pink Suede Shoe – mistletoe headband
- EnJOY it – washi tape gift tags
- Design*Sponge – balsa wood mini tree
- Green Wedding Shoes – felt mistletoe
- the adventures of rory and jess – simple felt garland
- marta writes – save past christmas cards
- elsie marley – straw and pom pom garland
- Skunkboy Creatures – balloon ornament
- elsie marley – paper christmas tree ornament
- Alaska diaries – pipe cleaner ornament
- Smile and Wave – floral tree decor
- Scissor Quirk – elf apron
- elsie marley – string of lights advent calendar
- Michelle – paper snowflakes
- Sometimes Sweet – vintage paper ornaments
- Scissor Quirk – reindeer ornament
- Design*Sponge – gift toppers
- Steamy Kitchen – yoyo ornament
- Craftypod – japanese-inspired upholstered ornaments
- How About Orange – 5-pointed paper snowflakes
*many of these are saved from last year
Life is a Canvas handmade holiday gift round-ups
or rather:
How to draw a holly sprig well enough to decorate a gift tag:
In past years I’ve just written the To: From: directly on the wrapping paper with a sharpie.
I’m a little lazy.
This year, though, I’ve decided to branch out a little … hand-draw some holly sprigs for tags.
“branch” out! ha! get it?!
Man, I kill me
I actually kind of love that all the tags are different – I hand-drew on each.
Rather than drawing once and making copies.
Each tag being individually a little flawed and different just feels so much warmer and loving to me…
Pretty easy.
I used a red colored pencil to draw 3 circles (holly berries) in one corner of the tag….
Then used the green colored pencil to draw 2 holly leaves.
Just a little bit of a wave-like side of the leaf, and another on the other side.
Colored it in and now there’s this delicate little corner embellishment to the tag.
Easy easy easy.
I’m all for easy.
I love that I can just use printer paper, and take a few extra seconds and make as many tags as I need with that lovely handmade look.
I kind of abhor the store-bought tags….. Sorry.
Those technicolor nutcrackers or crazy smiling angels?
Do you make your own holiday tags?
I don’t want to alarm you, but do you realize THANKSGIVING IS NEXT WEEK?
No, I’m serious. Check your calendar.
I am not exaggerating when I tell you I *just* made that connection in the last 24 hours.
Yes, I know what the date is today. Yes, I know the date of Thanksgiving. It only just occurred to me that there’s only an 8-day difference in those two numbers.
Sigh.
And I used to be so good with dates.
My real question is:
When is it too early to start thinking about Christmas?
It’s too late already, isn’t it? Just break the news to me gently ….
I start my Christmas shopping way waaaaay early. I like to be done by Thanksgiving if I can. But beyond that ….
When do you start putting up your holiday decorations?
When do you start pulling together the necessary pieces for your holiday cards?
When do you start working on any holiday DIY projects (gift, décor or other)?
Because I haven’t started . …. any of these things.
