Decorating for the holidays

I am drooling over all the beautiful Christmas decorating ideas. I think I have more envy this year because I'm not willing to do much in my own home with a three year old who's sole daily goal is to break something. My favorite nativities are tucked nicely away in their boxes, maybe they can come out next year. Cross fingers that this is just a short phase! (as I type this I just hear glass & metal collide....nice) Anyhoo, here are some lovely ideas i've been collecting on pinterest and maybe one Christmas my home will be perfectly lovely like these photos....

What to do with Christmas cards? Here's some fabulousness:


photo tree image found here


Or, what do you do with old Christmas cards? Some are just too pretty to throw away. So don't! That's what apothecary jars are for! Ooooh, gonna have to find me apothecary jars now. (note to self: make sure to buy back-ups since I have a boy)


(jar idea image found here)

( staircase garland idea from marthastewart.com)

Do you get the impression that I love sentimental decor? Well, here's some more! How fabulous & cheap & awesome is this idea for your tree or kid's tree? Square photos! I love the idea of seeing past Christmas photos and remembering how quickly they grow up. And maybe this breaking everything stage is cute and not sad & annoying. Typing outloud, sorry peeps.....

image from my favorite site found here

What was once tacky is now fabulous! What was missing, you ask? It wasn't a collection! One tree just looks cheap and boring. Add about 20 in various tacky colors and you can now have yourself a merry little mantle!

tree mantel image found here

This print below combines everything I love in a simple & beautiful way. Quotes, beautiful cursive & black & white. Its simplicity is stunning and I must have! I would love this all year round! O Holy Night print found here

There you have it people. My dreams of a beautiful home for Christmas. I'm content this year just to window shop other homes. And set aside for my "one day" dreams. Right now I have to enjoy my 3 little kids who won't stop growing & go clean up whatever was "accidently" broken while I wrote this post....

Christmas Kindness

As I pulled out the Christmas decorations this year, I came across one of my favorite ornaments. It's a red leather book, that my sister gave me, that hangs on the tree . Every year we write the Christmas fun we had that year. The parties we threw, the parties we attended. Our favorite gifts we received, the gifts we gave. The Christmas Eve activities and the New Years fun. It's all in that book and it makes me laugh when I read about the live mouse that someone gave as a white elephant gift. I almost forgot about it! Great memories all recorded in this cute little book that hangs on the tree.

That book gave me an idea.....I decided to make another book ornament this year. I'm calling it the Christmas Kindness ornament. Instead of writing the fun we had, it will be 25 (or more) random acts of kindness we did for others. It will keep us mindful of serving others for the next 25 days. I'm excited to think of the possibilites. The rush we get from making someone's day brighter. The lessons it will teach my children and most important, the gratitude we will feel in seeing how blessed we are as a family. I can't wait to start our list and keep our minds open to helping those in need this year. I look forward to the future where I can see our list of Christmas kindness and the opportunities we had to serve one another and that we were able to fill this month with service. It will help remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. I'd love to hear of any meaningful Christmas traditions you have! Let us know! I'm off to make my ornament book.....