Tag Archives: Holiday

Goodbye 2013…

Y’all, I had such big plans for Christmas posts. I have several still in draft format waiting to be finished (most just needing pictures added). I had a long list of topics I was going to blog about: goodies I made, my method for saving Christmas cards, traditions I enjoy (and want to enjoy), Christmas movies, Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls…. but none of these posts ever came together. And that is really unlike me. I think I’m feeling unmotivated and uncommitted since only like three people regularly read this, if that.

Though they are the least read, I really enjoy my book list posts. So those always take priority for me. But in the New Year I hope to be more faithful and consistent in writing about things that YOU want to read… what might that be? Baking? Cooking? Crafts? Home management? Dog stuff?

We welcomed 2014 in last night with a gathering with my husband’s family. We played games and ate lots of great food. Too much food. (Dinner at Olive Garden before was a bad decision!). I played Nertz and dominoes, and thankfully avoided being part of the 4-hour long Mexican train extravaganza. With my family our midnight tradition has always been to toast with sparkling grape juice, it just isn’t New Year’s without it. I had taken some along so we could do that last night. But my husband’s cousin- their tradition is to eat a few bites of black eyed peas right at midnight. So we did that as well. It’s always fun to add new traditions!

For the new year I didn’t want to make “resolutions”- those seem so easily broken and forgotten. So I’ve thought of a few things I want to change by 2015. One of these involves beginning Weight Watchers, again. This will be my fourth time to do this program. I was successful once before, but then let myself gain it all back. So I enter this new beginning VERY excited about getting healthy. That’s my main focus. I’m sure some of that will appear on the blog. And maybe, sadly, a little less baking (but we’ll see, because that’s my favorite thing to do!).

And with that, Happy New Year and welcome to 2014!

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Christmastime is here!

I cannot believe Christmas is in three days! I usually really don’t like when people say that. I mean, it’s been coming all year, it didn’t just appear. But this year has felt different, maybe because Thanksgiving was later, or because stores seem to be putting up Christmas stuff earlier. And now here at the last minute we’re all distracted by Duck Dynasty rather than the beautiful season of Christ’s birth.

I really love Christmas. The best part of Christmas is what it’s really all about- the birth of Jesus and Him coming into the world in love to save us. But I also enjoy the lights, decorations, shopping, music, and baking! All make it such an exciting time of the year.

One of my favorite parts of the Christmas season is decorating the house, inside and out. I don’t really have a theme to my decorations as some people do, I just find things I like and hope it all works together. If I had to come up with a theme name, it would be “Hobby Lobby” because almost every decoration is from there. LOVE me some Hob Lob.

So come along on a tour of our house decorated for the Christmas season!

IMG_4392We bought our tree back in 2010, our first married Christmas. We bought most of the ornaments then too, but have collected more along the way. Some of the ornaments are from decorations used at our wedding, and some were decorations at my in-law’s 40th anniversary party last year. There are lots of penguins (I love penguins!) and lots of tractors  (my hubby loves tractors!). We even have some tractor lights.

IMG_4223I love the garland on the mantle. It works so perfectly with the tree and fireplace. It all comes together like such a perfect Christmas picture.

IMG_4330Most of my life I have hoped to someday have a full Christmas village. We don’t have a great place for it, but one day this season I was at Walmart and came across the village pieces and just decided to buy some and hope I would find a good place! So my village is small, but hopefully will grow each year! So far there is a Bakery, Tree Farm, Horse & Carriage, carolers, people making s’mores, a dog house, and a few trees. I love it so much!!!

IMG_4319I want Jesus and our Nativity to be the focal point of our Christmas decor, so I decided to put it on our entryway table. I bought that table runner at Hobby Lobby just to add a little, and that is a red snowflake Scentsy with Festival of Trees scent in it- my favorite at Christmas!

IMG_4356My mom gave me this chalkboard a while back, and while she was at my house over Thanksgiving she wrote this. It’s so perfect! It makes me happy each time I see it and adds some festiveness to our kitchen.

IMG_4318 DSC02245We have red and white lights outside- not LED. I haven’t felt like making that upgrade yet… I just don’t like the look of the LEDs. I love my little tree by the front door. Seeing my house lit up at night makes me happy each evening. I’ve noticed not many people put up Christmas lights this year. So sad! But we have us a few others on our street so that’s nice.

Thanks for coming along and checking out our decor!

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Fourth of July Flag Cake!

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays, second only to Christmas. I love the fireworks, the food, the patriotism. The only thing that would make it better would be if it wasn’t in the hot summertime! (I strongly dislike summer…).

This year we went to my in-laws house because they live outside of city limits so we can do fireworks! And fireworks are a key part of the 4th for me. Some friends came over as well, and we brought our dog Oliver. It was a great gathering!

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Oliver with his patriotic bow tie my mom made him

My husband grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and we had all the great stuff that goes along with those. But I was most excited about the cake I had made. I am an avid Pinterest “pinner” so you’ll be seeing lots of Pinterest things. I had seen this flag cake on there and thought it was so neat, and right away decided I wanted to attempt it. I followed the instructions from The Exclusively Weddings Blog

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It was a lot of work but SO worth it in the end. I worked for several hours baking the cakes the night of the 3rd, and then spent several hours cutting, piecing together, and decorating on the 4th. I am so proud of how it turned out thought and it has given me some great ideas for future cakes I want to try.

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe 4th!

See Related Posts:

Fall Desserts

John Deere Cake

M&M Oat Bars

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