Christmas!

How was your Christmas??

Ours was lovely. Down-time, family, movies (unimpressed by Into the Woods), presents, our own beautiful tree, and an all-around good time.




We had a seafood boil, got Christmas Eve jammies, and I got a festive manicure (among other things).

Love!

December of service!

So last Christmas we started this tradition where we do an act of service (outside of what we would already do) each day leading up to Christmas. We weren't perfect at it, but we loved it!

We decided to keep it going this year, so once we got back from out trip, we started up the goal of at least one act of service per day... and it was AWESOME! We love this tradition --- it really helps us get into the Christmas spirit (and it probably keeps us grounded cause we really like getting presents for each other haha). From donations of money or goods to organizations like women's shelters to watching our neighbors' kids to volunteering at Blood Drives, we had an amazing experience. What a blessing, to be in the position to make the Christmas season a little better for someone else!

(our chart and a Christmas bag of donations)

It's our goal now to try and be mindful of those around us all year... after all, why limit this kind of happiness to the Christmas season?

Our First Christmas Tree

Oh the holiday season… so glorious… so joyful.

From the neighbor boy’s mini snowman

To the torching of the Christmas trees on New Year’s Eve

It’s been an exceptionally great season, especially since it’s the first one I’ve spent with The Husband.

I was a little overly ambitious and decided that store-bought Christmas decorations were for cop-outs (don’t worry, I’ve since changed my tune) and that I needed to go crazy with the Pinterest Board and make our little Christmas tree the best. Ever.

Well, I certainly wouldn’t say that I succeeded, but I DID end up with some cute stuff (like, a bajillion man-hours later).

My colors/materials were burlap, peach, and pearl (very Christmas-y, I assure you), so I started making ornaments:

with some help from The Husband

and then used some peach tulle to spruce up the lights

and voilà!!! Our poor, little, ghetto tree became our favorite little beacon of joy.

PS a burlap and peach-tulle ruffle tree skirt is in the making, more on that later.

New Christmas Tradition

Tis the Christmas season!! (fa la la la la, la la la la) That means candy canes, gift bags, hot chocolate, snowflakes, Christmas lights, music, shopping, cards, and trees.

In the midst of all that Christmas-ing, it's easy to forget that it's not about all those little things...

So what to do? How to make Christmas about Christ, without missing out on all the fun of this joyous holiday season? (because let's be honest, who doesn't love presents and carols???) Well The Husband and I decided to come up with some new traditions (as this is our first Christmas as marrieds).

So the first tradition we've decided to put in place is this:

24 Days of Service. The idea is to keep our focus on the real reason for the season by doing at least one act of service a day for the month of December (preceeding Christmas day). We put a chart on the fridge:

and each day that we meet our goal, we check off the day and write in what that day's service was (you know, so we can go back in years to come and remember these things).

If you look closely, you can see that the first day isn't marked (you see, the idea came to me on the 2nd, so we'd already missed a day). In years to come, I think I'll come up with a cuter and more Christmas-y chart. But there you go. Our first Christmas tradition as a couple.

PS this many acts of service in a row will require some creativity. Any suggestions?