a few of my favorite things

I was digging through my Pinterest Christmas board this morning looking for the instructions to some salt dough ornaments I pinned over a year ago and I got so distracted looking at all the pretty pins. People, I just love Christmas. It's truly a magical time of year to really soak up the blessings in our lives and celebrate the precious gift of life we've been given.

I thought I'd share some ideas that I just love so much and can't wait to add as new traditions in our home. Most of them are kid-centered, I just I think Christmas just becomes even more special once you have your own kids to celebrate with!

1 | Christmas Card Collection

As Christmas cards come in from family and friends, punch a hole in the corner and use a big ring to hold them together. Then store them near your favorite gathering spot, whether it's on the kitchen table or the coffee table.

I love this idea as I'm always struggling for new ideas to display all the photo cards we get. Last year I attached them to ribbons and hung them on the wall, which worked ok but we have put our tree in a different spot this year and so I don't think that will work for us this time.

How do you display all the gorgeous photo cards you get?






2 | A Family Christmas Album

Purchase a big scrapbook and fill it with photos, recipes, and other keepsakes from each year. Keep it out from Thanksgiving to New Year and enjoy looking back at all those special memories.

Joanna posted this idea on her blog and I just love it! What a fun way to spend those cozy evenings sandwiched between the twinkling Christmas tree and the fire.

On a side note, this is the second Christmas idea/tradition that involves a coffee table. I guess I really need to find one for our space!

3 | Stationary from Santa Claus 

Purchase some official stationary from Santa Claus to leave special messages and add a little extra magic to Christmas for your kids.

We never did the whole 'Santa' things as kids, but I have always loved Santa. I still believed in him even though my parents always told me he wasn't real and we didn't get any gifts from him. I remember playing out in the back yard and looking up into the stars to watch for Rudolph :)

I would love to leave notes for Riggs from Santa, and will probably get some of this paper as soon as he's old enough to understand a little better. 

4 | Christmas Morning Style

I love the ideas listed here for how to dress both comfy and cute on Christmas morning. Especially as I get older and am included in more pictures, I want to look somewhat nice/put together even first thing in the morning.

I think both of these outfits are pretty realistic as far as something I'd wear, although most of the price tags are pretty steep for PJs ;) 

What does your family wear Christmas morning? Do you have any traditions about special Christmas PJs?

5 | Christmas List Ornament

Make a miniature version of your children's Christmas lists or letters to Santa and stash them away inside a clear ornament with the year painted on the outside.

Definitely doing this one, I just love it!

6 | Year in Review

I pinned this quite a while ago and forgot about it until I saw that Kenzie from The Ashcraft Bunch had made an adorable version of this for her own Christmas cards this year!

I just love this as a way of keeping friends and family up to date on what's been going on in your life without having to sit down and write out a long letter.

So cute!

oh Christmas tree!

Saturday we went out in the new snow to pick a tree. It was fun tromping around the yard and through the woods to look for the 'perfect' tree. Steve found one that would work, and cut it down and hauled it to the garage to thaw out.

Sunday after church and a (failed) Santa attempt, we came home and set it up and started decorating. We had Riggs play in his room while we put up the tree so he would be surprised. When he came out of his room his smile was soooo big. He just loved it! 

He was very gentle and listened well as we decorated it together while Steve watched football. He loved looking at all the ornaments as I took them out of the packages. He was our tinsel expert and put up nearly all the tinsel on the bottom half of the tree....

All of our ornaments are so special to me, as they were all given to me by friends and family who are dear to my heart. My dad's parents have always gotten us an ornament every year since we were born, and have done the same for Riggs since he was born. I loved looking at each ornament and remembering all the times I've put them up since I was a very little girl.

And it was so special and a little emotional to see Riggs' growing collection too. I just love Christmas and all the memories it brings!

It really feels like Christmas now in our house, and I'm feeling very, very blessed this Christmas. I can't wait to start the cookie baking, then it will both feel and smell (and taste!) very much like my very favorite time of year.

my mini me

I was at my grandparents house the other day, and when Riggs took a nap upstairs at my sisters house, I looked at family photographs.  This has been one of my favorite things to do since I was very young, and I used to spend hours laying on the bed at my grandparents cabin, just looking at album after album, some from the 1950's (my moms childhood) and some from the 1980s and 1990s (my childhood).

As many times as I've seen the pictures, they never seem to grow old.  I still feel a thrill when I look at them now.  Sometimes I get goosebumps just thinking about all the magic moments that we've shared as a family over the years.  But something else sort of thrilling happened when I looked at the pictures this time.  A certain realization dawned on me that filled me with excitement, pride and in all honesty a little bit of apprehension.  Riggs is like a little replica of 18 month old Whitney!  Of course it makes me happy to see the resemblance, and I was a pretty cute toddler, but then there's that little bit of self doubt, and I find the thought in the back of my mind when I think about the resemblance, do I really want Riggs to look like me?  Isn't Steve much better looking than I am?  Wouldn't I rather my son look more like his dad?

I remind myself that it doesn't matter, that he also looks just like Steve at certain moments, and that no matter what he's his own little being with a personality that is all Riggs.  And I pray that Riggs doesn't have that bit of insecurity that his mama does.  God made me (and Riggs) just the way I am for a reason, and I am very blessed with good health and a beautiful life, and just need to get over myself and my doubts.

So what do you think?  Dead ringer?  Next time I go to Homer I'll find some pictures of Steve from that age and compare...

Oh and just for fun, this must be a family thing.  Here's picture of my sister Kelsey compared with her first son, Corbin...