Last year, I was a little bit of a sad Grinch about Christmas. I waited until the very last moment to decorate and only because I had family coming over. Let me just admit to being a tad depressed last year about the holidays. This year, I am totally in the spirit:).
My house is decorated. Not crazy lady decorated, but nicely done. Just enough to make me smile, and I love what I did.
This little antique basket is full of gold, stars, and snowflakes. It sits on my kitchen table, and I love the way the morning light catches it.
I have been leaning towards an serious obsession with little trees. As a little girl, the
Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood were my absolute favorites. Betsy and Star had a little Christmas tree in their room, and I have been obsessed with the idea of them ever since! I am only letting myself buy one little one every other year.
There may be a few more that are not in the picture...
My day has been spent filling these little boxes with lights! Every year, I make myself insane with baking, fudge-making, and more baking. I find myself rushing around to the point where I am cranky the whole last week of school. I get so stressed out about those little presents for my colleagues and office staff. I promised myself that I would be "in the moment" with my kids this year, rather than distracted by a million other things. Over Thanksgiving break, I was at Ikea (
indulging in my little tree obsession) looking at Christmas tree decorations when they put the whole display on sale, right as I was standing there! I scooped them up and counted later!
Beautiful, right! They took a little putting together, but once I figured it out, it was easy! The little LED lights each have a snowflake that snaps over them. It felt like holding a magical fairy bouquet in my hands. I spent the whole day giggling and covered in snowflake lights. Tomorrow night, I am going to tie a little bow on each handle with a tag that says, "MAY YOUR SEASON BE BRIGHT!"
The boxes were a freebies, and I figure that the lights, snowflakes, and batteries might be a little more than what I would spend on baking supplies, but I am not going to be baking ALL WEEK! Plus, the left overs are not going to find their way onto my hips! I plan on doing a little baking for treat week in the lounge, and some extra for a few of the guys (
who probably would not appreciate snowflake fairy lights, and they have already asked what day I would be bringing their cookies:). Please don't get me wrong, I love baking. I just don't love baking all night and getting stressed out about it!
Before I sign off, I wanted to let everyone know that I am fine. Southern California got hit hard with a few storms, but my house is fine. I am about a million dollars shy of living in those neighborhoods that were damaged in the awful mudslides. We needed the rain, just not 8-10 inches in one 24 hour period.
I will post a few pictures about what I am doing for my kiddos later this week! In the meantime...
May Your Season Be Bright!
