Celebrating the holidays

Merry Christmas everyone~ I hope your holiday was everything you dreamed it would be and more. I have a bit of the blues today, my last day at home with the family before I head back to work tomorrow. I'm sitting here mid morning in my pj's ignoring the cluttered and messy house, dirty sheets on the beds, full dishwasher and neglecting my morning run~ denial.

We had such a fun week leading up to Christmas last week. Full of everything that I mentioned in my last post {here}.

Family luncheons and holiday shopping.

Our family luncheon was followed by ear piercing for my little one, she was ecstatic!

Adult lunches at amazing restaurants serving 25 cent martinis!

Family gift exchange dinners with besties.

Christmas cookie decorating with cousin.

Christmas Eve party with extended family.

Christmas morning brunch with cousins.

But the holiday to me means getting to spend lots of quality time with these two peeps.

And this little fur ball.

{merry & bright}

via

Last weekend was spent wrapping gifts...

...attending Houston's Nutcracker Ballet,

...sprucing the house to prepare for out of town guests,

...and putting the finishing touches on wine bottle gifts.

Oh, and I ran my final long run {21 l.o.n.g miles} in prep for my first full marathon {post here} in just 2 1/2 weeks~ eek!

I'm taking the rest of the week off from work and am ready to go full tilt into holiday mode. Decorating sugar cookies, family lunches out, last minute shopping, a holiday movie or two, picking up Christmas brunch and dinner items and adult only dinners with friends~ YAY, it's Christmas!! ☺

xo~
T

A warm glow

feel the warmth ~
bask in the glow ~
soak up the solitude ~
breathe in the scent of the season ~
embrace peace and quiet ~
indulge in relaxation ~
now inhale through your nose ~

and exhale through your mouth ~

Wishing you a peaceful yet festive week! ☺

xo~
T

source

DIY ~ mason jar snow globe gifts

Mason jar snow globes seem to be all the rage this year, perhaps thanks to this fab store for displaying them with their knockout Christmas decor. We jumped on the bandwagon one night this past week and made some ourselves, using stuff we already had at home.

These little cuties are all wrapped up and ready to be given to our teachers, grandparents, and close friends.
It was such a fun project that we'll likely make it a tradition going forward!


I did buy the little wreaths and snowmen/penguins at Michael's, but the rest was pulled from our Christmas village set (that's been in storage and unused for a few years).

Things you'll need:

* Any size jar {mason jar, tomato sauce jars, spice jar, honey jar, etc}

* fake snow/ salt/ glitter {whatever you can find or have on hand}

* small trees and/or fresh greens

* little people, pine cones, etc...whatever you want to place inside

*glue gun or epoxy

I glued kraft paper to my lids first, but you can spray paint or leave as is. Glue your scene onto the lid, pour the snow {you could use table salt, epsom salts or the fake snow stuff} into the jar, flip over and screw the lid onto the jar.

Voila~

It only took us an hour to make 11 of these! My daughter went back and put sticky notes with the names of those that she wanted to gift these to. We kept the smallest one for us.

**Happy crafting**

xo~
T

A green Christmas...

...in more ways than one.

My paperwhites are going crazy and are just about to topple over, but wowee~ they smell divine!!

Christmas card display solution on the dining room door using leftover upholstery binding fabric.
We've been crafting almost every night after work/school, using only things we already have at home. Christmas music sheet angel wings,
...and paper snowflakes to place on packages and wine bottle gifts.

Using cardboard from paper towel rolls. Adorned with some glitter, a pearl or rhinestone and fabric scrap or twine to hang.
Fancy, right? ha...


Anything to keep us busy while we count down the days! ☺ We're getting antsy over here.
We created silhouette gift tags using a picture of my daughter and some good old fashioned tracing and copying. I uploaded the silhouette image in picnik and added the textured background with the snowflake border, then printed on cardstock paper.

This was by far the most fun {and messy} project ~ will share details soon.

Ho, ho, ho!

xo~

T

Christmas in Chicago

Aside from the cold/sinus infection that I likely caught on the airplane, our weekend in Chicago got us in the holiday groove!

Tall buildings~

Bundle up and snuggle-worthy weather~ Buildings trimmed in green and red~
Carolers travelling by trolley to entertain shoppers in line~
Firehouses dressed up for the holidays~

Florists geared up with Christmas blooms~
We arrived Friday evening and went to the closest pizza joint to get our Chicago style pizza fix.

We cruised the streets for a bit before bed on Friday night.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Mary's Cafe, delish!



From there we walked a few blocks to the Navy Pier, to check out Winter Wonderfest.
Snapping pictures along the way~




Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier was complete with falling snow and lots of overly decorated trees and sparkle.


We were in and out of the Navy Pier and back onto the busy streets to shop!
Michigan Avenue:

After lunch we taxied it on over to the Lincoln Park area to check out the more unusual boutiques and walk the less crowded streets. This is such a cute area.


Lori's shoes was our first stop, LOVE this store.


From here it was back to the hotel to rest our feet for a bit before heading out for the evening.

City lights:We checked out Kris Kringle Market but it was far too crowded to see anything so we ventured on.

We wrapped up our weekend with an early lunch at Gibsons,and more Christmas shopping.

It was a whirlwind {pun intended} getaway! ☺

xo~
Tricia