From the monthly archives: December 2010
Yup, that’s how I’m running around.
Christmas is coming!! Can you believe it?
I’m a bit Type A, so I put myself on a Christmas schedule to make sure I’m ready for that wonderful day. Sadly, that schedule was busted on Sunday. I slept 21.5 of the 24 hours of Sunday. Not out of choice. I was Sicky McSickington.
So I missed valuable knitting/painting/assembling/wrapping/spreading Christmas cheer/crafting hours. But worse of all, I missed both Sunday services. If any of you from MPC are reading this, I MISSED YOU GUYS!!!
The Sunday services before Christmas are some of my favorites. It may be the chance to sing all the Christmas carols (all the churchy ones – not ones about Rudolph) that make it my favorite. Timothy knew I was sad about it, so he promised that he and I would sing carols together. By our tree. Hmmmm. Sounds lame. Ha!
Anyway, I’m running around like one of those evil villains trying to get all my plans to correctly unfold. That’s why I didn’t post anything yesterday. But it’s coming! Yessirree! I have a decoration that I’m really excited to share. The inspiration for the project is a person whose name starts with an “M” and ends with an “artha Stewart.”
Well, I’m going to do some more running around for awhile. It may include some arm flailing. I might just bust out one of these runs from my favorite Phoebe.
Here’s hoping everyone’s Christmas preparations are going a bit more smoothly!
~Whitney
UPDATE: My Mom just asked me to play the piano for “Joy to the World” in church tonight.
My happiness is now unmeasurable and Timothy and I no longer have to sing by ourselves.
Whew.
Tonight, Timothy and I are going to get some of these …
CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!!
I’ve already finished most of our shopping. Now all that’s left are a couple things that I need Timothy’s help with. We also need to buy presents for each other!
Christmas 2008, we had only known each other for 12 days. So we obviously didn’t get presents for each other then. Christmas 2009, we were newlyweds living in a house with ugly walls. We bought paint for our entire house as our “Christmas present” to each other.
This year, we weren’t actually planning on buying presents for each other. I had planned and budgeted and all our Christmas money was going elsewhere. It honestly didn’t even enter my mind to save extra for Timothy and I. Then my all-knowing Mom staged an intervention.
We were talking about Christmas and I told her that Timothy and I weren’t buying for each other in an effort to save money. She then gave me some wonderful advice. She said that we should always put each other first. Timothy means more to me than anything, of course I should buy him presents! And he should definitely get me some.
She said that when we have children, we should still make sure to put each other first. God put us together … and he’s my lobster! (Only Phoebe could make lobsters romantic.) At Christmastime, presents are so symbolic. We put time, money, effort, and thought into the gifts we get for people. We keep secrets, plan surprises, and hide them all in boxes covered in gorgeous paper and bows. If I were to buy gifts for everyone else except my husband, what kind of wife would I be? The whole saving money thing is a pretty lame excuse. Nothing should keep us from showing how much we love and value each other.
So with that all being said, Timothy and I are pulling out a little extra from our savings account and are hitting the town tonight! This kind of feels like our first Christmas together, and I’m so excited!
~Whitney
Ladies and gentlemen, today is one of my favorite days of all. A SNOW DAY!!!
Since the school is closed, since I have the best boss known to mankind, since that boss is my father, and since it’s close to Christmas, I have the whole day off.
Back in the glory days of school, snow days were very predictable. I slept until I could sleep no more. I’m talking sleeping until noon. Then I would read, watch tv, drink hot chocolate, and play online. I loved the feeling of being cuddled up inside while it’s a raging winter outside.
So when I got that heavenly snow day text this morning, I sighed with glee and snuggled into my blankets to prepare for more sleep. Except that sleep never came.
Since that text, I’ve gotten dressed. Well, sort of. I put on a different pair of pajamas. I’m not sure if that counts. I have made my husband’s lunch. I have cleaned out the refrigerator. I have cleaned off the counters. I have turned all the Christmas lights. I have started straightening the living room. I’ve spread Christmas cheer.
All this on a snow day? What’s happened to me?!
Oh yeah, I’m a Mrs. now.
But all these fun and games have to end sometime. As soon as my man leaves for work, I’m dropping this homemaker charade and I’m gonna snuggle up on the couch. With hot chocolate. And get crack-a-lackin on one of my knitting projects. I seriously have four different works in progress, in various states of completion. I think I’m going to have to wrap some of my gifts along with the knitting needles and yarn and just say, “Sorry, here’s a work in progress for you! Hope it works out!”
Our backyard!
Happy snow day to you all!
~Whitney
After much blood, sweat, and tears, our Christmas tree is done! Okay, there actually was no tears involved, or sweat. Girls don’t sweat. There was a bit of blood, but what’s a DIY adventure without some scrapes?
I had so much fun decorating for Christmas this year. Timothy gave me the freedom to decorate however I wanted. Isn’t he a nice one?! As I already posted, cheap was the key for this year’s decorations. Want to see what I came up with?
Here’s an ornament that I hot glued gummy bears all over. I only made one of these (and only half of the ornament is covered in bears!) because it was pretty annoying. The hot glue melts the gummy-ness and just results in melting, slippery bears. Fun.
Here are some Pixi Stix snowflakes. And some of the candy garland!
I bought a package of gingerbread men and put them on our tree. I’m waiting to see if they get moldy. Ha!
Here’s a sour tape ring thing. Genius name, I know. This is actually the only one that’s still intact. Our tree has been up about two weeks, and all the other rings have fallen apart. I’m starting to get the idea that hot glue wasn’t made for candy.
This is a foam “G” from Hobby Lobby, covered in jawbreakers.
This may be my favorite. A gumdrop-covered ball! Hot glue worked like a charm on these babies.
Here is one of my dried lemons! I sliced and baked some lemons and oranges to go along with the color scheme. I got this idea from Young House Love, one of the most amazing blogs in the history of blogs! If you want to make your own, here is the link to their original post.
These glass balls were half off at Hobby Lobby, so I grabbed 8 of them for $4! In retrospect, I would have chosen the plastic ones instead of the glass ones. I filled them with M&Ms and wound up breaking half of the ornaments. Sad days. This one shown is actually broken and held together by tape! Hard candy is definitely a no no with these guys. I filled the remaining ornaments with gummy bears.
I picked up three of these nutcracker lollipops for a dollar at the dollar store. Isn’t he cute? Though I don’t know who in their right mind would want to actually eat him.
And lastly, here is our tree topper. It’s a huge lollipop, three candy cane circles, and some Pixy Stix all hot glued together.
So there’s our tree! What do you think?
~Whitney
Hello dear people! Let me warn you, I am SUPER hyper right now. I just got back from spending the day Christmas shopping with my mom and Bibi. I have talked so much, so quickly, and so high-pitched that Timothy put on a movie.
Hmmmm. I thought I was the only one who knew the whole put-on-a-movie-so-you’ll-stop-getting-on-my-nerves trick.
Anyway, for today’s Fave Five, I thought I would show you five in progress pics of our decorations! If you read my post yesterday, you know that I faced a serious decor dilemma this year. Thankfully, no decorations + no money = DIY bliss! Secret ingredient? Why, candy of course.
#1
I used a little of these.
#2
Hot glued the life out of some gummy bears.
#3
Made some sour tape rings such as these.
#4
Made a Jawbreaker-covered G.
#5
And burned my fingerprints off making these babies.
~~~
I owe it all to candy.
Candy: the Christmas decorations of champions.
Candy: the Christmas decorations of poor newlyweds.
I hope everyone has an amazing weekend! Sunday is my handsome man’s birthday, and there may or may not be some surprises around here.
~Whitney
Welcome
I'm honored that you took time to stop by my blog! My name is Whitney, and I'm a diy loving, piano playing, sewing obsessed, thrifty, non-house cleaning, crafty newlywed. I love God, my husband, and life as a wife. If you'd like to know more, just check out my About Me page. Much love!
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