Come on in! Christmas home, 2022.

 

The blogging schedule is full this week, so happy late Monday night and welcome to this week's bonus post. Tis the season for them now, I suppose. I love seeing how people decorate their homes all year long, but especially during this beautiful season. If you've done this type post, please let me know in the comments, because I want to check yours out as well! That being said, come on in, friends!

We always keep things simple on the outside of our home. They're hard to see, but we have lights around the front door and hopefully on the night that you read this, there will be lights on that flag pole for a Christmas tree. Todd had to come home and do that last night after a special tech rehearsal at church and borrowed a special chord for this. 

I love how the dining room turned out for once! I struggle with this room because of all the wood. It helps having a tablecloth over the dining room table, though to break it all up. I love the happy little snowman plate that my mom gave me years ago. I love filling it with colorful ornaments. The arrangement on the hutch is one my mom made for me years ago as well, for our women's tablescapes event at church. There will be a theme here in our home, involving my mom. She gives me lots of things that she no longer uses. 

From here, I'll bring you into our kitchen. 

This wooden box was a gift from Todd's brother and sister in law. I filled it with these lidded jars and added the greenery and berries. I love how it turned out, especially because it's simple. 

I always decorate the top of our fridge! I love it this year. I put that little brass house inside the globe and added the plant Mom gave me and a Hummel that was hers as well. 

I love displaying cookbooks like this and added my Southern Living one to the top. 

This is the third year I've used these wreaths from Hobby Lobby. I attach them to the cabinet doors with ribbon and painter's tape. I have two more across this room on the cabinets above the microwave (that sits above the stove). 

I have all the usual through the rest of the downstairs...Christmas pillows on all the furniture, cozy blankets that I like to keep out and my favorite thing of all—the tree with the box that Todd and Jonah made for me one year. I love how rustic is and that they knew I wanted one, so instead of buying one, they just made me one on a Saturday. 

I keep tea towels out in the kitchen that hang on the oven, and I have Christmas hand towels and soaps that I like to use in all our bathrooms. 

I love combining the old and what is nostalgic to me with the newer things I've collected over the years. Most of what I use are things that have been handed down to me from my parents, my siblings and things the boys have picked out for me as gifts throughout their childhood. I love this pallet tree that I now keep in our kitchen. My stepdad made this for me one year and it did sit out one year, then I've had it inside ever since. I love the warmth and glow it gives to the kitchen. 

My mom and stepdad made Trish and I these paintings one year for Christmas. This is Trish's that I keep here at my house and mine hangs above the bed in our room. I love these old windows that lead us upstairs—they came off our house when we did the big reno a few years ago. And this lawyer's cabinet at the landing upstairs is my favorite. That's just an old scarf I threw on top and added a few other things to round it out. 

My favorite holiday picture of the boys taken a decade ago hangs in our living room all year long. 

And lastly, our bedroom, which is my favorite. I just love this cozy season! All the lights and textures make it extra special, which is another reason why I love this time of year. I almost always have music playing in the background, which ranges from cozy Christmas to Pentatonix, with everything thrown in between. I always have a candle or three burning as well, either Christmas tree scented or peppermint scented, which are my favorites. I keep the house pretty picked up, so it's always put together for the most part, and I even use festive smelling cleaners to add an extra touch.

I love adding small touches to all the rooms. The boys all have lights in their rooms, but I don't want to share their spaces without asking them first, and I haven't done that. I thing adding lots of little things that bring joy is what makes the difference. I don't do fancy or complicated—in fact, if something takes too long, I start over and do something totally different. I hope you enjoyed an extra glimpse of our home! I hope you share your post soon as well, because I LOVE reading these. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

weekending/Hello Monday

 

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah today for this weekend recap. How was your weekend? Mine was really good. 

I always start with Friday during the day, because Dad comes over each week and we spend the afternoon together. In case you don't know this (I've noticed a few new readers lately!), Dad is 91 and we've been having Fridays together for over twenty-five years. This started when I first got married, when we would meet for lunch at least twice a week, because I worked full time. This has adapted to our schedules over the years and as we became a homeschooling family and Dad retired, he would drive over each week, then we'd go out for lunch and would usually take an afternoon excursion. I totally credit him with helping me in the homeschooling phase of their growing up years! He no longer drives, so my stepmom drops him off and I either take him home, or she comes and gets him if she's at a friend's house who lives nearby. 

All that being said, he and I went to get Mexican food for lunch that day, then we went to the library. I haven't been inside our library in about a year! I know that's shocking. I no longer read physical books, but only on my Kindle these days, so I no longer have the need to go. After Friday, I decided to start going weekly again, because I have missed being there. I got some great books, one of which I have already read.

I have already finished Christmas on Nantucket, which is a beautiful coffee table book.

Also, for anyone new here, I went there back in September. This past weekend was the Winter Stroll, which happens every year on the weekend after Thanksgiving. (Not Thanksgiving weekend.) I will go there someday for this! The thing I've noticed about the island of Nantucket is that the more time you spend away from having visited, the more you want to go back. I would love to start traveling more. Todd and I were talking about this last week. I don't want to wait until we're too old to enjoy ourselves! I have several places in mind that I'd love to visit with my guy. ❤❤

After I took Dad home, I came home and got into my cozy Christmas pajamas, had leftovers for dinner and watched this adorable movie on Netflix. Todd worked that night, so I was home alone with the pups. 

Have you seen The Noel Diary? It's so good! Who doesn't love Justin Hartley? 

I was up early Saturday, and per my Saturday morning tradition, I watched this great movie.

This was so good! I've said it several times already this season, but Hallmark has upped their movie game about a hundred percent. I loved seeing actual Rockettes performing during a lot of the scenes. After the movie and having my two cups of coffee with Christmas flavored creamer, I went upstairs to dress and went to my church to help deck the halls there. This is something the worship ministry is in charge of each year, so it takes an army to decorate a church as big as ours. This was so much fun and because it was postponed to Saturday this year, we had more help than ever before. Here are a few pictures. 

I LOVE seeing our church decorated for Christmas! How cool is the picture I took from high up in the bird's nest, as I lovingly refer to the audio/visual booth as? I volunteered up there on Sunday morning. 

After we finished, I met my best friend at her house, and we went to her aunt's house to do some elf work. 😉

Aunt Sherrye loves all things royal, so isn't her tree topper the cutest? We went to do this because she was in NYC with her best friend and we wanted to surprise her for when she got home last night. I had to document our-elves (See what I did there?), so that we could send it to her when she got home. 

I was home for the rest of the day after that. Jonah, Noah and I rearranged Noah's room for him really quickly, then they left to go pick up our dinner for us. We ordered cheese pizza from Costco, which is always the best! I watched a couple more movies that night, rounding out my weekend.

Both were really good! I was up bright and early for church Sunday morning, and afterward I came home a bit to work on my table for Tablescapes that's taking place tomorrow night. That's an annual women's event that kicks off our Christmas season that's always a blast. Christy Nockels is our musical guest this year and I'm so excited to see all the tables. I'll actually go up and decorate my own this afternoon, because it's looking to be a very busy week. I'm working, but I'm also busy every night and on my day off. AND, I'm going out of town for the day on Friday with my best friend for our annual Christmas shopping date. Tis the season! It's full of loads of fun things.

Todd was home last night with me, so we ate dinner and I read most of the night, while he watched tv. I also listened to our choir's Christmas music, because I have a special tech rehearsal and mic check tonight, so I am making sure to be extra prepared. I'll be posting everyday this week, so I hope you come back each day to check in! Tomorrow I'll be sharing one of my favorite posts of the year, my annual "Come on in" and Christmas house tour. On Wednesday is the monthly Currently link that I shared about on Friday. You can click here to check that out and to read the month's prompts. I hope to see you back! 

Tell me something good from your weekend! I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

Friday Favorites, 12.2.22.

 

Happy Friday, friends and HAPPY DECEMBER! It's my favorite month of the year! If this is any indication of how this post is going to go, you'll have to forgive me. I told you I loved this time of year and I can finally go all out in saying it and sharing all the Christmas things that are my favorite. Before I get started, I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for today's post. I also want to remind you that the next Currently link party is happening on the first Wednesday of the month—which will be next week, December 7. We'll be talking about what we're currently loving, gifting, wrapping, hoping and attending. I hope you join us! If you want to read last month's, you can read that post here.

I have all the things to share today, because I didn't post last Friday, so here goes! You may want to grab something yummy and hot to drink while you read.

On the night before Thanksgiving, Todd and I had our second annual pre-Thanksgiving dinner date night and once again went with Mexican food. We went to a place about thirty minutes from where we live, in a town called Arlington for our favorite- street tacos made with brisket meat, salsa with chips and margaritas! All of the above was delicious, but I only took this one picture to send to my sisters. 

Cute and seasonal wallpaper and lock screens for my phone are my favorite. I love this one above, though it's not what I'm using right now. I'm using this one...

Isn't it cute? I love it with my bright red case and Christmas popsocket. I'll share a picture of that next week, because it arrives today or tomorrow. All I do is search for these on Pinterest. I type in Christmas phone wallpaper, take a screenshot, crop it, then use it as my wallpaper and lock screen. Easy peasy!

This is my favorite view!

This is my favorite cozy thing to wear. If it's super cold, I pair it with fleece pajama pants, otherwise I wear my cotton ones that I love or leggings. One year Todd and I went to dinner with my best friend Missy and her husband Jeff, and Jeff surprised Missy and I with these matching sweatshirts. I don't think she wears hers like I wear mine, but he has definitely gotten his money's worth out of mine, because it's my favorite thing to wear once the weather turns cold. I've always loved hoodies! 

This is one of my favorite things that I've seen all week. My Graham went to Walmart the other night to buy this adorable reindeer car buddy and has been riding around with it just like this in his front seat ever since. I told him this made me love him even more!

So, once Thanksgiving is over, I pull out all the Christmas things that are my favorites to wear every year. I wear bright red lipstick one hundred percent of the time, I wear sparkly Christmas earrings and wear all the red/green/brightly colored things that I own. Here they all are below.

I posted this for the example of the red lipstick. This one actually isn't my favorite, but it's a close second. My favorite came in the mail this week from Amazon. It's Neutrogena color stick in classic red. 

I considered this me being kind of understated Christmas-y at church on Sunday. I couldn't go too bold because I sang on the praise team that day, but I sure did still wear the green I had in my closet! This poncho and tiered shirt are both from J Jill a few years ago and bought on their clearance. And my black Dansko clog type shoes are my favorite as well. I get compliments on them every time I wear them. 

In this picture above is my newest favorite lipstick that I mentioned. This fleece is also my favorite! I was so glad I wore it last night to church, because it was FREEZING where I was. I bought this on clearance from Old Navy last year. 

On my way into my office Monday morning, I stopped in my favorite little coffee shop that just happens to be next door to where I work (Square Beans) and treated myself to a gingerbread latte. It was delicious! The owner Katie made my drink—I told her I was impressed with the art she was able to draw with the foam. ❤

Favorite mug, nails and hot drink! Noah had been asking me for hot chocolate and I finally remembered to buy some this week when I ordered my groceries from Kroger. He was so happy to have some! I love his and Graham's love for cozy Christmas things. 

Cold and foggy mornings are my favorite, particularly when I get to stay home. I didn't stay home on this day, though and by the time I left for work, the fog was gone. It's so cozy and kind of like the beginning to a perfect Christmas-y day. 

A few of my favorite things are in this picture—a Christmas book on my Kindle, ornaments that mean something and this adorable table runner on my kitchen table. 

And lastly, yesterday was my favorite, because I was able to get my hair done. I love it when this day comes around, which is only about three times a year, so it's a treat for sure! 

This was right before, during and after! It always feels good to be fresh again. Every year I think I'll go dark again, which is my natural color. Then every fall rolls around and I decide to keep with the light and bright. I definitely prefer myself with light hair, versus the dark that you can see in my roots in that first picture. I also think that maybe this will be the year I let my grays just grow out and I stop coloring altogether, but then I snap out of it, because I'm only 45 and hanging onto that despite the birthday looming ahead of me in thirteen days. 🤣

How was your week? Do you have a favorite moment or product to share? I'd love to hear from you! I wrote blog posts everyday this week, including one bonus post, in case you missed out on any of them. Here they are linked below.

Monday's weekending recap.

Monday night's bonus post.

Tuesday's share 4 somethings.

Wednesday's the books I read in November.

Thursday's gratitude link party.

Thanks for reading my blog, friends! I hope you have a wonderful day and weekend. I'll see you back here next week! Love to all!

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! Just because Thanksgiving is over doesn't mean we should ever stop having a grateful heart. I love this post because it puts everything else into perspective—which is something I always need! I'll jump in with my list for this week thus far. 

I was thankful for the long weekend after Thanksgiving! I'm always a little peopled out by Thursday night of Thanksgiving each year and was back home, showered and in pajamas by five that afternoon. Too early? My husband did the exact same thing! I am also always thankful for such great family time on that day and the week leading up to that.

I am thankful for canceled plans. I had plans on Saturday night with my sister, but we canceled them and I've never been so glad! It was rainy, cold and just overall miserable outside. It was wonderful staying inside and cozy.

I am thankful for the thoughtfulness of my sons! All of them have attributes I appreciate. Graham is always thoughtful and will bring me food or gifts on occasion. Drew is thoughtful in that he calls to talk every so often. I love that since I don't see him that often. Jonah is thoughtful in that he shares his everyday life with me and will come and sit and catch up at least three times a week. Noah is thoughtful in that he will come home, walk straight to me and wrap me up in one of his wonderful hugs. His are the best! 

I am thankful for my husband—trust me when I say that I don't just flippantly write that without meaning it. He is so thoughtful and is constantly doing things that I always want to notice and appreciate. He hung some outdoor Christmas lights for me on Sunday, even though he was in a huge hurry to get out the door. He is always doing little things for me throughout our weeks together and I appreciate those meaningful everyday things more than you can imagine. I try to do the same for him! Marriage is definitely an art of giving and receiving and continually being grateful for each other. I try to tell people thank you for everything.

I am thankful for friends and the opportunity to get to know people I don't know as well. I am thinking of our worship ministry as I write this. We're a close knit group and I thoroughly enjoy being around them all, from our worship pastor Joshua, to his wife Hannah and their adorable kids, to people I sing with and work alongside on a weekly basis. We're all one big happy family! I've found things in common with so many of them and we are genuinely friends in real life. What a blessing that is to me! I don't ever want to take that for granted. 

This dear friend above is my choir and praise team buddy, Barbara. I have known her for years, but we go way back—her nephew Nate and my son Drew used to be best friends, so I've known her for at least twenty years. My father-in-love used to be in the Sunday school class that her dad taught, so he has known this wonderful family for seventy something years! Isn't that cool?  

What about you? What's something you're thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!

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