Working On My Tree And Mantel For This Year

 

I have been decking the halls, and Falalaing all along the way at my home this week.

With the Christmas music playing in the background all day, and the cold rainy weather outside the perfect stage has been set.

Taking my time, and trying to, “enjoy the process,” is my goal, especially during this time of year.

 

I will have to admit I have to consciously fight against the way of todays world with the check list, and the, “HAVE TO GET IT DONE,”  attitudes.

I have learned over the years that all the truly important things DO get done, but it is the little things that we thought we HAD to have done that we finally let go. As much as the doing is part of this season, so is the letting go of the unimportant.

For me if I have food, gifts, tree, and the mantel decorated, we are pretty much good to go. Those three things are what seem to be important to my family when they come to visit. They kind of expect certain things around here.

So let me share what we have done so far……

First we arranged all the furniture so the tree could fit in the corner. Next, I cleared off the mantel. I find it easier to work with a clean slate.

Boxes came down from the rafters, Moravian star lights were hung and you can see Dougie, and I fluffing the branches for the tree.

We had a couple of hic-cups that involved the lights. 

Isn’t it always the LIGHTS?!

Only half the lights worked on two of the strands for the tree, and the garland for the mantel, none of the lights would work.

We laughed because this is pretty typical. So off Dougie went to the store, and came back with new lights in hand.

Back to decking the halls!!

I already knew the direction I was taking……

AND

The one last thing I needed to start was the white birch logs, and I had a good friend offer some to me from her newly trimmed trees. (Thank you Toy!)

A pile of logs to most, but to me the base for my Christmas mantel.

The tree now has lights, and the garland does too! 

Now we have our base to work with.

Let The Decking of the Halls Commence!!

I had a picture of what I wanted in my head. A winter wonderland with little snow critters.

Frosty whites, and natural wood, and greenery would be at the base, and the little critters would be the stars.

I did a post last year on a Woodland Christmas Theme…

This was my inspiration for that Christmas board and this next image is what I came up with……

If you go and read this post you will see the little critters that I found last year, that I wound up using this year. I love pinterest for keeping track of ideas for me.

You might be wondering why I am showing you this? It is a good idea to keep track of past and present ideas, you never know what you might be able to use, or what might jump start your ideas for this year.

With logs, and little critters in hand, I began my mantel….




Big decisions were being made …. Little critters on birch pedetals, or not…..

How tall should the logs be?

The tree was ready to decorate! Now another big decision, what color of bows should I do, cobalt, like last year….

After all blue is a huge part of my room, but for some reason with this years look it felt too much to me.

So white bows won. I love a nice soft flowing bow so I use good quality double faced satin ribbon. This years bows are a bit larger since I used 3in. wide ribbon.

Then the next big decision had to be made, remember it is all in the details……

 Should I cut the ribbon ends in dog ear ends or slanted. I decided slanted, but have since changed my mind, and I will be cutting all streamers with a dog eared end….

NEXT!!

Placing all the family memories on our tree. Every single year I cry, but they are sweet happy Christmas tears of years gone by.....

 Sometimes I wish I had my three little boys back, but then I remember we still have lots of sweet memories to make.

Now go and Deck YOUR halls and start falalaing!!

Remember who and why your are doing all of this...

FAMILY

 and 

To Celebrate the Birth of Christ!!!

 

 

10 Gift Ideas Each Under $50

 

It ‘tis the season of giving!

Sometimes it is hard to come up with gifts for certain people, but with the internet, looking and researching has become so much easier and fun!!

Today I am going to share some fun things that I think would make a great gift for Christmas.

First I am going to start with something warm and cozy and under $50 just use the code HOLIDAY at checkout!….

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Cozy, stylish, a little glitzy and furry, a win-win!!

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This is so fun, one end is pink and the other is a glittery polish that you can wear alone or on top of the pink. What a fun little gift for $16!!!

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How about a personalized ice bucket for $45?!! I love the clean lines of this one from Mark and Graham.

Speaking of a personalized gift, How about this?…..

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A variety of colors are available and you can choose the color of the cap and the thread for the monogram, plus the style of monogram you would like. I like the above style. For $24 this would make a fun gift!

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I bet you are wondering what the heck is this? It is a projector for your smart phone. It will project your pictures onto the wall……..

Very fun,  for only $28, since so many people use their phones to capture photos now.

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Starbucks white and gold double walled travel mug would make any girl smile at only $19.95!

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I love this pinch salt box from West Elm for $29. Wouldn’t this be fun to add different salts from around the world. They sale them at Cost Plus and I have even purchased some at Homegoods as well. Love this idea!!

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For $6.99 this would make a wonderful hostess gift with some monogrammed hand towels.

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This is a wonderful gift, in fact I got my girls these for their stockings year before last. Guaranteed to make them happy, at $34 a real winner.

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For the techy person on your list, how about a charging station for multiple devices all in one spot! For $25.99 it is a great deal!!!

Remember to enjoy the process of gift giving, it is not about the cost, but the thought that goes behind the gift.

I will post more gift idea post throughout the Christmas season!! 

Have fun shopping!!!

♪♪♪ Fa-la-la-la ♪♪♪

 

 

I Learned Something New This Week!!

   

This was the first week  that we had what I would consider winter weather here in California. I was waiting  to clean out my closet until I knew I would want to start wearing my winter clothes. With the onset of the rain, and cooler temps now was the time to begin the process!

The Spring/Summer items were put in storage boxes

(I only allow myself two boxes of extras clothes to be stored,) and the winter sweaters, and warmer clothing was brought out.

My uniform in the winter is cashmere pullovers with a   blouse underneath, solid, gingham, plaids and stripes are my favorites. 

I did not realize that I have quite a few cashmere sweaters that I keep stored in a cedar storage bench at the end of my bed.

 

When I bring out my winter clothes I like to freshen them up, and have them cleaned, or laundered. 

Once I counted how many cashmere sweaters that would need to go to the cleaners, I decided it is time to find an alternative method of freshening up my sweaters.

This is where the investigating took place and after reading several articles on how to clean cashmere, every single article said NOT to clean cashmere but to hand wash it , even though on every single label my sweaters say to dry clean.

Apparently the chemicals will break down the fibers in cashmere. I even watched a video done by Martha Stewart on how she recommends hand washing your delicate sweaters.

After reading all of these articles I came up with the best method for me.

First I de-pilled all of my sweaters with this……..

Yes you read that correctly …… A velcro roller for your hair. 

I can not tell you how well this worked. I was so pleased. It did take me awhile to do them all, but it was well worth my time. From what I read the shavers for sweaters are not the best thing to use on cashmere. They can, if you are not very careful,  create holes. I did not want to risk that happening.

Next I put 1/8 of a cup of this in my HE washer……

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Don’t let the word CEDAR scare you! I don't want to smell like my cedar chest, but I found this to be a wonderful fragrance. They combined fragrances that are appealing to we humans, but not to those pesky moths…..

Our modern take on the traditional woody scent. Combining sandalwood, orange, and rose with a base of cedar, this sweet and spicy blend naturally repels moths and critters.

I found it interesting that it is called shampoo, don’t you? Once I thought about it, cashmere is hair so it is the perfect name.

I will say this, when I took out my cashmere it did have a wet hair smell, or at least it did to me, but that goes away during the drying process, and a very faint  lovely fragrance is left behind.

After adding the shampoo to the washer I filled the tub with water before putting in my sweater. I washed one color at a time on the hand wash cycle.

My machine does not have an agitator blade so it is gentle enough to do hand washing of delicate pieces.

The machine also extracts most of  the water out of the sweater so it is ready to reshape and lay on a towel to let air dry.

I have actually put the damp sweater on to get it in the right shape for my body, and that method works well for me. 

It will take a couple of days and for a couple of days my guest room looks like a laundress lives here.

After all of the years of having my sweaters cleaned, which I now find is the wrong thing to do, I am now a laundress in my own right.

I just had to share this discovery with you all, just in case you are taking your sweaters to the cleaners.

Happy Washing!!!