Most Wonderful Time of Year: Christmas Home Tour!

Do you gals love looking at other people's homes as much as I do?!
I love design, decor and thinking of how I would decorate a space compared to what someone has already done.
I enjoy thinking up ideas in my head and then seeing what they look like in reality.
For this reason, I'm so excited for today's post.
Not only will we get to look at each others homes, but we will get to look at them all decked out for Christmas!

 Today I am once again linking up for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year hosted by Sarah and Victoria. 

Today's post is being co-hosted by Michaela. 

Today's topic is Christmas Home Tour!

Welcome to our home!

My decorating isn't quite finished yet. 

I feel like I'm that person who keeps adding a touch here and then until the actual day. 

For now, here's our home..

My grandma gifted me the little teacher nutcracker below.

My other grandma always had these little mouse doorknobs in her house... and now I have one in my house.

Our dear family friend gifted me each one of the nativity pieces below when I was just a little girl. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I can't wait to stop over and see how everyone else's homes are decorated!

Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Christmas Card!

Hello there, Friday!
It's always a joy to see Friday's come along.
The week started out slow, and it is finishing up with lots of activities.

Tonight is Alex's work Christmas dinner and tomorrow is our ThanksChristmas with friends.

Update: I thought this post was for Friday, so I wrote it for Friday, and then found out it was for Monday.

 Today I am once again linking up for The Most Wonderful Time of the Year hosted by Sarah and Victoria. 

Today's post is being co-hosted by Taz+Belly. 

Today's topic is Christmas Cards!

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon Andrea from Momfessionals blog. 

She's a mama, wife, graphic designer and a hard working teacher. 

There's nothing I love better than supporting fellow teachers. 

I was so excited to get married so that I could have my own Christmas cards!!

Christmas cards isn't something that I ever remember my own family doing while growing up, but there were a few friends and family who always sent a Christmas card or letter. 

I greatly enjoyed catching up with them through their pictures and letters.

As the years progress, I hope to one day include a letter, too. 

Right now, we're just not that interesting with it just being the two of us! :)

Last year was so fun picking out what wedding pictures I wanted to include on our cards. 

This year wasn't so much excitement because we didn't have professional pictures taken, but I always love Andrea's designs. 

How this mama has time to be a great mom, decorate a beautiful home, grade papers and design cards is beyond me. 

If you are interested in checking out cards from previous years, click here. 

If you're interested in checking out her regular blog, click here. 

So without further adieu...

---

Thanks so much to Andrea for her beautiful design! 

Next year we will take more pictures and maybe even have professional ones done!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Entertaining Tips!

It's day two of  The Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup hosted by Sarah and Victoria. 

Today's co-host is Classic Catherine. 

Today's topic is Holiday Entertaining Tips!

I have always loved reading about how people entertain, so once I got married I was excited to host our own Christmas dinner.
We are hoping to make this a yearly event, so I'm planning and preparing to make this year better than last.
I have a few tips that I used last year and a couple that I've put in place since then. 

Plan Ahead

I honestly think I started planning for our Christmas dinner this year the day after our dinner last year. 

I knew what I liked about the dinner and what I wished had gone differently, so I started keeping notes on my phone, so I would remember them for this year. 

Over the summer I worked on our menu-what I wanted to keep, add or change. 

I'm a planner, and if something isn't planned ahead, then I tend to forget it. 

My #1 entertaining tip is to plan ahead!

Homemade/Store Bought

My second tip is to make some things homemade and buy some things from the store. 

I didn't do this last year, and I really paid for it. 

I tend to always want everything to be homemade, but sometimes there just isn't the time to make everything by yourself. 

This year I plan to buy some buns from a local bakery and order a salad from a restaurant. 

These aren't major changes, but I think they will save me time and sanity. 

Make Items Ahead

Last Christmas we ended up making unplanned stops, so what extra time I thought I would have to make and bake things I didn't. 

It was kind of a rat race coming down to the dinner, but we made it. 

This year I've planned out our menu so that I can make half of the items a day ahead, so that we won't have to wait and make everything the day of. 

I'm really hoping that having half of the menu ready ahead of time will help to make the dinner less stressful.

Don't Offer Too Many Options

I never want to run out of food, so I tend to make too much food. 

I'd always rather have too much than too little; however, I think I overdid the options last Christmas. 

I had two or more pies that no one even touched. 

Cookies, pies, cake, candies...it was all a little much. 

This year I'm hoping to be more intentional on choosing select items and not getting too many items that it's overwhelming for people and we end up wasting some food in the end. 

Holiday entertaining is so fun!

I'm interested in seeing what tips/tricks everyone else has thought of that I've forgotten.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Wishlist

Happy Monday!

It's beginning to look, feel and smell a lot like Christmas around here!

This weekend I attended a Home for the Holidays event, did some Christmas online shopping, baked some cookies and did a little more decorating. 

The weather has been oddly warm, but it's supposed to drop this week, and there's even snow in the forecast. 

The cold temperatures and snow sure will make it seem like Christmas!

Today I'm participating in one of my favorite link-ups of the year. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup by Sarah and Victoria is back with some guest co-hosts. 

Today's co-host is Emily. 

Today's topic is your Christmas Wishlist!

My wishlist isn't long or excessive this year. 

I would totally be okay with nothing because I just feel like we're at that point in our life where we don't really need anything and we're saving and preparing for the future, so I would rather do that than get something just to get something under the tree. 

I mentioned this on my blog a week or so ago, but I really really really want these cupboard doors for a built-in shelf in our living room. 

 We had old doors, and we took them off to paint them. 

Unfortunately, a couple coats of paint made it so the doors will no longer fit back together. 

We NEED new doors. 

I keep candles, recipe books, envelopes, binders, etc. in this shelf and you can ALWAYS see all of it. 

The cupboard doors are a custom size, so we can't easily order them wherever. 

I really hope Alex Santa buys, paints and hangs them before our Christmas dinner!

I'm in need of a new pair of long sleeve and long pant pajamas. 

Alex asked me the other day why I wear long sleeves and long pants at night and I responded with a resounding "I'm Cold!"

Alex doesn't understand being cold; he's never cold. 

I'm always cold. 

I'm a big fan of the two below.

I hope they are cozy and warm and go on sale soon!

via

via

Last, I could use a couple of belts. 

Leopard, black/brown, glitter

I wear a belt nearly everyday, and it's something that you don't think about getting worn out, and then I look down and see that my leopard belt only looks about half leopardish because a lot of the coloring and fabric has worn off. 

I can remember getting catalogs in the mail as a kid and sitting down and marking it up with everything I wanted. 

How much times have changed, but oh how fun that was. 

I can't wait to read through the posts and see what some of the hot items are for this Christmas!

Most Wonderful Time: Real Reason

 Today is the last day of the It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year linkup with Sarah and Victoria!

Grab their graphic and let's share how we make Christmas about the real reason!

Today we're sharing how we make Christmas about more than gifts and the craziness that's often involved!

 The figurines above remind me of the real reason of the season.
When I was a young child I was given one piece each Christmas by a close family friend, who was basically another grandma to me.
I used to place them in my bedroom, but now they are in our dining room. I pass them numerous times throughout the day, and I always look at them with happiness!
One-for our dear family friend sharing Jesus with us
Two-for God giving up his ONE and ONLY son for me!

Along these same lines there is a manger scene in a town that I go through on my way to work.
At the wee hours of the morning most people's Christmas lights are off, but this manger scene is still lit.
I look for it each morning and say a little prayer thanking God for giving up the only son he had for a person filled with sin like myself.
It really is unimaginable how much God loves us to be able to give up the only son he had.

Each morning I do a little daily devotional.
This is my regular daily devotional; however, I love sitting beside the Christmas tree reading scripture.
I often wonder, "will this be the year?"
Will Jesus return to save us all?


My final and probably most favorite part of Christmas is Christmas Eve service.
Give me all of the Christmas songs and let me listen to the messages filled with HOPE!
I often find myself in tears at how awesome the excitement is for Christmas.
It's not for the presents; although, I'm sure we would all say they're nice.
God can give us far more than we can ask and imagine.
Not only on Christmas but everyday.
Sometimes we wonder if he is still there, but time after time I see his grace and love and know that he wants nothing more than for all of us to love him!
I've been praying intently lately for those who don't know God, who think he isn't real and question his existence. I pray they will find him this Christmas, and if not now then soon.
We need him!

Most Wonderful Time: Christmas Cards

 Today I'm linking up with Sarah and Victoria for It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Grab their graphic and linkup.

Before we begin I have to announce that today marks Snow Day #1 for me!
Yesterday we got a big snow storm.
My students were praying that we would let our early, alas, we did not!
The commute home was a bit treacherous, but today I'm sleeping in a bit and going to enjoy baking, cleaning and wrapping!

 Today we're sharing Christmas Cards!!
This is our first year of being married at Christmas.
So, check out our very FIRST Christmas card!
A big thank you to Andrea from Momfessionals for creating this beautiful design!

 Front

 Back

I cannot get over Andrea's talent.
She nailed it!

...and then look at the invite below...
My own creation... I could use some lessons from Andrea!

And if you are in our immediate family, you received one of these with your Christmas card-an invite to our very first Christmas dinner!

Tomorrow is the last day of this awesome linkup.
I want to thank both Sarah and Victoria for creating it.
I love everything Christmas and have totally enjoyed posting and reading others' posts!


Tomorrow we're sharing Christmas: More Than Gifts!!

Most Wonderful Time: Holiday Outfits

 Today I'm linking up with Sarah and Victoria for the last week of It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Grab their graphic and linkup. 

 Today we're sharing Holiday Outfits!!

 

I feel like the scarf is choking me in these pictures!

I opted for the less choking scarf on this outfit

Below are my outfits for this week.
I love to pick out my clothes, iron and steam them on Sunday so that they are ready for the week.

 shirt

 shirt

I got the following two shirts for Christmas Eve/Christmas...

 This is short sleeve, so I assume I will need some sort of a cute fancy cardigan

shirt
This is a bell sleeve.
I'm really not sure I love it.
I feel the sleeves hit me in a weird spot.
I've never worn a bell sleeve before, but I feel this one isn't quite long enough.
I'm going to see if it looks better with bracelets, like it was meant to be shorter, but I'm not sure I will keep it.

Tomorrow we'll be sharing our Christmas Cards!!
This is our first year to have a Christmas card, so I'm excited to share!