Kids Christmas Mantel

I'm in the decorating mood and although I posted my mantel yesterday, I am also completely in love with this one from the blog, Little Bit Funky.  If you have kids, this could be such a fun project to get their help on. The little village she created is from cardboard, if you don't have any boxes laying around you could check your grocery store to see if they have any from their produce you could grab.  Then pick up some paint and have at it.  The little wooden people (your family members) can be purchased at any craft store or online.  Bright colors are the key.  I'd love to see pics!

Easy (and cheap) Decorations for Christmas Mantel

I have to admit, I broke a few days before Thanksgiving and decorated our house for Christmas.  To be fair though, I waited until the day after Christmas to start playing the music and watching holiday movies.

My husband and I are always visiting our families over Christmas so we usually don't buy a real tree.  Hopefully we'll get to have family coming to visit us for holidays soon, but for now, I do minimal decorating.  Most of it involves our little mantel in our living room.

With this year's mantel I embraced the Yesteryear (ha!) theme.  We have tons of old hardcover books and other antique store finds, like the super eight camera in the photo. 

I'm feeling very nostalgic this year and wanted to reflect those feelings in our decorations.  I bought those yummy cinnamon scented pinecones from the grocery store for $3.99 and strung them together with thin rope I had in my tool chest.  Then I arranged and stacked some of our old books, adding candles and meaningful trinkets to the display, trying not to go too overboard.  The little tree was a $12.99 find at Target and made me think of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, another memory from my childhood.  So there you have it, quick, easy and cheap decorating that brings a smile to my face every time I look at it.

I would love to see your crafty decorations!

It Smells A Lot Like Christmas

I hope you had a peaceful and joy-filled Thanksgiving weekend.  It's Monday and back to work.  Luckily we're still in the holiday season which always helps me to take things a little more slowly during this month.  For some reason, this season always makes me want to focus on being present and in the moment.

I came across this recipe for "Christmas in a Jar".  I am going to make up a batch tonight.  Our sense of smell is such a strong connector to memories and this smell brings back very happy memories for me.  It's from the cute blog, dandee.

 

Ingredients: 

• 5 cinnamon sticks 
• 1 dried lemon slice 
• 1 dried orange slice
•  1/2 cup whole cloves 
• 1 tbs. nutmeg 
• 1/4 cup whole allspice 
• 1 tbs. bay leaf pieces 
• 3 dried apple slices 

Combine ingredients. Add water to simmer on stovetop.