The season of advent is almost upon us!  And so begins the countdown to Christmas.  It appears that kids will be enjoying many different types of advent calendars this year.

**This is a quick update for 2013! **

{Clockwise from top:  1// mini tree: oh happy day  2// etsy kit: print smitten 3//scandinavian xmas 4//Norwegian xmas 5//individually wrapped}

Find other seasonal inspiration on my ’tis the season Pinterest board!

My boys have the Christmas doors-or so they call them!  It is actually an advent box from Restoration Hardware that I received quite a few years ago.  [Sorry to say, it is no longer available.]

Each day one of them has the opportunity to open the next door and discover the treasure inside.  This year-each day is a mini Star Wars LEGO to build, taken directly from the LEGO 2012 Advent Calendar.  Not creative in any way, but it is exactly what they want.  However, others I know are creating unique advent calendars.

A girlfriend’s children have a special advent calendar made for them by their grandparents.  They both have a small bag to open each day.  Each bag {light green for sister, dark green for brother} pinned on a line with a clothespin, spray painted red, and lovingly hung by the Christmas tree.

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I recently ordered these cocktail napkins from Pottery Barn.   A little napkin with our initial could only make appetizers and cocktails a little more fun. I was giddy with excitement when the package arrived yesterday.

I know that we made some important decisions about our Christmas lights last year.  There were some critical changes that we were going to make this year.  We had a plan.  Not sure what it was now-but I am certain it was good.  Has that ever happened to you?

As soon as it is dry and I am fairly sure he will not slip and fall, I send my husband up on the roof. Sunday turned out to be a perfect day.  In the end, we decided to simplify this year.  I love the look of these bulb lights.  When you use light clips you can get an almost perfect line with perfect spacing.  {I am an “all white lights” kind of girl inside, but I splash out out with red bulbs on the house.} I spent most of my afternoon up a tree.  Methodically, I wrapped hundreds of white lights around the limbs of our Japanese Maple.  Risking my life, numerous times, to get a strand just a little bit higher.  The pay off is totally worth the risk.

The Christmas train has left the station and I am joyfully on board.  Don’t let it run you over.  Just take small steps and find the joy of the season. Make a plan. 

What is the first thing on your to do list?

Pumpkins are still the #1 decoration for a few more days.  I am crazy about chevron stripes and could not resist this project!

Grab a pumpkin.  Make a pattern of chevron stripes with masking tape or painters’ tape.  Paint entire pumpkin with white spray paint.  [I used Krylon Flat White.]

Fun, right? 

The pressure is on.  Time to pick a picture and theme and get my holiday cards ordered.  Each and every year, November arrives and I scramble.  We have a few requirements in our home for the picture that we choose:

1.  It MUST include all 4 of us.  [My husband stands firm on this one.]
2.
3.

Wait, I guess that is just one one requirement.  Easier said than done. How many of you get to the end of a calendar year and have yet to take one picture that included your entire family?  I was so desperate a few years ago I bought $1 Santa hats, put my camera on self-timer and posed us in front of the fireplace.  Not our best picture.  Professional shots are the easiest, but we only have those done every few years or so. 

Last year we were crazy enough to go indoor skydiving and I had a bystander snap a quick picture.  In the end, it was the picture that summed up our year.  [Oh! What fun!]

What I love the most about our card in 2012 was that is was TOTALLY us!  It is completely freeing to give up on the idea of the “perfect” family picture, for the “perfect” holiday card. Who’s perfect anyway?  Perfect is boring.   We didn’t sky dive this year, so our picture won’t be quite so awesome.  Nonetheless, I do have one of all four of us-so I am on to step 2.

{PS.  I love everything about the upcoming holiday, including the cards! If I didn’t find enjoyment in the process-I wouldn’t do it.  My thought: if it doesn’t feed you in some way, shape or form, DO NOT do it.}

The little lies we tell ourselves…daily. 

Hey, why not write ’em down, make ’em pretty, and frame it.  How brilliant?  Check out the rest @ Daily Dishonesty.

I found the inspiration on Pinterest, which led me to Martha Stewart.  

You will need mini pumpkins, plastic vampire teeth and a red Sharpie marker.  Simply cut out a rectangle-roughly the width of the vampire teeth- scoop out the seeds and pulp, and shave down the sides so that the teeth will slide all the way in.  Draw two red eyes and you are done!  [Martha used map tacks for the eyes and provided a template for the mouth….but I went rogue.]

happy haunting.

My phone is my point and shoot camera-which is great because it is always with me.  To make the photos more interesting, I often use Instagram [which I am slightly obsessed with].  Now, I have something new to play with!