Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas. Show all posts

Thursday, December 21, 2017

DAVE BARNES CHRISTMAS CONCERT

For my birthday Matthew surprised me with tickets to Dave Barnes Christmas concert, that was this past Monday night. I have wanted to go to this concert FOR YEARS. So to say I was excited and counting down the days until the concert would be a complete understatement. 

Monday was my last day at the office until 2018 and I only worked half a day on Tuesday, so the concert was the perfect way to kick off our Christmas break!! I listed to Dave Barnes Christmas CD all day in preparation for his concert that night.


We went to one of our favorites, Maggiano's, for dinner, and as always, it was incredible. We were seated at a table in the corner, away from other tables, in front of double doors that lead to the balcony (the doors were closed, of course) and this was our view. So beautiful!

Matthew got us incredible seats for the concert and I was pretty much in a Christmas-Dave Barnes-music loving daze the whole night. It was absolutely perfect and such a fun night! Dave Barnes is so talented and hilarious! This was the first time I have ever been to his concert and I didn't realize how funny he was.




There were to special guest performers, Matthew West and Charles Esten (Deacon from the show Nashville)! They were really good, too! It was a really fun night and definitely something we want to go to again! 

Thank YOU, Matthew, for the best birthday gift, ever!! 

Monday, December 18, 2017

HOW TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS BOW 4 WAYS

If you are wanting to take your Christmas wrapping to the next level, I gotcha covered! 


Erica has created videos to show us how to make each bow, and they are so helpful! You can find written directions and more here.

The classic bow is the easiest to make and always a classic.


The double bow is adorable and perfect for those smaller gifts that you still want to add a little more to.


The gift bow has some volume to it and will definitely impress your family/friends.


And last, but certainly not least, the big bow! A personal favorite and beautiful option. This is perfect for those bigger gifts or even to add to a wreath.

Erica, you did a great job on these bow and videos! Thank you for sharing them with us! :)

Friday, December 15, 2017

HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES

We have been watching Hallmark Christmas movies like crazy this year, and l-o-v-i-n-g-i-n-g them!
They are all cheesy, have most of the same characters, and same story to them, but we can't get enough. Since we got rid of cable last year, we just pull up the YouTube app on our TV and watch them on there. Who knew people uploaded full length Hallmark movies to YouTube?!?! The quality isn't always the best, but it's free, so it will do ;) There are a couple of Netflix originals that are pretty good too. 

Here is a list of some of the ones we have watched so far...


Which cheesy Christmas movies do you recommend?! 
We still have some that we want to watch before Christmas, so send any recommendations our way!

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

CHRISTMAS HOME TOUR | 2016

I am finally getting around to sharing our Christmas home tour! This is our first Christmas in our new home and I have had a lot of fun decorating it and deciding on how to decorate most parts of our home.

We'll start in the entryway...our big Christmas decor purchase this year...it was on sale and we just couldn't pass it up! We absolutely LOVE it! Last year at this time we were going through the house inspection, final walk through, etc. and each time we went in our home we kept saying how beautiful a 12ft tree would look there...actually it was all Matthew's idea. It was literally the first thing he said when we walked in the front door for the first time....that man, I just love him!
and the night time view
y'all know I love my Christmas plaid ;)


We also wrapped the stairway with pre-lit garland. I decided to keep it simple this year with the stairway, and just add the garland, but there are a ton of cute ideas on Pinterest for that, that I might try next year. Reagan can go up the stairs but she hasn't figured how to go down them, so I was able to snap this quick picture when I first decorated the stairs!

Here is the view from upstairs. You can see our smaller tree in Matthew's study. It's our 6ft tree that we used in our apartment last year and I love seeing that each time I pull into our driveway!

We moved our entryway table into Matthew's study for the time being since so I decided to put two small trees on the top shelf and then the small candle holders. The trees are from 
Michael's and the small candle holders are from Wal-Mart!

The side table in our dining room houses our Christmas village that my mema handed down to me this year. I didn't get any pictures of it at night, lit up, but here are some pictures of it.


I love it lit up at night!

Next up is our living room...we found our 7 1/2ft tree for a great deal on Amazon and I was thrilled!
This tree holds all of our meaningful ornaments. The ones we have picked out for special occasions over the past couple of years and the ones we have been gifted. I love being able to see them while we watch tv or sit by the fire.

Our mantel is basically setup how it was last year and we just still love it that way. 
We did get new stockings this year and we both LOVE them, and of course, Reagan had to have one ;) and it matches ours...woo hoo! I have been searching everywhere for a simple red knit sweater stocking that we could have our names added to and kept coming up empty. I knew Kohl's had the red sweater knit stockings but they all had a letter on them. Well I finally looked into them and realized you could get one without a letter on it...and they were half off! I ordered them and Matthew picked them up on his way home from work a couple of days later and we had our friend at church put our names on them. Reagan's stocking is from PetSmart and it already had the paw print on it. 


I have been eyeing these for over a year and saw them on sale last week when I popped in Kirklands to pick up a gift and had to grab them. My best friend has them and I fell in love with them when I first saw hers. There is a gold set that I am hoping to get soon.
Our stocking holders that we found at Target last year, we still love them!

These were made on my iPhone, but I draped the Christmas blankets over our couches in the living room to add a little pop of color. I love these blankets and got them a few years ago at Old Navy. I did this last year in our apartment and even did it in my apartment in Cookeville. 

Our kitchen table is the same setup from last year...and I still love it just as much. Again with the Christmas plaid. I just can't get enough!! I added some pine cones to my favorite milk glass dish and love the way they smell.

Our kitchen has a few touches of Christmas as well! I changed out our fall flowers to some red berrie twigs I found at Michael's and some Christmas greenery.  There is a snow globe with a wedding cake and the year "2015" on it in the background on the window sill that my mom gifted us last year for our wedding year, and there is a green lantern from Target right up under it that lights up at night, and then there are my Christmas towels on the oven door...more Christmas plaid ;)
 These two Christmas pieces are from Target's dollar section. I love them and they fit perfectly on our kitchen counter. 
 Reagan especially loves her treat jar!
And here is our Christmas card display. This is how I displayed our Christmas cards last year in our apartment and it worked out so well with the space we did it in, but this year I haven't been too thrilled with our card display, but just made it work because I didn't really have a whole lot of time to decide on how I want to display them. I'll work on that next year! 

Upstairs in our room there is a very small tree that I have had in my bedroom since I was in first grade, so it just kinda has to go in our bedroom every year :) and in our coastal themed guest bedroom I put some silver and blue ornaments in our lamps and I found that little tree at Wal-Mart and just knew we needed it for our coastal room! That's about it for upstairs this year. 

The only outside decor that we put up is a wreath on our front door, and I made a bow for it with some leftover ribbon from our 12ft tree. I also bought two big gorgeous poinsettias and put in our black planters but this past Saturday night the strong winds and then the ice absolutely destroyed them..and my my bow. Destroyed them as in half of the stems were laying on our door step when we walked out Sunday morning. So no pictures of that lol it's pretty sad!I did put my 'Joy' sign out that my dad made me a couple of years ago, so at least there is that! 

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

CHRISTMAS TREE SEARCH

This is going to be the shortest post....but I need help! I am wanting a new Christmas tree for our home this year. It's our first Christmas in our new home, and the Christmas tree we used last year is from my college apartment. It's only 6ft and it's tiny! It worked perfectly for our apartment last year but I'm afraid it will look tiny in our new home. Here is our apartment at Christmas time last year. We miss this cozy first home of ours!

So, I am on the hunt for an 8ft pre-lit Christmas tree, and one that's not going to cost an arm and a leg! I have been searching the internet but can't find any good deals. I even tried to talk my parents into giving us their Christmas tree and them getting a new one lol...didn't work out so well. So if you have any suggestions on where to find a good pre-lit Christmas, preferably 8 feet tall, then send them my way! Also, I thought about checking out some black Friday deals when they come out closer to time on Christmas trees, maybe Lowe's and Home Depot will have some good deals that weekend? Who knows! One day we want a 12ft Christmas tree to go in our entryway...but that's for another time lol. Who knew Christmas trees could be so expensive!! 

Here are some tree's that I have been swooning over recently...

I mean just look at this one...I like how full it is, it's not a skinny tree lol. I'm also pretty sure if we had a tree and it looked like this I wouldn't get anything done around the house because all I would want to do is sit in front of the fireplace staring at this tree.

I also know its only October, but I like doing my research to find the best deals, and hate paying full price for anything. Also, TWO months from today is Christmas Day...yay!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

6 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS...IN OCTOBER

Christmas can either be a really magical time of the year or it can be a really stressful time of the year. Unfortunately, a lot of the time it's the latter, and once it's all said and done people are breathing a huge sigh of relief that, "it's over until next year". I never want to have that mentality or way of thinking, so I am doing some things already to help reduce any stress that the holidays might bring, and I am sharing those 6 simple steps with you today!



 1 | Start planning your holiday outfits now.

Growing up we always had Christmas dresses every year. We would have our Christmas pictures made in then and then wear them on Christmas. Well as I have gotten older I don't care to wear a Christmas dress every year, but I do still plan my outfits. Now that we're married I like to color coordinate my outfit and my husband's outfit. I already have our Thanksgiving outfits planned out (we'll also be using these outfits for our fall pictures) and I am almost finished with our Christmas outfits. Don't get my started on how excited I am to one day, coordinate holiday outfits for us and our children.

You don't have to spend a lot of money on holiday outfits, or even get super dressy. You can use something that you already have hanging in your closet, or borrow a piece or two from a sibling or close friend (I am borrowing my sister's adorable ankle boots for our fall pictures). If you do choose to purchase something new for you holiday outfit start looking now! Store have sales all the time, and you can usually find something that you like around 30% off.


2 | Have holiday pictures made.

We are having fall pictures made soon for our Christmas cards. Having our pictures taken early means that I can get them back and get our Christmas cards ordered in a timely manner.

If you don't want to pay someone to take your pictures then ask a family member next time y'all are together, or get with another couple friend and y'all exchange picture taking...you take their pictures and they, in turn, take your pictures (it's a win win for all of you!), or if none of those work for you, then you can simply set up your self timer and get to clicking! Don't stress about finding some beautiful backdrop, use your front porch, fireplace, or even your own backyard. If none of those work for you then look at some local parks near you. We had our engagement pictures, and 1 year wedding anniversary pictures made in state parks, and we had our Christmas pictures made last year in a Christmas tree farm. None of those places charged us to have pictures taken there and we were more than satisfied with our pictures!

3 | Order Christmas cards.

As soon as we get our fall pictures taken and back I will order our Christmas cards. We have already picked out the design, and all we're waiting on is our fall picture to upload to it.

Ordering Christmas cards now is a great way to save money and to mark one more thing off your holiday to-do list!  A lot of companies offer cheaper prices if you order in advance, and it takes the stress off of you about spending even more money closer to Christmas time. You can also avoid any expedited shipping fees, by ordering them early. I love ordering our Christmas cards early, so that I cant start addressing them and writing a little note on the back a little at a time, instead of spending a whole afternoon trying to finish them all so that I can ship them the next morning, There is no such thing as being too prepared, so look around for some sales and cute designs and order them now!

4 | Start shopping for gifts.

I would love to have all of our gifts bought before Thanksgiving, or buy the last few gifts on our list on Black Friday, so that we could enjoy the whole month of December without running around to different stores or paying expedited shipping on things to get them here in time.

If this sounds like a good idea to you then a great way to do this is to keep a physical list in your purse or to keep a list in your "notes" app of the people you are buying for and what you would like to get them, that way if you are out and see something you can reference.your list and cross that item off. Keep an eye out for sales in stores as well as online, search for coupon codes!

5 | Finalize holiday travel plans.

Go on and start planning out your holiday schedule now. Who and where you will be spending the holidays with. Will you be going out of town or staying close to home? If you will be traveling, will you be flying, if so go on and book those flights! Will you need to take additional days off from work or burn some PTO days? If so, go on and plan those and get them approved at work.

Matthew and I are finalizing our holiday plans now. Who and where we are spending what days with. Last year our holiday plans actually worked out really well, so I think we will be sticking to that schedule again this year. It's actually very relieving to know and have holiday travel plans already scheduled out in advance. That way we can avoid any miscommunications and enjoy our time spent with each other and our families!

6 | Plan out your holiday traditions (or decide on which ones you want to start)

I love driving around Christmas  time and looking at Christmas lights while Christmas music is playing in the background. I'm pretty sure Matthew and I have done this every year that we have been together. We have never really planned a specific time to do this, simply because we don't go to specific areas or locations, but if you were planning on going to a certain event or location that has operating hours, go on and plan your trip there.

Do you host a Christmas party or event every year? If so, go on and nail down a date and send a Facebook event to save the date. December is full of tons of holiday events for everyone so throw your date out early to give people plenty of time to plan accordingly. If you are the person who attends a Christmas party or event every year then as soon as you get the invitation write it down, so you don't accidentally double book yourselves. If this is your first married Christmas, or even if this is your 10th married Christmas, look into some new and fun Christmas traditions. You don't have to spend a lot of money on traditions. You could volunteer together somewhere in your town as a Christmas date night, you could get together with a bunch of friends and watch your favorite Christmas movies, spend one whole day Christmas shopping together and grab a lunch at a new place every year,  or make Christmas cookies together and enjoy them and hot chocolate with your favorite Christmas movie and candle going...there are so many ideas out there pick a few and see which ones you really enjoy and would want to do every year as your family grows!


There are six ways to start preparing for Christmas now. We are doing these now in order to reduce any holiday stress and to fully enjoy the holidays together and with our families. How do you prepare for the holidays?


To see other free Christmas binder printables, go here.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Christmas Cards

My goal this year was to have my Christmas cards mailed off by December 1st....I missed that by about 15 days lol but they are out! I did purchase them before December 1st this year so that's somewhat better than last year, right?
 
I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them and TJ Maxx came to the rescue!
I found some that were plain so I could do my calligraphy on the front and write my own message on the inside. Fun!
 
 
The front
 
 The envelopes

Better late than never, right?! ;)

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Christmas time // Pinterest addition

I love this time of the year and I love decorating for it. I often spend too much time on Pinterest looking up gorgeous decorations I can't afford right now lol.
 
Here is what I'm currently pinning/day dreaming of...
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 It really is the best time of the year!
Monday night we had free s'mores at the SOC house and last night we had pancakes as a study break for all the students taking finals. We had great crowds and all the food was gone very quickly!
 
3 days until Matthew graduates!