{holidays} weekend notes

The next couple of weekends are packed full of holiday activities.  I think the days leading up to Christmas will just be flying by.  I just love these little holiday cards that I found on the {frolic} blog this week.  Aren't they just the sweetest?

After you eaten a ton of these...you might be ready to eat this...
Who said that you can't have candy lights?
One of the best "office" gift giving guides I've seen.  I think I want everything.
I would love to have breakfast, lunch or dinner at this table.
Our new tradition - wishes wishes and more wishes.
I'm pretty sure I need this for my house.
Our countdown to Christmas has begun - what about you?
Easy DIY Architectual Letters that I'm gonna have to try.

{holidays} A Wishing Tree

In mid November, I was spending a few hours on pinterest (shocker I know) and I saw something that I thought was a marvelous idea.  It was a Thankful tree.  You would write out little snippets of thankfulness and hang it on a tree.  I didn't do it for Thanksgiving...but of course my wheels were turning.

So on December 1st - the Lyons' Family has started a new tradition, the wishing tree.  Every day, each of us will write a little snippet that begins with:

I wish...

Now this isn't about gimme gimme gimme...they are wishes.  Of course we have an eleven year old and there might be a few...I wish for some new toys...but this is meant to be about family, friendships, things that we want for the world...and yes...I'm sure the occasional gimme will be in there.

When friends come over, we want them to write down a wish and hang it on the tree.  This is going to be a great reminder of the season.  Because it really isn't all about gimme gimme gimme.

I'm just loving this new tradition that we've started and am excited for the next 25 days.

Happy Holidays!

xoxo,
Caryl

25 Days to Christmas & a Present for YOU!

The 25 Days of Christmas has officially begun in our house...well the advent calendar is up and the 1st little giftie will be opened tonight. *

We have an extremely long mantel - the entire wall.  So I decided to create the countdown to span a good portion of the wall.  With the TV as the focal point, I wanted to add different holiday elements.  I thought  it would be perfect to set all the presents on the mantel as well - to add some holiday spirit there.

I used the countdown tags as the gift tags so the little mister would know which present went for each day.

We've kept with traditional Christmas colors - red, green and silver.  To create the countdown, I used ribbon and tape to secure the paper to the ribbon.  I punched red, green, silver and holiday printables and put everything in random order.

I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out.  For the last 5 years, we've used our Pottery Barn Kids advent calendar (the one with the pockets and you put the present in the pocket).  I do like that one, but this year, I wanted it to be more of a festive feature in our home.

As a little holiday cheer for you...you can download the countdown here and as a special treat, you can download some matching to/from tags that match here.

Enjoy the pictures...

Oh and I thought it would be fun to make some homemade confetti for the mantel.

* Insert a little dose on honesty here...the tradition has always been that the little mister opens the present in the morning...BUT he pitched the biggest fit about having to wear pants today - he wanted to wear shorts (it was freezing this morning, the wind gusting and he could have blown over on his walk to school).  So...even though I was super excited about our countdown to Christmas - I had to put my mama hat on and let him know that it wasn't OK.  So tonight it is...

{traditions} Happy December

Today is December 1st!  We have a few traditions that begin on this day that we look forward to every year.  The buzz typically starts about the 2nd week in November.

My little mister is eleven and I think this is now our 9th year of these fun little traditions.  Wanna know what they are?

Well the first is the Advent Calendar.  Ours is up - YAY!  I'm going to be posting that later today.

The second - ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas.  Yes - we religiously watch every night.  If we're going to miss one - we DVR it so we can watch it later.  Click the link for the schedule.  Tonight...Mickey's Christmas Carol, Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too! and The Santa Clause.

The third - baking, baking and more baking.

We're starting a new tradtion this year and I'm so excited for this one.  It's a secret - more on that one tomorrow. :)  But I believe that a lot of you will be wanting to do this one.

Let the meyham of the holidays begin...but don't forget what this special holiday is really about.  Sometimes we get wrapped up in all the craziness that we lose sight.

Happy Holidays!!

Caryl