Christmas Musings

Well I am in the full swing of exam preparation. Its hard to believe I only have one semester left before I will be done with school forever and start my journey into the real world. Since I am in the midst of exam preparation, true to form, I am looking for anything to distract me from studying. The past few days preparations for our first married Christmas have been just the ticket. Kevin has been a great help and has indulged me in my Christmas decorating ideas as well as making numerous trips to Hobby Lobby and hanging out the window trying to get the wreaths "even" in the freezing rain.  Here are a few Christmas things that are making me smile right now

1. Christmas cards- my family was never one to do Christmas cards, so this year is my first Christmas card ever to send. My uncle Steve, who is an amazing photographer, snagged a picture of Kevin, Charles, and me on Thanksgiving. We uploaded the picture to www.shutterfly.com and created our Christmas card there. The cards turned out really cute and we got them three days after we ordered them. Last night, I postponed my studies to address and stamp the cards. They are in the mail and on the way.

2. Christmas candles- I love candles. Yankee candles are probably my favorite and this year we used some of our wedding gift cards to buy two; a Christmas Cookie one for the kitchen and a Mistletoe one for the dining room!

3. Decorations- Last year during finals I was really stressed (Who am I kidding? I am always really stressed during finals and my husband is a saint!) and Kevin went to Target one night and bought us a Christmas tree as a surprise. We are slowly accumulating a collection of ornaments and had a great time decorating the tree after the Iron Bowl. Luckily, Charles doesn't seem too interested in the tree, but we hung all the ornaments up high in case he changes his mind. We also received a few decorations as wedding gifts and have added a few to our own collection!

4. Hobby Lobby- Hobby Lobby is probably one of Kevin's least favorite places and I have a love hate relationship with the place. It seems it is always crowded in there and the aisles are way too narrow. However, we did brave Hobby Lobby a couple of times to buy some outdoor decorations and some materials for Christmas crafts. They are having a really good 50% off sale on all Christmas decor right now if anyone needs anything.

5. Wreaths- I love the classical evergreen wreath with a red bow look. On one of our trips to Hobby Lobby we purchased wreaths and bows for our dormer windows. Little did we know, hanging the wreaths without a ladder would be a challenge. After a few hours, dropping the wreaths out the window numerous times and lots of laughs, we finally got the wreaths hung (I think they are actually even!)

6. Christmas crafts- Pintrest has also been a good finals distraction, and I am proud to say I have completed my first Pintrest craft project. I made a Peppermint wreath. It was so easy and looks great on our fireplace. Here's how you do it:

Supplies
1. Straw Wreath (You can get this at Hobby  Lobby for $4.99)
2. 90 feet of ribbon (We used sparkly red from Hobby Lobby for $7.99)
3. 6 small bags of peppermints (You could probably get away with 3 big bags)
4. Hot glue gun

Wrap the wreath in ribbon. It doesn't matter if it is completely covered because you are going to be gluing peppermints all over it anyway. Use a hot glue gun and glue peppermints around the wreath. I did three rows starting on the inside and moving outwards. Let the wreath dry and hang it in a place of your choosing. A note of caution, the peppermints make the wreath really heavy. We hung ours on a suction cup hook above our fire place, and the wreath was too heavy. It fell and knocked down part of our nativity scene. Luckily, hot glue gun to the rescue and we were able to repair most of it.

I'm looking forward to trying out some Christmas baking, but I think that will have to wait until finals are over. Happy holidays to all!