{12 Days of Christmas} Ornaments

'Staching through the snow; London Calling!

Oh, Christmas Tree...
My tree has been up since before Thanksgiving, but I finally finished putting on the lights and ornaments just this weekend! Every time I think I'm done, I find another box of ornaments! I'm sharing a few of my favorites.
Above is the moustache, which came in a "Gentleman-Theme" box, also containing a pipe and a pocketwatch. Next to it is my London ornament, which was, unfortunately, not purchased in London. Someday it will be replaced with a London ornament that is actually from London!

 This ornament is one of my favorites: it's Paris-theme, glittery, and has kraft paper and twine involved?! All of my favorite things! I made sure this one was front and center. 

This is the newest ornament added to my collection, bought over Thanksgiving on my trip to Yosemite. It was a gift purchased for me at the Ahwahnee Hotel and I love it! 

Owls and good memories. 

What are your favorite ornaments?

xoxo

{12 Days of Christmas} Decorations

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I absolutely love decorating for Christmas. It's one of the best times of the year; the house has all of these trees, lights, shiny ornaments, stockings... There's so much to look at and decorate with! My living room is a light turquoise so I tend to go with a coastal Christmas theme in there, as pictured above. All of the ornaments are ocean-related or teal/blue/green. There's a starfish, jellyfish, whale, pufferfish, and dolphins!

Above that mini-tree, I hang my stockings on the wall (unfortunately, I lack a mantel) and my favorite Christmas sign! The stocking on the left was hand-made by my grandmother and the one on the right is my father's; he was born a week before Christmas and got to go home in a baby-sized stocking! These are two of my most-loved possessions. 

On top of my armoire is my father's toy car, which I paired with ornament-garland, tinsel garland, and two of my grandmother's vintage nutcrackers.

That's it for the living room!

 I'll have to share more of the house in another post soon!

Do you have any specific themes for your decorations?

Tell me in the comments!

xoxo

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then I wish you a happy day! And a happy year ahead!



My pup says "Bah Humbug!"



Today, I am enjoying the company of my family and feeling their love. I am incredibly happy today and although I miss many people, today I feel closer to them because today is filled with love.

How are you celebrating today?

Happy holidays!

xoxo

Oh, Christmas Tree! {Part One}

'Staching through the snow...

Christmas is here! (Well, basically - only 6 more days!) We're having our preschool Christmas party tomorrow, then my mom and I are off to Southern California! There's so much happening between now and December 25th, and I'm so glad to have time to spend with my family. 

None of my family gets to see my house or tree... trees (I have one large tree and four mini ones!) so I wanted to document my first Christmas in this house to share. 

This was a Pottery Barn find, last year after Christmas... my favorite time to buy ornaments!

My true dream in life is to travel, so many of my ornaments are travel-related. For instance, above a London bus is pictured ... Yes, I will be one of those cheesy tourists on the bus; also will be one of those people who take cheesy photos in a phone booth ... and pictured below, the globe!

Snagged this at Cost Plus World Market

And since my dad loved planes, and I love travel ... I have a multitude of plane ornaments, but this one is my favorite:

I have a faux-tree, which I love (even though it's hard to store) and I have been collecting ornaments for a few years now, waiting for my very own tree to put them on. I was so glad with the outcome! 

Here's my favorite ornament:

Take me to Paris!

What is your favorite ornament? 

Do you have a faux-tree or a real one?

xoxo

Pre-K Wednesday: {Christmas}

Play-dough Snow

It's so sparkly and it smells like peppermint!

This year, we have had a variety of play-dough colors and scents, and for Christmas, we decided to make play-dough "Snow." 

Since we live in coastal California, snow just isn't something we come by too often, but this was a very fun (and much more warm!) alternative. We added glitter and some peppermint extract, and it really got the kids talking about Christmas! 

They even made snowmen:

Letter Recognition Tree

We have been working with letter recognition, writing practice, and spelling quite a bit, but the kids have been losing focus. I wanted to find a fun way to get them excited about spelling again, and this worked! I cut a ton (seriously, these kids have so many letters in their names!) of small circles in various colors for their 

"ornaments" and then added a letter to each one. I then cut out a tree for each child, spelling their name on the tree. They then had to match their letter ornaments to a letter on the tree and glue it down. 

We had so much fun!

Christmas Ornaments

We also made little circle glitter ornaments, and the kids love glue and glitter, so this was really fun for them! 

On top of our fun crafts, we've also been reading quite a few Christmas books, listening to Christmas music, and we are even having a mini-party!

xoxo