I've Waited All December for This Moment

 I love Christmas.

It's such an incredibly special time for me.  While I was growing up, I was blessed with a grandma who loved Christmas as much as I do today.  Everything from my love to Christmas, Disney, and crafting comes from her.  She was a pretty stellar lady.
Her Christmases were so magical and filled with wonder and true family bonding. I have the best memories because of those family gatherings.  When I was I think, 9-years old, I received my very first American Girl Doll, Samantha.  We went to Christmas Eve mass at St. Mary's or St. Mark's and then headed to my grandma's house.  It was my family, my cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandma.  We usually had to have Christmas Eve dinner first and grandma had some sweet networking connections with Santa because he stopped at her house first and we were allowed to check out our presents once we were done with dinner.  As a child, I was always amazed by this.  I distinctly remembering walking from the dining room, through the kitchen, and then into the living room where my grandma's Christmas wonderland was displayed.  Each of the kids had a section that Santa had created and in my section was Samantha.  It's on a family video somewhere but I was screaming, I was so happy.

Fast forward to 2011 and my husband is deployed to Afghanistan and I am home for Christmas.  My mom, brother, and I take a trip down to Chicago and check out the American Girl Place while we're there.  If you've never been, it's a pretty awesome place.  If you haven't checked out Conan's video on it, you need to.



He's hilarious and I love it.

Back to the story...

While we're looking through the store, my mom comes across the doll, Julie and the doll is gorgeous.  My mom is from the Philippines and grew up very poor.  She had several brothers and sisters on a farm and they had no money.  They would fabricate toys out of whatever they had and as a little girl with a really expensive doll, I heard stories of my mom creating dolls out of spare bottles and a cloth wrapped around it.  At that moment, I knew my mom would love this doll but at the time I didn't have the money for it.

Well this December, Ryan and I decided to get my mom the Julie doll and I wanted her to be completely surprised.  We mailed it to my mother-in-law's house and she prompted to wrap it (which is awesome, love her).  My dad picked it up and this morning we Skyped in with them while watching the Disney Christmas Day Parade (my favorite).  I had tears in my eyes as my mom was opening it and she loved it!!

Thank you so much for my beautiful doll. It's the first one I've ever had.  I have tears in my eyes.

I love Christmas for reasons like this.  The past couple years I've had a hard time with Christmas because we've been away from family but these are the moments that make Christmas.  The Lord gave us the ultimate gift of his only son.  He gave us Jesus to take on our worldly issues and problems and to be a guiding light for us.  This time of the year is a celebration of love, faith, and hope.  For me this moment was something I had wanted to execute for years and not for the materialistic reasons of physically giving my mom a present but because I knew that this would mean so much to her.  It makes me tear up just writing this post.  It means so much to me to be able to give my mom this kind of gift and to share how much I love her.  I hope you all have a wonderful, beautiful Christmas or holiday season with your families. God Bless!  

 

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For the Book Lover who has more Books than Groceries

As I write this, we currently have 25 folks signed up for the blogger book swap.  That's incredible!
I've been receiving wonderful feedback from bloggers and lovers of books and I just can't begin to tell all of you how thrilled that makes me.  It started off as a simple idea of wanting to connect with other bloggers who love to read and it's turned into this little project with the help of my amazing co-hosts.  Thank you to all those who have been blogging, tweeting, and posting on Facebook about the event.  I certainly could not undertake a project like this without all of your help and guidance.

Now the Blogger Book Swap is an affordable event, with books being either new or gently used, and shipping being around $5, tops.  However, you do have the opportunity to run with this idea (a bit) and make it your own.  What do I mean by this?  If you feel like contributing items or details that are relevant to your book swap of choice, go for it! But, please do not feel pressured to add anything to your book package apart from your book and on the flip side, I would recommend not going overboard...well, I guess, unless you truly feel inclined.

If you're looking for some fun ideas, here are some places and products to get those creative juices flowing:

1//2//3//4//5//6//7//8//9//10

So I may or may not have had a little fun exploring Etsy.

These are just a few ideas and I invite you to be creative and explore various other possiblities.  I tried to find options for a variety of budgets and like I said, you are in no way obligated to give anything in addition to your book exchange.  If you're looking for more budget-friendly options, I would look at eBay or your local craft store.  You could also check to see what supplies you have at home, if you feel like getting crafty (which is always awesome).  

What are some of my favorites?  

Although pricey, I love the book text scarf because it combines fashion with literature.  Another online favorite, if you like the book tote bag, is Out of Print Clothing.  They take the covers of classics and turn them into tees, totes, journals, etc.  This Great Gatsby notebook and Little Women tote bag are so fun!  The MyBookmark Etsy shop is a unique take on the traditional concept of a bookmark.  I'm sure you've seen the wicked witch legs bookmarks before, but this Etsy artist has so much to choose from.  Of course, I'm a fan of the military one as pictured above and I also love the sexy siren, it's so sassy!  I've also been looking around at different book plates and stamps and I think the stamp from Studio255 is very chic. 

Now these are just some items to picque your interest for the swap, but who knows, you might end up spoiling yourself ;) 

Keep texting, tweeting, Facebook posting, and blogging about the event and I can't wait to announce the pairs in a couple of weeks!

Thanks for reading!

The 4th of December

Four days in and we're watching "Arthur Christmas" to get into the holiday spirit.

Conveniently I have the Anthropologie catalog to my left and have a few browsers with fun holiday cheer.  I'm obsessing over fun holiday gifts, Christmas cards, holiday movies and music, celebrating with scripture and advent calendars and really getting into the reason for the season.

Bamboletta dolls make cloth dolls from natural materials, posted this adorable picture.

I'm a sucker for cute, original toys, decor, really anything!  This came up on my Facebook newsfeed and you just have to do a collective "ahhhh" because it's just too cute for words.

Source

Like I said, I love adorable details.  I think they can turn something from being ordinary into something unique and worth cherishing for years to come.

I've been seeing peg people nativity scenes and although I didn't want to fork over $70+, I did think that I could give it a shot.  It's still in progress but here are some of the materials I got for it:

 

Multiple large and small sizes of the wooden game piece, "peg people."

Various acrylic paints

Fine tip paint brushes and one is angled for detailing

I also got a shallow hinged box to place the pieces in and also to create a nativity scene that can be propped open.  I thought I was pretty clever ;)

 

Of course, I could walk into Anthropologie and love everything in its over-priced glory.

It's one of those stores that pays attention to the details and that's what makes everything so want-worthy.

Saw this in their holiday catalog:

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It's inspired by late-19th and early-20th century fortune teacups and I love it.

The details are so quaint and would be perfect home decor.

However, I think I could spend $78 on something else.

They also gave a shout-out to Penguin's cloth-covered books, which could possibly become very dangerous on my wallet.

 

It's re-vamping the classic covers with beautiful cloth-bound material and they're great for displaying or sitting in a coffee shop on a snowy afternoon.

I have so been looking forward to Christmas cards.

Definitely dedicated a Facebook status or two in warning my family and friends that I was collecting addresses. I created a little work station around my printer where I was receiving text messages with addresses and well wishes and printing off holiday letters to stuff into the cards.  Of course, I misread part of the letter and ended up sharing the good news of Holly's naming (my GSD) twice.  Wouldn't be a holiday card from me if there wasn't a mistake or two.  50 or so cards later, I've got them in envelopes, stamped and addressed, ready to spread some love around the U.S.

In the spirit of the season and its true meaning, I've been looking up a few advent programs and Ruthie, from The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart, posted on Instagram a few adorable and wonderful advent programs.  From Naptime Diaries, I got these super cute advent cards and strung them up over our breakfast bar.   Having started a little bit past December, I was able to purchase them from their shop online, printed them out on cardstock and used some of the string from my crafting supplies.

I picked up mini-clothespins from Michael's and it was perfect.

They go along with the She Reads Truth advent program.

They provide devotionals, scripture and some food for thought.

I'm really enjoying it so far.  My friend, Megan, is also posting adorable Instagram photos of her 25 Days of Christmas experiences and she's also participating in RACK-ed, which is something that Kait over at Gridiron Lipstick is promoting.  It stands for Random Acts of Kindness and it's perfect for the holiday season.

Megan has posted pictures of leaving little notes with change at vending machines, surprising co-workers with Starbucks gift cards for a free coffee or starting a food drive at her place of employment.  She is so sweet and I just love her enthusiasm for the holidays.

My enthusiasm for the holidays and understanding the reason for the season, has really encouraged me to keep up with the advent and scripture.  I also found this gorgeous side-ways cross necklace and decided that it would be a perfect gift for my mom and MIL.  I got one for each of us as a way of symbolizing the bonds between mother and daughter.  If you're interested in getting one yourself, I found mine on Etsy at GemsinVogue.  Brenda gives outstanding customer service and delivery was prompt.  A few celebrities have been seen sporting sideways cross necklaces, so it could also be a great gift idea this season.  I love mine because it's small and so subtle.

 

Of course, it is time to start wrapping a few presents and I get so excited whenever anything arrives for Ryan because we finally get to spend Christmas together!

I would love to share what gifts I got him, but that might be for another time.

I'm still unsure if he checks this or not.

:)

2012 Wish List

1. Nikon D3100 Camera

I have always wanted a DSLR camera and swooning over Pinterest pictures and other blog photos will soon come to an end. My husband is planning on getting me one as a combined birthday/Christmas present and I am so pumped!

2. Silhouette Cameo 

I love crafting and having Silhouette ideas pop up on my Instagram has seriously made me wantin' one of these.  

3. Books

I am a big fan of Oprah's digital book club.  I love getting her e-mails on the latest books to try.
They always have such fun categories.  One of these books that I have been dying to read is Gone Girl.

4 & 5. DVDs

Classics are always so much fun to watch and Singin' in the Rain is my favorite.
The songs, musical numbers, and all of it are a blast and a half.
I also love Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany's. She reminds me of an ambitious young college girl and I think she represents a little bit of all young women out there.

6. Threebirdsnest Accessories

Fun fact...I obsess over fun winter and fall accessories and what could fit those impulses any better than the Threebirdsnest on Etsy?  I love her products and I have been waiting to order one for awhile or learn how to knit/crochet like a beast.  One or the other...I will have a knitted headband ;)