Christmas Recap

  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. I have loved this Christmas break, it has been one of the best. Relaxing, hanging out with family, baking, delicious food, and lots of laughs it was just what I needed.

   I started my vacation on Monday of Christmas week since schools are out. This being our first Christmas in our own house we decided that we wanted to exchange gifts there, so we needed to do them early. So Monday night we sat down after dinner, put on the fireplace on Netflix which had its own music to go with it and opened presents. I gave Hubby top of the line web cam from logitech. A quad camera drone, The 5th Wave book for him to read before we see the movie. A soft plush robe and Mad Max Fury Road. Plus some fun stocking stuffers that we waited and opened on Christmas. He gave me something that I had been wanting for ever, a Cannon EOS Rebel T5. With all the necessary attachments 2 lenses, 3 batteries, a memory card, and camera bag. I am in love with it and have taken so many pictures already. The pictures on here are about to improve so much and that makes me very excited.

Merry Christmas

   From my family to yours I wish you a very Merry Christmas. I hope you have a day filled with family, fun, great food and lots of love.

   Take a minute and remember why we even have a reason to celebrate. I talked about the story of Christmas last year. Jesus was born so that he could die for you and me and all of us. He is the Hope and Joy that we have and He LOVES us all. I'm so thankful, amazed and glad that he is my Savior. The gifts don't matter becasue the greatest gift of all has already been given, don't forget about him.

Have a blessed day and I will be back to regular schedule next week.

Married Monday: Fun Christmas Ideas for Couples

  4 days until Christmas! I can't believe that it is time and the year is almost over, it seems like last Christmas was just the other day. We have all our gifts wrapped and sitting under our shiny tree just waiting to be opened. We are excited to be headed home in just a couple days to spend time with our families. I love Christmas time.

   With the bustle these last few days before Christmas it is easy to forget to spend a little extra time with your spouse and have a one on one moment. These are a couple ideas that are fun for the days leading up to Christmas, Christmas Eve and even Christmas day.

Guest Post on ARWB, Sharing the Magic

I love Christmas and all that it includes. I especially love getting to give to others.

   Today I have a guest post on Arkansas Women Bloggers about sharing the magic of Christmas. My absolute favorite this year has been participating with the angle tree. We are so blessed that we are able to give to a child who is in need.

Take a look and see some other great ideas for sharing the magic. (click on the image below)

  Have any other ideas to spread the magic around? I would love to hear them.

DIY Garland Tutorial

   I showed my Christmas decorations earlier this week and it included this lovely garland. I am so happy with it and it was amazing how easy it was. I also made one to go around the post by the front door. Here is how I made them.

Christmas Decorations

   Thanksgiving was wonderful for hubby and I. We went home and got to spend almost a full three days hanging out with everyone. We are lucky that both our families gather in the same town and that on holidays we get to see everyone. We ate lots of delicious food, went out for Black Friday and spent time with our parents.

But now that Thanksgiving is over it is full blown Christmas time and our house reflects it! Our tree is up and lovely, it is probably one of my favorites I've ever had. There are of course many Star Wars ornaments, some Christmas Story, the normal bulbs, and our special ones that we pick out each year. I still haven't found the right ones for us this year.

The TV has a rope light around it bringing in some extra colors to the living room. There is also a cute lit present sitting by the TV.

Reason for the Season

   

   Today being just a few days before Christmas I wanted to take some time to talk about why we even have it. It seems like people are focused only on the material things that are involved. Having to have the best gifts, the best decorations to be liked on facebook, or the best looking food is what people worry about but that doesn’t even matter. What matters is that our Savior was born for us and that is why we celebrate.

   I know most people know this and have heard it many times but I want to share it for that person that may be reading and has not yet.

DIY Ornament Garland

   I had been wanting to make something like this for a while now but hadn’t had the time. Well I made time last week to go to the dollar tree and make it happen.  Yes that’s right this is another Dollar Tree craft (mostly).   Remember I told you our decorations are red and silver this year so this is not any different and is nice and red.

Mistletoe Monday: 10 Gift Ideas for Women

Last week I wrote some ideas for men this week I am sharing my favorite (last minute) gift ideas for women.

Gift card for a spa treatment, nails or hair appointment- we love going and getting pampered but usually won’t spend the money on a regular basis

Handwritten note- a sweet love note is always appreciated

Gourmet Spices- if you are shopping for a girl who loves to cook or likes to experiment with new flavors. A spice set would be great this website has lots of different kinds. I love the gourmet salt set. http://www.spicesinc.com/p-814-gourmet-salt-sampler-spice-set.aspx

Ornament Exchange

   Arkansas Women Bloggers is such a great community of bloggers and as I have started the journey of blogging I am so glad to have them. I have enjoyed meeting them in person and online, and even stalking a few of their blogs. Every year they do a handmade ornament swap, I was so excited to get to be a part of it this year. So excited that when I saw it mentioned back in August I was already trying to think of something fun to do. Fun crafty projects are right up my alley and I loved making mine, and have a few similar ones hanging on my tree now.  You can see my mine and how to make it here.

Mistletoe Monday: Top 10 Gift Ideas for Men

  This month I wanted to do some Christmasy post for my Monday’s. So I am going to start out with Top 10 Gift ideas for men. These are ideas collected from around the internet, and asking my friends on facebook and Hubby. Most of these people are all gamers and techy people. (click pictures to go to link)

Birchfield's 1st Christmas: Decorations

   Christmas season is here and we are decorated and ready for it. I’ve always enjoyed Christmas time but the last few years have seemed to be more important to me, I’m not sure why maybe it was because I knew they would be the last at home with my parents or maybe it was because I was realizing that family is much more important than anything else. Well this year it is my first not at my parent’s house, first in Conway, and first with Hubby being married. 

DIY Santa Belt Ornament Tutorial

Today I am sharing how I made my Santa Belt Ornament. It was pretty simple to make, I am excited to share how easy it is to glitter the inside of a clear ornament. If you are even just slightly crafty  I hope you give this a try and make a few custom ornaments for your tree or to give as gifts. 

Ornament Wreath DIY Tutorial

 

  Yes yes I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet and I am doing my first Christmasy post. Well typically I am a big supporter of no Christmas until Black Friday, but this year it has been so cold and I have seen snow I am way past fall and ready to get decorating! And for some reason this whole town starts very very early getting ready for Christmas, like I think we had fall stuff for about 3 weeks and it was gone most places.

   A good reason to have this one now before Black Friday is that you may find some great deals on ornaments and be able to make this for even less. Plus who doesn't want to be thinking of Christmas crafts they want while cooking food for Thanksgiving.