Decked Out

Our decorations do not vary much from year to year, but it is always fun to post the finished (or in our case, almost finished) results:

We usually turn on Christmas music one night and help the kids unwrap their ornaments so they can hang them on the tree.  After all the kids' ornaments were hung, I went to inspect the tree and saw the limb below 

Pictured below is the artist for the above branch

So, a few days later I sat down with my cup of coffee to view the tree and the mantle.  I got the idea of hanging the stockings on a curtain rod from Pinterest.  This year we will have all of one side of the family coming to our house and we needed a way to add 6 more stockings once they arrive....

with the possibility of even a few more for the dogs.  

The photo below is the same as the one above, but I just found a very neat option to make the picture starry.  So I thought I would give it a try.  I even love how some of the sequins on the stockings are reflecting the light, as well as some glitter on the Santa figurine in the forefront of the picture:

  

Another Pinterest-inspired project.  I found that there are easier ways than the way I decided to make "Subway Art", but since I do not have a Cricut OR Modge-Podge, I had to play with stickers and paint and touching up different areas.  It was a lot of fun and I decided to do another one on an even BIGGER canvas.  

Ai-yi-yi!  

This one took a while and did not turn out exactly as I had planned.  I will need to do some touch-ups on this one as well.  The photo below is just the beginnings of the project, not the finished result.

Storing Christmas Lights

It is almost time for us to get out the Christmas decorations!  I love having the decor out, but the getting out (and then the putting away) can be super-duper stressful for me.  Especially when it comes to the lovely, but can-get-extremely-tangled-strings of Christmas lights.  

However, one of my friends showed me a way to wrap them up so the tangles can be decreased.  

(Thanks, Kim!)  

Because of her fabulous advice, the only thing I have to untangle every year (besides the kids around my feet) are the ornament hooks (grrrrrrr!). 

I promised my sister these photos on how to wrap up and store Christmas lights.  It is over a year in coming, but I have (finally) kept my word!  

yay!  

And, 

BONUS

though your lights may be tangled this year,

maybe next year you will find this part of the decorating less hair-pulling-out-ish!

What you will need:  

string, cut into 8 inch strips (give or take)

or

wire twist ties

lights

~~~~~

string

lights

 Starting at one end, preferably the end of the light strand, 

bend the wire-strands at the first bulb (see above photo).  

Then, fold the strand, again, at the next bulb: 

Repeat this approximately 6 to 10 times.

please note: not all the lights are folded up at this time

Now that you have this first "batch" of your light-strand bunched, 

take your cut string (or your wire ties) and tie this bunch together, 

placing the string (or wire tie) in the middle, between the light bulbs:

~or~

I find that wire ties do not hold as many lights as a section of yarn does.  I also have found that bending the strand too many times will result in tangles.  It is why I suggested the small amount of bends in the beginning.

Repeat this process until 

all lights are wrapped in small "bunches"

If you started at the end of the light strand and worked your way to the plug side, you will find there is a long wire from the light to the plug.  LEAVE THIS UNWRAPPED FOR NOW.  

Gather the bunched lights and, using the long wire, "tie" the bunches together and store in your desired container:

When you open your storage boxes the next year, just unwrap that long wire, plug it into an outlet to check how well the lights are working.   As you hang the lights, unwrap one (or two) small bundle(s) at a time.

Life, Pigs, and the pursuit of....Snuggies?

I received an email from an aunt of mine encouraging me to watch this video about seat-belts   I almost ignored it, afraid it could have some visual pictures I would not want floating around in my mind.  Then I remembered the sweetness of my aunt and thought that I should go ahead and watch the short commercial, still wary about what I could possibly see.  Sweet relief, I saw something quite beautiful….and, for me, it was breathtaking in its simplicity.  There is no gore, these people in the video never once leave the comfort of their home.  No where on the video does it have flashbacks or flash-forwards to any gruesome scenes.  I believe it is one of my new favorite commercials.  I hope its symbolism and imagery strikes you, as well:

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I just saw this video clip of a comedian today.  He translated most of the Fairy Tale, “The Three Little Pigs” into a Shakespearean story.  I was really laughing out LOUD, especially when the 3^rd pig came into the scene.  What a crazy funny guy!  This is brilliantly done and I hope you enjoy it! 

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This last funny~share is simply a link to a blog.  I think many have read it already, since it is going all over Pinterest and Facebook.  Some poor woman sent a text message to this guy, intending for the message to go to someone else.  The conversation between these two is hilarious.  Below is the link to read it.  Very funny!

http://itjustgetsstranger.blogspot.com/2011/12/snuggie-texts.html