It's the little things

I am by nature a naturally frugal person (well except when it comes to $85 face cream from Philosophy)


So in decorating my home for the holidays I tend to go pretty low key – no over the top decorations – just little things here and there and my style tends to be a more “comfy casual” then traditional…and our family is soooo a colored lights family…no offense to those who only bask in the glow of white lights…sure they are pretty…but colored lights are like sprinkles on a cake…sure the cake tastes good and is beautiful…but sprinkles make it fun and festive.

A few years ago I picked up a canister of brightly colored Christmas balls from Target in one of the after holiday sales. They were full of some pretty “non-tradtional” colors – purple, pink, lime green, turquoise – I loved them and had to have them…

But what to do with them…

The next year when I got out my garland to wrap around my banister I figured it needed a little punching up and out came the balls…

Some hot glue and some string to tie it to my banister and it looks pretty darn good – don’t you think…

I still had over half the bucket left and it sat with all the holiday stuff for the past few Holidays – I didn’t need anymore Garland…I toyed with the idea of making a very large wreath…but didn’t follow through…

This year I decided I need to display them – to give a pop of color somewhere - to coordinate with my banister…

So I loaded them up in a glass vase – a glass vase I managed to score for a whopping .99 cents. So I put them in and while they looked pretty it needed something else…

So away I went to my fabulous Silhouette machine and used some of that wonderful faux stainless steel contact paper and made the vase a bit more festive…

I love this – but I especially love the fact that after the holidays are over I can just peel the words away and have a nice blank slate….I am thinking it may need to be decorated for each holiday…lets see – a nice Valentines saying with it filled with cut out paper hearts…maybe a picture of the Easter bunny while filled with decorated eggs….

Now what would the holidays be without the trimming of the tree…

The first year TC and I were together – living in a small cheap apartment we bought this HUGE tree from Wallyworld – I cost us all of $16 – which to us was a HUGE sum of money as we struggled each month to pay the bills – but it was Christmas and we HAD to have a tree – we bought a box of colored lights and a box of glass plain colored bulbs…we decided right then and there we would start a tradition – every year we would buy each other an ornament and only those would go on the tree…now over the years we have had to modify what goes on the tree – as we have received ornaments as gifts – they go on the tree and of course having small children we have numerous ornament designed by them now hanging. But, the thing is each and every one of them has a special meaning to us – there is a story behind each one…when we hang the ones we have given each other over the years there is a story to go with each of them…when we hang the ones given lovingly give to us by others we think of them…when we hang the ones our children have made us I get teary over how fast they are growing from little girls into big girls.

This year TC got me this



Yes it is a piece of pumpkin pie…I have an obsession with Pumpkin Pie…I only really eat it one time a year at Thanksgiving…but it is my Moms Pumpkin Pie – piled high with homemade vanilla whipped cream – ohhh so yummy – in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving I talk somewhat obsessively about having pumpkin pie…good choice TC

This is what I got TC


It is a lady T-Rex…there is a running joke in my family – I being the shortest one – also have the shortest arms – so it isn’t as easy for me to reach certain things in high cabinets…or say reach across the table to collect all the Apples to Apples cards…One day it was blurted out I was built like a T-Rex with tiny arms…and that has been a running joke in my family – a few days before I bought the ornament I was trying to get something down and TC said to me “Here let me help you T-rex” – so when I saw the ornament I knew I had to give it to him…as a holiday reminder of me…

And at the top of our tree goes our star


Looks a little sad doesn’t it…but it contains the best story – one we told our girls this year…see back at that first Christmas we bought lights and bulbs and there were two ornaments but no topper…we just couldn’t afford to spend any more…so I took a piece of cardboard and some tin foil and fashioned us a star…That was 14 years ago and every year it sits proudly on top of our tree – it reminds my husband and I how far we have come together and how lucky we are to have a nice roof over our head, how blessed we are to have two happy healthy kids and the resources to surround the tree with gifts to each other.

So does your family have any holiday traditions??? I would love to hear some, cause you know it is NEVER to late to start a new tradition :)