Very little DIY gets accomplished around these parts on Christmas Eve Eve aside from wrapping presents. Fortunately I have a killer assistant who dishes out tons of puppy snuggles and smooches as reward for a hard day’s work.
Don’t worry, friends. My dining room table rarely doubles as an actual eating space.
From my construction site to yours, Merry Christmas, y’all!
Whether you are like me and worship the ground she walks on or live to love to hate her, the creative genius that Martha Stewart can whip up with a glue gun and a few yarn scraps cannot be denied. And while I’ve found myself cursing her up-down-left-and-right after spending two hours in the kitchen only to have my culinary creation turn out substantially different than what is staring back at me from the glossy magazine page, I stick up for Martha. She’s my girl.
So when I read a few excerpts from Martha’s daughter Alexis’s tell-all book about growing up under Martha’s wing, I had to roll my eyes. Apparently Martha made her take off her shoes inside the house and turned off the lights on Halloween to pretend like they weren’t home to deter trick-or-treaters…but I bet you ate a killer pumpkin trifle on Thanksgiving and had the most organized closet in all the land. Pick your battles, sweetheart. I guarantee if you came to my house on Halloween, the front porch light would be off and you’d be leaving your muddy boots by the front door as well.
But what really kicked my protective instincts for my domestic goddess into high gear? This quote:
| She used to make me wrap my own presents. She would hand me things right before Christmas and say, "Wrap these but don't look inside." |
My mom also had me wrap my own presents. Not because she was missing a maternal Christmas gene, but because she knew I was a better gift wrapper, bigger bow tie-er and fancier tag signer than she. Take it as a compliment Alexis. If Martha Stewart trusted me to wrap the presents displayed under her fabulous 15 foot frasier fir, you could ship me off to sea Eskimo-style on a block of ice because my life would be complete.
Last year I didn’t have a Christmas tree. Don’t cry for me. My house was decorated. Stockings, wreaths, ornaments galore. I even had a fancy little DIY blog post for At Home in Arkansas…just no tree…and sure enough, my Christmas was just as merry. In fact, I even gave myself a round of high fives for the time and trouble saved by not putting up a tree. So proud was I, I vowed to go the treeless route this year as well…
Until this past summer when I found, not one, but TWO free Christmas trees up for grabs on the side of the road and my scavenging got the best of me. Sold and sold. I loaded up those artificial bad boys and cruised myself on home. I didn’t even really want one tree to fool with, so what was I going to do with two? Eh, I’d worry about that when December rolled around.
Roll around it did, and this past weekend I had two trees to deal with and only enough lights and ornaments to fully stock one artificial pine. One of the two was destined to hit the curb.
After opening both boxes and examining the two contenders, an early winner was clear. Contestant #1 appeared to be decked with full branches, a sturdy stand and was pre-lit to boot. Contestant #2? Well…wasn’t. No lights, stubby branches and a stand that required assembly. No thanks…I busied myself putting together contestant #1.
One hour and 13 broken light bulbs later, I still couldn’t get all of the why-not-make-your-life-easier-and-go-with-the-pre-lit-tree lights to cooperate.
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And contestant #2? The sad, light-less, scroungy excuse for a tree?…
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…let’s just say he’s not the one currently shivering by the side of the road.
Looking around my living room, holiday decor is still in full force. Even without a full-fledged tree this year (gasp!—I know. I’m a major holiday slacker) bowls of ornaments, sparkly stockings and Christmas card displays are still scattered about. A part of me wants to hang on to the holidays a bit longer, but another part is dying for my house to get back to normal.
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Someone is ready for the Sugar Bowl. With Gran as a newly converted Razorback, Bobby Petrino can rest easy knowing that we have this secret weapon up our sleeve…
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I’m taking a rest-of-the-week blog break, not because I don’t love you dearly, but home sales are up in this neck of the woods and work is piling up all around me…let’s not even discuss my Christmas shopping list without a single name scratched off.
Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas. See you next week as we gear up for 2011!
Feeling handy? Grab your tool belt and head over to my buddy Jeff’s blog. He and his pretty wife have been hard at work throwing together fabulous holiday creations from just a few scraps of wood and a couple strokes of the paintbrush. I’m just loving what they’ve been up to…
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Pretty stinkin’ fantastic, right? Click here to head over to Jeff’s blog to check out more photos and the how-to.
Be sure to hop over to At Home in Arkansas’ blog and check out the newest (and now the oh-so-famous) members of the Rehabilitation Station…
Click here for the after party!
With Christmas less than two weeks away, crunch time is on. And because I’m in the habit of beings honest, I’ll confess that not a single present has been purchased—let alone wrapped and embellished—by this girl. Time to get crackin on some serious holiday shopping. Let’s whip up a little motivation with a special Let’s Make a Deal for the gift giver…
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| Crate & Barrel: $49.99 | JC Penney: $14.99 |
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| Pottery Barn: $40.00 set of 6 | Walmart: $12.99 set of 4 |
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| Viva Terra: $39.00 | Velocity: $26.00 |
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| White Ceramic Alarm Clocks West Elm | Pendant Cage Lamp Wisteria |
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| Chroma Candlesticks Anthropologie | Wooly Night Owl Viva Terra |
Christmas cards. I love them. Seriously. I grin like a three year old when a prettily packaged piece of cardstock appears in my mailbox, and when my first card of the season greeted me yesterday, my holiday heart became a little less grinch-y.
Not only did my pretty older send the first card of the season my way, but was also thoughtful enough to include a few snapshots of us on her big day this past June. My sweet sister and her mister…
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Here we go! Bring on the sparkle, cookies, parties, Christmas music and egg nog!…truth be told I could live my life happily without egg nog, but it just felt right to say. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I spent my weekend completely stuffed and happily decorating my construction site…
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No tree? Not yet…but soon!
It’s almost here. You know exactly what I’m talking about. Just two days away from Thanksgiving, once that Turkey is digested bring on the glitter & gift wrap extravaganza!
Since I’m a real tree person, I don’t usually decorate until after Thanksgiving, but hauling my sparkling Christmas trinkets downs from the attic and petting each one with loving admiration never hurt anyone. Oh, my long lost friends…
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Thank goodness for the not-so-subtle reminder Cara 2009 left for Cara 2010. We don’t need a repeat of last year’s Christmas tree debacle…need a refresher? Click here to rehash the horror.
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