Christmas in the Living Room and Handmade Gift Tags

After nearly a week of dull, rainy days, last night brought the most wonderful of surprises.

Our family had attended Willen's Christmas play at school, and then came back to our house to spend the evening celebrating with him. When they opened the door to leave, the sky was a flurry of thick fluffy snowflakes. And by the time my mother in law left, the ground was covered and we couldn't help but exclaim "It's snowing!".

The thought of enjoying a classic white Christmas was beginning to seem more unlikely with each passing, dismal day.

However, with less than a week before Christmas Eve, our hopes of a white Christmas may just come true.

 

 

Once again, I've wrapped our gifts in classic brown paper and an assortment of cream ribbons and twines. I've also made some pretty handmade gift tags.

I made these gift tags a month ago. The blank tags came in packages of 16 for $1.50 at Michael's. I used a collection of Christmas stamps I had purchased last year online to make my own gift tags.

Another delightful white surprise yesterday was a blooming Paperwhite bulb. We had picked some up when we bought our Christmas tree. It's the first of a few bulbs to bloom that we are forcing around the house.

I couldn't help but laugh at Hudson, who was cozy on the chair beside the Christmas tree. He just snuggled, blanket in hand, the whole time I took pictures.

A Thank You Gift for A Great Teacher

Tomorrow is Willen's last day of school. 

I can't believe that his first year of Kindergarten is nearly over!

Today the class is celebrating with a party, and each child usually brings something special as a little thank you for their teacher. I wanted to it to be something that was inexpensive, but still special.

This is what I came up with.

I had found these bags at Marshalls a few weeks ago for $1.99. I grabbed every single one they had. I then hand lettered his teacher's initials (SH) onto the bag using Martha Stewart's acrylic paint in Wedding Cake. I threw in a copy of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, a yearly summer read of mine, that I had picked up from Chapter's when their classic lit goes on sale 3 for $10.

So the total for a monogrammed book bag and classic novel?

Five dollars.

Some pretty ribbon and a thank you note finished it off. I should also mention that it also took about 10 minutes to do.