It's the most wonderful time of the year!

December is alwasy so busy, and this year seemed to go by especially fast since Thanksgiving was so late in November.  I always have good intentions that this will be the year I will be more prepared and get things done early so I can just sit back and relax (I guess that will be another goal for next year) 

Actually, I think I would miss not being busy, and when I look back I loved all the activities that kept my schedule full.  

I love decorating for the holidays, it really makes the house feel like a home.  Since everyone was not going to be able to be home for Christmas this year I decided to go BIG with some of the decorations.  I have loved the DIY large print photos pinned on pinterest from photos printed out on Staples Engineer prints.  That was my plan when I first thought of this project, but I decided I wanted some color instead of just B&W.

I printed my photo on a 2x6 banner at Walgreens when they had 50% off on all their photo products, so the print only cost $12.49.  I was surprised how nice the paper was, it was heavy-weight with a gloss finish, I was expecting it just to be thin paper.  I then glued it to a sheet of 1 inch thick 2x8 foam insulation board, cut down to size, and then painted the edges with black craft paint.  

I then just screwed a picture hook to the back and hung it on a picture hanger.  It has held up pretty well. The board has warped a little as we have had a few hot fires throughout the month and next time I try this I will use spray adhesive instead of just white glue (it bubbled a bit).  

I think I need to come up with another one that I can keep up all year.

I love being crafty especially around the holidays.  My sister-in-law was asked to be in charge of decorating for our Church Christmas Party, and asked me to help.  

We had a very small budget and had fun turning tomato cages into Christmas trees.  I used these trees to decorate my yard after the party.

tomato cage wrapped in green burlap and lights

We made a super large winter village backdrop.  

We cut and drew the outline of rooftops on a super large piece of thick paper (it helps having your hubby work at a box factory).  We glued on tinfoil windows and doors and then sponge-painted on snowy rooftops over the windows. We decorated other tomato cages with fabric, ribbon and lights and they looked very pretty all set up in the gym.

To add some sparkle to the stage we added gold painted card-stock stars, strung with fishing wire and pinned to the stage curtains. 

It wouldn't be Christmas without the recitals and performances.

We thoroughly enjoyed Jadyn's piano recital, orchestra performance and dance performances.

It's hard not having everyone home for Christmas, but thanks to Skype we were able to have a great visit with Elder Williamson.  It was so good to see his face and hear his voice.

I love having everyone over for Christmas dinner.

I was born in England and one of my favorite life-long Christmas traditions is having Christmas Crackers, with it's toy, joke and paper crowns.  

  

Merry Christmas!