sarah's blog

We just flew in this afternoon and made our way home, only for poor John to turn around and head back out again for a week of conference with university students. Not the most ideal follow-up to ten days with his entire family living under one roof (which includes one four month old now) but it’s an annual reality for him as long as he stays in the job he’s chosen. So far I have escaped the post-Christmas conference that, incidentally, also claims our New Years Eve. But if I move in the direction I think I will in my job, this time next year I may be dragging my tired self along with him. (more…)

Wrapping ideas with personality!

Week 6: Create a Family Tradition

I had a good conversation with my friend Claire the other day about remembering to incorporate activities that John and I want to do, not just the ones we’ve “always done”. It is easy, especially when faraway family necessitates spending the holidays in someone else’s home each year, to forgot that the two of us are a family too.

The day is coming when we’ll be able to wake up Christmas morning in our own house and shape the day together, but for now we take part in what our extended families do, and we have to be intentional in defining our little family in these years. (more…)

Last year's baking with my sisters-in-law

Week 7 is all about organizing your family calendar. This isn’t really a big deal for us at this stage – no kids programs to attend or family to host. We know when we’re flying to Alberta to spend the holidays with John’s family and we know when we’re coming back. Once at home our schedule is sort of determine by the majority!

But how we spend our time – where we spend it and with whom is still something to put thought into. Simplemom says.

“list three to five words that describe your ideal holiday season for this year.  Be careful to appropriately define the word ideal.  I don’t mean ‘magazine picture-perfect.’  I mean, what’s best for everyone in your family, in your current situation.”

My words are: family-oriented, minimal materialism, focused on Jesus, restful, warm.

I also enjoyed simplemom‘s suggestion to make a list of things you’d like to do as a family over the holidays that are not calendar items. Just fun stuff you’d like to incorporate.

My list includes:

• Watch a Christmas movie, preferably the new Disney’s A Christmas Carol
• Call my mom, dad, sister, brother and grandparents to wish them a Merry Christmas
• Do a big ask for my charity:water Christmas campaign
• Christmas baking with my sisters-in-law
• Make a Christmas craft
• Play a game or do a puzzle with family
• Have a good picture taken of John and I to commemorate Christmas 2009
• Read the Christmas story like my dad always did on Christmas morning

What are the words you want to describe your ideal Christmas? What’s on your list of activities for the holidays?

Opening our decorations

I am almost caught up with Simple Mom! Next year maybe I’ll be talking about each week while it is still that many weeks before Christmas.

To update you on how I’m doing with the first 4 weeks before I launch into the next…

I found a photo card I loved but they don’t deliver to Canada so I tried seeing what I could print at a Kodak kiosk and the experience was less than helpful so we went back to the drawing board and John designed a card in Photoshop that looks similar to the one I wanted online. So no, I didn’t get them ordered, but hopefully will have them printed by the end of the week.

On to Week 8, the only one I’ll talk about today because it comes with pictures.

8 Weeks Till Christmas: Brainstorm Decorating Ideas.

A couple of the points simplemom gives include taking an inventory of what you have, hunting the sales well before the holidays and embracing a simple look. Last year after Christmas I bought several items at Superstore, Ikea and other locations that then went unopened in my 2 green tubs of holiday decorations (see image above). Not only did I get an incredible price but I also avoid getting sucked into whatever trends they roll out at full price this year and getting out the decorations is like unwrapping early Christmas presents.

I agree with simplemom, the stores design their displays to entice you to buy what you don’t need and expect it to look at good in your own house. But it never does because you don’t have a room full of the other 150 matching items you would need to complete the look. And now you regret your impulse buy and the random mix of decorations you’ve accumulated.

If I good give any good advice about decorating on a budget, some related to simplemom’s thoughts and some of my own, I might offer the following:

My red and brown look

1. Decide on a look or style and stick with it (yes, year after year unless you are independently wealthy). You’ll be less likely to buy impulse junk you’ll throw away and it will take less money and effort to create a cohesive decor.

For example, I love the woodsy/winter cabin look and very little green – mostly reds, browns, creams, tans and golds. So I resist the temptation to buy one-offs and instead go for items like pine cones, a felt tree skirt with trees on it and knit stripped stockings in red, brown and cream.

Just because Ikea tried to say black and orange makes nice Christmas 2008 decoration colours doesn’t mean all the people who bought them don’t seriously regret their decision now (unless their decorations have always been those colours in which case they were actually following the rules).

My 2008 craft from Martha Stewart

2. If you like to create homemade decorations, don’t overwhelm yourself, choose one per year. Craft supplies are pricy and add up if you’re trying to create five things you saw on marthastewart.com.

Decide on a craft that’s doable (and of course matching the theme you’re building) and you won’t end up opening that box of decorations the next year and wondering why you spray painted the nativity gold and spent a fortune on supplies for handmade Disney princess ornaments.

For example, in keeping with my woodsy theme, last year I made homemade bird ornaments our of cinnamon, craft glue and an assortment of glitter and beads in red, brown and metallic.

This year I’d like to continue the theme and maybe create something for the table that carries the birds, pine cones and colours into other rooms.

Stockings, wreath, nativity grouped on the mantle

3. If you don’t have much to spend and you want to keep things simple but more put together than a dorm room, group items together in vignettes.

I actually have very view Christmas decorations (only 2 Rubbermade tubs full including towels, napkins and candles) but I avoid making it look sparse by not spreading them out around the house.

Over the years, yes, I hope to collect and make enough to make each room equally festive, but for now, I focus on two locations: the fireplace and the dining room table.

I have towels in the kitchen and pinecones and candles in the guest bathroom but be careful, a lone decoration can easily look cheap, wrong in scale and ineffective in creating atmosphere.

Our Asian ornament

4. Consider incorporating a family tradition into your decorations. Infusing meaning into the decor not only allows your family to be involved  but it also gives purpose to your purchases.

For example, John and I liked my parents’ tradition of purchasing an ornament each year to commemorate something unique about the year, like a vacation or a city we lived in or a child being born. Their tree is covered with ornaments from all over the world and has been a conversation piece my whole life.

We started our first year of marriage and our unique collection includes an ornament received as a wedding present, one from Asia, Paris and the (Red) campaign. It is becoming a conversation piece and holds memories for us both.

Along with the childhood ornaments we brought into the marriage, I know the biggest part of our Christmas decorating will be the most special.

So I don’t plan to purchase anymore decorations before Christmas but I will continue the tradition of making a craft and then I’ll cash in on huge sales after the holidays. Below are some more shots of my decorations this year.

Stocking hangers

Pine cones and red candles make the bathroom festive too!

Olive wood nativity (Israel), gift from Mom Dad B

Macbook box makes a great elevation for a tree stand

Work gift last year, sparkly pear!

This year's ornament: We loved Paris

Merry Christmas!

My Christmas craft 2008 will be on display this year, too

As I mentioned last time, I am going to follow along with Simple Mom’s 12 Weeks to a Peaceful Christmas, starting with doing a couple weeks at a time to catch up.

The first post dealt with the Christmas budget. You can download a budget worksheet from her downloads page, it’s really eye-opening how holiday costs add up. At first you think, it’s only the gifts I have to worry about… but the truth is the real costs also include baking supplies, wrapping supplies, stamps, etc.

I think the idea of budgeting for Christmas spending throughout the year is a great one. Simple Mom recommends doing a budget worksheet of how much you spend at Christmas then divide it by 12 and put aside that much each month. Then when December arrives it’s not a financial strain. Obviously too late for that this year but I am definitely going to see how my budget worksheet estimates hold up and then implement a holiday savings account in January.

We’ll have to go easy with our budget this year as we’re flying to spend the holidays with family and have more family members to buy for each year! But leaving home for Christmas does have it’s advantages as we never host meals or house guests and skip the real tree and other decorating expenses.

Ok, Christmas budget, got it. Next thing.

Since I’m catching up let’s do 11 Weeks Till Christmas: Gather Your Addresses.

I already have all our family and friends in a database because we raise financial support for our jobs. So that part is handled. But the second part of the task is to decide how we’ll be sending our Christmas greetings and what supplies we’ll need for that.

I think we’ll end up with a photo card for everyone, a letter for those who don’t have email and an email letter for the rest. It would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to skip the written letter but alas, we still have loved ones without computers!

So now I have to finish this budget and plan what supplies to buy for our letters. I think I’ll even get a head start on making the those photo cards…

Here’s my Starbucks inspired wreath. Still debating if I want to add to it but then I’m getting into too much is too much territory. The best part is I saw the idea and was able to make it using only ornaments I had from last year and yarn I had for crocheting.

I am a bit delayed in posting this but I am happy to announce I got my first Starbucks red cup of the season the other day. It is officially that time of the year.

I was a bit disappointed in the gingerbread latte I sacrificed my recent coffee-free efforts for (I recommend requesting they hold the sugared ginger chunks that come on top) but I did round 2 today and this has to be one of the best eggnog lattes I’ve had. Excluding the ones I made in my SBUX days of course.

I am also very excited about the wreath I made after being inspired by the yarnball wreaths and decorations they used this year. I didn’t have quite the same variety of different sizes for the Christmas balls but it was even more gratifying that I didn’t buy anything new to make it! Of course I know this is because I have some packrat genes (sorry Mom and Dad) and saved enough yarn that wasn’t long enough to crochet anything to make a whole Christmas wreath.

I have taken pictures of it so tonight I’ll get them off the camera and share my newest craft. I’m also quite proud of John and I as we have all of our Christmas cards for our ministry supporters written and ready to go and even some Christmas shopping done. I made a point to pick things up on sale throughout the year so if I can resist the temptation to buy more for people (gifts are one of my love languages) I think this could be a really relaxed holiday.

So any bets on how long I can last before purchasing and/or begging John to buy me a Christmas mug from Starbucks…

Most Saturdays I like to stay home and make some improvements around our place. John always helps so much – he is the weekly bathroom cleaner and has started insisting on doing the vacuuming too. What a lucky girl I am.

My project this week was to improve the lighting situation in our living room and kitchen. We don’t want to spend alot because we’re just renting so awhile ago I got the bright idea to freshen up the existing ceiling fan and kitchen light. With $12 worth of spray paint I rid our main living area of shiny gold fixtures.

On the ceiling fan I used a textured brown-bronze (as well as flipping the blades over to get rid of the wicker and scrubbing down the whole thing) and on the kitchen light I used a hammered brushed silver. It’s not as good as new but I’m pretty impressed with the difference the details make.

Another successful Saturday… let’s hope we can say the same for our Oilers when they play tonight.