re-post from last year: PB ran out of them super early last year, but it looks like they are back!

I saw these paper lantern stars in PB Teen and fell in love. They were $12 with free shipping, so I thought that I might get some for Christmas since we don’t have a room with an electric guitar, a furry beanbag, or a karaoke machine at the moment. Usually I’m trying to copy Pottery Barn, but I couldn’t pass these up for this price.

They came like this:

You just bring it out like an accordian and tie together.

A beautifully simple Christmas mantel from Maillardville Manor

Traci’s $3 Brass Pendant Makeover

When we moved first moved to Viriginia we lived in a hotel for a week while we were waiting for the final closing on our present home. I didn’t know anyone, it was crazy cold outside, and we got sick of the hotel room really quickly, so I went on a daily trip to the Chick-Fil-A playland and then to Target with my boys while their sisters were in school and my husband started his new job. This was the beginning of January, mind you, so of course all the Christmas kept getting marked down…and I scored big time. Big tubes and buckets of silver balls were $1.25, mercury glass eventually went 75% off, you get the picture. :) Thus, the abundance of silver this year….and the start of a wonderful relationship with my Target here.

I found this bell wreath at Goodwill for 75 cents:

A coat of silver spray paint and a gray ribbon, and she has a new life!

(I thumbtacked the ribbon to the underside of the dresser overhang)

Happy 1st Day of December~rabbit!

I’m trying to catch my breath from getting back from Thanksgiving festivities, so here’s an oldie but goodie. Enjoy (again!)

We love Christmas books and love reading them together. I wrap 25 books and number them, and each night we unwrap a book and read it together. Some are funny, some are silly, some are classics, and some are so touching they make me cry every time. It doesn't matter if we get back home super late or how crazy the day has been, it's just a great way to quietly finish each of the nights before Christmas. Plus, what a great incentive for getting teeth brushed and jammies on quickly so we can unwrap a book! :) On Christmas Eve we unwrap the scriptures to read the accounts of Christ's birth.

Heather sent us Vermont! Her blog, Decor 4 Poor, has some great ideas:

I love what she did with an old record cabinet: