Oh Christmas Tree

The tree is up.  Presents are wrapped.  Almost all the presents are bought.  I think we might almost be ready for Christmas.

And I was successful.  I didn't buy any new decorations this year.  I did have to buy new lights but that was because I bought a new tree at the end of the season last year.  And I only did that because I broke the old tree.  Ug, talk about a Christmas fail.  Anyway, a new white tree meant I wanted white corded lights, the green would've looked a little rough.  So I guess technically I spent about $7.50 on Christmas decorating supplies.  Not too shabby though.

So, on to what we all really care about.  The decorations.

 I wasn't sure how I would feel about the white tree.  I didn't know if it would feel Christmassy enough.  It does.  I love it.

 The Christmas presents do not match each other...  I had plans for wrapping.  And they did not turn out as I imagined.  I was going to use brown kraft paper, gold and silver ribbons, and metallic Sharpies to label my gifts.  The kraft paper did not cooperate.  So I ripped it off and went into the wrapping closet and came out with leftover gold paper and green paper with reindeer for the kids.  They look fine, I just like to have a wrapping color scheme and color coded by family.

 

My olive wood nativity from Israel.

 

Stockings, mini cone Christmas trees, and a little confetti on canvases.  Much simpler this year.

 

The Merry & Bright sign I made last year, the Santa & Frosty candles of my childhood (they truly belong on the back of the toilet), and another nativity.

 My lazy Christmas card hanging.  Silver glitter washi tape hung up on our door to the basement.  I'm kind of okay with it though.

 

And the Christmas tree all lit up in a dark room.  My favorite way to look at it.  One of these nights I'm planning on shoving all the presents out of the way and laying with my head under the tree.  It's the best.

How's your Christmas decorating going this year?  I feel like I did a lot less this year but I'm really happy with it.  I kind of liked simplifying.  I also feel like I didn't go as crazy buying presents this year.  I also feel good about that.  I love buying people things they will really like and not just buying to buy. 

Oh, btw, I'm linking up over at Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas party.

 

Diet Bet #2

If you follow me on Instagram (hi Amy!), then you know what's going on.  You may remember back in...  August (I had to go look it up) that I did a Diet Bet.  It was hosted by Roo over at NeonFresh, she is the absolute sweetest.  If you're not reading her blog yet, well why not?  Start now!  Anyway, she hosted a Diet Bet.  You put $30 in the pot and try to lose 4% of your body weight in a month.  It's a pretty good motivator.  If you succeed you get a portion of the pot back, the amount depends on how successful your fellow diet betters were.  I did not succeed.  Big frowny face!  I was very close though!  Close enough that it kept me motivated.  And when Roo started an end of year push diet bet, I knew I was in! 

So, just for fun, let's see where I was when I started my first Diet Bet way back in August.

 

Let's just say it's hard to take a decent picture of yourself in the mirror...  Also, lighting in front of my full length mirror is not the best.

 

A month later (I had my husband take my picture this time and told him not to look at the scale)
About 8 pounds lighter

 

And yesterday.  Starting Diet Bet #2.   Almost 25 pounds less than where I started.

If When I complete this next 28 days, I'll be back down to almost what I weighed when we got married.  And there will be some serious dancing.  I mean hot dog!  So, I'm still refusing to call any of this a diet.  I'm choosing to eat healthier, and guess what, I even want to eat healthier now.  Junk just doesn't sound good anymore.  I'm working out, almost every day, and actually looking forward to it.  Also, I'm loving shopping my own closet, pulling out super cute clothes that haven't fit in ages.  Now I'm really glad I hung on to them.

I know, it's crazy to keep working to lose weight over the holidays.  I think it's the perfect time, makes it easier to say no to all those delicious/fattening treats.  I'm actually not making any treats this year.  Crazy!  Sorry family!  Anyway, if you want to join me (it'll be fun, I promise) go ahead and click here.  I get nothing from you joining other than another friendly supporting face.

 

Snow Means Glitter

Snow days are the best.  I mean absolute best.  I didn't get the call that we were out of school until suuuper late, like I was about to get dressed.  So I was of course wide awake and couldn't go back to sleep.  That just meant I got more out of my snow day.  I caught up on all our laundry.  I mean all of it.  And it's even folded and put away.  And I did dishes and got the whole house picked up.  Oh, it was just perfect.

I did do a tiny bit of craftiness.  I decided to dress up a few plain candles.  They were just the basic jar candles.  They needed a little flair.  And I say they're not just for Christmas, glitter is good anytime, right?

I bought nothing new for this project, all stuff I had just laying around.  Um, I even used a partially burned candle...

 So I grabbed my candles, some Frog tape, glitter, and Mod Podge.

 I taped off a straight line for my glitter.  There was no measuring involved, just eyeball it.  I painted on some Mod Podge.  Shook on some glitter.  And just let them dry upside down so they wouldn't stick to the newspaper.  Clever, right?

Once the Mod Podge was mostly dry, I peeled the tape off.  And now they're ready to go.  I probably could've sealed the glitter with another layer of Mod Podge but I personally like to leave little trails of sparkle wherever I go.

Also, I'm linking up over at Hi Sugarplum today with my holiday craft for Holiday Cheer in the Blogosphere.

Anybody else whipping up crafts with what they have on hand?  Man, I love free crafts!  Now I just need to send the candles back to their original spots in our house.  And it's time to start panicking about Christmas presents.  I'm not sure how it got this close to Christmas so quickly.  Eek!