10 Inspired Ideas for a Very Country Christmas

There's something about an old-fashioned country Christmas that just warms my heart. I grew up in south Texas and then moved to what feels like the arctic circle (aka Vermont) when I was thirteen. After six long winters years living in what can only be described as the North Pole of New England, I moved back to the south at nineteen and eventually settled down and married me a good ol' country boy here in North Carolina. Country is in my roots. It's nostalgia reminds me of my childhood yet seamlessly merges with my present. With Christmas officially just around the corner, I'm happy to share with you 10 Inspired Ideas for a Very Country Christmas.

Pine & Berry Wreath

Handmade Wooden Snowman

Rustic Star Ornament

Christmas "Joy" Burlap Garland

Country Christmas Countdown

Beveled Glass & Copper Star Tree Topper

Ruffled Burlap Tree Skirt

Hanging Star Candleholders

Rustic Chic Embroidered Burlap Stockings

Christmas Sleigh Picture Frame

What is your Christmas theme this time of year? Share your favorites in the comments!

'Tis the Season

We decorated for Christmas last week. Have I mentioned yet that I love Christmas? Well in case you missed it the first time, I love Christmas. By July I'm making a list of everyone I need to buy for, setting a budget, and planning out which goodies we're going to bake. In late September, as the weather starts to get chilly and fall rolls in, I start itching to get my Christmas bins (all twelve of them, heh heh heh) out of storage and start rummaging through them. I manage to hold off, though, because  I like to stop and enjoy each holiday as it comes. I'm not the one who start decorating for Christmas the day before Halloween, but once Thanksgiving comes and goes, it's on.

Like many others, I feel that Christmas has been over-commercialized, over-sold, and the hype around material goods can easily take away from it's magic - but only if you let it. My reasons for loving Christmas don't come from any of those things. I don't go crazy with excitement over receiving and opening presents (although I do love giving them and watching others open). Christmas to me is about Christ, His love, our love for one another - and sharing and celebrating that. 

Christmas-time is very sentimental to me in other ways, too. Dusty and I fell in love over Christmas. During this season of spirit, generosity, and giving, I got one of the greatest gifts - someone who not only loves me so very deeply, but also walks by faith in Christ.

Dusty and I met in October of 2007, at a Halloween party. We had great conversation and lots of laughs, and for the next few weeks we talked on the phone for hours every night. I kept wondering if this guy was ever going to ask me out on a date! So, finally after about three weeks of waiting, I asked him out. Of course he said yes (he was just too shy to ask), but he wanted to plan (and surprise me) with the details of what we would be doing.

By the end of that (amazing) first date, it was like my soul was overcome with a peaceful feeling. Looking back now, I realize that I already knew that this man was going to take me somewhere beautiful in my life. I knew I never wanted to be without him, and from that moment on we were completely inseparable. 

By the time early December rolled around, we were crazy about each other. We would sit and talk for hours, laugh, and just be silly. This gave us an amazing foundation of friendship that is incomparable to any other relationship I've ever experienced. It wasn't about a physical attraction (although it was definitely there!) - we talked about the deep stuff. We had both been through a lot of hardships and pain in the recent years, which gave us a deep understanding of each other and only strengthened our bond. I found out that Dusty had nearly stopped celebrating Christmas all together. He hadn't even put up a tree the past few years because he was in such a dark place. It made me incredibly sad that this  wonderful man, who had so much life and kindness in his heart, had nearly stopped believing in the magic of Christmas altogether. 

Then one evening, as I showed up at his door, he announced with the biggest smile I've ever seen that he had a surprise for me. I didn't know my way around his neck of the woods, so I had no clue where we were going or what we could possibly be doing. After what seemed like forever, we pulled off the road and into a parking lot. I looked at him with curiosity as he pointed behind us. I hadn't been paying attention as we'd passed it, but it was right then that I realized there was a huge billboard that read "Kiser's Christmas Trees". And there they were - there were hundreds of them. 

I could hardly contain my excitement as we walked hand in hand looking for the perfect tree. We found one, loaded it up and headed back to his house to set it up. It was short, stout, and extremely cock-eyed, but it was ours, and it was perfect. We strung the one strand of lights we had, but we didn't have any ornaments. I took the Christmas tree tag, wrote our names and the year, and hung it by it's twist tie onto our tree. It was our only ornament, but  I remember so vividly as we stood together and looked at our tree exactly how full my heart was that night. We sat by the tree, a fire in the fireplace, just talking. He kissed my forehead, and all at once I knew what this meant to him - it meant Christmas was worth celebrating again. I also knew what it meant for me - I was in love with this amazing man. 

To this day, we still have that tree tag, and it is proudly displayed on our tree every single year. This is why I look forward to Christmas. Christ's love is amazing. It brought me a beautiful daughter, and then to the man who is my forever and is the best Daddy to our daughter. 

Decorating the tree has become such a wonderful way to not only celebrate Christ's love for us, but also our love as husband and wife and our love as a family. 

Here's a picture of our family tree, compete with Kenzie's many hand made ornaments, both mine and Mackenzie's "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments, and yes, that beloved tree tag.

Mine - 1984                                                 Kenzie - 2002

We also have a decorative tree in our living room, which has more "grown up" ornaments and a rustic theme.

I hope this Christmas fills you with the spirit of the season this year just as it has me. Merry Christmas.

50 Cheerful Christmas Crafts

It's that time of year again! Time for CHRISTMAS! Christmas crafts, Christmas decorating, Christmas baking....I love it all. I look forward to (and plan for) it all year - it's like a crafter's paradise. Here's some Christmas crafts to get your holiday cheer juices flowing. I think I just died of cute and went to crafter's heaven.

                                                1. Baby Sock Advent Calendar          2. Candy Cane Mice         

                                                3. Christmas Cookies in a Jar            4.  Button Snowman Cards               

                                                5. Card Garland                               6. Christmas Flower Gift

                     

                                                7. Citrus Slice Ornaments                 8. Cookie Cutter Ornaments

                                                     9.  Cozy Tea Holder               10. Doorknob Stockings

                                                    11. Embellished Tea Towel      12. Felt Christmas Theme Ornaments
                                                    13. Felt Holly Corsage             14. Felt Purse

                                                    15. Festive Envelopes              16. Framed Inspirational Sentiment

                                                17. Garland Trick                      18. Gift Monograms
                               
                                                19. Gumdrop Pops                    20. Handmade Santa Pillow     
                       
                                                21. Holly Leaf Place Cards         22. Holiday Cookie Mailing Tubes

                                                23. Holiday Coffee Sleeves         24. Holly Napkin Holders

                     
                                            25. Joyful Banner                        26. Mitten Clips

                                            27. Paper Plate Angels                 28. Monogrammed Candle

                                            29. No-sew Holiday Apron           30. Paper Snowflakes 

                                            31. Paper Stars                           32. Peppermint Ornaments

                                         33. Pinup Wreath                                34. Photo Frame Calendar 

                                         35. Poinsettia Blanket                          36.  Pretty Paperweights

                                         37. Pipe Cleaner Candy Canes              38. Pipe Cleaner Snowflake Ornament

                                                39. Snowflake Lights               40. Pretty Pincushion 

                                                41. Snow Globes                     42. Snowflake Tea Towel

                                                43. Sparkling Towels               43. Stamped Sachets

                                       45. Thoughtful Note Card Gift              46. Typewritten Gift Tags

                                       47. Tin Box Organizer                          48. Tinsel Stars

                                       49. Toy Ornaments                             50. Winter Wonderland Candle Trio

                       

There ya have it! I'm totally in love with the No-Sew Holiday Apron, Felt Christmas Theme Ornaments and the Snowflake Lights.Which ones are your favorite?

24 Days of Christmas Surprises

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was super cute, so I knew I had to try it out my own version this season. I'm nearly done Christmas shopping, but I have to say this simple and inexpensive 24 Days of Christmas Countdown is the thing I've been most excited about so far this season. I can't wait for Kenzie to get home from school and not only see all of the little gifts under the tree, but to see her face when she finds out they're ALL for her is going to be priceless. Who doesn't love to watch their child's eyes light up as they open something special? Now imagine how excited they would be that they get to open something new every day until Christmas!

Now, I know what you're thinking: 24 days of presents? There's no way that's budget-friendly. But it totally is! You could also do this with multiple children very easily - just pick things that are share-able and stick to activities everyone can do together.

Here's how I did it:

About half of my little surprises were things that we usually do at Christmas anyway, and the rest were free or of little cost. I made a list of as many fun Christmas themed activities I could, with some of the ideas coming from the original blog poster for this idea. Some of the things I chose were making fireplace s'mores, putting on a Christmas play for Mom and Dad, and baking gingerbread cookies for Santa. You could do as many or as few free activities as you'd like depending on your budget, but I did about half and half. I looked up cute clip-art to go along with each activity then printed them out on card stock and put each in an envelope I decorated with leftover wrapping paper.

Christmas activities:

• Create a Christmas scripture chain (here is the link to the Google Doc, by The Things I Love Most)
• Write a letter to Santa
• Put on a Christmas Play for Mom & Dad
• Go shopping for your Secret Santa 
• Make Christmas playdough (homemade in red & green)
• Sip hot apple cider by the fire
• Create snowflake cutouts and decorate the house
• Homemade hot chocolate  & toast before bed
• Make fireplace S'mores
• Go look at Christmas lights
• Make homemade ornaments (salt dough)
• Bake Gingerbread cookies for Santa

As for the gifts, here's what I came up with:

• Mug decorating "kit" (white $ store mugs, Sharpies)
• 2 Christmas movies (found these in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart)
• 3 $1 Christmas crafts - (I got mine from A.C. Moore)
• Red & Green Nail Polish ($1.38 each at Wal-Mart)
• Gingerbread House (we do this every year, so why not wrap it up? it was on sale for $7)
• Phineus & Ferb Jell-o Mold & Cherry Jell-O (also on sale at Wal-Mart)
• Christmas slipper socks ($2.88 at Wal-Mart)
• Christmas themed Fun Dip ($1)
• Mini Santa shaped chocolates ($1)

I was so excited to get wrapping that I got dumb and forgot to take pictures of all of it unwrapped! Oops. Once I had everything laid out, I numbered each item 1-24. We're a busy family so I even went an extra step and looked at a calendar to make sure the more time-consuming things fall on a weekend if it's before Winter Break for school (such as decorating the ginger bread house). I used the activity  "make a Christmas scripture chain" for Dec. 1, since there are 25 bible verses, one for each day leading up to Christmas.

Can you find the number on the penguin package? 

For the Christmas activities, I simply cut them from the printed card stock and stuck them in some envelopes I'd decorated and numbered with leftover wrapping paper. Some of the gifts I wrapped and others are in bags. The gift bags I got at A.C. Moore 3/$1 and the lunch-sack type bags I got for $0.25/each at Wal-Mart. The numbers are just extra wrapping paper taped to the bags/gifts with a square of card stock that I decorated and numbered. Once I was finished, I put the gifts under the tree and nestled the envelopes within the branches.

One of the things I love most about this project is that you can be as creative or a simple as you'd like. I hope you enjoy making it as much as I did, and I hope your kiddos love it, too!

P.S. Click below to download and print the Christmas activities list. :)
Christmas Fun