This coming Saturday, my family and I will be participating in our church’s annual Trunk or Treat event. This is our second year doing it. Along with the trunks to treat from, there will be free food, music, games, free photos and more. I can’t wait. In case you aren’t familiar with what a Trunk or Treat is, let me explain. Trunkers bring a car or other vehicle and decorate it. The Treaters go around to the various trunks and collect their candy and treats. It is safer than going to unfamiliar houses, and it is a lot of fun. … Continue reading →

I have to come to grips that summer is over. Summer is my favorite season. I love the sun and the heat. We’ve had few cold days so far this fall, but enough for me to break out the jeans and long sleeves. I need to look through Jessie’s jammies from last year to see if she has any that would fit her now. I went through the box of 12-month clothes to find footie jammies for Emily. We have not turned the heat on in the house yet nor have I stopped wearing sandals. The colors are starting to … Continue reading →

This year we have, thanks to my daughter who is the artistic one in the family, a new idea for our card tree. It’s just a simple change but it makes a lot of difference to the way the card tree looks. Every year the card tree goes up, so yesterday we took a walk and scouted round for some branches that had come off gum trees in recent storms. Eucalypts or gum trees are notorious for snapping apart, which is why I would never have one near the house. Come to think of it, I would never have a … Continue reading →

Decorating for Christmas can be a chore or a lot of fun depending on your outlook. Pretty much our approach to Christmas decorating is to keep it simple. I’m not a crafty person, so me making Christmas decorations is never going to happen, unless they were dead simple like a couple of Michele’s suggestions. At the recent Christmas ladies night our church held, all I managed to do was provide amusement for the other ladies at our table. That’s okay, I figure you do the things you can and don’t worry about the others. I’m looking forward to putting up … Continue reading →

With just over a month to Christmas it’s time to start thinking about Christmas decorations. I rarely buy new decorations but jets tend to recycle the same ones in different places or freshened up each year. Usually like Mary Ann I have bowls willed with pinecones as part of my table decorations. This year though I have a brand new Christmas decoration and it will on prominent display. It is a Christmas tableau. Released by Walker Books The First Noel – A Christmas Carousel by Jan Pienkowski is a delightful work of art. While closed it looks like a book, … Continue reading →

With just a few items that you probably already have around your home, you can create instant holiday centerpieces that are festive and guest worthy. Grab a Bowl Dust off a pretty bowl to create a nice centerpiece for your table. You can fill one with colorful ornaments that create an instant holiday mood. Be sure to vary the sizes of ornaments for interest but keep to the same color scheme for continuity. Another way to create an instant centerpiece out of a bowl is to fill it with pine cones. If you live nears woods or a park like … Continue reading →

Choosing Christmas lights used to be pretty simple. You simply went to the hardware store and purchased the number of strands that you needed to cover your tree, not exceeding the limit of how many could be plugged into one outlet. Today, things are a little more complicated. Hopefully these tips will help you choose the right lights for your holiday decorating. Let us start with incandescent versus LED lights, since you can usually choose among either of these options for most of your lighting needs (although some types of lights do tend to be one or the other). There … Continue reading →

I enjoy decorating with pinecones because they are a natural material, easily found, cheap to buy and very homey. They are also somewhat flexible and will adapt to different styles of decorating, from county to town. But if you are bored with the standard look of pinecones, you can alter them to create many new looks. Here are some standard and not so standard ideas for changing your pinecones to reflect your style. Lighten Up If you want something a bit more modern and less dark, you can lighten your pincones by bleaching them! This creates some nice color ranges, … Continue reading →

Luxurious or simple, traditional or modern, the Christmas tree skirt that you choose can enhance the beauty of your Christmas tree or stand out like a sore thumb. Here are some easy to remember guidelines that will help you choose the perfect tree skirt for your Christmas decorating. The first thing to determine when choosing a tree skirt is the size of it. How many of use forget about size and just choose something that looks good to us. But size does matter. You don’t want a skirt that is too big or too small for your tree. The skirt … Continue reading →