It’s going to be a Pinteresting weekend. ‘Tis the Season to be Crafty!

‘Twas six weeks before Christmas, and all through our home,

Not a single light was twinkling, except for the one my daughter left on.  

No lights have been strung in the front yard with care,

(And if they hadn’t started rotting our jack ‘o lanterns would probably still be there.)   

So with a blast of cold and the first hint of snow,

To the basement to drag out Christmas decorations my husband and I must go! 

 

There’s a little something I like to do with the kids to enhance their literacy and creativity, we make up silly little rhymes!  Yep, I’m a poet and didn’t even know it…

There is nothing like a little blast of cold and snow to spark a little fire in my little creative mind and it makes me want to get the house decorated for the Holidays.  I have always waited until the weekend after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree, but for some reason I am feeling the urge to get started on it a bit early this year.  

Earlier this week I asked a few of the folks in my Facebook group about their traditions, and apparently I’m not alone (I would love for you to join the group! Click here…I promise not to spam you with inspirational quotes and cheesy links, but we do have some pretty interesting conversations from time to time).

So all of a sudden I’m wanting twinkling lights and garland and the scent of evergreen and peppermint to permeate our home.   And we haven’t even had turkey yet!!

We have some traditional decorations that I look forward to getting out each year.  We have a small nativity scene that was given to us when we got married and the kids love to help set it up.  There are special Christmas ornaments that we decorate the tree with – each with special memories attached to them.  We have some Christmas mugs and plates that we use during the holiday season, too.  Simple meals seem more festive on a Christmas plate for some reason.  I also like to bring out the China from time to time for our family meals.  We have it, why not use it!

Holiday Meals

Use the fine china for family meals from time to time. The kids love it!

Yes, I have all of these sweet decorations that have been added to year after year.  I love the handprint ornaments and glittery crafts that my kids bring home.  And each year I try to add to our decor by making things from scratch.  I was pretty content with our decor last year, but I made the mistake of hopping over to Pinterest the other night and now I have the itch.

I need to make things.

A few of last year’s Pinterest crafts consisted of the following:

Coffee Filter Wreath

Coffee Filter Wreath

 

Curly Q's Wreath

Curly Q’s Wreath

North Pole Cupcakes

North Pole cupcakes for Curly Q’s class

 

So you can see that I was a tad bit inspired last year.  What you see in these pictures may look cute and all.  It is what you don’t see that will make you either laugh out loud or stand in awe of my ingenuity. HA.  I specialize in sarcasm, too…  

  • The coffee filter wreath… well I couldn’t find anything round that I wanted to glue coffee filters to, so I snagged one of the kids frisbees that they got from the 4th of July parade and whola!  I had a perfect flat surface to hot glue wads of coffee filters to.  
  • The wreath for Curly Q’s room?  She still has it hanging up, minus the Christmas balls.  The round tube that I used for the form?  Some pipe insulation formed into a circle with a little duct tape.  
  • The cupcakes for Curly Q’s class were fun, but the Twizzlers didn’t want to stand up straight and I ended up being one of 15 moms that brought cupcakes to class that day.  This year I’ll be looking for something cute to do with fruit or veggies…  

 

 

When I get crafty I don’t want to go buy a whole lot of supplies.  I scour the house for things that I can improvise with.  That is even more fun with kids who like to “help”…but not when they want to use glitter.  I plan to avoid glitter at all cost.  My husband hates glitter even more than I do…

I’ll keep you posted on how our craftiness comes together.  If you are looking for some fun ideas and are on Pinterest, check out my Christmas board here.    

So this weekend it starts.  The tree is going up.  The mantle is going to be decorated.  And the frostbit and dying mums are going to be replaced with something white and twinkly in the front yard.  I won’t be re-using the tomato cage light tree creation that I made last year, that was a huge Pinterest fail… they were cute and all until the first good snow and then they looked more like shapeless blobs of white lights.   

I also won’t be trying to make everything “perfect”.  That’s a whole subject for another day, but I have two little ones that I want to involve every step of the way.  If that means that the garland looks a little saggy on one side or the bow isn’t quite right on the front steps, that is OK.  I am going to try and resist my urge to fix it, because the little hands that tied it will be so proud of their involvement in making our house come alive with the magic of the Holidays.  And through their little eyes and giggles, it will really begin to look a lot like Christmas.  

 

Want to follow along on Pinterest?  You can find my boards here…  I’m not there a whole lot, but it is a great way to find ideas and keep them organized for when the crafty mood strikes.  

Jennifer Collins

About Jennifer Collins

Jennifer is a mom with a day job and she likes to write about her victories and messes along the way. She is living an adventurous life as a Georgia transplant learning to thrive in Maine, with a strong Southern accent that screams that she is "from away" and a new-found love for lobster rolls and timely snow plows. Jennifer's writing has been featured on BlogHer, iVillage Australia, Daddy Doin' Work, and Mamapedia.