Clothes Pin Christmas Card Wreath

How do you display your Christmas cards? Do you tape them to the stair railing? Throw them in a basket? Magnets on the fridge? Last year I put ribbon around my kitchen cabinets and used mini clothes pins to hold the cards in place. I liked that all right, but I'm always looking for new ways to be creative. A few weeks ago I was inspired by {of course} the one and only Pinterest. I found this wreath made out of clothes pins to hold Christmas cards so I thought I would give it a try... I was originally inspired by Craftiness is not optional but I ended up doing a few things differently.

 First, I painted all my pins with acrylic craft paint in red, green, and white. After letting them dry I wanted a little something more so I added stripes to the white pins and polka dots to the red ones. After that I found a wire hanger and {mostly} bent it into a circular shape. Then I put the clothes pins on the hanger and sealed the ends of the hanger with my handy glue gun and added some ribbon to cover the leftover wire.

Ta-Da! My final product. What do you think? Overall I'm happy with how it turned out. Now to put it away for a few more weeks until I start getting cards in the mail!

No more school for me!

At Disneyland with my love
last Monday, 9/24/12,
NOT starting school with
everyone else :)

Today marked the start of week #2 of fall quarter at SPU and I'm not there! Well, I'm still sort of there because I'm working across the street, but I'm not actually there. I've driven through campus on my way to and from work and thought about how grateful I am to be done with school, but also how thankful I am for all the experiences I had at Seattle Pacific. Tonight I was thinking about all the students who will be eating dinner in Gwinn and all the nights I would walk over with all the girls on my floor for dinner. When I drive by in the mornings I think about all the times I rolled out of bed and barely made it to my 8am class on time. I look at all the sleepy students wandering around and wonder what classes they're going to and if they have any of my favorite professors. College was a wonderful experience and it's certainly bittersweet thinking back on it (even though it was only just a few months ago!). The "sweet" part is that I have no homework! No papers to write, no late nights trying to get through endless chapters of reading, no more sitting through gen. ed. mandatory classes. The "bitter" part is a bit harder to deal with...I miss my roomies so much and the wonderful memories we have made. I miss running into people I know and care about. I miss chatting with professors after class. I actually miss having a crazy schedule and filling in my calendar with different things every week. Change is always hard, but I am blessed to have had such a wonderful college chapter in my life!

Last Wednesday night we had our first "Dinner Church" of the year and it was so fun to be back in the routine! We had a full house of kids and it was great to see them all so excited for the new things they would be learning. After playing in the gym we sat in a big circle and I had everyone say their name, grade, and favorite subject in school. When it was my turn I said that I was graduated from college which means I'm all done with school and one kid said, "Whoa! That means you're a grown up!" I laughed and said that I was kind of a grown up, sort of an in-between/almost grown up type person :) A 2nd grade girl gasped and said, "You're a grown up! Do you have a boyfriend?!" I chuckled and tried not to turn too red when I replied "Well, yes....." All the kids started giggling and the girls were rapid-fire asking me questions: What's his name? Is he cute? Where is he? How did you meet him?.....After regaining everyone's attention I told them that we weren't talking about that right now and that it was time to line up for class! haha Oh how I love the kids I work with. The lesson series we're doing this fall has to do with friendship and I'm excited for all the things that we'll be learning on Wednesday nights. Not to mention the fact that we just started practicing for the Christmas musical on Sunday!! I love kids Christmas music! Probably a bit more than I should.... :)

Things to be thankful for.

November has arrived! This is definitely my favorite month of the whole year for many reasons.

• It really starts to feel like fall and I can wear cute coats and scarves
• Holiday drinks and red cups at Starbucks!
• Stores are starting to decorate for Christmas
• Shopping early to get the perfect presents for loved ones
• Less school: Veteran's Day & Thanksgiving holidays
• Going home for Thanksgiving
• Celebrating many birthdays (including my own!)

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday. I don't think I would ever tire of listening to Christmas music or having special decorations up. Christmas scented candles. Special foods. Twinkly lights everywhere. Love for friends, family, and enemies alike. Sharing presents with loved ones. Wearing tacky sweaters and also dressing up for parties and church. I get in "trouble" for starting these things too early- I have been told Christmas can't come until after Thanksgiving, but who came up with that rule? I love everything about Christmas and don't see why we can share that love a little early each year :)

In October I started keeping track of one thing I was thankful for each day and am continuing to do it in November. At the end of the day how often do we look back and think of all the little things we can be thankful for. It doesn't have to be a life changing event, just something that we were blessed by.

Here is my thankful November list so far:
1. crisp winter weather
2. meetings with caring professors
3. Falconettes and red cups
4. love and hugs from kids in jammies
5. reading and rocking little boys to sleep
6. that extra hour to sleep
7. scheduled break days from classes

As the month continues the list will grow. Thank you Jesus for the blessings in my life.

Christmas?

Well, I get to this point every year and I start thinking about how much I can't wait for Christmas to be here. I really do love every season in its own way- the crisp smell of fall, the beautiful flowers of spring, and the warm sunshine of summer- but there's just something magical about Christmas time. It's always been my favorite time of year. Wearing sweaters, drinking cider, decorating the tree, listening to Christmas music, baking tons of cookies, spending time with friends and family, putting up lights, oh the list could go on and on. But, you say, its only August! Why are we thinking about Christmas when there's a whole handful of holidays between now and then....well, because Christmas is my favorite. That's why. Don't get me wrong I love all holidays (I just bought some smiley pumpkin jack-o-lantern lights at Michael's today for Halloween), but like I said- Christmas is MAGICAL. Anybody want to watch Elf with me?? If I still haven't convinced you then I will just leave you with some pictures that should make anyone start thinking about Christmas and how wonderful it is :)

This last one just makes me feel happy. Christmas isn't about getting, it's about giving and loving :)