holiday mantle

We are getting into the holiday spirit over here. Sunday night I set up the mantle. Arranging an appealing mantle is hugely challenging for me, and to be honest the first several years I was here I just gave up and let it be a junk collector. A couple years ago I started to try to put more effort into it. It's not easy, and I haven't really wanted to specifically buy things for the mantle. So I've persevered, trying to make each mantle a little better. (My fall mantle was by far my favorite). Here is what I came up with this year for a Christmas mantle. What I like is that these are mostly pieces pulled together that are not specifically holiday but have a holiday feel nonetheless. I was going for a woodland/nature-y theme.
The faux-bois stick is one I made for Ken for Valentine's day a couple years ago. The faux-bois vase is new. The linen covered votive is from Thanksgiving.
The fabric wrapped wreath is based on one posted by Soulemama a couple years ago. I always loved hers, so basically copied the idea. The foam wreath cost $5, but otherwise I used materials that I had in my stash, most of them thrifted. The little ceramic bird is from a local antique shop.
Jacob made me that clock when he was in 8th grade woodshop. I love love love it. I think of him whenever I see it, and it always stays on the mantle.
And here is how it looks lit up at night. I adore how candlelight feels so magical, especially in winter.
I'm having a fairly productive evening this night. I set up our little wintry village and Faith helped me tie everything to the advent calendar for tomorrow's start. I had to remind Dieter that there is nothing new on there--no gifts--and he handled it quite nicely, I think. I'm so pleased to have it ready to go for tomorrow! Also I'm simmering soup for tomorrow's soup night. I'm making a long-simmering recipe and again am feeling so pleased and efficient to have started it the night before. It smells wonderful. I also have on my schedule to wrap a gift and make a gnome tonight, but I'm not going to get to it, I'm afraid. Maybe Thursday night. I have some built-in leeway in the little holiday "to-do" schedule I set up for myself. Tonight I may err on the side of getting more sleep. Happy December to all!

make make make

{homemade jams--labeled for giving}

We had such a good crafting weekend around here. Here are just some of the things we worked on--
We're giving more homemade jams as gifts this year. I love that all the work was done up front, way back in summer, and now all that is left to do is the fun crafty packaging of them. These are way easier than making cookie boxes and I suspect might even be more appreciated. A jar of homemade jam can be tucked away for a cold day in February when all the Christmas sweets are long gone.
The little boys and I made a felt garland. This turned out to be a really fun craft for them. They weren't able to cut the felt themselves, but they loved stringing the squares onto the thread. I was surprised they took so well to using a needle.

{felt garland}

The boys also adored making paper bag monsters. Not a Christmas craft, but so fun.

{paper bag monsters}

I also made lip balms for the Christmas packages. So fun! I used the recipe from Angry Chicken's e-book. Super easy. I made a triple batch, twice, and I think I ended up with 10 balms.

{peppermint lip balms}

It was back to work today. I can't believe we have only 3 weeks left and then it is Christmas vacation! It's going to fly by.

In other news, we are still eating Thanksgiving leftovers and loving them. Our Thanksgiving food is very traditional, from scratch, and yummy. How about you? Still enjoying the leftovers?

thanksgiving wrap-up

{all 5 kids together--a rare sight these days}

{Faith, with my dad in the background}

{Ben}

{three generations--Faith, me, my mom}

{Jacob came home from college! It's great seeing these two together. They are so close}

I couldn't resist posting just a few more pictures from Thanksgiving. We had twelve people in all--a large group for this house. I was so happy to have everyone here. We ended up reversing the living and dining rooms again (like last year), adding a card table, and my parents brought up four folding chairs. Perfect! It was plenty roomy and comfortable. We did pot-luck style again this year too. I think Thanksgiving is the perfect time to host a potluck. Everything was delicious and a good time was had by all.

I've had a huge burst of productivity for the Christmas crafts and gift making these last two days. All simple things, but all things that I tend to overthink or procrastinate on normally. There was Gilmore Girls watching involved (whilst crafting), which helped a lot, I think.

Faith programmed my Pandora to the Christmas station and we are loving it! I've stripped down most of the Thanksgiving decorations already and Christmas is going up. I usually don't decorate and take action so early in the season, but this is feeling very right to me. I'm keeping everything super simple, doing things early, and hoping for a calm, joyful, and peaceful holiday season. Hooray!

last-minute thanksgiving craft

I decided to do a craft on Thanksgiving day. I had been looking through an old back-issue of Real Simple the day before, as we drove Carrie to the airport (Ken was driving, bless his heart--the traffic was very very bad), and I was really inspired by a table setting that featured natural materials. So I decided to make something in that vein.

{natural votive holders}

This was very fun for me and Faith, and the little boys wanted to get in on the action as well. We have a whole tray of these little glass votives from Michael's. They are sweet in a way, because I love candlelight, but super boring in their plain state. So I found linen scraps in my studio. We brushed on glue (mixed with a little water) directly onto the glass, then covered it with linen cut to size. I had a little spool of hemp twine, so we wrapped some of that around the middle and just stuck in little bits of nature found around the yard: fall leaves, rose hips, acorn caps stuck to a twig. I love the look of these.
These can be saved for another occasion if you just discard the nature bits and insert something else for a different season. Maybe a dandelion or a tiny rosebud or even a sprig of rosemary.
Here is the kid version. What the boys enjoyed doing: brushing the glass votives with glue mixture, finding nature bits in the yard, and using lots and lots of this adhesive ribbon trim.
And here is how they looked on our Thanksgiving pie table. I was really happy with the results!

a random list of thankfulness

I was thinking about some things I am thankful for . . .
:: opportunities -- to strive for self improvement, to self-actualize (or try to become so), to make lists and to re-assess, to gain inspiration and to act on it. To dream.

:: for the pink roses Ken picked for me and arranged in a vase and brought inside while I was on my Ikea trip

:: for fun visits from friends and for feeling connected

:: mornings! and cold weather and frost on the windshield and gloves

:: for snow and the mountains and my husband who drives us all up there

:: for learning to knit and for working on a sweater and for size 8 needles and for wool

:: for where I live because I must have ended up here for a reason, and for being able to see the beauty in this place

:: for being able to reframe things in my head and turn things over and for good moods and optimism and for usually being happy

:: for domesticity and home life and cooking and good food and balance and for my sweet family, especially Ken, who makes it all possible

Goodness, it feels good to write that all out. Highly recommended!

Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating. We'll be right here cooking and trying to figure out once again how to fit everyone comfortably around the table. It's a "problem" I'm so lucky to have. Warm Thanksgiving wishes to all of you!

fun Ikea trip

Carrie is still here and we are having a wonderful visit. Today was our annual trip to Ikea (well, it's not really an annual trip, but we do seem to make time for an Ikea shop-up whenever she comes out). There is just something so fun about that store. I think I just love the Swedishness of it. The Christmas decorations were up, so that was very festive too.

I always admire these curtain panels whenever I go in.

Cute play kitchen!

Dreaming of hardwood countertops . . .

Swedish-y Christmas accents . . .

Love the packaging here . . .

Tomorrow we're driving Carrie to the airport and are very sad, but it's been such a great visit!

november weekend

{Carrie and Faith}

We are having such a fun start to our Thanksgiving break! My friend Carrie is visiting all the way from Kansas, and we always have a blast when she is here. Saturday was a thrifting/eating/shopping afternoon, just Carrie, Faith, and me. We hit the thrift stores in downtown Ventura, got fish tacos at Sharkey's (Carrie always likes to get fish tacos when she's in California), and did Michael's and Target runs. It was girly type fun.
After Target, Faith wanted a donut. It was 4 pm but what the heck. We're on vacation!
Look at this pure deliciousity. Even though it was late on a Saturday afternoon, these were still warm from the fryer. Yum!

{Faith took this picture of me outside the Arc store in Ventura}

And Sunday was perhaps the best day ever. Ken, Carrie, Dieter, Rainer and I drove to the snow! This is about an hour and half away, in the mountains above our town. There was not a ton of snow, but definitely enough to play and have fun in. When we got there it even snowed on us a little--super exciting. Then, after awhile, the sun came out and everything was all sparkly. We loved it.

{Dieter, Carrie, and Rainer}

After the snow, we drove down the mountain a bit and hung out at a beautiful campground next to a creek. We had brought hot chocolate, a picnic lunch, chairs, and knitting. It was idyllic just to hang out there on a wintery afternoon, talk, knit, and watch the boys. The colder weather was thrilling. It was in the 40's at the campground-- such a nice change of pace from the more moderate weather we usually have.

{Carrie and me, knitting and chatting}

I think this was my perfect day! Loved ones, nature, dramatic weather, beauty, hanging out, even knitting! In the evening, I made a delicious pan-roasted pork loin with leeks and homemade applesauce for dinner. I loved the warmth and homeyness of that after a day spent outdoors. What is your perfect day?