christmas 2012

i feel like as you get older, birthdays and holidays lose their excitement a bit. don’t get me wrong, i still love the day that celebrates me, and christmas is my favorite time of year, but it’s not the same as when you’re a kid. but it turns out having a kid is just as good, or perhaps even better since you are the one bringing them such joy. sure, henry was too young to understand christmas and santa (and i can’t wait until he does), but the magic was back in full force.

we had a lovely christmas eve at my parents’ continuing our traditions of christmas eve mass, opening a present (if there is one that is useful for the night like a game), a delicious dinner and playing games (and, um, drinking too much ). christmas morning was full of present opening (with some really great presents!), eating paper and ribbons (henry only), and getting the house and food ready for the 36 total people attending christmas dinner at my parents’. it was a packed house, which is how i love christmas, and it was so great to catch up with cousins and grandparents and eating way too much delicious food. henry did so well, happy as could be getting passed from person to person, until dinner time, of  course. but once he was fed he was happy again and i could actually eat my cold but delicious dinner.

such a great first christmas with henry, and i already can’t wait for next year!

how was your christmas? did you get everything you wanted?

{justine}

merry merry

just wanted to pop in and say merry christmas! i hope santa was good to you and you have a lovely day with those you love.

henry’s first christmas has been everything i’ve dreamed of, complete with a long nap – one of the best presents a mom can get

i’m off to enjoy the 36 people headed to my parents’ house…

{justine}

handprint ornament {diy}

henry has adorable, tiny hands, like all babies. and i’m sentimental and want to remember them forever. i was thisclose to buying one of those handprint ornament kits from the store but then i heard about salt dough. seemed easy, and i had all the ingredients so i tried it out. and easy it was. the hardest part was getting henry to keep his hand spread out while not grabbing the dough.

first make your salt dough.

salt dough:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

mix together until fully incorporated. knead dough for 7-10, or until soft and smooth. roll out to your desired thickness on a floured surface, mine was about a quarter-inch. create your ornaments, poke a hole in each for hanging (with a straw or skewer) and either bake in a 200 degree oven for a couple of hours or air dry a few days until dry. once painted (or not),  spray with a couple of coats of poly to seal and help it last.

i pressed henry’s hand in the dough before cutting out – it was a bigger target for his wriggling hand. after i used a bowl to cut a circle around his handprint. then before baking i  stamped his name in the dough – one time with ink, one time without (i made two in case). after baking the ink was completely visible (which means it works), however, i didn’t like my execution of it. but you can leave all the decorations until after drying, the dough takes paints well.

after quickly sanding rough edges (i wasn’t very clean with my cutting) i spray painted the entire ornament white, then painted the stamped letters with gold rub ‘n buff.

please ignore the execution of these (they were done quickly and without much thought) but the leftover salt dough can be used for extra handprints or additional ornaments, shaped any way you please (cookie cutters would work well, of which i have none). (that’s an h for henry, i wasn’t spelling ‘oh’ or ‘ho’)

perfect for a last-minute gift for the grandparents or to hang on your own tree to remember those itty bitty hands.

what, you thought i would have a post without henry in it?

are you ready for christmas? i have just a couple small gifts to get still (ugh, i hate being this last-minute, and i don’t know when i’ll get to them) and just a couple small ones to wrap. i. am. so. excited!

{justine}

linked to: southern lovely

christmas 2011

we had such a wonderful christmas. my sister-in-law and her family were great hosts, we received awesome and generous presents, everyone (seemed) to love theirs, and we had lots of family time. christmas eve we celebrated with a night of appetizers (my fave) and scattergories (another fave). christmas day we started with a great breakfast (courtesy of pinterest), opened the piles of presents and had a delicious dinner which included a monster prime rib made by ryan. once we were back in chicago we had christmas #2 with my family, which included our yearly tradition of ice skating, garrett’s popcorn and going to macy’s to see the tree and get clearance ornaments, a rib dinner, more presents and playing my new game, the game of things. it was so much fun and i can’t wait to do it all again in another 361 days (with a six month old! crazy).

of course i took a ton of photos. here’s a photo dump of the above and more.

{where’s jimmy?}

{no bows were safe}

{a gift from me to ryan, preparing for next season already}

{my new coat!}

{first sleeping bag}

{our hand-knitted gloves}

{the fabulous and yummy dessert}

hope you had a wonderful christmas, and have a fabulous new year!

{justine}