Let me go ahead and apologize, because (a) nobody really wants to hear about Christmas on January 4th and (b) there are 42 photographs in this post. Yes, I could have whittled them down to a handful, but then I would feel the need to write eighteen paragraphs to explain why we had the best Christmas ever. Instead, you can just see how much fun it was (even though the photos aren't so great) and I'll keep the words to a minimum. Christmas comes in many waves for us, but the three most important ones occur on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and (usually) the day after. I never understand what you do when you only have a single day off for the holidays, because I intend to live in my pajamas for as long as possible. I hoard my vacation days for the entire year and can't remember a time when I ...
Christmas
Best Christmas Cookies Ever
I've blogged about these cookies before, but with only a few days left before Christmas, you need them in your life! I'm not kidding you when I say that these babies are in high demand. My mom has baked them so many times this month -- to give to family and friends, to carry to Christmas parties, for Santa -- and this probably wasn't the last time we'll make them before the end of the year. My mom had all four grandkids over for cookie baking this afternoon and we're doing our best not to eat them all before Santa's arrival! Gran's Famous Christmas Cookies Ingredients: 2.5 sticks of butter 3 cups of sugar 3 eggs 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract 7 cups of all-purpose flour 7 teaspoons of baking powder 1 box of sifted confectioner’s sugar 2 tablespoons of ...
Christmas Things
How about a good old fashioned, catch me up, post?! December has been full of so many fun and memorable moments, but there is no way to devote an entire post to each one. Here are a few of the things we've been up to in the last few weeks -- it has been holiday central in our home! Last Tuesday was Sophie's Christmas Program at school. Can you spot her there, on the top row, wearing reindeer antlers? It was a multi-grade program, so her class at on the bleachers across from us until it was their turn. She was the cutest on stage -- grinning from ear to ear, every time she caught us looking. We don't have nearly enough photos of the girls with my grandparents, so we grabbed a quick snuggle with my Pop. He was especially proud that day -- he had sold one of the girls' ...
Christmas Garland Tutorial
As much as I love living in our new home, sometimes I still miss the Rock House. It was quirky and, like all old homes, had it's flaws (like the cracks in the stucco that I artfully cropped out of these photographs), but it was so bright and was the most fun to decorate around the holidays. Last year, we put up a tree and added a few holiday touches to our kitchen, but it felt more like a transition than a settling in. This year, we're embracing our not-yet-renovated forever home, but I'm taking plenty of inspiration from our previous one. One of my favorite things we ever did, was to add fresh garland around our windows and the archway in our living room. Sure, we started with an inexpensive, wire garland from the dollar store, but you'd have a hard time spotting it beneath all of ...
Our Holiday Home
I’m sharing a Holiday Home Tour and linking up with Victoria and Sarah as a part of their Christmas link party! Admittedly, I haven't shared much about our home in the last year. It's not that I don't love it or that it's not beautiful, I just had this idea in my head that it had to be finished -- or even started! -- before it was ready for the internet. I've learned a lot in the last year, but the thing highest on my list is that I love my unfinished home and I want you to come over and enjoy a cup of coffee and sit in the floor (because we still lack furniture) and chat about all the things. But, for now, let me take you on a tour of the common spaces, all gussied up for the holidays! I got a ridiculous number of questions and comments about this wreath, when I posted it on ...
Christmas Cards + Family Photographs
This is a sponsored post written on behalf of MPIX. All opinions and text are mine alone. I’m so excited to share my Christmas Cards with you today, and to be guest hosting with Victoria and Sarah as a part of their Christmas link party! Be sure to visit them both today and check out all of the other bloggers linking up with their holiday cards, in the widget below. I had big plans for our Christmas Cards this year. We had just finished our camper renovations this summer and had planned to have a big photoshoot while we were on our summer vacation. Instead, we spent much of that trip inside of Opal, battling a tropical storm, and our fun family shoot never happened. Obviously, I can't complain -- my sister is a miracle worker and managed to squeeze in an amazing family ...
Unicorn Lovers Gift Guide
I'm sharing a Christmas Wish List and linking up with Victoria and Sarah as a part of their Christmas link party! Affiliate links appear in this post. Any purchases made using these links will earn Taz + Belly a small commission. You can read more about our affiliate relationships here. Today starts a good old fashioned blog hop and I'm am so excited to be a part of it. I was thrilled when Victoria asked me to share a post for next week, but I'm equally excited about all of the other guest posters and blog prompts. I had some previously scheduled content, so I won't be linking up every day, but I'm hoping to share several posts with you as a part of the series over the next two weeks. Be sure to visit both Victoria and Sarah's blogs and check out all of the other bloggers linking ...
November Moments
November has been such a good month for us as a family -- we celebrated countless birthdays, hosted our first Thanksgiving (and there were only a cool 45 people here), welcomed out of town family, watched Ella dance in our first parade of the holiday season, picked up our Christmas tree, and loved on the sweetest new Sister Cousin ever. I can't believe we're only two days away from the busiest and best season of the year, so I'm stuffing this post full of all of our favorite November moments, iPhone style. Now it's officially time for Christmas! ...