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Secret Santa (and a few things)

Hello there! How the heck are ya?!

First of all…AHHHHHH!!!:

Are you freakin’ out yet?

Just a friendly reminder, that’s all. ;)

I had to tell you about a FUN idea my friend Stefanie over at Brooklyn Limestone came up with. She coordinated a bunch of bloggers and we’re doing a blogland Secret Santa:

How great is that? (I’m in good company, eh?) I love it cause it’s the same kind of fun I used to have in the office setting (in my old life), but this time it’s via the good old US Postal Service. ;)

I’m dying to know who has me – I got these lovely coasters the other day:

I think I know who they came from…but I’m not guessing out loud quite yet. ;) I’ll let you know who it is when I find out! I hope my gal likes her treats as well!

I wanted to share a fun linky party as well -- my friend Melissa is hosting a favorite things party, and I love sharing mine, especially this time of year:

Go check out my favorites here and see how I created the snowflake bokeh-like photo of our tree:

By the way, there are nearly 550 gorgeous trees linked up at the Christmas tree party – it’s a feast for the eyes! Go here to link up you’re own! (It will be open till Wednesday this week.)

And finally, the winners of the Antique Farm House giveaway are:

Beth at The Rhamy Roost
Amy at Wine Country Mama

Congrats ladies! Please email me at thriftydecorchick (at) gmail (dot) com and I’ll get you connected!

Hope you’re having a lovely week! Any guesses who my Santa is? ;)

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If you know where this picture is from please let me know if the comments below so I can provide credit.

Spreading Christmas CHEER!

Hello all! I hope you had a lovely weekend! I got absolutely ZERO done – Saturday we quite literally laid around all day, and only got our butts up to go see a movie. Today was spent visiting my grandparents who live about three hours away. It was a lot of driving time but it was SO wonderful to see them!

So the Christmas list hasn’t gotten any shorter, but whatev. I’ll be all supersonic this week and power through.

Today I wanted to share some Christmas craft and decor ideas that have caught my eye over the past few weeks. I’ve seen SO MUCH goodness out there, these don’t even scratch the surface.

If you are completely awesome, maybe you can throw some of these together this week? If not, we’ve all got next year. ;)

When I saw Michelle’s spray painted nutcrackers, it was one of those why-didn’t-I-think-of-that moments:

Decor and the Dog

She found them for super cheap at Hobby Lobby and just sprayed them in glossy red. I was all psyched cause I had the glossy red, just not the nutcrackers. High-tailed it to Hob Lob and NOTHIN. Goodwill…nothin.

Next year fo sho. ;)

If you are giving away some scrumptious sweets this week, Mique has you covered with some adorable printables:

Thirty Handmade Days 

Almost makes me want to bake. Or something. ;)

Check out Hannah’s cutie candy cane tree skirt:

Young and Crafty

Can you believe it was made with hot glue? No sewing people!

I think Lakeitha’s Christmas table is just beautiful:

Ramblings of a mother, decorator…

I love the little Christmas trees on the table! And check out that GOODWILL chandelier! And those velvety chairs (what is that, velvet?). I LOVE.

Absolutely LOVE all the great handmade boy gifts Charlie compiled:

Attempting Aloha

My favorite is the super hero fort kit. Hello, I would have loved that as a kid!

I love love LOVE Laura’s rustic Christmas mantel:

Finding Home

Seriously. Isn’t it gorgeous? Magazine-worthy, for sure.

If you’re looking for some bling, you’ll love Cassie’s sparkly tree craft!:

Hi Sugarplum!

They’re just sequins and stick pins but they make a major statement!

Finally, I thought Debbie’s Pottery Barn pillow was just too sweet: 

Confessions of a Plate Addict

So pretty! And brilliant -- she used sleeves from a Goodwill sweater to make the stockings!

I love blogland!! :)

There you go – plenty of goodies to keep you busy this week. Cause I know you’ll all be sitting around twiddling your thumbs. ;)

I have my kiddo and hubby home for the next two weeks and I’m in heaven. I’ll still be posting but probably not quite as much – gotta spend some time with my loves.

In the next few weeks, I hope to recap this year’s big projects and share what I have planned for the year – can’t wait!

Have a great start to the holiday week!

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Freshome

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Freshome

Right Now

Right now I’m in knee-deep in holiday STUFF. Every year I swear I’m going to have everything perfectly planned and decorated and non-stressed by now and every year about this time I laugh manically at myself.

It just doesn’t happen. :)

And I’m OK with that.

Right now the basement looks like a Christmas bomb went off. Every year I say I’m going to keep it organized as I go:

And you know…then the crazy person laughing ensues.

I blame Halloween. You can see from the five foot wide spider legs sticking out in the back that once I don’t get that all away it turns into “Awwww, I’ll just do it all in January.”

Right now I’m wondering WHY FOR ALL THAT IS GOOD it is I can’t keep the kitchen island cleaned off:

I read once online that someone thought I staged these photos. It made me laugh.

It made my husband fall out of his chair. He wishes.

Right now I’m trying to get creative with our Happy Elf (named by the Bub) every day, but I’m failing miserably. Last night it looks like he had some fun though:

And all I can think of is this:

Love that movie. Did you know it’s coming out in 3D next year? SO. THERE.

Right now I’m struggling because I was up till 2:30 a.m. reading this:

It’s good. Obviously, so good I can’t GO TO BED.

This is why I don’t read books as much anymore, which I hate. The only time I have is late at night and then I get completely sucked in.

Right now I’m getting ready for a Christmas party with the girls tonight. I’m making these (ohhhh yeah) and I sent out the call on Twitter yesterday for a festive, bubbly drink idea.

Becky’s suggestion was the easiest (I already had one of the ingredients) so I went with that:

It’s a Poinsettia Cocktail and it’s cranberry juice, triple sec and champagne. It’s yummy! I just mixed everything together till it tasted right. I may know this because I may have sampled it last night. ;)

I had about 25 things on my list today and I’m feeling pretty awesome because I got four done. Like every year, it will all get done. All the presents will get wrapped, all the food will be yummy, and if I don’t get it all done, I’m totally OK with that. All that matters is we’re happy and healthy and together. Nothing else.

Are you sampling any festive drinks, reading any good books, watching any great movies or just trying to get your house under control right now? I’d love to hear!

Have a GREAT weekend!!

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Freshome

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Freshome

A Christmas Tree Party!

Well, the time is here! It’s time to share all the magic – there is very little more magical than a tree lit up at Christmas, don’t you agree?

There’s something mesmerizing about the glow from a Christmas tree. It calms me, makes me pause and give thanks, and makes me feel all gooey inside. :)

I’m sharing the three trees we have up at our house with you today. Starting with the Bub’s FUN tree. You know…the one with the colored lights. ;)

Of course, it has all the fun stuff on it, like tinsel and garland and fat Santas. We also hang the Hallmark ornaments the Bub picks out every year on this tree:

Anyone else notice the train theme in most of these? The boy is obsessed. ;)

The Bub and I stalk Hallmark starting early October to check out the new ornaments every year. Yes, we are the ones who love seeing Christmas out that early. Sue us.

I still can’t embrace the white LED Christmas lights, but I LOVE the big fat colored lights:

I told my hubby next year I’m doing all the exterior lights in color – they are just too fun and the Bub will only be this age for so long.

We used to have a family room tree every year, but because of some changes I’ve made to that space, we haven't had room for one in a while. I missed having all those pretty ornaments up, so last year I picked up a skinny tree at Lowe’s for a killer deal – only $12!

I LOVE love love the ornaments on this tree – they’re mostly silver and white and glass. Lots of shimmer! They are just gorgeous:

The beautiful baby boy pictures sure don’t hurt either. :) My boy has a December birthday and was and continues to be the BEST Christmas gift I’ve ever received.

Because I knew I’d put this tree in my office, I picked up some blue and green ornaments at Walmart on clearance last year. They go perfectly in the new office! (Which I will show you first thing in January…it’s OH so close!):

I adore this skinny tree – it looks SO real.

Finally, we come to the Big Mama. ;)

I think every year of my life I’ve had a real tree at Christmas – we were just a real tree family growing up and I continued that tradition.

But new hardwood floors kind of changed that. ;) I wasn’t set on it till the guys pulled up the carpet in the front room before the install. There was a HUGE water ring on the plywood, and I stood there for about five minutes trying to figure out what in the heck it was from.

It finally hit me – the Christmas tree. Seven holidays in this house, plus cats who wouldn’t leave the water alone, plus a tree that wouldn’t stand up one year equaled lots of water seepage. Although I’m finding the floors hold up great to spills, we just couldn’t chance a real tree.

Soooo…after much research over the past few months, we ended up with a BEAST from Lowe’s. I wanted a ten foot tree, like we got in a live tree. Hubby wanted to go MONSTER size. So we went with the 12-footer from Lowes.

It was SO easy to put together. The lights are already on it (and don’t go out if one dies) so that saved me hours of work.

But the extra couple of feet meant more ornaments, and next year I think we’ll need a new (taller) ladder to safely decorate the whole thing. ;)

This one is mostly decked out in red and gold, with a few of our most meaningful ornaments mixed in:

About half of the ornaments are from Walmart – I love their selection! There’s a bunch more from Big Lots and the rest we’ve had for years. It seems our tree has gotten bigger every year, so every year after the holidays I get more. (I like our tree dripping with ornaments.) But this is the tallest it gets people. No. more.

Like always, I use a few yards of faux silk as my tree skirt. I just throw it under there and fluff:

It always works great and with a coupon the fabric was WAY cheaper than a real skirt!

Here she is in all her glory – it’s not easy getting a picture of all of her. ;)

I miss a real tree so much (I found something to help with that I hope to show you soon!), but I gotta say, this is SO much less stress!! A tall real tree is SO heavy and was always hard to get just right in the stand, so I was always worried about it falling. (Since the tree debacle a few years ago I started tying it to wall.)

And not having to water (and not worrying about the animals getting in the water) is the GREATEST!!

Of course…I couldn’t have a Christmas tree post without some night shots. My favorite. :)

So here you go…

See? Magic. ;)

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

Now let’s see yours! :)

I’d appreciate it if you could link back to TDC in your post and use this pretty button as well:

Have fun!

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Freshome