Changing Christmas

Merry Merry Christmas!! I love this time of year! I am so excited to have special times with my little family and enjoy some neat things that we don't normally do during the rest of the year.

This year I've decided to change lots of things! One is some of my decor. I get tired of things looking the same every year, but I can not afford to go buy ALL new Christmas stuff every time I get bored!           (Shocking! I know.) So after Christmas last year I had an interior decorator GIVE me lots of left over ribbon.(HOW COOL IS THAT!?) I thought I could make lots of new BIG bows and make things look a little different.

Here's my front door... I found these ice skates at a local Christmas show and decided to use them instead of a wreath...

I think they turned out nice and it is definitely a something different! I also found a wreath stand for $1 at a yard sale so I made a matching bow to sit near the door with the skates..

For a long time I had a plaid red ribbon on the top of my tree that I liked, but it was time for a change too.

NICE that a strand of lights right in the middle is not burning and I can't get them to come on... I'm NOT stressin' over it. You can't really tell when you are standing in front of it because the lights are pretty bright. It's hard to see the ribbon in ths picture, but I love it and it updates my tree a little so it makes me happy!

Another change that we are making is that we are purposefully NOT making tons of plans. We have run ourself ragged in years past and while we enjoyed time with friends and family we were just TOO stressed. This year we have still done a few things, but we have not scheduled ourselves so much that we can't just enjoy sitting by the fire at home and having dinner as a family.

This year has been a hard year financially for lots of folks and we are no different. At first I was worried about how we'd pay for the gifts that we wanted to buy. Funny thing is... it is kind of freeing to not have much to spend. We will just do the best we can for our family members and let that be it! I have not worried about what to buy everyone (ok, except my in-laws!) and it has been kind of nice. I have made more of an effort to find things that have meaning and not just a shirt or tie because I need a gift for them!

I have found that this year, probably more than any other, I have focused less on the THINGS of Christmas and more on WHY we celebrate just because things have been more simple. I am grateful for more things because I've had time to think about them! My brother is home from rehab. THAT, my friends, is a huge gift to ALL of my family! Who needs a new sweater when he is on the road to recovery and walking a little better everyday!? THAT is such an answer to prayer!!

What have you done to make things more simple this year? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU! I pray the Lord's richest blessings on you and your family this holiday season! He is so worthy of our praise at this time of year and all year long!