Monthly Archives: December 2015

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: Recap

Posted in Decorations, DIY by

I have enjoyed this last year of monthly holiday decor so much. I love thinking up and searching for inspiration, making plans and then seeing those plans come to fruition.  Decorations adds so much to the feel of each holiday, and I do love holidays so much.  So after completing my goal to change it each month, I thought I would share a little recap of all them together. It is so fun to see them all in one place. Thanks for following along.  And although I have really enjoyed it, I am also very much looking forward to focusing on some other projects now.  🙂  Plus I still have a few projects I didn’t get around to each month (especially the pillows, I only got to 1/3 of them).

JANUARY

1 January Decor

FEBRUARY

2 February Decor

MARCH

3 March Decor

APRIL

4 April Decor Continue reading →

12 Month’s of Holiday Décor: December

Posted in Christmas, Decorations, DIY by

December Decor (1)

Yay, it’s December!  Christmas is my favorite holiday and I have been so excited for the Christmas decorations!  I actually made most of them last year, I was really busy and productive last November. But I love the changes that I made this year even more.  Also, be warned, there are lots of pictures.

December Decor (2)

I love boxwood and wanted to use it around the mantle, but I haven’t ever seen any boxwood garlands.  So I bought a wreath from Trader Joe’s and then took it apart.  My friend Wendy also let me get some free holly clippings from her dad’s property, which was so nice.  I love the holly and boxwood together.  (When I told Vu we were going to get the holly he said “What is that?” seriously? How do you not know what holly is?)

December Decor (3)

This Olive wood nativity is from Jerusalem.  It was my first nativity.  It was a gift Vu gave me long before we were married.  He went to a lot of work to get it for me.  The wood comes from 1 of 4 olive groves that could be the garden of Gethsemane.  Of the 4 groves there are 2 that have a much higher likelihood of being the actual grove.  And then of those 2 one is a little more likely than the other.  This wood comes from that 1, the one believed to be the most likely to be the garden of Gethsemane.  As I understand it, it takes years and lots and lots of work to get wood from this grove.  Vu knew someone who managed to get one, and was making it into a piano.  Vu asked him if could buy the cut off pieces.  And then found a carver in Jerusalem that could then turn them into this nativity.  And each step required some intense kind of documentation to make sure it is still the same wood from that original olive tree from that one grove.   To me, it is kind of like the ultimate nativity.  It is very special to me, not just for it’s individual value, but also because of the effort and thought Vu put into it, and the representation of how much he loves me.  And because Christmas is my favorite.  After this, I decided to start collecting nativities from around the world, to represent my love of travel and my love of Christmas.

December Decor (4) Continue reading →