Freddie's Adventures (Our Elf)

It's amazing how time flies! When I get busy, unfortunately blogging is the first thing that gets pushed aside. I love it, so I don't want to give it up, but I have to give a little somewhere. Peppers Pickins has been busy, though, so that's exciting!

We are getting into the Christmas spirit around here, and one of the ways my boys do that is through the magical travels of their elf, Freddie. I have found some great resources to help brainstorm ideas for his daily hangouts, which you can see on my Pinterest page. Some of our ideas began with the ideas of others, and why not?! We do this about 25 days each year, and it gets a little hard to continue to be original. Let's help each other out!!

Freddie with the Baby Jesus
Last year I put him with the Little People Nativity set, and that was the first time Brady decided to touch him. It wasn't the last time Freddie's been touched, either! Only by Brady, though... Jax is too scared to break the rules :)

It's tons of fun for the boys, but I have to admit, it's fun for Ryan and me, too! So far, he's delivered hot chocolate and fixin's the morning he arrived (Last year, when Freddie first arrived, he came in his box with the book. He also brought back the book for the boys to read and remember the rules for this year.), rode on one of the boys' stuffed animals, read a Christmas book in the playroom recliner, decorated the Christmas tree with the boys' undergarments (That was a hit!), peeking out of a stocking, sitting up on a ladder, and more. I try to change it up each night between nice and fun. No matter what Freddie is doing, the boys are always excited to search and find him each morning.

Freddie had a marshmallow fight with the Imaginext castle men we received from Fisher Price through House Party. He won!

Freddie was caught in action with a marshmallow in his hand!

Here's another mischievous deed from Freddie. He found one of our dry erase markers and gave the boys some new portraits. They loved that one!

I can't wait to continue to see where Freddie goes next! I hope you're having as much fun with your elf as we are. Please feel free to share your elf experiences or links to your pages with ideas.

What to Do With The Christmas Cards?

After Christmas every year, I take down the Christmas cards and look at the beautiful pictures of all of our family and friends.  Then I wonder what I should do with them and feel guilty when they end up in the trash.  No more guilt this year!

I searched {Pinterest} for ideas, and created a mix of my own.  I wanted to keep it short and simple, so I used a chicken ring to collect all of the cards on.  I don't know what the technical term is for them, but they are the rings that open and latch back together.  They are usually found in the office supply section.  Each card got a hole punch in the corner, and then I threaded them on the ring.  I made a card out of scrap card stock to add the year.  

I took it a little further and included many cards throughout the year.  Birth and wedding announcements and special cards from birthdays and holidays seemed to be a great addition to the Christmas cards.

Now we can flip through each year to see how our friends and families have grown and changed.  I also made sure to include our Christmas card at the very end so that we can compare them from year to year.

What do you do with your holiday cards?

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy new year!  I look forward to sharing more of our projects and strategies for saving with you.

Visit {HERE} to see the link parties where you will most likely find me.  Thanks to all of the wonderful hosts!

Or check them out from the links here: The Prudent Pantry, Here Comes the Sun, Jane's Adventures in Dinner, Project: Inspire, Melting Moments, The Artsy Girl Connection, Confessions of an ADD Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Someday Crafts, The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence, Stone Gable, Here Comes the Sun, Mom on Timeout

Christmas Decor Around Our House

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far!  We have a lot going on around our house.  My in-laws are visiting from Massachusetts.  We're doing some of our traditional events.  The tree has been decorated as we listen to the Chipmunks Christmas CD.  Last night, we went to Krispy Kreme to get the Christmas donuts and then look at the Christmas lights around the city.  And I've finally gotten around to taking pictures of the house and posting them.  Better late than never!  Some of these you could even throw up tonight if you want to add to your festivities.

This nativity scene is set up in our dining room up high so that the boys can't reach the glass pieces.  I received it from my grandmother.  The boys still figured out they can reach it with chairs and play with the set.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that it all stays in tact!  They even have their own Little People set in their playroom, but I guess it's more fun to play with when Mommy doesn't want you to :)

In the dining room, I added these red glass ornaments that were passed down to us from Ryan's mom.  It was very simple but adds so much to this section of the room.

I did the same in the kitchen with fishing line and colored ornaments.

On our bar, I simply took a basket, used tissue paper to fill it, and then laid the red ornaments on top.  This simple trick made the ornaments visible.

This year, I decided to set up a little coffee spot.  This makes the mugs easily accessible for our guests who might not know where to find them.  It also adds a little more color to the counter tops.
While these are not all of the decorations I have, they are some of my favorites.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy any other holidays you may celebrate!

Sending Packages the Easy Way

For Christmas, I had to send packages to my brother and brother-in-law's families.  Our post office is not the most convenient to get to, and now that I'm back working, I really don't have a convenient time to go.

I already knew you could print out shipping labels online, so I did a little more investigating.  You can actually set up a pick-up for your mail carrier!  I went to the USPS website, and there is a tab for setting it up.  You pick the day and the place they will collect the packages.  I chose the front door, but they had multiple choices and a place for any notes you need to leave them.  I left the boxes out, and they were gone when I got home from work!  We were a little skeptical and wondered if someone else decided to pick them up, but we got a confirmation e-mail from the post office the next day saying that they picked up the boxes.

I also did a little comparing between the flat rate boxes and using your own.  For my brother's presents, it was better to send it in my own package, because I couldn't fit one box into the small flat rate box.  If I could have, it was the same price.  My brother-in-law's package was going to be about the same either way.  You have to weigh the packages in order to print out shipping labels for non-flat rate boxes.  I used our food scale to do this.

This little discovery definitely made my holiday season a little easier!

Refurbished Christmas Wreath

I love the beginning of December, because it means I can decorate for Christmas!  I love taking out all of the decorations and remembering them from year to year.  I also like to see what I collected at yard sales and thrift stores to add to the collection.

This year, I pulled out a wreath that I received in college to hang on my dorm door.  It has survived the moves and is still with me.  It just isn't exciting me anymore.

Instead of getting rid of it, I decided to give it a makeover!  I used red deco mesh, green and gold sparkle ribbon, and gold plastic ball ornaments.  The reason I point out plastic is due to the fact that I started with glass balls, and one fell, ending up shattered.

There are multiple videos on the internet showing how to use deco mesh.  It is probably a lot easier to search it than for me to try to explain it.  I did two layers of the deco mesh to cover the wreath.

I then took the gold and green ribbon and wrapped it around the mesh.  You have to play with it until it looks right.

Then, I added the gold balls using ornament hooks to attach them to the mesh.  Again, you just have to play around with the placement until you get the right balance.

Now it's big enough to fill the space over my mantle.

Have you made over any wreaths?  Add your link in the comments to show off your skills.

Visit {HERE} to see the link parties where you will find me.  Thanks to all of the wonderful hosts!

Or check them out from the links here: The Prudent Pantry, Here Comes the Sun, Jane's Adventures in Dinner, Project: Inspire, Melting Moments, The Artsy Girl Connection, Confessions of an ADD Housewife, The NY Melrose Family, Someday Crafts, The Dedicated House, Adorned From Above, Organize and Decorate Everything, Six Sisters' Stuff, I Heart Nap Time, Positively Splendid, Heatherly Loves, Kayla Creations, Debbiedoo's, A Stroll Thru Life , The Thrifty Home, Beyond the Picket Fence, Stone Gable, Here Comes the Sun, Mom on Timeout

Ahhh! Thanksgiving is Next Week!

Somehow, I didn't realize that Thanksgiving was so close.  We will be traveling to see my grandparents, which is a six hour drive with two boys, two dogs, and a husband.  We made this same trip over the summer, and I found some great ways to entertain the boys.  Go here for some helpful hints if you are traveling for the holidays.  You can also find some tips on packing here.