Happy New Year! (and Living Room Christmas Mantel)

We survived Christmas in our own home!  We opened presents here in the morning (not too early fortunately!), and then left at about 11:30 for a quick drive to Philadelphia to see my adorable niece who is just 5 months old.  It was great to be with them for her first Christmas.  Hope you have a wonderful New Years Eve!  Stay safe. Take a cab or get a designated driver.  We're staying home and having some friends over for a casual dinner of enchiladas and tacos.  Blue margaritas seem like a great way to ring in the New Year!

Just dropping in before the end of the year to share my winter/Christmas mantel in our Living Room.  I shared my informal family room mantel decor a few weeks ago but I absolutely love my living room mantel this year which is completely different from its neighbor in the family room.

This is a collection of silver and glass trees and other metallic trinkets that I picked up at the after Christmas clearance sale at TJ Maxx last year with my mom. I picked up those topiaries at the end of the summer on Target clearance ((Smith & Hawken).  I coveted them all summer but couldn't stomach their ridiculous price.  In the end I think I got them for $19 each which seems reasonable for something I can use in any season and in a variety of locations.

I thought about changing out the picture for a mirror just to amp up the reflectiveness but then I realized that was more work than I was willing to do in this crazy time of year.

I wonder if I could leave this set-up for a few more weeks and call it a winter mantel?

Any New Years Eve plans?  New Years Day plans?  How about those Redskins?!!

And so begins winter... my least favorite time of year.  I'm filling it with fun winter activities including skiing, snowshoeing,

Simplifying Christmas Cards

I wanted to share some tips about simplifying Christmas cards.  We send about 140 Christmas cards every year.  This was by FAR my simplest year yet in terms of processing the cards so I wanted to share these tips even though it's probably too late for many of you.

1.  The Picture

Although we typically have our family pictures taken in June, this year I unintentionally let it slip until the end of September.  As a result, we had a great family pictures which were only 2 months old when we put it on our Christmas picture. I also like to have my kids wearing cool/cold weather clothing in Christmas pictures. Just a personal preference... don't judge.

Needless to say, we'll now do all of our family pictures in the fall. Bonus, it's not generally 90 degrees so my hair is less likely to return to its naturally frizzball state.

2.  Addressing

I made the switch to printed labels a few years ago when our list topped about 85 cards.  This seemed like a real cop out, but I could not address all of those cards and keep my sanity (and job and family).  So, I did a mail merge and then use the same list every year.  I try to remember to update those who have moved, divorced, etc. throughout the year on my list when I update them in my regular contacts, but I always miss a bunch so I do a clean read of the full list before I print the labels.  I use clear Avery labels.  By keeping the list current, I have a good idea of how many cards I need to order when the time comes. Always order a few extras... see below.

3.  Stamping, Sealing, Mailing

Here's where you pull in the whole family!  Handy Hubby band kids did 90% of the labeling, return address stamping (we have one from Tiny Prints), and postage stamping.  To seal the cards, we use a glue stick.  So much easier than licking (and less scary - Seinfeld fans, anyone?) and much less messy than any water sealing device I have used.  The glue is more effective too since I find that many envelopes have inferior glue.

I like the bigger glue sticks for this project. Available here.

4. Unexpected Cards (Fun!)

Every year we receive some cards that we didn't expect.  Generally from new friends, coworkers, neighbors, or old friends with whom we have recently reconnected.  These are some of the most fun for me - yes, I am a freak.  This year, I had my card assembly workers, stamp and seal the extra cards (we generally order 15 extra beyond the existing list).  This way, when we get a new card, I hand address their card and then add them to our printed mailing list for next year.

So that's how I have made the whole card process easier on myself.  I no longer dread doing the cards and my kids have fun helping.  Who cares if a stamp is upside down?  Not the mail carriers certainly!

And in case you want to see what my Christmas card display looks like as of this morning...

I think I need another one of these.  How cute is my friend Stacey's dog (top left)?  This is from Willow House.

I'll try to swing back before Christmas to show you my living room mantle.  Exciting!

Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread Party 3.0

My wonderful neighbor Meghan hosts a gingerbread party for neighborhood and school friends every year. She works really hard on it but it is so worth it because the kids really love it (and she must too or she would not keep doing this!).  The basic premise has not change but she has found that some candies work better than others, and that you can never have enough royal frosting (Joy of Cooking)!  

Here's the table ready for the kids to start decorating.  All of the houses are pre-made by Meg and her husband Jeff (see recipes and tutorial here).  They make the gingerbread well in advance and freeze it so they don't have a made rush in the days leading up to the party.  Fortunately you don't really have to worry about staleness since these are better for looking than eating.

Balloons are always a big hit. This year Harris Teeter is carrying brown balloons - perfect for gingerbread parties!

Each child has their own candy dish.  About 75% of the candy makes it onto the houses.  25%... doesn't.

This was my little guy's first gingerbread party. He was so excited to be a "big kid" and worked so hard on his house.

The kids had some time to run off their sugar highs while we did a quick clean-up and reset the table for snack time (popcorn and bananas to counterbalance the sugar!).  

As parents started to arrive, Meghan and Jeff did the awards ceremony.  Here's Elizabeth with her award!  I was so proud of her house - she worked really hard and probably would still be working if we had not pulled her away!

 Here are some of the finished masterpieces!

For more information about the party, please check out these posts: 2010 and 2011.  These parties have always been my most pinned pictures so here are some more to add to the mix!

Thanks again Meghan for another great Gingerbread Party!

Doorways Safehouse Renovation Project

Late last week, I was asked to help out on an important project.  Doorways, a local organization that helps victims of domestic violence to find shelter and receive counseling, is starting a significant renovation of its safehouse.  The safehouse provides emergency shelter for families who are in immediate danger in their current living situation.  At any one time between 6 and 11 people live in the house.   The house has received some renovations over the past 20 years or so, but it is in need of a new roof, insulation, upgraded outlets, new vanities and other things.

I am excited to join other bloggers around the country, such as those involved in the Alma Project and Room Service Atlanta, to do a project like this with local designers.  It's a great way to give back to the community for a very worthy cause.  As with those projects, designers will be assigned to 1 or 2 rooms in the house to redesign to the extent they want.  I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Sagatov Associates is doing most of the work at low cost or through donations and volunteerism.  We have also begun the process to recruit designers, decorators, office furniture stores, furniture stores, and other local companies to provide additional assistance.  As of yesterday, we had 4 or 5 designers interested in helping out with the project!  We are still in need of 1 or 2 more designers, as well as financial donations to support the non-cosmetic renovations. Click here to donate (please note "safehouse" in the box for Additional Information).

I'll document the process on my blog so you can follow along.  Here are some slightly outdated pictures from the Doorways website to give you an idea of how dated the house is!  I'll be taking a ton of pictures over the next couple of days so I'll provide more updated "before" pictures soon!

Through the course of this project, we'll be updating the living & dining room, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a playroom, laundry room, and 2 staff offices.  

This is going to be a great way to kick off the new year and warm up a bleak winter.  

Any big volunteering projects on your horizon?  I'll take any tips from those who have done projects like these before.  

Christmas Card 2012

Just wanted to drop in and share our Christmas card cover for this year.

I love it.  It's from Shutterfly in case you are still working on your own!

Christmas Mantel

Wanted to share a few pictures of our family room Christmas mantel.  I like this mantel to be fun and whimsical since this is our family hang out location and there is nothing formal about this space.  I have used these items in various decor configurations for the past several years and they continue to be my favorites.

Of course our elf, Giddy, is back and enjoying himself in our house. My 3 year old has already told us that Giddy doesn't go back to see Santa and isn't telling Santa what he has been doing all day.  My 6 year old believes though! Jeez.

We put our tree up after we got back from New York City.  The kids were really into putting ornaments on this year.  I love sitting on the couch watching television and enjoying our tree.  I'm still happy we went with the fake tree.  

I only put about 25% of my holiday stuff out this year.  Just wasn't really into decorating but I feel the urge to do more coming on so I'll probably break out some more decorations in the next couple of days.

Linking to Thrifty Decor Chick

48 Hours of Christmas in New York City

When I was growing up, my mother and I make an annual trip to New York City from our home in rural upstate New York to check out the big city Christmas sights.  My grandparents lived in New York City when I was young and when I was older and they had moved to Albany, my grandmother would travel with us on the train.  I looked forward to this trip every year and my mother has been wanting to do the same thing with our kids for several years now. This is the first year that I felt it would be really worth the time because they are old enough to walk on their own for fairly long distances, no necessarily need naps, and eat well in restaurants.

Tree at The Roosevelt Hotel 

We reserved rooms at The Roosevelt Hotel for the first weekend in December last last summer.  Hotel rooms, particularly reasonably priced centrally located hotels, are hard to come by but fortunately I knew this going in.  The hotel was fine for our purposes. The lobby is amazing and beautiful and the rooms are clean and comfortable but not glamorous.  5 star lobby.  3 star rooms.

We arrived on Friday, November 30th at about 1 p.m. after a super quick 4 hour drive from Arlington.  My parents pulled in right behind us and we let the hotel valet park the cars.... so worth it in midtown!  After checking in, we walked straight to Macy's which is the mecca of Christmas department store shopping in NYC... for kids at least!  Macy's is home to Santaland and the world's best Santas and elves.   I'm told the wait can be 3 hours on a Saturday so we wanted to get this out of the way on Friday.  Were pleasantly surprised that the line seemed relatively short.

I think this elf's name was Twinkle.  We wound through the Santaland display for about 45 minutes before meeting the big guy.  My kids were enthralled by the trains and animated Christmas figures - singing snowmen, dancing bears, and trains were some of the highlights.

Until the kids met Santa... 

The kids spent 3 or 4 minutes talking and taking pictures with Santa. We did not feel at all rushed.  

When we stepped outside it was nearly 4 p.m.  We looked at the beautiful window displays (that's my mom with the kids).

Next we walked over to check out the Christmas market and skating rink at Bryant Park.  I wished I had had some more time to shop at the stores but the kids were tired and so was I.   We did enjoy watching the skaters though on this huge rink.  That's the tree in back of the New York Public Library in the background below.

We headed back to the hotel for a quick rest, before going to dinner at Tony DiNapoli's near Times Square.  We were so happy we had made a reservation and the food was tasty!  Restaurants in NYC, particularly in Midown, are tough with kids because most are geared towards adults or they are just fast food. It's hard to find something in between. I'll gladly take your recommendations!

We started Saturday morning with breakfast at our hotel before heading to Radio City Music Hotel for the Christmas Spectacular.  This was well worth the price of the tickets. I was glad I had opted for the Orchestra section and, in hindsight, would have sat even closer.  We were in the rear 3rd of the Orchestra in Row K in case you are looking at tickets!

When the show let out at 10:45 a.m., we went to Rockefeller Center to see the skaters and hit the Lego store.  It was PACKED but so festive and fun.

We should have walked by the tree at night but it was still great during the day.

We grabbed lunch at a pizza place before going to FAO Schwartz to see the capital of toydom.  The kids loved the Legos there too!!  I think I know what they are getting for Christmas!

We then stopped in at Dylan's Candy Bar just a few blocks east of FAO.  Holy cow!! Candy on 3 floors!!  We went to dinner at the Heartland Brewery which was fine but nothing special.  The upside was that they took reservations but the food was just okay.

Sunday morning we headed over to Times Square to ride the Ferris Wheel at Toys R Us.  Elizabeth was in NYC 3 years ago for my cousin's wedding but the only thing she remembers doing was riding the Ferris Wheel.  

And... guess what?  We rode in the Lego taxi car in the giant ferris wheel.  This just solidified their new found love of Legos!  Just to top off the weekend we hit up the M&M store where the kids filled bags of custom M&Ms that I have been munching on ever since.  UGH!

We saw soooo much in 48 hours and it was well worth the trip.  Next time though, I think the kids will share a room with Grandma and Grandpa!