Holiday Archives - Page 5 of 7 - A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living

Twelfth Day: Branch Ornament Display

We have finally come to day 12. It’s sad, true, but that means it’s Christmas, right? I almost had to end on day 11 because a nasty cold came over our household. I even laid down for a bit during daylight hours yesterday which is kind-of a big deal for me. I’m thankful to just have a cold though, as opposed to the stomach flu or something. Ick. I’ve scraped up some late-night energy to bring you this finally piece of Christmas cheer. It’s my favorite of all 12 days so it would be hard to keep me from sharing it.

I love awesome things that don’t cost anything to make. This is that kind of project. I’ve been searching for a way to display my Grandma’s ornaments where my kids can’t ~~throw them around like baseballs~~ accidentally break them. I saw this pin on the very same day I had already decided I wanted to bring some tree branches in from our dead backyard tree. So, I screwed in some hooks to the ceiling, attached some fishing line to the branch and then to the hooks, and shortened or lengthened the fishing line until it was the perfect angle for my taste.

I think vintage ornaments are beautiful, don’t you?

This one’s my favorite. Yellow + polka dots. What could be better?

I can see myself in this shot. This reminds me of those string of Ebay pictures that different people took and posted. The people taking the pictures didn’t realize you could see their reflection and some were naked, hairy, or just weird-looking. Makes a person think twice before posting a photo. Random, yes, but still relevant.

lovely.

I love the mood it sets when we sit down for a meal with it peacefully dangling above us. It’s a an instant mood-changer.

Have any last-minute Christmas projects your working on?

Eleventh Day: Photo Wreath

Whew! It’s Christmastime! It’s been pretty busy around here with Christmas prep and activities. I took a little online break because I think it’s nice to unplug often. Anytime is a good time for unplugging really, but especially during the holidays. Everywhere I look people are on their phones and then the kid’s are on their parent’s phones. I have to admit it makes me feel a little bit like the Grinch. I want to run down the mountain with a big bag and scoop up everyone’s phones for at LEAST the holidays. Maybe I’m the only one that it rubs the wrong way but I’m just so tired of it. If there is a valentine’s version of angry birds, I really might lose it.

Anyway (exit soapbox and the phone Grinch character), there’s been so much going on with us besides Christmas (and a few hitch-hiking colds from recent visitors). We’ve been in the process of doing foster care for a few months which has been so exciting but also a lot of work. I just keep thinking of snuggling those little kids with love which gets me through the harder patches of paperwork during the holidays. We have had a couple of trainings (a 1 day and a 3 hr), our 1st interview, hours and hours of paperwork, fun moments of digging through our past and telling the story of our family and who we are, more paperwork, appointments being made for health check-ups and drug screenings, and various magnetic locks and toolboxes being purchased for our different containment requirements.

With all of this foster care business and talk of our life and past, I’ve been checking out some of our old pictures. Actually, I do this a lot with no reason required but I thought it was a good time to go back and peruse the Nikon archives. I saw this really cute idea on Pinterest involving a display of Christmas cards surrounding an embroidery hoop. I thought I would do something similar but use my Christmas picture archives to surround the hoop. I just took a large embroidery hoop and glued small clothespins around it, alternating which direction they faced (out then in). Then, I selected my pictures (SO HARD TO CHOOSE!) and printed mine with a snazzy vintage action. Accessorize with a bow of your style and hang in the best corner suited for nostalgia.

One of my very favorite pictures of my firstborn and my third-born. They love each other so.

Our almost 8-year-old pug, Leonard, on his very first Christmas. sniff sniff

I love family picture where kids are grabbing at other kids (top). They are so true to the moment. My husband attempting to burn our house and the neighbor’s house down by burning out Christmas tree limb by limb in the fireplace (3rd down). Sweet memories. One of my favorite Family Christmas cookie decorating experiences (towards the bottom).

I’m so thankful to have so many pictures to choose from because I was as crazy-obsessed with photography 10 years ago as I am now. Thank you, Nikon, for some great years in film and now in digital.

Tenth Day: Photo Gift Tags

I saw this idea and immediately pinned it. I thought it was crazy awesome and that’s all there is to it. I added my own twist by printing the pictures onto sticker paper (found here) and just sticking them right on the gifts. I really like the way they turned out once I convinced my printer to print something from Photoshop. I think it’s great for kids who can’t read tags but want to help pass the presents out.

Now…to finish the rest.

Ninth Day: Printer’s Tray Christmas Display

I’ve had a long-time plan for this drawer. Besides being a spool/thread holder in the off-season, this big guy provides a variety of options for year-round display.

I finally pinned the pictures I’ve seen over the years on blogs to my Pinterest to a very creatively named board called “printer’s trays“. I like this one for advent which I’d love to do next year, this one for Lego which has long been on the list, one here for jewelry, and one here as an art display. All quite lovely and I’m excited to keep changing it up.

In the meantime, I threw a few of my vintage treasure up on mine in the form of my Grandma’s ornaments and scrabble tiles. Next year I hope to swap the tiles for a piece of paper representing each day of December before Christmas. I like the idea of marking every single day with some sort of action as a family, hopefully selfless actions.

I also like the idea of reminding ourselves all through-out the day of what Christmas is truly about.

So…

…I put ours in a place we walk by every day so we will always remember why it’s called

CHRISTmas

Eighth Day: Fleur de Sel Caramels

Caramel is one of my very favorite things. Even more than plain caramels I love salted caramels and goat’s milk caramels. I love the creamy vanilla flavor with the bite of the goat’s milk. Yummy. I don’t know why I don’t make them very often, but I’m glad I did this Christmas. I saw this pin and knew I wanted to make the salted caramel variety.

Double.Yummy.

Maybe I love caramel because I’m not really a fudge person. I think I started making fudge so young that it’s become a little too “been there done that” and unexciting. No offense, fudge people…not my thing. I don’t crave it.

I am not posting the recipe because I didn’t alter it since it is candy. I didn’t make the recipe my own and wouldn’t support making something with corn syrup on even a semi-regular basis anyway. But, who are we kidding? Caramel is sugar so it’s not really good for you either way.

I am however providing a visual of what the colors look like at various stages. I love kitchen science. I feel like Harold McGee would be proud of the science in these pictures, I think.

It’s hard to wait, but it does happen

“Firm Ball”=perfect caramels.

You could choose any salt, I suppose, however the lighter and more flaky it is, the more likely it will melt in your mouth with the caramel.

I wrapped mine in parchment to make them extra-adorable and also to limit myself on servings. Actually, I just gave them all away and that very much limited my servings. I would have eaten all of them. You can find these cute take-out containers for $.99 at the always awesome, Container Store.

Make anything fun…post it here…