I love this time of year in the City. Every street corner you turn you find yet another little pop up shop Christmas tree vendor. So for me this year, instead of the parking lot at K-Mart back home, it’s the corner of Greenwich and Chambers. I’ve quickly realized that it’s okay for traditions to evolve over the years. I might not be bundling up (b/c it use to be REALLY cold after Thanksgiving) with my Mom, Dad, Big Brother and Baby Sister. We’d get hot chocolate, probably because I had not tolerance for the cold, and head to the “Christmas Tree Man” that setup year after year in the parking lot adjacent to K-Mart. My brother and I would meander through the trees to pick out the tallest, most perfect (and probably meaning most expensive) tree we could find. Mom would have to approve first! We’d also pick out a little tree, known as the “kid’s tree”. This one was adorned with colorful lights, and all the ornaments we’d made or bought on family trips. The “big tree” was elegant and beautifully lit with white lights. They’d load them in the back of Dad’s truck and we’d head home. Then poor Dad, some how managed to carry our 8′-9′ tree inside all by himself. It didn’t end there. A little left, no now a little the right. Okay, not pull it back towards you a little…WELL, IT HAD TO BE STRAIGHT! This usually ended in a little frustration, followed by sweeping up all the stray pieces that sprinkled the floor from the car to the house. But we all still had BIG smiles on our faces. I would be chomping at the bit to decorate it RIGHT THEN, everyone else seemed a little exhausted. Funny enough, it seems year after year it ended up being just Mom and I hanging all the ornaments. Everyone else seemed to bail after two or three. Oh the memories. So you know, change, even little change, can be hard. I miss these days, but when I find that “teary” feeling coming on, I just try to reminisce on fond, fond memories of Christmas time when I was younger. I remind myself to be thankful of those times, and look forward to the new and exciting things to come. However, I still cannot wait to go home before Christmas, wrap presents with Mom, sit by the fire with a lit Christmas tree as a beautiful backdrop, and relish in the moment as we make new memories!

*Mom, after watching you make gazillions of bows year after year after year. Well, I still cannot do it near as well as you. You just have all these little tricks, and I cannot quite get them right. The whole twist thing when you’re making the bow? I am trying to master it!

{you can test out your skills too right here at the official Polyvore site, more details here}

we dyed hard boiled eggs the traditional way, but they dye just wasn’t right. the colors were too BRIGHT, and they just were not jiving with our “decor” style in the dining room for easter sunday! so………

we decided to take another route. we blew out way over a dozen eggs, martha stewart describes that process for you here. yes there is a little tool to do this with, but that little tool wasn’t to be found in our house. so we painstakingly removed the insides from the eggs [note: without actually touching our mouths to the eggs as BHG describes here which SCREAMS salmonella]. Once that process was complete and our brains were completely blown out, we painted the eggs.

one coat

after another

and they finally looked like this.

added to the grass table runner [from a cute store in downtown Homewood] under  the “nest” of yellow alstroemeria

the lingering of our headache paid off

and we moved on to the next step…

baking our “easter stamped” cookies

and decorating the tree

Happy Easter!!

house beautiful :: color highlights [+]

house beautiful :: grosgrain rainbow pillow [+]

rainbow notebooks [+]

marston & langinger :: colorful ampersand glasses [+]

rainbow heart earrings [+]

rainbow ombre dress [+]

swatch color the sky watch [+]

rainbow converse [+]

1. light bulb sugar cookies : etsy, sugar cookie couture

2. christmas flag banner : etsy, kim herring

3. burlap christmas stockings : etsy, my adobe cottage

4. chain stich felt garland : etsy, just add color

5. gingham & plaid ornaments : etsy, justmare

6. hand knit mini sweater ornaments : etsy, knitsbyJess

7. deer friend rudolph christmas tags : etsy, a forest frolic

8. peace wreath ornament : etsy, the painted palmetto

9. redwood glossy lip tint : etsy, flourish bath body

10. peppermint bark shea butter soap : etsy, sherri’s scents and soys

1. red

3. & this (i mean not to buy…just pretty!

4. bible verses about love: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins”. -1 Peter 4:8

5. personalized candy hearts

6. Valentines “latte” that show a “latte” love

7. the memories of decorating brown paper bags at school to collect little valentine’s from all my friends

8. vday site

9. “i love you more than” blog

10. candles “red letter day”

11. Anthropologie store windows

12. valentine “gems”

13. getting dressed up

14. February 14th Valentine’s Day!

15. love letter cookies

16. valentine’s dinner

17. making word hearts…click here, and type in the words you want to use to generate your own!

18. flowers_tulips especially (not a big red rose fan, but honestly any flower makes my heart skip a few beats…even those red roses)

19. saying “I love you” lots

20. black and white cookies_”heart style”

21. my mom’s birthday February 5th

22. and my dad’s birthday too February 10th

23. homemade cards

24. a new one: “Sprinkles” cupcakes (you can buy the mix at William Sonoma or make your own with this recipe)

25. Papyrus Cards

26. crayon heart crafts (fun, easy, and thrifty festive decor)

27. cyclamen

(which my dad grows thousands of…it is the most beautiful sight to go to the greenhouse and look at a vast array or red, pink, and white blooms)

28. and more cupcakes XOXO style! (for the recipe click here, but a lot of times I just use my mom’s “secret” red velvet cake recipe)