Hello! I think that was the longest disappearance I ever had. Christmas came, then the flu, and then New Year (with half the family still with the flu, and one with the man-flu), so life felt put on hold for us with us holed up at home for a week. So many plans didn’t happen thanks to a nasty virus (these little buggers we can’t see can really wreak havoc!) and we’re slowly starting to get back into some norm today.

Girls are doing some school today, I’m trying to get the house back in order, and Ben went back to work (still feeling man-flu under the weather). This week is a big week since Ben starts a new work schedule that we’ve been praying he’d get, but with Monday being a holiday, and him going in late today, I don’t think we will feel the major change yet. He now gets to work 3 – 12 hour shifts weekly, with an added 8 hour shift every other week. I’m really looking forward to when he gets his 4 day weekends every other week. Anyway… new year, new changes, new memories. Cheers to 2018!

We did the brown paper packages last year, but we changed it up with some patterned brown paper for this year. It’s a simple way to wrap and add a bow, and we especially love the less waste factor. We also did some wrapped in black with a painted gold bow.  If you want to reduce even more, check out this video tutorial by Alli Cherry on how to wrap gifts without tape! I would have loved to have done that, but I’m in survival mode right now, and didn’t remember about the tutorial until after the fact. So… I’m filing that idea away for next year or the next time I have to wrap a gift.

Again, no need to mom guilt (or just guilt, if you’re not a mom yet) if you didn’t think about this less waste stuff right now, it’s a busy and stressful season. I’m sure all we want to do is spend time with our loved ones and remember what this season is really about, so that’s what should be on the tippy top of our minds. Plus, we can continue learning together how we can be mindful of things to make a difference, no matter what season it is.

And instead of tags, I wrote straight on the wrapping and put my newly learned brush lettering skills to work. How do you wrap all your gifts?

Made with decorative wire and felt, we have this simple wreath hanging on our front door. Learn how to make this minimalist, modern wreath over here on the Velveteen blog. This would be cute hanging next to the felt pom pom garland Christmas tree.

on true: marlene top and elodie overalls, velveteen clothing.

YAY! The Christmas tree is finally up! The girls were squealing in excitement as we were getting all the Christmas boxes out, and True was the leading the excitement brigade. We’ve been so busy with other things we simply haven’t had time. Another reason it’s taken us so long is that we really couldn’t access our Christmas stuff. My parents are remodeling, so we’ve been storing a lot of their stuff and it was blocking access. True was so gung-ho that she started moving all the bags of stuff by herself. After that, it was pretty easy to get all the stuff out. I put the tree together and they did all the decorating! With Christmas music on the record player, and happy little hearts busily getting our house all decorated, our house is on its way being decked out for this special season.

Holiday home tour coming up once everything is complete!

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

YAY! We are on Christmas vacation!

Besides this felt ball tree, we have no Christmas decorations up yet. I’m feeling a little behind in life lately.

Waayyyy out of my price range, but this is a beautiful rug.

I wouldn’t mind getting this candle for Christmas. I usually stock up when they go on sale, but I’m all out now.

Gorgeous vintage silk kimono on super sale. Such a great piece to lounge around in.

This article “My Biggest Mistakes as a Mother” encouraged my weary soul.

How cute is this vintage little girl dress from Kinoko Kids.

I’m glad even though we’re behind in the Christmas decorating, my girls know that Christmas is more than all the glitz and ribbon. We’ve still been doing family worship with Ben, so that’s much more important than all the decor we can get up.

Also, Star Wars came out and the girls are soooo excited! We won’t be seeing it until after Christmas, but it’s something we’re looking forward to.

Love the Gwen Stefani’s Christmas album; it’s so fun and catchy!

Well, one week left and we’ve got lots to do over here. Here’s to hoping we actually get our tree up this weekend. Happy last weekend before Christmas!

Children make the best art. My four girls created this piece for Ben as a birthday gift and we call it “In the Garden.” I shared a bit over here while they were making it and you see it again when they give it to Ben here. Clearly, this was inspired by our garden, and one of our favorite things to do together is to garden together. There’s always a project in the works in either our front or backyard garden, so we spend a lot of time there, though not nearly enough because there’s much to be done. I had an idea of what I wanted them to create, but when I was trying to guide them or tell them what to do, it just wasn’t working and wasn’t coming out like I had thought. It’s when I just let go and told them to go ahead that the whole thing came together. It’s so amazing when you just let kids create; the results are far better than whatever I could come up with.

I did start by having them all draw their heads and body-ish (I drew on my own head). Then, I gave them all different greens and they started bringing the garden to life. They each had different shade of green and worked together to create this. I’d have them interchange colors and brushes here and there, and I’d occasionally help point out spots that were missing something, and they continued to layer and paint. We also brought in some leaves from our garden, so they could recreate some of those shapes in the painting. The pictures here don’t even capture how vibrant this painting really is. They’re so proud of what they created and Ben and I are in complete awe of it too.

Ben loves his gift so much that he keeps bringing it around the house, so he can see it wherever he is. We finally had to give it a home though, so it is currently on display in our entryway. I love seeing it reflected in the mirror; it’s exactly what this spot needed.

It makes us smile to see our walls decorated with art made by our girls. We still have this and this up. I’m going to commission these girls to make another (much larger) painting, or maybe this time a drawing, because we have another plain wall that definitely needs something big. These girls are my favorite artists, and while I’m a tosser and don’t keep all the things they make, this painting is definitely a keeper.