There's always next year.

This one is my moms!

This year for Christmas I was in a mad dash to get everything done in time. I had this really wonderful idea (from Pinterest of course) to make these awesome yarn ball wreaths for Christmas. But what I didn't realized is how time consuming they are. And of course I decided to make 7! I know, I know I'm crazy but honestly crafting is very calming for me. Even though this was a little much! I didn't think I was going to get them all done but I did and they turned out great. Good thing my little helper elf, Donnie did some of the yarn rolling ;) I think we have a new hobby :) 

Not the best picture but you get the drift :)

I also decided to do my gift wrapping a little different this year. Instead of the tradition name tag, I decided to print black and whites of whoever the gift was for and mod podge (elmers glue like substance) and use the picture as the gift tag! I think they turned out adorable and I'll probablt make that my "thing" that I do every year. How did I live before Pinterest?! So many great ideas to fill my ever so boring life :)

I did have a few fails this Christmas season though. Normally I would be able to get all of this done no problem but this year I think I put a little too much on my plate. 

First fail - 24 days of random acts of kindness. I had this amazing idea to do something random and kind for someone every day until Christmas. Under the circumstances, I feel extremely blessed this year. So many amazing people have been kind enough to help us whenever we have needed it and I feel like I've been doing a whole lot of taking and a whole lot of not giving. Also, I wanted to show my kids that Christmas is not about what you get it's about what you do for others that make the holidays special. Anyway, why this was such a fail, is because I only did about half of my days. I just didn't realized how much I actually had going on this month. And very time we went to do it, something happened; Brody fell and started crying, Mia fell asleep on the way there, we couldn't find where be needed to go. Oh well, I guess, there's always next year. 

Here are a few pictures of the kids doing some of our random acts of kindness!

Don't mind Brody's tears, he had just fallen on the playground.
Good thing he managed a smile for the picture ;)

Second fail - Marshmallow (our elf) never really moved. I moved him a couple times in the beginning then not at all after that. Brody never really noticed either so I kinda just forgot about the poor little guy. I feel so guilty because I had this big "Welcome, Marshmallow" breakfast and then he just sat on the table for 3 weeks. I even did Marshmallow as our family tradition at school. Oh man, I'm awful. I can't even move a freaking elf around :) Obviously I have too much going on haha. There's always next year!

Third Fail - Christmas cards. There has never been a year in my whole married life that I haven't sent out Christmas cards. I kept sitting down to do it but it just never happened. Every time I would go online to pick out a card and put a picture on it, i just wasn't feeling it so I would quit. Also, why the heck does everyone waste so much money sending cards to people they either never see or talk to or that they see and talk to all the time?! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a Christmas card hater but it makes me wonder. Ok, this sounds like I dislike getting cards, I actually love getting them, I can't wait to get the mail everyday to see who's in my mailbox. I'm just kinda bummed that I can't send everyone I know a picture of my beautiful kids :) Maybe I can send cards for Valentines Day,  now there's a thought!?! Probably won't get around to that either. Luckily, there's always next year!