Amy did have fun with a string of beads this afternoon. While DDIL put the beads on the tree, Amy tried to investigate.

She couldn’t figure it out, but thought it was fun.

Spinning beads were irresistible.

She carefully checked out the lights, but left them alone.

She didn’t play with the beads very long. Eventually, she just sat and watched. Now that the tree is decorated, perhaps the kitties will leave it alone. I’m hoping!

~~Rhonda

My sister Genny comes on weekends in October and November every year to help us put up Christmas decorations. Could NOT do it without her! Thanks, Genny!! This year, we’ve had a lot of fun on the phone, while looking at my Pinterest boards, and discussing what we may want to try this year. Spoiler…there may be a snowman in my bathtub for Open House!

Getting ready early is fun, really. My binders (see below) make it easy.

The red one is one of three binders that contain ideas I pull from magazines. I used to be unable to tear apart magazines, but I got over that four or five years ago, pulled out the pages I wanted, and stored them in page protectors in these binders. I think looking at six feet of shelving, brimming over with Christmas magazines, finally did it…it’s so much easier to review that pertinent material condensed into a binder! Or three.

Every year, I add to the storage binders with new magazine ideas. I look through them each year before planning Christmas decorating, entertaining, etc. They give me a lot of inspiration. New ideas pop into my head when I look through the pictures in these binders. Sometimes the ideas have nothing to do with the actual picture, but the inspiration is there.

“Room Pages” holds pages that list all the ways I decorate each room of our home, with new ideas I may want to implement this year filed behind each Room Page.

The Christmas Party Planner binder holds the information I need for the planning of each large event we host during the holidays…our annual Open House, the Christmas House Concert, and the Library Dinner. It also has tabs for smaller events we host, though these are not on the calendar every year.

The Christmas Notebook is the backbone of our holiday prep. My Weekly Plan Pages (and a lot of other stuff!) are in there. Each WPP (Sept. 1 through Jan. 6) has a list of the things that need to be completed during that week to be ready for Christmas. Lets me have the Christmas I want with a lot less stress.

This shot shows one of the TO DO pages. I have one for each room, and jot down the things I decide I may want to add this year. From here, those items will either be accomplished in the next few weeks or transferred to my Weekly Plan Pages for sometime in the next few months.

I keep a running shopping list in my Christmas Notebook, where I can list the things that need to be purchased or otherwise acquired. Each year, Genny scours thrift shops looking for items we may need and that helps with the budget, not to mention inspiration when she finds something particularly fun!

Without these helps, we wouldn’t be able to pull together the holiday celebrations that we enjoy so much. But an organized plan keeps all the details in place. Step by step, they are easy to accomplish. The hardest part is the self discipline to JUST DO IT.

~~Rhonda

I like to cut the cookies with the crimped pastry cutter. It gives the cookies a decorative edge.

I make these rather thin because that creates a crisp cookie. The cookie platter needs a variety…crisp/chewy…thick/thin…dark/light…with fruit and nuts or plain…cookies/candy…what to choose, what to choose!?

I prepared all the cookies for baking and left them stacked while I ran out to pick DD up from visiting a friend. No problem as there is no chemical leavening in this recipe. The cookies can be placed close together on the baking sheet for the same reason. They will not spread. The top sheet has the “leftover” cookies…those bits and pieces from the last cutting that I don’t want to recut. These are the cookies that everyone can sample while the rest are frozen for the open house.

The finished cookies get a drizzle of powdered sugar glaze and a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg.

These will be stacked between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container and frozen until the open house.

The recipe is here. Easy and delicious. If nutmeg isn’t a favorite spice, cinnamon could be substituted.

~~Rhonda

Buttercup slept near the tinsel.

Julie decorated the box grand in the living room.

I replaced the lights on this little tree. All better!

We decorated the front porch.

And Buttercup slept on ornament storage boxes.

I made chocolate creams.

I wrapped my babies’ pictures.

Buttercup slept on the couch.

I received a package in the mail! The ornaments from the Christmas Notebook’s ornament exchange. This is just one of them.

My sister and friends from church cleaned my house! Thank you, thank you!

Buttercup slept on the vent.

I started a new house project.

I made sugarplums.

And DD had her hair cut.

And Zak slept with her.

~~Rhonda ::going back to work!::

But, though DDIL did a lovely job on the window, filling around the deer with fluff and snow, I had to redo it. Buttercup the cat stole all the fluff, over a course of a week, and took it to DD’s bedroom door during the night as a gift. I added evergreen branches and am hoping she will leave them alone. So far, so good. I would still like to get a candle in this scene. Maybe something tall behind the deer, or some battery operated tea lights around them? I think it needs the height, though. Hmmm…maybe I could hang a large snowflake from the window sash to give it some “tall” interest…

~~Rhonda ::pondering additions to the window sill decorations::

I added a little detail to the gold cloth on the mantel by using the hot glue gun to attach a bead trim to the hem. It added a nice extra detail.

The only thing left to do in the living room is the large tree. It has to wait until we can make popcorn and cranberry strings. We usually do that the week of Thanksgiving, so we can decorate the tree Thanksgiving afternoon. I do have eight bags of cranberries in the fridge, ready and waiting!

~~Rhonda

DH and our daughter-in-law put up the snow tree. “Snowing” it is the final (and most fun) part. They gently laid handfuls of shredded artificial snow on the branches.

I made the snowball ornaments for this tree years ago.

Our daughter helped her sister-in-law sprinkle the topping of iridescent snow over the finished tree. I had to ask them to turn around and look at me. All I had were pictures of backs. Side note…you can’t go wrong with a Little Giant ladder! Every time we need to get up to something, we remark on how glad we are to have it!

A little greenery over the picture and a little snow on the cupboard tree, and we’re almost done.

Silver spindles hang from the reproduction lighting.

The windowsills need some candles and then we’ll be done with the dining room. All but the pick up…I confess there are a few boxes and odds and ends left in the room. But we’re well on our way with the decorating!

~~Rhonda

Hanging the ceiling snowflakes.

Snowflake ornament collection.

Looks so festive! ~~Rhonda

When I get all the ribbons and little holly leaves on the stack to the left, the invitations will be finished.

I used Print Shop to design the invitation. I imported the vintage postcard print, then added the invitation and the light green background. It’s printed on a cream colored “parchment” card stock. Each sheet of card stock printed four invitations. When I trimmed them, I left a cream colored border around the green to add a light border.

I used gold Stickles to outline the border of the postcard print, then used red Stickles to outline the green background and to color the ribbons and the holly berries. Green Stickles highlight the holly leaves. Once they dried, they were matted with red card stock and I used a Krylon 18kt gold leafing pen to put the last border on the invitation.

The holly leaves were punched from green card stock printed with “Please Come!” and outlined with the gold leafing pen.

These will go in the Christmas cards and will be mailed the day before Thanksgiving. Once I get the invitations done, all I have to do for the Christmas cards is put together the Christmas letter. I’ll probably finalize that in October. But the cards/invites will be ready and waiting!

~~Rhonda

They are signed and addressed. Now I’m working on the Christmas open house invites. I chose a picture of a vintage postcard and added the invitation to the picture. Printed those and added some glitter details. I’m waiting for an order of embossing powder to finish those off. I’ll be putting the invitations on a background mat of red card stock that I have leftover from last year.

The above picture also shows some of the holiday magazines I’m working on (to the left). I pull the pages that have ideas I want to keep, then slip them into page protectors. They will go into the binders (under the invites and the cards).

I like to put our Christmas cards in the mail on the day before Thanksgiving. I include our open house invitations in the Christmas cards and mailing the day before Thanksgiving gives as much notice as possible for our guests to plan to attend the open house on the first Sunday in December. November is extremely busy for us as we decorate and prepare for the big party. When Thanksgiving gets here, I am going to be so thankful I have these cards ready to go!

I understand the reasons people give for no longer sending Christmas cards, and that’s fine for them. But I love giving and receiving them. It’s an important part of the holiday for me. So I plan ahead and work it in! ~~Rhonda