Advent Calendar

Not that I have children to use this yet, but it was too adorable not to purchase. I have had my eye on this cutie for over a year and I always think they will be on sale after Christmas, but they are always sold out. Sooo when I saw that it was the sale of the day plus free shipping, I went for it. 

 Advent Elf from Garnet Hill

It is so cute, it has little pockets and loops to hang treats. The cutest pocket is December 24th on the seat of his pants.

Oh how I love Christmas!!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Our Christmas decorations are up, hot chocolate is in my hand and it is 40 degrees outside (which is cold for Texas)!

Big tree in our living room, I love that Buddy was curled up in front

This is my favorite room decorated, notice the new (to us) breakfast table

Wreaths on the back door, the tree in the corner looks so bright in this photo

Here is the story behind the new breakfast table:

It originally belonged to our aunt, she gave it to us and we repainted for my brothers house. He got a new table and I wanted a round one in our breakfast room. I love the counter height table but a round one would fit better in the space. 

I originally wanted this table

But we are all into this saving money thing so we used what we had. I do eventually want these chairs...

for now our sweet friends gave us these chairs (below) since they were moving. They were originally green with oak seats but I painted them red. I really love the way it looks, so cozy and the red is especially great for Christmas.

Before:

After:

yes, it chipped but it adds to the character...right?

Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving Wrap-up

Hope you all had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving. I know that I did, I was out of school the entire week and loved every minute of it, I even had time for a small bathroom makeover (more on that later).  

Here is a rundown of our Thanksgiving celebration.

My parents came into town on Wednesday afternoon! I'm not sure what is going on with my Dad's sweatshirt, and yes my Mom and I are wearing the same cardigan only in different colors. 

It was not planned.

I loved seeing them, we had a great time and my Mom and I got some shopping in (our favorite).

Me and the Hubby

We got engaged 5 years ago, the day after Thanksgiving.

We had quite the feast for Thanksgiving, this is my brother sewing up his first turkey.

Mom made our traditional macaroni salad, one of my nana's recipes, ha ha we ran out of mixing bowls so she used the popcorn bowl.

Our lovely turkey

Plenty of snacks before dinner

My job was to make the table look pretty

 I ended up keeping it simple with a variety of pumpkins and mason jars filled with small votives.

Dessert table, I had a sample of each or as I called it "The Thanksgiving Experience"

We celebrated my Hubby's 27th Birthday with pumpkin pie (a tradition)

We had a great time, I am so grateful for my family!

Thanksgiving Plans

Oh my goodness! It has been almost a month since I blogged. I have been way to busy with work. Today I want to discuss Thanksgiving plans. More importantly, what you have planned for your Thanksgiving table decor. Quite frankly any Thanksgiving food is fine with me as long as the table looks precious...is that bad?

Here is a picture of my table decor last year

My inspiration for the "chargers" came from Pottery Barn.

I recreated the look by using grapevine wreaths from Hobby Lobby, I was able to save $15 a piece.

Here are some contenders for this years table scape via pinterest

I do think I will use Emily's cute printables as place cards.

Hmmmmmm what to do?