holidays
Free Printable: Love is All You Need
Have you ever noticed Valentine’s Day is quite polarizing? Depending on life situations, people either love the holiday or want to kick it to the curb. Since the 14th century Valentine’s Day has been associated with romantic love and romantic love is fabulous. Handy Husband and I celebrated 18 years of marriage a few days ago, so I have a deep appreciation for all things romance. I also have an even deeper appreciation for all things beginning and ending with “Honey, I’ll do the dishes.” But let’s not talk about me. What I want to say on this Valentine’s Day Eve in the mushiest way I know how is THANK YOU. Thank you to each…
6 Valentine Card Ideas For Girls or Boys
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Ready, set, panic! No, no. Don’t do that! Here are some fun DIY Valentine’s Day cards that I think both boys and girls would like. My kids would be content picking out themed Valentine’s Day cards from the store, but they also like to sit down and craft with mom, so I’ll take that time with them as long as it lasts. Balloon Card It doesn’t get easier than this idea for a balloon card! This idea is via A Pretty Cool Life, which is a pretty cool name for a blog. There is not a balloon in this world that my kids have met…
Christmas Tree 2016
It’s hard to wrap my mind around how fast time flies. We’ve been in Ireland almost 6 months. We’re getting ready to celebrate our first Christmas in this beautiful country. I’m convinced that the true beauty of Ireland is not its scenery, but in the spirit of the people who have welcomed us with open arms. Now, let me segue out of the mushy stuff into some practical matters. We downsized DRASTICALLY when we moved from the United States to Ireland. I cannot emphasize how drastically. Have-no-furniture-to-sit-on drastically. One of the things left behind in the downsizing was our fake Christmas tree. Haters can hate, but I am firmly in the fake…
My Christmas Decor Hacks
I’m not sure if hack is the right word. How about here are three of my favorite Christmas decor work-arounds? ALTERNATIVE TO GARLAND Don’t have the time, patience, space or money for a Christmas garland? No worries. Free greenery clippings from your yard, or the neighbor’s yard, or the park (can you do that??) placed in a shallow bowl can achieve a similar effect. DON’T HAVE STOCKING HANGERS? NO PROBLEM. I do have Christmas stocking hangers, but one of them is broken and I haven’t found anything else I like better for hanging our Christmas stockings. Last year we used hooks screwed into the bottom of the mantel. That won’t work this year and…
Christmas in the Foyer Part 2: The Wall I Never Show You
It’s important to take pictures you see online or in magazines with a grain pound of salt. You only see certain angles at specific times of day. You don’t see what’s 2 inches outside of the cropped photo. In the case of my blog, there’s an entire wall I’m pretty certain I’ve never shown you. Or at least I haven’t shown it to you since we moved in. That’s because it’s not the star of the show. It does work hard though. It holds coats and shoes and sometimes mail. (Or “post” as people in Ireland call mail.) This wall is immediately to the right of the front door. It…
Christmas Mantel – Peace
I brought my scrap wood dove out of storage for the Christmas season. He’s fragile, but resilient. He just needed a little time and some wood glue to pull himself back together. Before long he was flying high above our Christmas mantel again representing peace, hope and love. As Christmas approaches and world events unfold, peace has been on my mind lately. Having peace doesn’t mean that we never disagree. Having peace doesn’t mean that there are never endings. Peace stems from the ultimate realization – a belief at the very center of one’s core – that as human beings far more binds us together than tears us apart. That there must be…
Christmas in the Foyer
Last weekend we pulled the Christmas boxes down from the attic. All three of them and a wreath box. Even after culling out over half of my Christmas decorations in preparation for our overseas move, it still feels like Christmas vomited all over my house. Why is it that decorating a tree and putting up a few festive touches means that the entire house is destroyed in the process? After I took the kids to school on Monday, I returned and tidied up one area. The foyer. Don’t foyers look so much better without the stuff that actually goes in a foyer? Backpacks, jackets, shoes…so many shoes. I even dusted the Christmas glitter off…
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. A holiday ubiquitous with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. While Americans in the U.S. are on pumpkin-everything overload, Americans in Ireland are googling “where to buy canned pumpkin.” I’ll give you a hint. One store carries it. And it’s sold out. Fresh pumpkins left the store shelves October 31, so that’s out as an option too. It’s a good thing pumpkin pie isn’t really my thing. I’ve been told Thanksgiving is the loneliest day of the year for expats living in Ireland. Way to sugarcoat it, people. My goodness. Why is it the loneliest day of the year? I suppose it’s because you’re separated from extended family…
Happy Halloween
It’s here! It’s here! My kids are busting with excitement. They love Halloween! For those of you who have wondered, yes, Halloween is celebrated in Ireland. The kids do dress up and go trick-or-treating, so that is on the agenda for later today. We also carved pumpkins! The teeniest, tiniest pumpkins. Honest to goodness, I don’t know why we didn’t do this sooner. See that little hole in the top of the pumpkin? Mom and dad cannot fit their hands in there. Therefore, mom and dad’s ability to help with this process is very, very limited. Or so I told my kids. Worked like a charm. These were Irish grown, “medium-sized” pumpkins. They…
Halloween Bat Mantel
A couple of weeks ago a strange man at the train station offered my kids packages of Starburst candy. I’m sure the man was just trying to be nice and the candy was unopened, but still. In context, it was an uncomfortable situation. It was one of those lessons in “we don’t take candy from strangers.” Except on Halloween, right mom? GAH! My kids are wild about Halloween. They’ve been planning their costumes for months. And they really, really, really like it when we decorate the house for Halloween. Just because one year I went a little crazy with Halloween book covers and such and now they think we should decorate…
