Thursday Thread #90

 

So I lied. I said I would post this this afternoon and I totally failed. I had good intentions, I promise. But in the interest of being completely honest, I was pooped y’all, and completely let it slip my mind. It was an early start to the morning, followed by an afternoon of shooting and a crazy evening. So here I sit, half asleep, but determined to post this week’s Thread before the clock strikes midnight…in Seattle.

 

I am completely obsessed with Christmas. I’ve said that about a million times, but it must be said again. Obsessed. I love decorating, baking cookies, singing carols, and buying gifts for my loved ones. I love festive store aisles, shopping mall Santas, claymation Christmas videos, wrapping presents, and random acts of kindness. Peppermint mochas, fair isle slippers (fair isle anything), Toys for Tots, ugly sweaters, twinkling lights, The Polar Express… yeah, I pretty much need to move to Santa Claus, Indiana, where it’s Christmas year-round. Or just go all-in and head to the North Pole :-/ All of that said, this week’s Thread is dedicated to all things Christmas 🙂

 

1. Good Will Toward Men. We try to participate in a few different charities throughout the year, and especially around the holidays. It breaks my heart to think a family may not have a nice hot meal to enjoy together, a cozy place to sleep, or something nice and new to unwrap. And when I think about the kiddos in need, well it’s almost too much to handle. Participating in charitable efforts this time of year has been a tradition in our family since I was a kid — right up there with decorating cookies and reading The Polar Express — and it’s probably the one tradition that I am most excited to start with Bree. The good thing is that our area has so many great opportunities to give back and help others, and even a few that you may not be familiar with. So if you are able, please consider helping someone in need this Christmas by connecting with one of these fantastic organizations: Angel Tree, Operation Christmas Child, Toys for Tots, Make a Wish Foundation, or by performing your own acts of kindness (like baking cookies for your local fire department or volunteering your time at a nursing home or hospital).

 

2. Celebrate the Reason. It’s easy to get wrapped up in all of the Christmas fluff but we aim to stay grounded in the ‘reason’ and celebrate what Christmas is really all about. This year, I am grateful for the opportunity to share this special time of year with Bree and to teach her about Christmas, about giving to others and sharing the love of Jesus. I was thinking of fun ways to do this with her each year and that’s about the time I discovered the Christmas Angel. Not knocking Elf on the Shelf or anything, but rather than focusing on behavior and reporting back to Santa, the Christmas Angel focuses on love and servitude. He/she brings messages with ideas for helping others, sharing, and performing acts of kindness. From the site: the Christmas Angel helps “to celebrate a gift that none of us deserve, but have an opportunity to receive. The birth of Jesus is the greatest example of love. So how can we show the same love to others? Simply by putting others before ourselves.” I love this. And I simply cannot wait to start this fun tradition with Bree 🙂

 

3. Deck The Halls. And the walls. And mantle. And pretty much every last square foot of our house. It’s about time for us to climb into the attic and peruse the many giant bins that hold all of my holiday decor — yay! But regardless of the amount of crap stuff that we’ve already acquired, I will inevitably change things up and decide to go a completely different route for decorating. It happens every year, in some manner. We used lots of gold and brown and emerald green last year, very sparkly and pretty. I’ll blame the continual acquisition of  ‘stuff’ (ehem, baby stuff) that has me wanting to take a minimalist approach to decking the halls this year though. I’ve been inspired by this simple tree (or even this wooden one!), vintage-looking felt ornaments for Bree’s mini tree, and big traditional colored lights. It’s a ‘less is more’ throwback kind of style and I’m digging it 🙂 I am planning a few festive craft projects too, so wish me luck! I’m sure there’s a potential blog post in the making there…

 

4. Gift Guides. People who take the time to outline (in detail) what gifts are best for 6 month old babies, or men who like to hunt, or hostesses, or any specific genre of recipients…they ROCK. Nearly everything we have purchased for Bree has come straight off of the recommendations of others, like this activity table and this puppy. Some of my favorite gift-giving guides can be found here, and by searching Amazon too 🙂 How do YOU decide what to get your loved ones?

 

5. Thread Tunes. Kelly Clarkson recently released a holiday album, Wrapped in Red, and it’s fantastic, y’all. It’s pretty traditional overall, but with that edge and raspiness that Ms. Clarkson so awesomely brings to the table. A few tracks are a bit rock and roll too — gotta love it. Because I am so vanilla when it comes to Christmas this year though, I’ve picked her version of Silent Night for this week’s Thread Tune. I’m a sucker for a good Christmas ballad 🙂 And for all of you who need a little more oomph to kick off the holiday season, Run Run Rudolph came in a close second 🙂

 

6. Sneak Peeks. Throughout the next week or so, I will be sharing sneak peeks from this season’s minis. Here is one of my faves from my session with the Johnston fam.