The Spirit of Christmas

In the spirit of Christmas, I helped my mom put together Christmas cards for her staff. We glued a poem onto the insides of these cards made of scrapbook paper. Then, we folded it so it had two seams. After that, we decorated the front of the card, taped an ornament on the inside, and finished them off with a bow. For creating these last minute at midnight, I think they turned out gorgeous. I actually think they turned out great, period. The idea was really cute and simple, yet personalized. My mom did an excellent job coming up with a gift that shows that she cares for her staff without being excessive or too expensive.

I think they all look really perfect together all nestled up in this box. I hope everyone enjoys the cards as much as we enjoyed making them together. Even though we both wanted to be in bed and not being forced to craft at crunch time, I'm glad we got to spend time together creating something for others. 

I have been having a great week. Alec has had a few days off and we just got to spend time together relaxing and having fun. One morning I woke up to him bringing me breakfast in bed. It was so cute because I was actually planning on making him breakfast in bed , but he beat me to it. 

Another morning we made homemade breakfast pizza. This has been on our to-do list since summer. I was so excited to actually make it. We had light-hearted disputes during the entire cooking process, though. He used to work in a deli and claims that the way they made it there was the only way it would taste good...he even said he didn't think we could make it with real eggs! I claimed that he needed to trust my cooking skills and believe that we could create a delicious breakfast pizza using ingredients that we had in the kitchen. He wanted only American cheese; I wanted three types of cheese. The pizza turned out so perfectly in the end. We ate almost the entire thing while watching HGTV and drinking coffee. 

I love mornings that I get to spend just relaxing with Alec where we can get ready at our own pace.The rest of the day consisted of him working on his car and washing both of our cars, and me cleaning the house and sewing. I know that isn't spending time together but it is for us because we both get to do our favorite things and know we can come together and take a break at any time. When he came inside from washing the cars I had this hot cocoa all ready. There is something about winter that makes a simple cup of hot cocoa seem magical. There isn't even snow on the ground and I still felt like the hot cocoa was making Christmas..well Christmas. 

Kitten is the poster child of Christmas this year. I love this picture because she is just posing so perfectly. I figured I should share this photo to encourage everyone to get costumes for their own pets, who deserve to celebrate the Holiday in green and red just like we do. This is besides the point, though.

The best part about Christmas is how you cannot pin it down as one specific thing. Christmas isn't Santa, getting gifts, or cut out cookies. It is the entire month of December. It is baking cookies, saying "Merry Christmas!" to everyone you see (strangers or not), being with family, decorating, a religious holiday, gazing at the Christmas lights on your way to anywhere and watching Christmas movies on TV. Christmas is a feeling, to me. It is a combination of all of these things and more that together create a mood in people, and send a message. I hope everyone embraces this 'spirit' of Christmas and passes it on to everyone that they see.