soaking it in

I just can't get enough of this season.  

Even though the weather was nice enough to take my baby outside in nothing but a diaper, it feels like Christmas.

I can't stop staring at our tree, it is my most favorite one ever!  I love how colorful it is and it makes me so happy.  
I thought I would have to defend it from a certain 10 month old but surprisingly EJ has been very sweet to the tree.  She is a pretty obedient listener so we've only had to tell her not to mess with it a few times.  She does like to try and eat the fallen pine needles though, I swear I find the weirdest things in her diaper.

I am slowly checking off the movies that I have to watch each Christmas season.  I've made psychedelic colored Christmas cookies with Lisa.  John and I have sung Christmas carols with the guitar at night.  We have a had a few fires in our living room.  I haven't done a bit of Christmas shopping yet and for some reason this doesn't make me nervous at all.  I am trying my best not to rush a moment of this season.  I want it to go as slow as possible because there is something looming right behind Christmas...

...Evaleigh's first birthday.

I am excited about it, truly.  But there is something so bittersweet about it.  I have been pausing a lot more through out our days to make sure that I am taking in the remaining bits of her babyness.  She is growing so fast right before our eyes. I love watching her discover new things.  Lately it has been the washing machine.  She loves it.  Also she is standing on her own much more often now.  She talks all of the time and sometimes she ends up saying actual words.  The most common two are 'out' and 'whoa'.  Its precious.  She does this awesome 360 degree spin while sitting and kicking her legs, she is hilarious.

I just can't believe I have been her mama for almost a year. Best year of my life.

a future scout

When we headed out of the door last night I knew our baby's gender looked like a toss up.

John had promised a night of going to Sherry's Produce down the street to get our Christmas tree. When we got there, Sherry had closed her shop for the night, I guess that's what you get for going out in search of a tree at nearly 7:30 on a Monday night. I was disappointed and John and I tossed around the idea of trying again on Wednesday because by then we would have our decorations. "But dangit," I thought, "I showered AND put on makeup. We are going to get our tree!"

So we went driving and shortly came upon a troop of Boyscouts selling Christmas trees, success! We got out and Evaleigh started kicking her little legs and panting like a dog, the way she does when she gets excited. We went over to the 5 and 6 footers and she started pointing at one tree over and over. We knew it had to be the one because she picked it out!

So we took it over and a Boy Scout clipped off the low boughs. Another man, who smelled like he had been hitting the sauce that night, came over with a chainsaw...I had to take a few steps back. He trimmed the bottom of the tree, took one look at EJ, and said, "Well you sure are cute, a future scout for sure." We just smiled and said, "You bet."

And that it the story of how our future little scout got her first Christmas tree.

homemade christmas.

I am always looking for ways to reuse anything around the house.  This year an old Jesus the Christ book from the 70's was my victim.  I present to you my...

1.  Find an old book you don't mind ripping up.  I felt a little guilty ripping up a book about Jesus but at the same time, isn't that what this Holiday is all about anyway?!  Now, I feel justified.

2.  Tear out several pages.

3.  Fold them short ways accordion style.

4.  Bend them in half.

5.  Put two of them together.  Tie string around the middles to hold together and glue seams shut.

After assembling all of the paper ornaments I gave them a pop of color with this paper tape from Anthropologie.

We paired these decorations with some vintage seam binding from my Nanny.  We had several colors so we cut them into strips and tied them together to form a colorful garland.

And there you have it!  Someone 40 years ago bought a book and I turned it in to a cheap and easy DIY Holiday decoration! 

P.S. Two years ago today I got to do something very special.  I went to this place for the first time.  I will never forget the reverence and beauty of that peaceful day.  I am so grateful for this season and the time to reflect on my love for the Savior.  This is such an incredibly special time of year for me as I remember the sacred blessings I received that day.

the promised date

As promised, I got my date night full of tree decorating and hot chocolate.  There wasn't a fire or a movie but there was plenty of Christmas music on the record player and episodes of The New Girl and The Cosby's.

This year we went mostly all homemade on our Christmas tree decorations.  I did however get a whole arm full of cuddly fabric animals from Target to go on the tree.  I am thinking of reusing them for a mobile in EJ's room when we are done with them for Christmas, they are just too cute to put away for a whole year after we are done with them.

We ended the weekend watching (this) and it truly brought the spirit of Christmas to us.  I am so looking forward to the rest of this Holiday season.  

Mostly because our baby girl is on the other end of it!

oh boy! oh boy!

Mr. Murphy has promised me a date night of decorating our little Christmas tree(of which I still have quite the story to share), hot chocolate, snuggling by a fire, and a Christmas movie on the couch.

Sounds like just about the best Friday anyone could have.

  (our handmade decorations waiting to find a home for the Christmas season! TONIGHT IS YOUR NIGHT CHRISTMAS TREE!)

Happy Friday!!!

Family Tree

One of my very favorite Christmas sights are trees piled a-top cars tied with string.

I love imagining how happy that tree must be because it is going home to a place to fulfill the reason it was created.  I love thinking that it feels beautiful adorned with lights and ornaments.

Christmas trees really are a magical thing.  

The evergreen tree reminds us of life and that Christ lived for us and with Him He brought the possibility of everlasting life.  How grateful I am for His birth and for His life.  

I love this time of year to reflect on my love for my Savior.

So, today as a family we went to get our Christmas tree.

(Thank you Pia for my lovely German scarf!)

Daddy found it! 

Our family has a house up in the western mountains of North Carolina.  

My father grew up in the house, my grandmother grew up in the house, my Great Grandmother and her husband lived in the house, and my great-great grandparents Zeb and Rachel Cathey (the woman I was named after) built the home.  Needless to say, North Carolina is a special place to us.

Our family tradition is to go to NC, stay in our old family home, wake up early, and go to the Nesbitt Christmas tree farm.  We hike a mountain and search and search and then cut down our own tree.  Dad gets mad as he struggles to cut down our (normally 8 or 9 foot) tree.  Then we all blissfully drive home with our little piece of North Carolina.

This year, my father had surgery and we were not able to make the trip because of his health.  But something wonderful happened when we went to go pick out our tree.

We asked where the trees were from and the man said, "North Carolina."

Perfect.

Merry Christmas.