The Christmas Wreath

This weekend I finished my Christmas decorating. I strung our lights on the outside of our house and put together this wreath for our front door. It's pretty lopsided, but I like it like that. I like the disorganized, haphazard look of it.

When the husband was trimming the bottom branches off of our tree, I asked him to toss them on the front porch so I could put them on a wreath. 

 

Cheap supplies

I just cut the big branches into manageable pieces and wired them together.

Then I used the wire to secure them to the form

I overlapped each piece, securing each bundle all the way around the wreath. Doons suggested that I trimmed the longer stems to make the wreath look synchronized, but I didn't want stubs sticking out around it - I wanted the stems and branches to have their natural ends. I guess next year I could plan a little bit better to make it look a bit better, but I still like it. 

Snowflake Pillow

Here is a VERY easy winter craft that I have enjoyed lately. My snowflake pillow. 

I used a brown and white flannel - just some left over fabric that I had. The snowflake I made using the famous and fabulous method of folding and cutting - like we did in elementary school. I found that flannel is much more difficult to cut than computer paper, so my snowflake is quite a bit out of balance. But that's okay.

Once the snowflake was cut and opened, I pinned it to my web interface.

My craft store sold this stuff by the yard. It was in reams just like the fabric. 

 

See how this material is just like a tight little web?

I pinned the snowflake flannel to the web interface and cut through the webbing right along the edges of the snowflake. After about 10 minutes with the scissors, I surrendered and just used a razor blade, which was much easier and quicker.

I don't have any pictures of the rest of the process, but it's just as easy as the first few steps. I took snowflake (still pinned to the webbing) and positioned it on my brown flannel as I wanted and ironed it on. Very easy.

Next, I sewed the pillowcase. I just sewed the fabric with the softer sides (and the snowflake side) inside of the pillow, overlapping the two ends of the fabric. When I turned it inside out, it looked like this on the back - a perfect little pocket to put the pillow inside. 

I'm loving making things snowflakey this year. If you didn't know, the snow bums out here are calling last month "Snowvember". For good reason - 140 inches in the early ski season is pretty close to miraculous. It's awesome.

Christmas Coffee

This jolly time of year has me craving something a little more festive than my morning favorite (black coffee). So I threw some of the season's best flavors together to have a special cup of Christmas coffee love!

1/4 Cup water with scoops of hot cocoa in the bottom of the coffee pot before brewing

1 tsp. of cinnamon on top of the grounds

Yields a delicious cup of Christmas coffee. 

Poured into my favorite Christmas mug and topped with marshmallows, I'm in the Yuletide mood!

"How often has the Christmas tree Afforded me the greatest glee!"

I watch deals on Groupon.

Groupon is great. It offers great deal from LOCAL companies. I love the idea of supporting local companies almost as much as I love the idea of awesome deals!

One of the deals that I indulged in was a Christmas tree for us this year from prepaidchristmastrees.com.

We had it delivered this weekend and it is WONDERFUL!!!

We've only had Christmas trees 2 of our 6 past Christmases together. Mainly because they cost some money and we are always gone during Christmas anyway (and usually for 10-15 days). The two years that we have had trees, we cut them down from Pike National Forest outside of Colorado Springs. We were a day too late to get our permit this year to cut down our tree. I LOVED getting our tree delivered - it is fresh and purchased from a company completely run by a local family. 

It's just beautiful!!! This Noble Fir is a lot fuller than any tree we have ever cut from our National Forests. 

And it smells amazing.

We love it!

 Just a little glimpse of what's been going on at the McBrayer bungalow 

The Long Sleeve Dress

I'd love a long sleeve dress. Dresses are hard to wear in the winter. Most dresses are sleeveless and not made from necessarily warm materials. Even the cute little black dresses aren't suitable for winter weather.

I've been doing some casual searches the last few nights online for long sleeve winter dresses and have come up seriously short. It's hard to find one that isn't: a wedding dress, cowl neck, lacy, mini skirt, open back (or bust), wrap dress, super slouchy, or bohemian.  I don't know why, but i don't want a dress that is any of these things.

Here's just a taste of what I found:

 Rachel Berry, anyone?

Cute, although short.

 Mini skirt, maxi hole

 I kind of love this but I could never sport it

Yikes

I like this mock-wrap

This one is cute, but has no form.

 Which I guess is okay for mannequin-esque humans like this lady pictured.

Sweater mini. Cute, but still a bit chilly, right?

I like the boat neck, but that's about it. 

Forget that this model is strangling herself with that beautiful sting of turquoise beads.

I actually love this

This designer (xiaolizi) has several charming long sleeve dresses:

Sorry, no other photo credits. 

So what do you think? Do you even own any long sleeve dresses? I don't even have any in my wardrobe. I usually wear winter dresses and skirts with sweaters anyway. But, I hate to admit that I wore a long wool skirt to work yesterday and wore knee-highs and my winter snow boots underneath. I need a nice pair of leather boots for Christmas - something I can wear with a dress. But I was glad I wore the boots, I had to tromp through about a foot of snow throughout the day as I walked around the Aviary - I didn't regret the fashion crime at all. It was so practical.

Things I'm Loving Lately

This video.

Well, and 'bucks, of course

Snow

Sewing

Wasatch Winter Alpenglow

Harry Potter Movies

Skiing

i'm not prego, even though I look it in this picture. it was 3 degrees on Thanksgiving and i was wearing 4 layers

Christmas Music

Check out my Christmas play list on the right --->

Heated Seats in the Jetta during these cold and snowy days

that car is amaaaazing.....

Purple Fingernail Polish

now that i'm no longer on the job search, I've indulged my sausagey-fingers in some color!

The Jesus Storybook Bible 

written by Sally Lloyd-Jones

I purchased this precious book to have at my house for all of the precious kiddos in my life, present and future. And I've enjoyed it so much myself! Landon has been reading me stories from the book before I got to bed at night. It's precious.

Green Gifts this Christmas

I try to keep track of the The Nature Conservancy is doing. They're great. This year they are claiming Cyber Monday as "Green Gift Monday" to raise awareness of responsible and meaningful gift giving.

For some of you, this sounds ridiculous. Mr. McBrayer and I strive to keep in mind spiritual, economic, and environmental stewardship in everything that we do. Although our (well, usually they are my ideas that the husband is so sweet to humor) methods are probably seen as strange to many people. I didn't really think this until I saw the look on my husband's face when I showed him my sister's Christmas gift this year. Not only is the gift handmade but the wrapping is a paper Chipotle bag turned inside out with a cut-out snow flake on top wrapped in twine. Welp, is that just cheap or is it eco-conscious? Maybe a little of both?

I seriously did consider making sandwich bags, produce bags, and grocery bags from cloth and putting them together in bundles for family and friends so that everyone can go paperless next year - but I realize that those of you who actually want to go paperless have already done so. Don't worry, there will be none of that under the Christmas tree this year, but don't think I didn't contemplate it.

The best ways to "give green" this year, I think would be to buy hand made or to re-purposed (vintage/thrift), and try to buy locally. Also, it is a great idea to give to charities - that would go to a great cause, and no packaging or shipping or production necessary. And always keep in mind how you are wrapping your gifts.

Get creative!

If you're buying vintage and the thrift store feels just a little too cheap (or stinky-dirty?), try Etsy

CopperPennyVintage

AFarmersWife

For the coffee lover: Support a Colorado local grassroots business owned by two Christian guys who are trustworthy in life and in business. They even buy only fair-trade beans and roast them fresh just for you:

Switchback Coffee Roasters

Just a few ideas for you to browse over. Feel free to comment with any ideas that you might have.

hey, Doons' picture is on the Salt Lake Tribune hiking blog today.

  Check it out!

Coffee and Snowflakes

I carried my special insulated "ccci" coffee mug in one hand, with Duvick's leash and poop bag in the other. Of course, the dog was pulling me around like a rag doll forcing huge, slippery steps in the snow. My shoulders have been hurting like crazy from a little confrontation I had with a few trees while skiing on Thanksgiving day. Duvick's pull was killing the shoulders and no matter how stern or sad I made my voice sound while trying to give him a clue, he just wouldn't let up. He's not as smart as I sometimes think he is - or maybe he lacks the compassion I always grant him. Either way, there was no understanding between me and the pup except for yanking from both directions of the leash.

Duvick loves the snow - not sure why he looks cross-eyed in this picture.

There were no coffee beans in the house this morning. And when I thought to hop in the car to purchase a lb. of coffee, I saw the sky dumping huge clumps of snow. I knew Mr. McBrayer wouldn't have been happy if I took the car out - the driveway is a lot more difficult to shovel once it has heavy tracks on it. Not to mention, the thought of driving out of my neighborhood on a snowy Sunday morning in Utah made me a little nervous.

So I put on my favorite winter woolens, insulated hoodie jacket and knee-high-rubber-bottom snow boots and set out on my own two feet into the snowy morning with Duvick to get of my favorite morning friend.

It was a beautiful walk. The 5 inches of continuously building snow was slippery in spots, but otherwise easy to travel on. I love the silent stillness of snow filled skies. It's amazing how the snow insulates the sound making the "crunch" of my boots and the "jingle" of Duvick's collar amplified - it's all I hear as we walk, save for a snow-blower at the neighbor's house in the distance.

As I walk, I have time to think about things. A lot is going on in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for. Every day I thank God for giving us the opportunity to live in Utah. I dread leaving one day.

Our local coffee shop is probably a little less than half a mile from our house. It's close. It's a walk-up joint, like Good Times. You should have seen the surprise in their faces when I tapped on their walk-up window. I didn't see any footprints in the snow there - I think I was their first on-foot customer of the day. They filled my mug to the brim with French Roast, gave Duvick a doggy biscuit and told me to "stay warm out there, sweetie". I did notice some frozen chunks of snow in my hair, but besides that, I don't think I looked too cold. In fact, when it is snowing and the air is still, it's usually pretty warm out (30ish degrees), and it was. I was a little too warm by the time I got home - my glasses were even getting foggy.

What an amazing start to a wonderful day of continuous snow (it's now been snowing for 12 hours without letting up - yay!). I'm not scheduled to work at the Aviary until Tuesday. Tomorrow is my buy groceries, and work for ACSl day, but I'm not sure my to-do list can keep me off of the slopes on a fresh day.

I hope you enjoyed your extended weekend. The husband and I definitely did!