Fa la la la! It's Christmas at the Shiveley's

Well as I had promised in my last post, it's all about Christmas this time! Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, not because of the gifts, but because it reminds me of my Savior's birth and how that birth has changed the world. It brings out the good in people (even the ones that seem they could never be good), it is the perfect season to get all cozy and have as many friends and family members over, it is inevitably full of Christ, as it should be (and so should every other day of the year). Whether or not you believe in Him or not, how can you not be full of His spirit around this time of year? I love Christmas!

I could go on and on about the Christmas traditions that I love or stories that have shaped me to the person I am today. I will spare you of all of them except for a few. When I was younger there were quite a few years where I longed for many presents from Santa. I wrote him long lists, like every child expecting every last little thing on that list to be placed nicely under the tree. I was never was let down. However there were years when I wondered, why did I only get one or two things? Looking back, I know I was just being selfish. After finding out the secret about Santa and watching my parents struggle financially with five girls, almost made me hate Christmas morning. I did not like seeing my parents worry about what they could get us for our presents, if anything at all. It made me sad that they felt like they had to spoil us with gifts from the store. My parents always gave us and continue to give the best gift anyone could ask for, a home full of the spirit and love that never ends. This one year comes to mind, now I don't need a pity party, I am telling this story because miracles do exist. It was right before Christmas Eve and all of us were either getting ready for bed or in bed. We all went to bed knowing that our Christmas would be quite small and the only gifts we were getting was the presence of each other with a few cards to open. Suddenly our door bell rang. Everyone got up and we rushed to the door thinking something was wrong. Only the angels watching over us and Heavenly Father himself know who did this. What we found on our porch was incredible. We had a few baskets full of food, which we really needed, a few presents (very nice presents as I recall) for each of us girls and some money for my parents. It was hard not to cry, in fact even my dad started to tear up. To this day it is a mystery who helped us out that year for Christmas, but to whoever did it, thank you for helping me understand the real meaning of Christmas. It is not what is under the tree or what you are given that year. To me Christmas is being surrounded by the ones you love and cherish. It is about showing your love to others in a way that Christ would. I hope we could all feel in someway the spirit of Christ(mas) and spread it around so that everyone can be uplifted and one step closer to the real meaning of Christmas.

As I promised I wanted to share with you some fun Christmas decorations that are inexpensive to make or buy. Being a newly wed has taught me how to get every last penny out of the dollar, it's been fun! Ready? A lot of what I made or decorated our apartment was left over from the wedding. But it's perfect because I had lots of glittery gold things and it matched! However there were a few things I made with just my computer or out of paper and paint.

My Christmas tree, although short in stature (only 4 ft tall) is perfect for our tiny apartment. Watching for sales and using coupons, I spent less than $80 on everything. I am proud of myself! It is not pictured, but I used some gold beads from my wedding to add to it and then I used the gold tulle from my wedding to add bows around the tree!

This banner, well our wall looked completely bare, I had to do something. I hand made everything and was reminded that I have a love/hate relationship with scissors. I tied everything together with some raffia that I had in my craft box. Cost? $0 everything I used to make this I have had for years. I started collecting paper and crafts long ago. But if you wanted to make this from scratch, paper and raffia are super cheap!

I had a left over canvas from another craft I did earlier, so I decided to create a floating reindeer. I thought it would look pretty neat, but I laugh looking at it thinking, there is nothing but a reindeer on that canvas. But I like it, and it's gold! The ornaments are left over from the ones I didn't use on my tree, and of course the candle rolled in glitter was a centerpiece from my wedding. Cost? Well I would say $3, I bought a new easel for pictures, everything else I already had. 

Now I can't take all of the credit for this one, I saw something similar in a store and loved it. It was on wood and the letters were in vinyl. Guess what it would have cost if I bought it from the store... almost $30. There was no way I was going to spend that much money on a Christmas decoration. So I came home and played with my computer and this is what turned out! I do not have photoshop or any of those fancy programs (although I wish I had them). I made this on good old Microsoft Word. Good thing I know how to work it ha ha. Cost? $4 for the frame, the rest came from the magic of a printer.

Well that is all I have for now. I hope you all enjoyed it! I sure do love you and wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Remember to Go Forth and Do!