Hello Christmas. I love you.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Coates' house. This really is my favorite time of the year. A few of the many things I love about Christmas.... everyone seems a little bit more cheerful, we are buying things for others instead of ourselves, time with family and friends, tons of opportunities to give to and serve those in need (and with that comes a greater awareness of those in need around the world), decorating, Christmas music, yummy treats, the movie Elf, and most importantly having my heart refocused on Christ and that He came to this earth to die so that I might live. What a beautiful time of the year.


I have been really enjoying decorating our house since we moved here in May. I'm trying not to spend a lot of $$$ on the decorating process (it seems a little frivolous at times), so I'm always look for opportunities to makes things myself. I have been working on some Christmas crafts, and the latest thing I made were some Christmas lanterns to hang in our dining room. I saw the tutorial on this fabulous blog, The Creative Place, and decided to give it a try.... and I love how they turned out! I cut my strips a little bit thicker, and I used different colors/designs of scrap book paper. I used 8 strips per lantern, and then put ribbon on each one and hung them in the dining room. Also, I found super cute jingle bells brads to hold them together at Hobby Lobby. I might also make some for garland for the fireplace mantle. Have you been working on any Christmas crafts? I would love to hear about them!