2016 brought so much beauty to Stillwater Farm! Brett is working what I'm sure will be a busy shift at the fire hall today. And Baker and I will probably countdown to 9 o'clock and then hit the hay. 😂😴
Thank you so much for following along with our family as we slowly love our home back to life.
Wishing you all the best and abundant New Year blessings! Stay safe!
Merry Christmas, everyone! And welcome back to the farm!
Every year I tweak our decor.. and I've acquired LOTS of it over the years. This season we decided to keep it simple and embrace tradition and quality time with our family. I considered selling a lot of what I don't use but something held me back from listing it all. I'm hoping that I'll run across the right family to bless with some extra holiday cheer sometime and all my hoarding will pay off when I get the opportunity to pay-it-forward. :)
I've always been drawn to simple vintage decor and this year nearly everything I used was handmade or heirloom. It's all very special to us! We made our tree topper out of wood from the original corn crib here on the property. My red wooden bead garland and vintage pie safe belonged to my husband's grandmother (Granny!) and the big, chippy white window is original to our home, as well! I discovered it hiding in our barn a few weeks ago and I'm pretty sure the whole town probably heard me whoopin' and hollerin' in celebration! Aaand I drug it all the way down the barn stairs and up to the farmhouse all by myself. Much to Brett's dismay. #LOLZ. The chicken crate that I used to display our tree was thrifted during our Nashville trip this fall and my sweet hubs gifted me my beautiful German sled for my birthday a few years ago! Just about everything has a story and a memory attached. And although we have about 20 bins of ornaments, we chose a tiny tree and hand picked only our very very favorite handmade ones to hang! I probably only used 1/20th of the stuff I have but less is definitely more and meaningful for us this year!
I scored the most darling 1974 vintage metal fire truck at our local Goodwill! It's perfect for our fire family and one of my favorite finds this year!
Classic whimsical gift wrap for the kiddos this year.. Gift GIVING is one of my love languages! Wrapping them with love is as much a blessing to me as the gift is to them!
Extra special wrapping for our "Christmas Eve" boxes.. It's tradition to open new PJs, hot chocolate, a Christmas movie and a bedtime story on Christmas Eve each year! (This super precious paper is from Target!)
My favorite Christmas cookies aren't edible! ;)
And a few Christmas throwbacks because I loved our porch last season!..
We have a few special Christmas touches in our newly spruced up kitchen, too.. (See what I did there? Spruced.. I've got Christmas puns, y'all! 🌲😂) How CUTE are these vintage cookie cutter garlands?! And both of the recipes on the vintage chalkboard are from each of our grandmothers in their own handwriting. It makes me feel like they're both with us every time we cook. One of my absolute favorite projects! (You can find my DIY chalk lettering tutorial HERE)
This jolly vintage Santa cookie jar was another Goodwill thrift find this year! And another sweet hand print craft. :)
I'm totally convinced that everything tastes better out of a santa mug. :)
DIY cup racks, cookie cutter garland and Longaberger baskets.. These are a few of my favorite things!
Handprint wreaths we made this year! And Brett made this beautiful cabinet for our kitchen a few months ago!
And how cute is this?! My momma made these for her ornament exchange.. It has dip mix inside!
Me and Clark (Griswold)
And last but not least.. I can't blog this Christmas without sharing this..