Christmas in Shafferland 2016

Know what I wish? I wish we could have you ALL over for a big blog bash this Christmas. Wouldn't that be fun? Sitting around in the living room, watching Hallmark movies {because of course} and drinking coffee {I did make some stellar hot chocolate for you coffee haters} and soaking up all the Christmas decor. It would be such fun.

But since we're spread far and wide across this country {and world}, I'll just invite you to a virtual tour of our Christmas! In full disclosure, the house isn't quite done. The living room tree, which will be our live tree, has yet to be purchased. We'll take care of that in a few days, but meanwhile, I wanted to show you the rest of the house in all its cozy beauty.

I also noted as I decorated that all our decorations fit so perfectly in here. More perfectly than our old house, actually. I've told Ryan more than once that it's so odd to me how two houses that can be so similar in square footage can handle furniture and decorations so differently. Layout matters, I guess!

As I show you the pictures, I'm going to share a few reasons why my decorations are special to me. Our home will never be in a magazine, and I don't have a marked style across the house, but every single thing I put up has a memory attached, and that matters to me.

We'll start with some outside decor. A little tree Lynne gave me for Christmas one year, when I was still working at the station:

 The red lantern is the one we talked about on Spill the Beans last week: the one we got at a discount because it was missing most of its glass!

 Gifts from Ryan's mom. Ryan's step-dad made the little tree. Isn't it so cool?

 The door that used to belong on my grandparents' garage. I painted a chalkboard on it and got my Christmas art inspiration from Pinterest {of course}.

 My old little red wagon. One of the most complimented parts of our landscaping.

And now...inside!

After 16 years of having a galley kitchen, it was so much fun to have a bigger kitchen to decorate this year. And yes, I put a full sized tree in our kitchen. I did that because that window is the only window that looks out over the street, and I wanted passers-by to have a pretty view! I made this my s'more/gingerbread ornament tree. I've been collecting those for years and love how they make a perfect kitchen tree!

I also have these little shelves, which conveniently LOOK like a tree. :)

 Our coffee cup advent countdown is ready to go! Well. Almost. They're actually currently empty. So maybe not so much on the "ready to go." But they will be by December 1!

 Up close. I am so excited to have this little {okay, big} addition this year. This will be something new for us, and I'm just really excited!

Even though the tree is not up, we do have a few things up in the living room to make it festive. Two things here: the "Joy" canvas we painted at my mom's 80th birthday party this summer {love having that memory to get out every time I decorate} and our cards from each year framed. {I actually have this year's card already framed and displayed, but I took it down for the picture so I wouldn't give it away before I mail them out!}

 My friend Amy {from WBCL} gave us a dated Christmas frame as a gift one year, and we loved it so much that we get one every year. Last year we waited too long and almost couldn't find one! EEK! Not making that mistake again. Our 2016 frame is purchased and in hiding behind the 2015 frame. We do a photo together each Christmas day that we put inside these frames. And yes, I am aware that in 30 years, we are going to have a lot of frames in this house!

 Stocking time!!!

Our bedroom has a newly themed tree this year. Last year, right before Christmas, I had the chance to review a set of Adorenaments from Family Life Today. I loved them so much that I bought two more sets {there are a total of five sets available} and I used the three sets I have to decorate our bedroom tree. I love it that this whole tree is focused on Jesus and His names and attributes. This might be my favorite tree this year!

 The whole tree is in metallic tones and I love that, too. And I just love falling asleep to a beautiful tree every night. Christmas is the most lovely season.

In our bedroom, I also have my grandparents' Bible {the one in the photo on the front of my Advent book!} and a little cloche jar filled with figurines my Grandma used to have in her house. I also have a white ceramic nativity scene not pictured here, because Ryan was repairing a broken arm on Baby Jesus when the photo shoot occurred. But the nativity used to belong to my great grandma, and my mom painted it. So it's sort of a whole family history thing going on.

Our bathroom is probably one of the least-decorated rooms. {Things to work on for next year. There is a wooden Christmas tree in there and these little Isabel Bloom figurines I inherited from my former roommate, Angela, right before she died. She knew how much I loved Christmas, and she wanted me to have them. This year {actually two days from now} marks five years since she's gone to Heaven, and I still am so thankful for the impact she had on my life. I'm grateful to have these small reminders of her to display in her honor each year.

Our guest room has some Christmas cheer, and of course I have a million ideas swirling in my head for future years, too

More Isabel Bloom figurines, some vintage ornaments my mom gave me a few years ago, and one of my "joy" decorations. {Since that's my middle name, I like to get decorations that say that.}

 The little box in front came from a centerpiece at my niece's wedding this summer. I love it!

 My favorite little nativity. I found it in a tiny shop out in Greensburg five years ago when I went out there for Thanksgiving. It is just darling and I've never seen another one just like it. I debated on whether or not to buy it, and I'm so glad I did.

 The shelf in the guest room. :)

 This tree has no sentimental value. It's just red and silver to match the room. But it's so cute and cozy.

Our guest bathroom doesn't have a lot of decor {yet}. But I turned it into a Colts themed room!

My office is probably the least decorated room. I have a little ceramic tree in there {one of the great vintage ones that everyone used to have. Mom painted mine!}

Next year I'll put more in there. :)

But I will say that it's a pretty great start to Christmas in Shafferland. Looking forward to getting our live tree and setting it up together. Ryan and I enjoy doing that each year, and when we do, I'll let you see the results! :)

Thanks for touring our little humble home. Hope you enjoyed it!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* After our busy weekend last weekend {hosting a craft night on Friday and all day shopping extravaganza on Saturday}, we literally had the restiest of all the resty Sundays. Church, leftovers, naps, football, scrapbooking, and of course, Ryan's traditional Sunday evening fare of chips and salsa/queso. Boring blog fodder but one sweet day.

* Monday, I decided to bake some cookies for Ryan, and they turned out to be pretty delicious, I must say! Maple cookies with frosting. Know what was NOT delicious? Tripping over my computer cord and whamming my foot into the ottoman. Ryan and his co-workers diagnosed me with at least one broken toe, and he taped me right up. I hobbled around for the rest of the night before giving up and reading. That seemed safe.

* Tuesday, I did my first podcast interview! {If you missed it, Ryan and I are continuing Spill the Beans every week, but I'm adding an occasional interview podcast to it, and I recorded the first one that day!} That night, we hosted Tuesdays at the Table with some of the very first friends we ever made as a couple! It was a fun night!

* Wednesday was a cold, rainy, miserable day on the outside, but I had a warm and cozy day on the inside while I traveled all around our old hometown of Marion, seeing friends and delivering copies of the Be Still book to people who were doing a little Christmas shopping! It was so much fun to see them. I came home to find the Christmas ornaments I ordered to commemorate our house sale/purchase had arrived, AND Ryan was kind to let the TV stay on Hallmark movies all evening - even if he did mock them. ;) That's just a banner day all the way around.

* Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving, and this year we spent the holiday with my family. It was a comical day, for sure, as family gatherings always tend to be! When we were done celebrating with them, we went to Ryan's family party for a bit, but it was mostly done by the time we arrived. We had a couple little snacks and came on home to fall into our food comas!

* And when I woke up from my food coma on Friday, hoping to spend the day decking the new halls, I woke up with a crazy sore throat and aching all over. WHAT!?!? Where did THAT come from!? I was MOST unamused. So instead of decorating, I was stuck on the couch, sad that I was too sick to care about anything. By evening, I did feel well enough to at least take down all the fall decor, and Ryan and I spent a quiet evening at home.

* Fortunately, I felt much better yesterday, so while Ryan worked, I began putting up the Christmas trees, and I made a surprising amount of progress, considering I'd lost a whole day of work! When Ryan got home from work, he helped take down the outside fall decorations, and then we went to dinner with some friends - and laughed so hard my face hurt! Definitely a much better day!

The Saturday Six

One.

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I will be the first to confess I have not (yet) jumped into the adult coloring craze. I don't avoid it because I think it's ridiculous. Quite the contrary, actually. I barely have time to write and scrapbook. If I start coloring...well, I'll have to start giving up sleeping or eating, and I am not prepared for such a sacrifice. HA! But my friend Sarah Forgrave did a (written) interview this week with an author/artist of a coloring/devo book, and I found it fascinating to read about how she get into creating these books and how coloring fits into her time with the Lord. So I thought I'd share the interview with you! :)

Two.

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Earlier this week, I shared my list of Christmas gift ideas, and after I did so, I found this amazing list of clutter-free ideas. These work for anytime...not just Christmas. Hmmmmm. I seriously think that next year, Ryan and I might overhaul our entire gift-giving philosophy.

Three.

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During my 4 years of working at WBCL, I drove an hour each way every day, and two of my four years landed during those Polar Vortexes. {Remember those?} Driving, especially for a girl like me who doesn't even really like to drive on a bright, sunny day, was excruciating. The worst part was all the drivers who apparently felt invincible and went sailing by me, and then a bit later, I'd creep past them where they'd landed in a ditch. So when I found this list of tips for winter driving, I thought I'd share them ahead of the winter driving mess.

Four.

White/neutral Christmas decor is all the rage, isn't it? And it's definitely beautiful and timeless and all that. But sometimes color can be beautiful, too! Loved this room by Jessica over at Four Generations One Roof. {Lynne and I interviewed her back when I worked at the station. She and her husband and their kids live in the same house with her parents and grandparents, and she blogs about how they live as four generations in one house. Fascinating!} Anyway. I love the color choices in this room!

Five.

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I had planned to have my house half decorated by today, but alas, I woke up sick with some weird sore throat/flu bug yesterday. NO idea where I got it. I was fine on Thanksgiving! Anyway. I spent the entire day on the couch, part of it legitimately crying because I just wanted to start putting Christmas up! One of the trees I'm most excited to decorate is my Adorenament tree. I don't have all these sets, but I have three of them, and I am so excited to put them on a tree and have one that is actually dedicated to Jesus! :) {Since, you know, He's the reason for the season.} Family Life is running a sale on them, so I thought I would share in case you're looking for a new tree theme!


Six.

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So it turns out I have an almost name twin who also loves to write. How could I not read her debut book, Choosing Real? Bekah Jane Pogue and I have many things in common...parting ways mostly because she lives near the ocean and has two kids, while I live in the middle of cornfields and have a cranky cat.


But as I read Choosing Real, I realized we've been learning many of the same lessons along the way, and she's captured them very well. First I have to tell you that her style is uber-conversational. Reading this book is absolutely like sitting down on the couch beside her (and she even describes her huge L-shaped couch, so you can even see yourself there) and pouring out your soul over a plate of chocolate chip cookies (which she includes the recipe for, by the way).

Bekah loves the same things I love, and they're probably the same things you love, too. Parties and showing love to others, giving and receiving gifts, loud laughter and well-scripted days. Order. Beauty. Predictability.

But she's learned along the way that life usually follows a very different pattern. Her dad died long before she thought she'd have to say goodbye. Her husband didn't always come home with the gifts she hoped he would. Her kids brought lice into the house. Relationships sat in tension sometimes. And she vulnerably says she didn't always react to those moments in the right ways. She freaked out, overreacted, and shut down. (And who among us hasn't done one or all of those things over something along the way?)

Yet in each of those moments, God spoke to her heart and taught her, ever so gently, to choose the reality of her life before her rather than the elusive dream that just wasn't going to come true. He asked her to find herself in Him, not in being the perfect, coolest mom, or the best party-thrower on the planet. He urged her to be real before Him and to understand that He didn't expect her to create this perfect faith. He expected her to just be Bekah and let Him grow her faith.

Here's what I loved about this book. Bekah doesn't ask you to give up Pinterest. She doesn't ask you to stop planning parties or searching for ways to make meaningful moments. She does ask you not to let those things define you. She asks you to choose real. Real is what is before you. Real is sometimes messy. Real is sometimes unplanned. But real is what you have, and if you allow it to be, it can be beautiful.

I laughed and cried in this book, feeling the giggle-moments alongside her and feeling my heart break for the things that hurt her as she walked through them. And as a fellow planner, I have to say that I loved the reminder to choose real. To choose what lies before me. To let God make the moments and only be responsible to live them as best I can.

The book comes out in ONE WEEK, on December 1, so if you order it now, it'll be a few days before it arrives, but it's a great addition to the Christmas season, when we tend to pursue perfection instead of choosing real!

* Barbour Books provided a copy of this book to me at no cost. All opinions are my own! *

Our Thanksgiving

Before I take you on a tour of the Shafferland Thanksgiving, I have a little bonus for you! I mentioned in a Spill the Beans episode a while back that I'd been given the opportunity to do a little interview hosting, just like I did back in my radio days! I'm excited about this, and just as a reminder, it doesn't interrupt the flow of Spill the Beans. It will still keep on keepin' on with Ryan joining me, stories galore, and a lot of fun.

But The Conversation Cafe will pop up now and then too, and in this podcast, I'll have a chance to introduce you to new friends! My very first episode is up today, and I think it's an appropriate day, because my guest is Melissa Hernandez, the owner of Simply Bliss Boutique, and since it's Black Friday, you can listen while you wait in crazy long lines! :) And if you get tired of crazy long lines, you can hop online to shop Simply Bliss!

Hope you enjoy episode 1 of the Conversation Cafe, and I know you're going to love Melissa! :)

Click here to listen.

And now...wanna see Thanksgiving? {Are you even out of your own turkey coma?}

I am because...I don't like turkey! Ha! I bet you can't tell here which plate was mine and which was Ryan's:

This year, we spent Thanksgiving with my family, and Mom put together a delicious lunch! {Ryan vouched for the parts I didn't eat.}

I don't remember what led to these faces, but here we are!!

Have I even told you that I apparently broke a toe (maybe more than one) this week? I get around pretty well most of the time, but I wore cute boots to Thanksgiving and that was a mistake. Back to elevation I went.

 And that's my "bring me my coffee and get out of my way" face. 

My sister Skyped in from Kansas:

And apparently, when it was time for the group pic, Dad wanted to hide.

I thought Julie and I needed a new picture together:

And of course, I can't go without saying again how thankful I am for Ryan and how well he loves me - AND my whole family. He is a blessing!

I told him yesterday that I so well remember the Thanksgiving of six years ago, when I just didn't think life would ever turn around for the better again, but God had a beautiful plan waiting. I am thankful - for the season of hard and the season of beauty!

PS!!! I almost forgot to tell you I bought that shirt from Simply Bliss. I thought it was a good choice for the day!