// ONE //
December!!! It has finally arrived! Is it just me, or did November seem super long? I must admit, though, that I liked having that extra week and a half to decorate for Christmas before December hit.
Our tree is officially up.
Christmas trinkets are out on the shelves.
The stockings are hung.
And it’s starting to smell like Christmas thanks to this live cedar garland I bought at Lowes to hang from the stairs.
You can’t beat the price of $15 for 20 feet of garland. I even had enough left over to hang in the kitchen.
It also helps that we’ve been burning these Thymes Frasier Fir candles like they’re going out of style.
I am OBSESSED with these. We’ve actually had these particular candles for over five years now. We bought a whole bunch of them when we were living in Austin and work our way through them every Christmas. The newer line of candles is really pretty too (Amazon affiliate link here
The hand lotion and hand wash
// TWO //
And with Christmas coming, you know what that means! Gingerbread house time. I learned my lesson with the Trader Joe’s holiday turkey and did not get duped into making royal icing again. This time, we went with the Wilton Mini Gingerbread House Village. I purchased ours from Walmart, but the kits are available on Amazon around the holidays as well (I’ll update the links when they become available).
There are so many adorable options to choose from. I opted for the little winter village because the kit included several houses, and I know Lamborghini likes to build. We divided our construction project into two days. On Friday night, we put the houses together. Then we decorated them Saturday morning. This kit hit all the marks: easy construction, premade icing, and lots and lots of extra candy. Wilton for the win.
// THREE //
Mr. L and I are almost finished with my favorite project this year. I found these chairs several months ago at a thrift shop, and they’ve been sitting in my living room for some time now:
Ironically, now that it’s the holiday season, the red and green fabric is coming off. Here’s a sneak peak of what’s to come:
// FOUR //
Now that fall has officially arrived in Texas, we have leaves and acorns EVERYWHERE. I will rake up leaves one day, and then a whole other tree will drop all of its leaves the next. I thought we we had an end in sight this weekend, but then I noticed the live oak leaves starting to fall. The live oaks are the absolute worst because they shed their leaves intermittently. Plus they are nearly impossible to rake up.
The kids are having fun with the acorns, though. Lamborghini collects them every day and brings them to me so I can draw faces on them. (A fine point sharpie works best). Then The Dot and I look for acorn “hats.” It’s a good outdoor activity when the weather is nice.
// FIVE //
And last but not least, we finally found a new show to watch on Netflix. It’s called Fake or Fortune. In the show, an investigative journalist and art expert examine works of art to determine their authenticity. The show is actually several years old and originally aired on the BBC, so I may be behind the times on this one. But it’s really interesting to watch if you haven’t already seen it. I particularly enjoyed the episode in which they examined the Picton Castle Renoir. I have always loved The Impressionists, and I learned a lot more about Monet and Renoir when I watched the episode. For example, I had no idea that Monet and Renoir often painted side-by-side and even exchanged works. There are several paintings by both artists that look almost identical but each artist put their own impressionist spin on the painting. Another fun fact is that Monet’s step-daughter was also an accomplished artist by her own right. Interestingly, she ended up marrying Monet’s son. There’s also a lot of drama surrounding two famous art institutes that have differing opinions on the Renoir at issue. It’s a fascinating watch.
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