Christmas Care Package: Part 2

Like I said in my previous post, I filled the first box but still had more to send and figured Christmas definitely warranted more than one box. 

This time, though I stuck with the standard Christmas colors and most items, but I wanted the box itself to represent the real reason we celebrate Christmas instead of just the commercialized version. 

I picked lyrics to another one of the very few Christmas songs I like. 

I Celebrate the Day by Relient K

It's not quite as difficult to read, but here are some close ups.

The first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my Savior?

The first breath that left your lips did you know that it would change this world forever?

I celebrate the day you were born to die so I could one day pray for you to save my life

This box included: 

--2 types of Christmas cookies in a Christmas pail

-- 2 spray bottles of Christmas icing (for Scott to decorate them himself, maybe more fun...also would not mail well decorated.)

-- 2 packages of cocoa mix 

-- 1 package mint flavored M&'s

-- Uno the card game 

-- Christmas socks (Scott is always wearing the girly ones)

-- 4 tubes of chapstick 

-- a 6 inch battery powered Christmas tree

-- a string of 50 Christmas lights (in case he wants to be festive and decorate his space on the ship, though I doubt he will.)
-- an Lifeproof case for iPhone
-- an iPhone 4 (to replace the one he lost)

And, per tradition, I had to include a hand drawn, goofy card. 

Here's hoping it gets to him in time and doesn't get dropped into the ocean! (yes, that has happened with an entire pallet of mail this deployment.)

Merry Christmas, y'all!

Christmas Care Package: Part 1

It should be no surprise what comes after the Thanksgiving care package. But, of course, Christmas!

Now, it was a lot simpler to find Christmas themed items than it was for fall/Thanksgiving! I ended up finding so many, in fact, that I sent TWO boxes. 

So this one is the first.

I found some great scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby. The 12x12 paper happens to be almost the perfect size for the box flaps, if you cut them in half. The papers I picked out had a lot of writing on them, so while they were pretty, they unfortunately made the words I added to each flap hard to read.

Here is the box as a whole:

See? Hard to read from afar...but I snagged some close ups so you could get the whole idea.

The words are lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas songs...which is saying a lot, because generally, I HATE Christmas music!

Merry Christmas, Baby by Brighten.
(Give it a listen while you read on...)

Merry Christmas, baby

The only thing on my wishlist: maybe you could come back home to me 

(still hard to read in the picture, but looks better in real life, I promise)

'cause it's the season for us to be together again

I also found the stickers at Hobby Lobby in the scrapbook section. They all happened to be 50% off as well, so that was a bonus!

And after cutting out the words for the Thanksgiving care package by hand, I decided a Silhouette (think Cricut--or if you're not familiar with that, a cutting machine...they are crazy cool...but maybe I'll write more on that in another post) would be a good investment. So that made the lettering much quicker! 

Now for what I put inside. Part one of my Christmas care package includes:

-- a Hickory Farms Meat and Cheese box

-- a plastic candy cane filled with Sweet Tarts or something of the sort

-- a box of Christmas Nerds

-- a box of Christmas (candy) Dots

-- a box of Christmas Fun Dip

-- A Christmas tin (also from Hobby Lobby) filled with Swedish Fish and Sweet Tart flavored candy canes 

-- Phase 10 the card game

-- a large package of Beef Jerky

-- a large bag of gum

-- a Polo Assn watch

-- a small Stocking

-- a set of Christmas DVDs (Elf, A Christmas Story, and National Lampoon's Christmas vacation)

-- a bottle each of his shampoo, body wash, and deodorant (not pictured)

And two of my personal favorites:

I found a small stuffed animal on Amazon...which happened to be a Bernese Mountain Dog. That way he can have a mini Gatsby! 

I filled a flash drive with new movies, music, pictures of us and home. And books for Scott's Kindle, since he really doesn't have enough internet access to upload anything himself. I also put episodes of his favorite TV shows that are currently in season on there...obviously he wouldn't get to watch them otherwise.

But that's just part one. Part two is still to come! 

'Tis the Season!

I have never been a huge fan of Christmas. Well, at least the commercialized version.

But this year, I was really excited to get to decorate our apartment for Christmas. Maybe it was because it’s our first one as a married couple. Maybe it was because it was the first time I actually got to pick out my own decorations and do everything myself. And maybe it was because Pinterest is filled with a ton of amazing ideas. Definitely all of the above.

I still feel like there should be more decorations…but it’s our first Christmas, can’t go all out and buy everything at once! These things are supposed to be accumulated over time, right?

Well, since I had never been a fan of the traditional red and green Christmas colors, I decided I was definitely going to have to change it up. As luck would have it, the vast majority of our decorations are navy, light blue, white, and silver. I know, I know…you’re surprised. But I have to say, Scott was for the color scheme just as much as I was.

Now for some pictures and links.

Scott found this little guy at Walmart, so we had to get him.

Pinterest has a lot of hoilday printables, and I found a couple to match frames that I already had. (The website where I found the Subway Art printable has free printables for almost every holiday. So check those out, too.) In between them is a mini Christmas scrapbook of sorts made out of paper bags. I made that a couple of years ago with my Mahm & Aunt Karri. And there is our first little nativity scene.

 

Free Merry & Bright Printable // Free Christmas Subway Art Printable

And today, because most Christmas printables seem to be in red & green, I decided to make one of my own. I need to buy a frame to put it in, but feel free to download it if it goes with your Christmas decorations.

(Click to enlarge and then "Save As.") It should be 8x10. The background is also transparent, so you could print it on any color of paper you would like.

I found this banner template and tutorial that I really liked (even though it was red & green) so I put it together and along with a red Santa hat Scott picked out, decorated this frame I got a while back from Ikea.

 Free Noel Banner Printable

Now for the two biggest projects. You know I couldn’t have done Christmas decorations without having to sew something.

My Mahm used to always see these ruffled tree skirts on Pinterest. And of course she always teased that I should make her one. I always meant to…but just haven’t gotten around to it. But then I decided that I should have one! :)

As luck would have it, my color scheme wasn’t too popular in the Christmas fabric sections of Joann’s or Hobby Lobby…so I had to go another route. I’m not normally one for glitter and sequins, but those are just about the only things I could find in the right colors. It’s pretty large and took a while, but it’s actually really simple.

And our Christmas tree with the skirt.

 

Ruffled Tree Skirt Tutorial

I then decided that making stocking would be better and maybe cheaper than buying them. Once again, I couldn’t find fabric to match the color scheme very well, but I figured grey was close enough to silver for it to work.

I followed the main “sock” part of the tutorial, but wanted to make a somewhat manly stocking for Scott and prettier ruffles for my own stocking.

I have to warn you, you can’t tell from the picture, but these stockings are HUGE. I didn’t know stocking stuffers were supposed to be as big as iPads and a pair of shoes! I’m telling you, they would fit in these stockings.

 

Free Stocking Tutorial & Pattern

I’ll probably add more, because I like to overdo things, but that’s all for now.
So there you have it. Our first married Christmas and all of the decorations that come along with it.