An Old-fashioned Christmas Tree

As the university housing manual came out earlier this year, we discovered rules that we didn't know about last Christmas. Such as the one that says you can't put lights on a real Christmas tree (they're worried about fires). As much as I didn't want a light-free tree, I really didn't want to go out and buy a fake tree that we weren't ever going to use again. So we decided to go ahead and get a real one, and forego the lights. I originally planned to use ribbon on the tree, in place of lights. But when we were out looking for ribbon, I stumbled across these cute garlands. They're made of red and white wooden beads, and remind me of the old-fashioned popcorn and cranberry garland. I had considered making one of popcorn and cranberries, so when we found this, it seemed perfect, especially since we hadn't been able to find any ribbon we liked. I love the look of this garland! Although I do miss the twinkle of lights, I am enjoying my very old-fashioned looking tree.

Our tree topper adds to the old-fashioned look. We found her last year. It's not a real tree topper - just a rag doll that we're using for one. We loved her as soon as we saw her, and she does the job beautifully.

The tree skirt I made last year out of a piece of cotton and some bias tape. It was extremely simple and very inexpensive compared to buying one!

For quite some time, my very favorite ornament has been these little mice. We first discovered them years ago when my brother brought them home. I believe he had made them in Sunday School, or something. My parents made some another year, and then last year I made a bunch and gave them away (and kept a couple). The little mice tucked in their beds always brings a smile to my face. I love seeing them hang on the tree.

Frugal Scrubber

I usually use a scrubber sponge when I am washing dishes and come across something that doesn't come off with just a washcloth. I have been buying packages of scrubbers, then cutting them into three smaller pieces so that they last longer (I thought that was being pretty frugal). I ran out of them, though a couple of weeks ago, but have got along without them fine since. I was washing dishes this afternoon and couldn't get a pan clean. I was about to leave it to soak for a while longer when I remembered something that I had in a drawer. When I was reading The Tightwad Gazette a while back, one suggestion had been to use onion bags as scrubbers. Afterwards, I had saved an onion bag I had, putting it into a drawer, but then forgetting about it until today. Remembering it in there, I decided to try it, so I pulled it out. I put my wash cloth inside the bag, then used it to scrub the pan. It worked wonderfully, just as well as a regular scrubber. It worked really well to have the wash cloth inside it, because then I had soap, and it was easier to hold on to. I was so pleased to find that this worked well! I may never buy scrubbers again. It might be frugal to cut scrubbers up, but it's even more frugal to use something that's free!

My strong husband....

Who needs a saw? After we had decided on a tree we liked, my husband used his mighty strength to get it for me, as the following video shows....

Time with family...

I love spending time with family during the holidays. We spent the weekend doing fun Christmasy things with our families, and it was so much fun! Saturday we went to my in-laws house and had a fun evening of watching A Christmas Carol and then making Christmas gift tags. I was able to make a bunch and I should have enough for all our gifts.

Sunday after church we went out with my family and continued our tradition of cutting down a Christmas tree. Last year Seth and I had gotten a tree on our own, so it was fun to go with them again to a tree farm and look for trees. We were able to find two good trees to cut down.

Christmas and family....can't get much better than that! =)

It's Officially Christmastime!

Now that it is officially the holiday season, I've started with the Christmas decorations, one of my favorite things to do! I finished my candy wreath, so I hung it on the wall. Of course it won't look so nice for long, as the candy slowly disappears! The rest of our decorations will be going up over the next couple of days...I will post more pictures when we finish.

Are Books on Their Way Out?

I remember reading a story as a child - it was about a boy and girl who lived in the future. They did their schoolwork at home, but their mom didn't teach them; instead they had an electronic "teacher", a machine that taught their lesson, gave them homework, etc. I remember that in the story, the kids found a real book, something neither of them had ever seen, since they weren't made anymore; they read using the screen of their "teacher". They discovered that the book had belonged to one of their grandfathers. That's all I really remember from the story, but I remember thinking at the time that that probably wouldn't ever really happen - I couldn't imagine not having real books. I still can't imagine not having real books to read, but I do now think that will someday happen. I was watching the news yesterday for a little bit and saw the newest release from Amazon - the Kindle, an electronic reading device. It is about the size of a book, and its screen will show one "page" at a time. It can hold up to 200 books, which can be bought and downloaded instantly thanks to its wireless capabilities. It was hailed as perfect for travelers, who of course can only take so many books with them at one time. Having seen this, I can easily imagine this sort of thing taking the place of paper books in the not-so-distant future. After all, it would save so much money and so many trees. While I can agree that this could be a wonderful thing for someone who travels a lot, I can't imagine curling up on the couch in front of a fire, with a cup of hot cocoa and what is basically a little computer. No, I enjoy the feel of books, turning the pages, and the faded print of older books. While I am now sure that someday paper books will lose their place in most homes, I really hope that doesn't happen for a very long time.

Finally!

I finally got around to adding links to blogs I read. I've been discovering new blogs recently, so I may add more links in the future. I really enjoy reading other people's blogs - learning a little about their lives and getting new ideas!

I am also very happy this morning because Saturday our wireless internet started working again. We're supposed to have wireless in our college housing apartment, but for some reason, it hasn't worked for probably 6 months. So we've had to use the long ugly cable to hook up to the phone jack. Now it's put away. Hooray for wireless! =)