It’s a Wrap!

I thought I was into wrapping presents. I used to take real pride in my wrapping skills. In fact, I must have liked wrapping presents, because I remember helping all my family members wrap up their last minute purchases on Christmas Eve. So this love of wrapping gifts can’t be all in my head. I mean, just last year I was really into it. Maybe this year, it’s the whole 9 months preggo thing, or maybe I am just finally owning up to my own laziness, but I. Just. Can’t. Get. It. Together. Or maybe it’s more: I. Just. Don’t. Wanna.

Don’t get me wrong. I had the whole scheme ready to go. And this year, rather than Christmas being brought to you by Maria Von Trapp, who is awesome, it’s being brought to you by the USPS. Also awesome-ish.

Not really the USPS, but you can secure all of these things in the mailing section at your local Target. This year, I went with Kraft paper and red accents again. But instead of Kraft paper from Paper Source at $800 per roll (I still spent approximately $500 there this week, just not on wrapping paper,) I skipped on over to the packing/mail section at Target, and bought a big old roll of packing paper for like $5.  And then, I spotted and picked up some red and white chevron Scotch packing tape. Umm, I don’t knew where you came from, but you had better get in my cart you she-devil.  I did head to Paper Source for some cute mailing/gift tags and some other stuff that I never knew I needed but couldn’t live without another second longer. But just imagine how much worse it could have been if I hadn’t stopped at Target first and been in a really cheap mood.

All together, it looked like this as I got ready to wrap:

I also had a little fun with the gift tags, which were plain jane tags from Paper Source. I decided to jazz them up a little with my packing tape. I like my packing tape. It’s cute and beyond that? It holds the packing paper really well. Go figure! If you want to check out some other fun patterns, check them out here (Birds!!). I’m saying it first: Packing Tape is the new Washi Tape.

I finished them off with a little ribbon. As they say in Arthur Christmas (cute movie btw), “There’s always time for a BOW!”  Do knots count as bows? In my house they do. I wrapped about 8 presents and called it a day. There’s about 80 left in my “secret present closet.”  I guess I have three days left really to tackle the rest.

 

Ugh. I am tired just thinking about it. Anybody like to wrap presents? I offer competitive pay (read: unlimited Real Housewives reruns)

The Rule

So I want to ask a question: Is there a rule somewhere that says you *have* to decorate a tree?

Kase and I bought a nice skinny *real* frasier fir this weekend for the family room, where we plan to open presents with family. As discussed, we went with a “Scandi-simple” theme in the family room. We allowed Christmas to explode all over the playroom- Colin has his own tree with his own ornaments, we put the creche up, and an old family heirloom from Kase’s side of the family is decorating the windowsill as well. I topped the mantel with some clippings from our real tree and we plan to hang our handmade family stockings from Grammie in there.

Anyway, on Sunday we placed the frasier fir, we strung some lights and I topped it with a bow. But now?  I kinda like how it looks as it is. I’ve got two tubs of ornaments hidden away in the butler’s pantry, but I’m tempted to tell Kase to bring them back down to the basement.  The look of the tree is simple and natural. Added bonus? Colin can’t break any ornaments. So far, he hasn’t shown much interest in the lights, which is good, too.

My only concern is that my pregnancy induced laziness is overriding my holiday spirit. But I really don’t think so. I just think it’s a good looking tree on it’s own. But is there a rule that you *have* to decorate it? Tell it like it is, internet friends. Tell it like it is.

The New Nursery

With 8 weeks left to go, Kase and I decided to start tackling the nursery a couple of weeks ago. Which is good, since I can no longer get myself up from a sitting position without assistance.

First, we had to decide whether we would kick the despot out of his crib or not. He’s a bit attached to his crib. This makes us happy because we feel like we got our money’s worth. Even though he was gifted a big boy bed (a toddler bed shaped like a boat) for his second birthday, he was having a hard enough time adjusting to his new room in the new house, so I think he is hesitant to move from his crib to a new bed as well. Maybe we messed up on the whole transition opportunity, but we’re just trying to keep things as normal as possible during this time for him. We figure we’ll follow his lead. That’s also our story when it comes to potty training, too. But maybe we’re just lazy parents. I dunno.

So basically that was a long way of explaining why we ended up at, where else, IKEA! a couple of weekends ago. We decided to go ahead and just purchase a new crib for the baby: The Gulliver crib in white. You can’t beat the price and I love it’s simple lines. Let the old baby keep his crib until he was ready to give it up for good. Then, if he does decide before the baby is born to make the switch, we can just convert the Stokke crib back to a bassinet for the first few weeks and use it in addition to the Gulliver crib we purchased. Besides it’s never too early to start with the sibling rivalry: “Yup, you got Colin’s hand me downs and an IKEA crib. Welcome to second child status.”

Other than that, we also picked up this amazing plush rug from IKEA (5×7, off white) that has tones of white, taupe and gray, or as I like to call it, the Holy Trinity. The rug is so soft. As in, fall asleep on it soft. Ask Kase. The paint color on the walls is Benjamin Moore’s Ice Formations, which I just love- especially in a small room like a nursery, it really warms up the space without darkening it. It’s basically perfect in my eyes. And since IKEA was having a 50% off plush toys sale, we came home with the first of I am sure many stuffed animals for the baby.

The rest? A mix of stuff from Colin’s old nursery- his Sharon Montrose prints, which we love and are more than happy to use again; the glider, from Crate and Barrel, and of course, his Bla Bla mobile. The two IKEA Malm dressers we were using in our old bedroom we pushed together to form a changing station. PS: Those dressers? Already chock full of (previously loved by Colin) clothes. Anyone thinking of generously gifting this new baby with clothes? Please. Don’t. (We already discussed my shopping problem. No need to elaborate.)

I had seen this decal on Etsy and it made me laugh.  When it came, it was smaller than I anticipated (only because I never look at measurements) but as I sat in the glider on Saturday being lazy staring at my blank bookshelves which are too shallow and short for actual books, I remembered the decal. So we placed it in one of the shelves. It may be my favorite detail in the nursery. You know, until the actual baby is in there. Then the baby should probably be my favorite detail.

Other than that, it’s neutral. Soothing. Simple. We like a simple nursery. Babies come with a lot of crap (which we unearthed this weekend and which almost gave me a panic attack). Plus, they are complicated, to boot. Best to keep the rest as simple as possible.

Getting ready for the jolly fat man

That wasn’t a dig at any visitors we have coming this holiday season. It’s a reference to Santa. WE BELIEVE!

We haven’t unearthed all of our holiday schwag yet, but we did manage to snag Colin a $30 fake tree on Black Friday  for his playroom and he has been loving his Advent Calendar boxes filled with ornaments (I forewent actual presents or treats and decided to take apart a couple of ornament garlands instead and made little ornaments for every box) . Every day we get excited to open the “BOX!!” and we run to the playroom so that Mommy can carefully place the ornament where the Despot deems appropriate. And then move it. Twenty times. Now I know how Kase has felt the last 7 years we’ve decorated the tree. 😉

Anyway, here are some snapshots to show what we’ve been doing lately, getting ready for the fat man in the hat:

Keeping it “Scandi-simple” in the family room. Whites, tans and a pop of red:

We’ve got the playroom all decked out. Well, as much as it can be with a despot.

Fair warning Santa: the playroom has the smallest fireplace. I’m not judging, trust me. I’m the jolly fat lady in the hat. But without the hat. And I’m not really all that jolly as of late. Ask Kase.

And a little story to share: On Saturday, we headed to the mall to get some family photos taken before the baby comes (for Boston locals, we go to Portrait Simple and we love what they do). Not holiday card photos, but just some pics to commemorate this time right before we welcome a little brother for Colin. On the way in, we almost literally ran into Santa. Guess Santa gets potty breaks.

Anyway, after last year’s aborted visit, I didn’t have high hopes for this year, since while watching the parade on Thanksgiving, I asked Colin if he was excited to see Santa, and he slowly turned his head away and said in a low voice, “Nooooo….”  and slowly backed away from the screen.  I wasn’t going to force it this year. Don’t want to scar the kid for life.

So imagine our surprise when Colin walked right up to Santa, happily greeted him and gave him a high five. Since we were running late, we had to rush Santa’s sweet encounter, but we made sure to wave goodbye, and even utter “Miss you Santa!” And then I died.