Posted by terrepruitt on December 17, 2021
Tis the season to share the Joy and my Christmas decorations. I love handmade cards. They are so pretty and special I save them and they become part of my Christmas decorations. Here is my newest.
A handmade Christmas card for my Friday Photo.
Do any of you save any of the pretty cards you get to use as decorations?
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: Christmas cards, Christmas decorations, Friday Photo, handmade Christmas cards | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 8, 2015
IT’S CHRISTMASTIME. I love this time of year. Yes, I tend to get a bit crazed because I want to have my house sparkly clean, then all decorated, then have the presents all under the tree, the Christmas cards on their way in the first week of December. And the CRAZED part comes in because unless I start doing some of this in November it just doesn’t happen. So then I start having to take shortcuts. I even posted about Letting Go before — I’ve actually written a few posts about letting go, but one specifically about Christmas – it turns out, in 2010, I thought it was last year. I am nowhere near sparkly and Christmas cards are still on the radar, but I have no idea when. One of the things that tends to get me a bit crazed it coming up with stuff to write. I don’t always have ideas. I want to post stuff that you will read, but sometimes, I just can’t come up with things. I even posted about that before, too. I skipped/missed two Saturdays because I was busy and even though I remembered in time, I didn’t remember in enough time to think of something AND write it. So, tonight, I decided to take the pressure off by just posting what I have been doing that is taking up my time. I don’t have time to think of stuff and research it and . . . well, life gets busy and sometimes priorities change. I have been having a good time.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend I met Rocky. I like birds so I was trying to make friends with him. I would visit with him everytime I walked by his cage. The first time I heard him “meow” I ran into where he was and started recording . . . and all he would do was make that “drip” noise. This went on for about a day and a half. The last few hours it crossed my mind that he was not making a DRIP noise, but the noise that my iPhone makes when I turn begin to record. What do you thing? I am not convinced that is what it was. (The other bird noises in the video are his “music” his dad turns on for him.) He is a very smart and very pretty bird.
Birds are so amazing. But they are very messy and they require a lot of attention. They are animals that were created to fly. When they are kept in cages they want attention. They want attention like any pet.
So, I’ve been cleaning, putting up the tree, decorating the house, and entertaining cats. In another post I will share some of the other decorations . . . this is it for now.
One of my girls is calling.
How is your Christmas Season going so far? Are you ready for Christmas?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: African Grays, African Greys, busy time of year, Christmas, Christmas cards, Christmas decorations, letting go, Rocky, Teagan and Nessa, Thanksgiving, yard roses | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on November 25, 2014
In January of this year my friend posted a picture of the Christmas cards she received. I loved what she did with them and asked her if I could post her picture and idea on my blog. She is super sweet and she said yes. She created a Christmas Tree with her Christmas cards! January is obviously after Christmas and I thought if I posted it in January we would forget about it come December. So I told her I would post it closer to Christmas so that we could use the idea for Christmas 2014. She had asked if I wanted a better picture because the one posted here I took off of FB. I said no. I do believe it is a bit blurry, but I think blurry is good so all the photo cards she received aren’t posted clearly on my blog. It is about that time of year when we start thinking about sending out Christmas cards. And here is a great idea of what to do with the cards you receive. In the past I have posted about what I do with my Christmas cards, I do put them on the wall, but I really like the idea of putting them in the shape of a tree. Thanks, CeCe.
Such a great idea. A lot of people don’t get or put up actual trees for a multitude of reasons, but this is a great way to still have a little tree spirit. It is also a great way to display the cards. I love it. I didn’t ask her how she did it, but I think if I were to do it, I would start with the top card and add a row as I receive cards. But my rows would start from the middle so I would always have a trunk. Yes? Does that make sense? Would that work?
Oooo! You could also attach some flat ornaments to the wall. Hanging them in between the rows of cards. Yeah, That would be nice. I might just do that.
I was a little sad last year because I estimated that we sent out twice as many cards as we received. While we do not send out cards just to get one in return, I just love cards and I was a bit sad that it seems as if the tradition of sending out Christmas cards seems to be disappearing. Although, it could also be that Thanksgiving 2013 was the very LAST week in November with no time after before December started. That always makes for a super busy Christmastime and I remember having not received a lot of cards when that happened previously. It is the same this year. Thanksgiving is the last week in November. Too close to Christmas. It would be nice to have at least a week after Thanksgiving before December starts. Or we should celebrate Thanksgiving in October, like Canada. That would give us enough time to enjoy it more. Anyway . . .
Last year we had a great Christmas tree. It was severely misshapen, but after we decorate it, it looked beautiful AND it lasted a long time. Even after we put it outside and my husband cut it up for collection, it smelled fresh for days. This year we might have two trees. A real tree and a card tree!
So there you have an idea of how to creatively display the Christmas cards you receive and have a “tree” at the same time!
What do you think? What do you do with the Christmas cards you receive?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Canadian Thanksgiving, Christmas card tradition, Christmas Card tree, Christmas cards, Creative Christmas Card Display, Thanksgiving | 5 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 21, 2013
So earlier this week when I was driving home from one of my Nia classes I heard one of the DJs on the radio say that if every family in the United States wrapped one gift this season with stuff from around the house the paper saved would cover 45,000 football fields. I thought that was pretty amazing. I also thought that it would be a great thing to share on my blog. Before I post anything I do some searches on the internet for more information. With some things I have additional sources, but some things are just internet researched and as I have stated time and time again, often times there is conflicting information. This time I found slightly different information OR I heard it incorrectly in the first place. Either way I think it is pretty amazing and I would hope that many families would like to participate in saving a bit of paper. You might know I pretty much try to re-use wrapping paper and tissue paper as much as I can. I don’t necessarily use stuff around the house to wrap, but after reading this fact I might. According to the Stanford University’s Site: “If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.”
So, it is THREE presents. Still do-able, I think. For people who like to use reusable bags instead of paper or plastic when they shop, I think putting their gift in one of those bags is a great idea. I think it is so great (of an idea) that I am sure I have said it before (please note I am not claiming to have come up with that idea, just to have said it before). Since I see more and more people saying they shop online what about just using the box the items come in? I know they are not that attractive but you can make them so.
If you have kids you can set them about drawing on the boxes. That would make for a very unique wrapping. (Ha, I said that before, too!) Or you could use other things from around the house and attach them to the boxes. Maybe magazine pages cut up in Holiday shapes and stuck to the box. Or perhaps stickers or just some glitter and glue? I am sure if you have kids THEY can come up with many ways to decorate those plain brown boxes.
Or what about using Christmas cards. Ooooh! You know how I love to save them and hang them on my wall as decorations (I didn’t do that this year – first time in many years!). But the fronts could be cut off and saved, then glued to that brown boxes next year. (Oh, I have to remember that for this year’s cards!)
I know you can come up with ways to reuse and recycle. And I have posted some ideas before. I was just amazed when I heard the comparison of covering football fields. Here is more info from the site:
“If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. . . . . . . The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.”
So using the front of the cards to make the brown shipping boxes pretty would be great!
And . . . . what else? How can we make our presents pretty and save paper at the same time? Please share your ideas.
Posted in Misc | Tagged: 45000 football fields, Christmas, Christmas cards, green, Nia, Nia Classes, radio DJs, recycle, Stanford University, wrapping paper | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 29, 2012
I always forget about the last post of the year. I mean, I know that I am writing one because it is eventually going to happen, but I don’t think of it as being special. I know a couple of years my hubby has suggested a “blog review” or something and I know I have done that before. But to do that every year is tiring I think. I do love the Holidays and the decorations and I am sad when they have to come down. A lot of people have certain dates and/or days on which they take theirs down. I like to wait until after the first of January and then the exact day usually just depends on timing. When is my hubby going to be around to help me with all of the boxes? When we will have the most time? When do we really want it all to go away? If he is not going to be around when I want it done, then I just do it myself. So I am not stuck on any particular day. Sometimes it depends on the tree. In 2011 our tree had to come down because it was the worst tree we had ever had in terms of dry. We only turned the lights on it on two days and then I was too afraid to have that heat on it. I remember trying to shut the curtain so the sun wouldn’t shine on it and dry it out any more. I didn’t want the house heat on – afraid that would speed the decay. 
The day after Christmas I was “undecorating” it and I put it outside. That tree scared me. This year the tree is better. Much better. It will make it until New Year’s Day at least. It is also smaller than our trees we have had in the past so the disruption of furniture and traffic has not been so great so it is not that much of a bother. There is one decoration that I remember I left up for a long time after Christmas last year and that was our Christmas cards. When we receive a card I usually leave it on the counter for my husband to read, then it gets taped on the wall. By the end of the season we usually have a wall decorated with cards. I remember last year I didn’t take them down for weeks.
I also save some from year to year. Some of the cards we receive are so beautiful or so cute I just don’t want to throw them away. I consider them a Christmas decoration. I have one that has plastic jewels on it. Glitter ones almost always get saved. I have some that are actually pictures. Now I am not talking about the picture postcard cards. Those always get saved. I keep those and when the Christmas boxes come down I look through them. It is fun to see how families grow and age. But I some friends who are professional photographers, they take pictures for their Christmas cards, I save those. 
Frilly ones and puffy ones, usually get saved, as do blue ones and ones with sparkles. Homemade ones also get put on the wall year after year. I keep the ones from years past on a separate wall because for some reason people used to walk in and say, “You got all those cards!?!?” And I would explain that this wall — pointing to the current card wall — was different from that wall — pointing to the years past wall.
I write the date on the card and put it in the box with the decorations and voila I have a jeweled or glittery or sparkly or fuzzy or puffy or frilly or homemade decoration for next year. (Sometimes the card might be glittery AND sparkly AND fuzzy AND frilly and homemade . . . ahhhhh!) I am sure that eventually I will have to throw some of them away. A few are looking a little worn and might be on their last year of decorating, but at least I have enjoyed it for more than just one season. And you might be familiar with my Christmas decoration scheme/theme and that is to SEE “Christmas” wherever you look so this gives me a few extra “decorations” that don’t take up a lot of room to store. They are very pretty.
Plus it is fun to read some of the notes and comments from years past. I have already picked out at least 5 that we received this year that are going to go on the wall next year.
What do you think? You have to admit that you receive at least one card a season that is too pretty to just throw away? Right?
Well, Happy New Year. Make it a great one!
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Christmas, Christmas cards, Christmas decorations, Happy New Year, Holidays decorations, re-using Christmas cards, recycle | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 7, 2010
In my most recent Nia class, I decided that I wanted to help people focus on the good of the season. I think that sometimes there is a lot of negative emotions around the Holiday season. By negative emotions I mean the way people actually feel during this time of year. There is always the ever present I-don’t-believe-in-Christ-so-I-don’t-agree-with-any-of-it, the it-makes-me-sad-so-therefore-I-am-going-to-be-sad, the WHAT?-ITS-CHRISTMAS! The feelings of inadequacy; there is not enough money, goals for the year were not accomplished, baking isn’t getting done, cards aren’t being sent, house isn’t getting cleaned, nothing is enough, there is too much . . . . .oh my the pressure! I was thinking all of this is negative stuff. So in class the focus was pushing away the negative, somewhat rejecting it, with the intent of bringing in the positive.
Both the “negative” and the “positive” is different for everyone so that was a very individualized point. We didn’t discuss anything that I mentioned above, so everyone could rid themselves of whatever they needed and attract whatever they wanted. It was very nice. It is a focus and an intent that can be used any time, I just thought we’d give it a spin this season.
As with all focuses and intents we use in a Nia class they can be carried into one’s day and/or daily living. This is where the thought of “letting go” keeps popping into my head. I love this season. I love cleaning my house, getting it all ready to put up the decorations. Then I love spending days . . . at least two or three days decorating the tree and the house. I always laugh because sometimes I can’t remember where I “normally” put something and it might end up in a new spot. Then I spend the season either saying, “Yes, that’s good.” or “No, that really doesn’t work.”
I sometimes feel very foolish for the sheer joy I feel when I look at a silly Christmas decoration that I cherish. But I do. I feel joy at the beauty and the sparkle of Christmas. This year since I am a bit limited in my movements I am having to really draw on that joy. I am going to have to strategically place things so that I can see “Christmas” everywhere yet not have as many decorations out and up.
Things tend to work in concert. We ended up with a much, much smaller tree than usual. Cool, since my hubby had to handle it without my help. Since it is smaller it will require less ornaments which will allow me to stay off my foot. Also a small tree requires less maintenance and the couches didn’t have to be moved. See? It is all gonna work out fine, I just need to let it go. Reject the negative when I start to feel a pout coming on. It’s ok that it is my favorite time of year and I can’t run around. Oh well. I can walk. My toe/foot IS healing. It is all good. For heaven’s sake its Christmastime. Let the negative go, embrace the season, embrace the unity.
Posted in Just stuff, Nia | Tagged: Christmas, Christmas cards, Christmas decorations, Christmas Tree, Christmas tree ornaments, Christmastime, Holiday season, Holidays, Nia, Nia class, Nia focus, Nia intent, unity | 4 Comments »
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