Slow down, December

I love the run up to Christmas, but I want it to go slowly so I can really savor it. Putting out my decorations. Locating sweaters in the closet for chilly mornings. Burning seasonal scented candles. Every night I peak out the windows to enjoy our candy cane trees. With a yard that's double the size of our old one, the effect of the lights isn't as widespread. Nevertheless, they still put me in a joyful holiday mood.

I ventured forth to Hobby Lobby last week to look for some simple silk holly and picks to put in my coffee table sleigh. Last year I opted for flocked and glittered lamb's ear that shed all over the place and drove me nuts. While I was looking at greenery options, I stumbled across this darling mug and couldn't resist since it reminds me of our Finn.

My front door gives you a hint of the santas you'll find inside. On the back porch, I added a small neon sign with the title of one of my favorite holiday songs to accompany the vintage blow mold St Nick. I'm so grateful that all of our outdoor decor is on timers that light up at dusk and turn off after four hours.

If you take a close look at the picture below, you'll notice a second fireplace screen we've added. That's because our toot head Finn has decided that it's fun to wrangle past the existing flexible mesh fireplace curtain to scarf up decorative fireplace gravel. I heard him loudly crunching on a piece last week and immediately went into retrieval mode. He'll be eight months old on the 19th, but he still puts everything in his mouth like a toddler. Acorns. Leaves. Bugs. And now fireplace gravel. So I purchased an inexpensive stand alone screen to deter him. Next he turned his need to gnaw to the Christmas greens bucket on the hearth. After fishing part of a pine cone out of his mouth, I went all granny on him by breaking out the fly swatter. Doris Pearl always kept a fly swatter on top of the fridge when we were growing up. That was her disciplinary method of choice most of the time, on both kids and pets. Thanks to a couple swats and some harsh words, Finn has developed a healthy respect for leaving the hearth bucket alone. For now.