Our Neighbors’ Holiday Decors

The Christmas season ended last Thursday here in the Philippines but I just have to share the lovely artsy holiday decors that my creative neighbor cum sister in law, Mae did last month.

This looks lovely at night when  they lit up the Christmas lights behind the drawing.

Aren’t they nice? And not to mention very kid friendly.

My favorite, Aki’s favorite  and Chloe’s favorite are  the kissing Santa and Mrs Claus drawings on their sliding doors.  Chloe likes to close and open the sliding doors while saying Kiss, No Kiss. Kiss, No Kiss.

The Art of Crafty Eco-friendly Gift Wrapping

I am on a roll! This is my 4th post for today. I will be on leave from Dec 23 to Jan 2  but since Manang’s going home to Samar to celebrate the New Year’s day with her family, I am expecting that I would hardly be able to check my mails and update my blog.

Anyhoo, lately, I’ve been into crafts and DIY projects.

I personally wrapped most of our gifts. The smaller gifts, manang did but I was still in charge of embellishments. I used the materials that we already have  in the house: magazines, newspapers, blue ribbons (from Aki’s Christening and birthday gifts) and Japanese paper. Since our Christmas motif this year is blue, I tried to use blue and gray pages of newpapers and print outs.

Aren’t they pretty?

My concern now is bringing them to the office (and bringing the gifts from my officemate home) . The MRT guards require gifts to be opened. That I really don’t want to do because I spent 4 hours wrapping.

These two have paper pom-poms.

I like the contrast of newpaper and the blue velvet ribbon.

I was trying to achieve an artsy abtract-y fold here.

The bow is super easy to make. Just make four paper loops and tape them on top of each other.

And lastly, I am currently obsessed with paper snowflakes to the point that Rosie tells me to stop. Hehe

Other Christmas-y stuff around the house

Let me post a short entry on our Christmas decors. Who knows, Aki might reach and eventually break them into pieces. 

I bought these two cute Christmas houses, a toy store and a candy shop. When Aki’s older, we will get a couple more houses and have a nice Christmas village.

We have a belen slash snowglobe now.

Stockings Overload

We are officially a family of hoarders. We hoard toys, diapers, magazines and now stockings.

My original plan was to buy only three, one for Aki, Franky and me. But I could not decide which of the four did I like the least,  so I got another one for Manang. It was a bit expensive at  150 a piece but they were too gorgeous not be brought home.

Aki Versus the Christmas Tree

This is not the year, not the year when we’d pour hot chocolate on our Christmas mugs, play Jose Mari Chan’s Christmas album, turn on the Chrismas lights, sit back and enjoy and admire our Christmas tree.

I have always wanted a magazine-feature-worthy Christmas tree. One that is filled with ornaments that tell a story. When we look back many years from now at the pictures of our Christmas decors this year, the story will be short and simple, in December 2010, we had a toddler and he ruled the house.

This is how the Christmas tree corner looks like..

 

The Christmas book nook was not spared either

 

 

Christmas Book Collection

It started with the realization that we can’t have a belen this year. We have a monster, almost always in danger, ultimate grabber, no so little toddler.  Having a belen will probably double the times we say No in the house. Next year, hopefully.

So instead of getting a belen, I decided on getting a Christmas book so I can introduce to Aki, Baby Jesus in a manger and the rest of the cast of the nativity story. When I went to Booksale, as usual, the hoarder in me took over. I added Frosty the Snowman, Night Before Christmas, Rudolf and  The Grinch to my basket. I decided to pass on the Twelve Days of Christmas book, because I simply can’t relate! Hehe

Then, I noticed that there is much more to Christmas books than classic holiday stories. There are a lot of other Xmas stories that do not involve reindeers or snowmen. So I decided to grab a couple more holiday books. Since I shop for books in Booksale, getting a few more books didn’t really hurt my wallet. I think the most expensive I got was only 80 bucks.