The ADK, Thanksgiving & Pine Cone Ornaments

We are full into the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season and I couldn't be more excited!

We've had a full four day 'vacation' and it's been absolutely wonderful. 

 

Every year we travel about 3 hrs to see my parents in their

sleepy little town of Homer NY. It's a great trip spending time with family
and enjoying the beginning of the Christmas season.

John 10:10

The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may 

have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows) 

I am so blessed. I have good health, a good family, a reliable car, a warm place to sleep at night, 

more than enough food to eat (and share!), clothes on my body, a great job, and a bright, bright 

future. If God hadn't done any more than save my soul I would be grateful - but He chose to bless

me with all this much more, and I can't express how grateful I am to Him.

We arrived in Homer around 1:30 and dinner preparations were well on their way. This is my Mom, Andrea. Mom was in the kitchen getting the potatos, sweet potatos and vegetables ready. My mom is a dish queen. If there is a single dish in the house, she will hunt it down and wash it immediately. Even if there are no dishes to be found, she will find a dish, and wash it because some days it seems like her life mission.

 I might be guilty of that as well... 

On Friday, I took the "teenagers" and my Niece to the Ithaca mall for Black Friday shopping. Except I really didn't do any shopping. We just wandered around and window shopped, and we saw this super cute display. Awe... she looked so cute! 

Saturday was my favorite day - we always go up to Old Forge, in the Adirondacks for their Adirondack Christmas Weekend. We see Santa & Mrs Claus, The Phantom comes and plays his bells, There is plenty of shopping to be had throughout the town (And lots of support for Small Business Saturday). They have Horse Drawn Carriage Rides, a Reindeer Run, Candy Land Magic Holiday Display, Pictures with Mr & Mrs Claus, Face Painting... and did I mention the Shopping???

 This is my boy and his GF, in front of the Tree at Santa's workshop

 And My nephew Jay and I.
He froze his tail off because he brought this silly spring jacket to wear,
 thinking he'd be "fine" - um hello its COLD in the mountains!

Forgive the fat snow  flake that landed right on my face in the picture  -
but here we are - our whole crew! 

This must be my niece Zoey's favorite part of the trip to the mountains. Grampa always makes sure there are apples and crackers to feed the deer. They are so tame they come right up and let us hand feed them. That is just too cool for our "City" family.
We certainly don't have this happen in our neighborhood! 

And what is the old saying?

Train up a Child in the way he/she should go and when they are old they will not depart from it?  

yeap. That's it.

Zoey spent our leisurely Sunday morning making ornaments as gifts for her family. 

We're training the next generation right in this family!

And now, speaking of ornaments - here is a cute quick little idea even the most UNCRAFTY can handle. 

These literally took me about 5 minutes to make about 8 of these. They are super super cute and not really all that expensive. I have a ton of Pine Cones and Pine Branches left over and could literally make a hundred of these with the supplies. The ornaments themselves were on sale for 75 cents each. They came in 3 different sizes, but I found the medium ones to be my favorite. The large ones just didn't work out so well. 

Pine Cone Ornaments You will need: 

Pine Branches - this Garland was $2.99 at the Craft store.
Seriously though, if you have pine trees- just go snip some off .
You save money and the aroma will be lovely. 

Glitter or Craft Snow.

My craft store only had the "Buffalo Snow" which isn't much good for this project.
You really need little 'snow ball' type fill for this. So I improvised and got a chunky Glitter.
This was NOT cheap. I repeat NOT cheap. It was $7.50 and that was WITH a coupon. Normally it was $12.99 without a coupon or sale. YIKES! Next time plan ahead and find a place that has the snow.

Plastic Ornaments.  

They come wrapped in plastic and click apart like above.
These retail for $1 but the store had them on sale for 75 cents each.
Not a bad price I think.

Pine Cones

again, if you have pine trees by all means save yourself some cash and grab your pine cones from your yard.

This is the easy part.

1.) Take your plastic ornaments apart

2.) Sprinkle some glitter in the bottom

3.) choose some tiny pine cones and lay on top of the glitter

4.) Cut some pine branches small enough to fit inside your ornament
5.) Snap your ornament back together. (Be careful that glitter gets EVERYWHERE)

Viola! You have super cute ornaments! 

I love them! They were easy and inexpensive.  

These were so perfect for our house that I even took some of the extra materials and
filled our wall sconces with them. For the last 5 years I've had nothing but rocks in the
sconces and I thought this would be perfect to change it up a bit. 

I can't wait to get them up on the tree when we get home.
These were so perfect for our house that I even took some of the extra materials and
filled our wall sconces with them. For the last 5 years I've had nothing but rocks in the
sconces and I thought this would make a cute addition.

It's so easy to change things around for the seasons when you use Glass containers to decorate. 

You just change the inside filling around and viola you've made it!

What are some creative ways you've decorated on the cheap for the holidays?

Linking up here!