Merry Christmas Eve, Ya'll!

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!  We started the day off with some YUMMY buttermilk pancakes, made from scratch, thankyouverymuch.  Seriously, they were delish.  I got the recipe from the packaging of these:

They are so cool!  I didn't use the molds today, we just did normal pancakes.  Super yummy!  My crew loves pancakes and each kid will eat their weight in them if I don't stop them!  I made enough for tomorrow morning, too!  Since we have church services tomorrow, this will save a lot of time in the morning.
I still need to finish a couple of handmade gifts.  I know, I know....but procrastination is a fine art, and I am an artist.  :o)  Two of those gifts are to be given tonight (yikes!) when we open presents with Mr. Fiddle's family.  I should probably jump on those, ya think?  It'll happen.....no worries.
For the last several years, my oldest has read the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve to the family.  I love hearing the word of God come out of my child's mouth.  I love that we are actively teaching our kids about the TRUE meaning of Christmas.  Kids are naturally selfish, and the commercialism and consumerism that surrounds us makes it that much harder to instill a concern for others in children.  I won't give up on trying, though!  My oldest (12) once told me that his eyes tear up when he does something nice for someone else. I told him it is a powerful feeling when you put someone else first, making them feel special.
The little ones are beginning to grasp the concept, as well.  The 4-year-old asked the 6-year-old last night why people put Christmas lights on their houses.  Instead of saying something like, "So Santa can find them," he calmly said, "To let everyone know that it's Jesus's birthday."  Score one for truth!
There are a few bittersweet aspects to this season, though.  My grandfather passed away on Christmas Eve many years ago.  I know my mom always misses him even more at this time.
This is our second Christmas without Mike's dad.  I'll tell that story in another post, another time.  We miss him terribly.
Mike's cousin, Josh, developed Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and is now in intensive care in Houston.  He is sedated and on a ventilator.  He is only 24 years old, and I know his wife must be beside herself with worry.
Despite these things, we know that God is in control, and that we are all still very blessed.  I pray your Christmas will be full of family, laughter, fun, and remembrance of the amazing, undeserved gift God gave us in His son, Jesus! 
Merry Christmas to all!

DIY Year-round Wreath tutorial

Hello, lovelies! Bloggy Slacker here! Good gracious, my poor little unloved blog! I reaaaalllly need to be better about posting regularly. For real this time. Really. For realzzzz.
Aaaaanyway, I have a great tutorial for you! I have recently fallen into the abyss that is Pinterest and have been SO inspired by all the wonderful ideas in one spot! I have been a crafty blog follower for a long time now, but Pinterest lets me collect all my favorite things from those blogs in one place! If you don't pin, you should pin. Just try it once.
All the cool kids are doing it.
I have never really decorated my porch with the seasons. I always have a plant (or empty flower pots waiting to be filled with plants) and some other junk randomly placed out there, but I have never really put in much effort. I decided this is the year of the porch!
I want to have a few pieces that can transition from season to season with just a few tweaks. I've never put a wreath on my door before, and have seen SO many delightful handmade wreaths on blogs and (of course) Pinterest.  Like this one, and this one.
There are TONS of yarn-wrapped wreath ideas out there.  It's a great idea because you have an infinite color palette, variety of textures, etc.  You can really customize this to fit your style!   I know Thanksgiving is sooooo two weeks ago, but I'm going to share my fall wreath, since that's the one I have pictures of. :oP
First thing, gather your materials.  For my wreath, I used a bare foam wreath purchased from JoAnn's, but you can also make your own (monster cheap) with plumber's foam tubing and some duct tape.  No lie.  You also need some fabric scraps, trims, anything you want to throw on there, and straight pins.
The coolest thing about this wreath is that everything is simply pinned on...therefore, REMOVABLE!  No need to make a bunch of different wreaths!  I chose a neutral grayish-brown yarn for mine, so it would match pretty much anything I decided to put on there.

Pick a spot and start wrapping your yarn tightly around your wreath form.  I wound my yarn ends a couple of times around a straight pin and pinned it to the wreath, so even the yarn isn't permanent!

The pins are on the back of the wreath, so no one will ever know!  Warning:  This part is time-consuming!  You need your strands to be close together.  I wrapped a few, then pushed them as close together as I could.  When you're done, you can start embellishing according to the season!  I chose to use rolled fabric rosettes, some ready-made trim, and ribbon.

You might need a few pins around the sides of the rosette to make sure it stays close to the wreath.  Just tuck the fabric over the top of the pin so it can't be seen.  Once you have all of your embellishments the way you want them, cut a strip of ribbon and pin it on either side of the top of your wreath, on the back side.  Like this:

You are ready to hang it up!  Here's my finished product hanging on my front door, with a "Happy Thanksgiving" magnet in the middle.

Yay!  As of this post, I have already taken everything off of it (except the yarn, DUH!) to re-dress it for Christmas!  Here's a peek at what it looks like so far:

I'll post a picture of the finished masterpiece soon!  If you try this yourself, I'd LOVE to see what you come up with! :o)