Countdown to Christmas

It has officially begun. The madness that leads up to Christmas. This year will be different in many ways. First, we are cutting way back on gifts. The girls are not thrilled about this, but they will get over it.
Second, we will be celebrating with the DeRuiter side of our family early because Leah should be having a baby the end of the month.
Our tree is up and we are starting to get into the Christmas spirit. I put up a new advent calendar this year. (I will post on this later because I haven't taken pics yet)
One of my new buffet decorations is these glitter trees. I found the tutorial at eighteen25. I love her site. I also love the way they look in my house.
So simple and cheap! I got my candle holders at the $1 store!

I also worked on one of the girls' gifts last night. Lilly loves to play library. I saw a kit online that had all kinds of library stuff in it, but it was a little pricey. So, here is my version.Each girl has her own case. I got the little suitcases at Hobby Lobby (reg. $8.99 but 50% off right now) and filled it with goodies. There are reading awards and overdue book slips (both created in Publisher and printed on card stock), library cards (old gift cards with stickers on the front), a date stamp and ink pad, pen and paper. Oh, and a library id for the librarian. I added bar codes to the library card and ID to make them a little more realistic. Still to be added are the book cards and pockets. I think I will add a removable adhesive roll (used for scrap booking) for them to add the pockets to books without doing any damage.