Helloooo, friends! It’s good to be back! Let’s kick off the Christmas season with five of my favorite wreaths, shall we? I’ve rounded up wreaths at least once before (here), so I left this one and this one off the list, even though they’re favorites. This one was a runner-up, too.

Handmade Recess | Yvestown Blog | Martha Stewart | unknown | O So D

P.S. Our wreath this year:

Simple.

Yep, a little bit early! (Some of) my family is arriving tonight, so I’ll be signed off for the rest of the week to enjoy their company. We’re having the traditional Thanksgiving menu on Thursday, then getting together with extended family on Friday. What do y’all have planned?

via Martha Stewart and Bon Appetit

On the menu for Thursday:
– Hot corn dip and deviled eggs
– Turkey and gravy (we forgo making an actual turkey and just buy a breast or two from the store! :)
– Stovetop stuffing (I’m sorry, but I have never tasted homemade stuffing that I liked better than Stovetop. Equally good, yes. Better, not that I can remember.)
– Real mashed potatoes
– Fresh green beans (just sauteed on the stovetop with a little red pepper and olive oil)
– Rosemary and sea salt rolls
– Two types of homemade cranberry sauce (John’s contribution)
– Pumpkin pie and apple pie (with cheddar cheese slices!) from our favorite local bakery
– Chocolate chunk pecan cookies (because my Mom doesn’t like pie — weird, I know!!)

Some people down here consider macaroni and cheese a traditional part of Thanksgiving dinner. (I love mac and cheese, but that will never seem normal to me!) Does your family include anything “unusual”?

Safe travels to all, whether you’re going down the stairs or across the country! I am very thankful for all of you!

In addition to our photo Christmas cards, I think we’ll be sending a newsletter! Did your families send holiday newsletters when you were younger? Do they still send one? My family always did, and I loved it! In fact, once I was in about sixth grade, I was often recruited to write it — my Dad and I alternated years :) Even in the age of Facebook, I still LOVE reading all the letters we get from other families, families I’ve known my whole life, when I go home for Christmas. My Dad is in the military, so my parents have lots of far-flung friends that I remember from my childhood but haven’t seen in years. My sisters and parents and I have been known to sit at the kitchen table and pass the letters around the circle, discussing the neatly-encapsulated contents as we read!

Our newsletters were always fairly simple affairs, graphically speaking — printed on plain paper, or maybe holiday letterhead, if my Mom was feeling fancy. I’m hoping to step up the game a bit for my and John’s debut, and am taking inspiration from these beauties I found around the internet:

By Amanda Jane Jones. Go here to see more angles!

Also by Amanda. More here!

By Aprile Elcich.

I’ll update you once ours is complete!

First and foremost: If you haven’t already, make sure you VOTE today!! It is an honor and an obligation!

Believe it or not, I’m starting to think about Christmas cards! In the past we’ve sent out handmade cards (which I loved doing — see here, here, and here!), but I’m excited to send out our first photo card this year! Minted was the obvious choice, and today I’m rounding up a few of our favorites for y’all to give your thoughts on! Here are our top five choices:

Yep, there’s another wedding photo peek, this time by Tanja Lippert! Above:

1. A Wonderful Life | 2. Big Joy | 3. Merriest | 4. Joyful Season | 5. Simple Joy

Clearly, I have a prejudice towards typographic designs! I love that Minted’s “filter by style” tool is actually useful, with categories like hand drawn, monogram, modern, etc. – AND they’ve categorized the designs well, too! If you’re into such things, make sure you check out the new die-cut shapes available this year, as well.

Minted is also running a Holiday Inspiration Board Challenge right now (fun!), and since I’ll take any excuse to make an inspiration board, I put this one together:

Contest Board board by Emily. See more Minted.com

Credits:
Blue and green Christmas by Tobi Fairley, pretty ornaments + wrapping from Matchbook Magazine, Minted Rainbow Wish card, ornament wreath by Eddie Ross, sparkly party photo by Jill Thomas, coastal Christmas tree by Martha Stewart Living

You can find details for entering your own inspiration board here!

We’ve still got a bit of tweaking to do, but tell me: which Christmas card design is your favorite? I’d love to hear!

Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards, but I chose to write this post, and the opinions are my own! I have loved everything about Minted — especially their crowd-sourced designs — for many years, and I love sharing what they’re up to with y’all.

I truly apologize for discussing anything Christmas-related before Thanksgiving, and especially before Halloween, but I do have a legit reason for the timing of this post. For a few years (as I mentioned here), I’ve wanted a basket to hold the base of our Christmas tree – I prefer the look to a skirt or a plain stand. Examples:

From top to bottom and left to right: Country Living, Country Living, Country Living, unknown, Yvestown Blog, Country Living, Country Living. Clearly Country Living feels the same way about Christmas trees in baskets that I do.

True story: Last year, I attempted to buy a peach-basket type thing off of the employees at Carolina Pottery. Granted, the baskets were not for sale (they were being used to display other things that were for sale), but don’t you think they should have sold one to me regardless??

Moving on. From my research over the last few days, I found three online companies — Wisteria, Pottery Barn, and Crate & Barrel — that have a basket similar to what I’m envisioning.

1. Large woven seagrass basket from Wisteria (22″ high, 23″ wide — $105) | 2. Extra-large round beachcomber basket from PB (23″ high, 21″ wide — $129, or $150 with S&H) | 3. Basay basket from C&B (23 1/4″ high, 20 3/4″ wide — $70 (only in stores)) | 4. Basket tree skirt from Terrain (10″ high, 24″ wide at base — $49.30 with Cup of Jo discounts through October 31) | 5. 8 gallon round galvanized wash tub (8 1/4″ high, 17 1/4″ wide at top, 14 5/8″ wide at bottom — $26.06) | 6. Galvanized round wash pan (5 1/4″ high, 17 3/8″ wide at top, 13 1/4″ wide at bottom — $19.96)

Sadly, once you add in the cost of shipping something so large, the price becomes pretty prohibitive. If you like the look of the galvanized tubs, I’d recommend trying to find a feed store in your town. I think that look is a little too rustic for me, and besides, I like the idea of being able to use the woven basket year round to hold other things besides a Christmas tree.

As to why I needed to post this now, Joanna posted a 15% off + free shipping offer for Terrain that expires tomorrow. Sadly, the Terrain option (no. 4) is my least favorite, because it’s not as versatile as the woven baskets, but I’m open to the possibility.

So the plan? Stop by Crate & Barrel this afternoon to see if I like the Basay basket (we still have some wedding gift cards!), and then if I don’t, I still have time to order the Terrain basket. I’m also going to try and make a stop at HomeGoods, because you never know what they’ll have. Any other ideas in the meantime would be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE! I stopped by the Crate & Barrel store after work yesterday, and got a bead on the Basay basket! Unfortunately, it was too bulky and tall/wide to serve my purpose, so I left empty-handed. Didn’t feel motivated to order the Terrain offering, so for now, I’m still on the hunt!