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Our home is ready for Christmas! I mentioned on Instagram that I was scaling back and I promise I did. ha! I left several bins upstairs and let the girls decorate their own rooms. I barely touched either entry, the playroom (basically storage), the exterior (Joe put up lights but the porch remains unfinished) or the kitchen. But I love how it all turned out! Here's what made it out of the attic and I must say, our home feels really good and festive right now. ♥

Thank you World Market for sponsoring this post!

Tis the season! We love our traditions around here and one that we always enjoy is a hot cocoa bar! Sometimes I go all out, sometimes it just means fun mugs but generally we have at least one occasion (often our Christmas Eve party) where we pull out all the stops. This year, I shopped World Market to make it happen! Keep reading for tips on how to create your own festive, colorful, and delicious Hot Cocoa Bar!

You've heard me lament the process of meal planning and grocery shopping more than once, in stories. Well, I finally sat down and brainstormed ways to make the process easier- especially during this busy holiday season. And everything came up "have your groceries delivered." ha! I've been using Walmart Grocery Pick up for over a year but stopped short of paying for delivery each time. Now that they've introduced Walmart+, with one membership fee for the year, I can have my groceries delivered plus other benefits I'll share in a bit. But it's not just about groceries- although that's a BIG one. There are other ways I use it to mark things off my to-do list. Here are the little conveniences that add up with Walmart +:

 Thank you, Wayfair for sponsoring this post!

Have you ever 'swiped up' on an Instastory to see where a product was from and it was an $88 Christmas doormat? No? Just me? If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you know I'm not interested in spending $100 on a holiday doormat. ha! Decorating for Christmas on a budget is possible and with a little ingenuity, it can even look good. Whether your decor comes from Target, Studio McGee, or somewhere in between, I hope you'll find these ideas useful.  Here are my favorite ways to use what I already have to decorate for the holidays.

I love advent. I love the anticipation of Christmas and how advent calendars and activities help us focus on the reason for the season. When you've grown up as a Christian, sometimes extraordinary matters of the faith, become all too ordinary. Advent helps refocus me (and my kiddos) on how extraordinary the birth of Christ truly is. While we do all of the usual stuff- shopping and eating and gifting and decorating and SANTA and the elf, I want my littles to look back and have clear memories of celebrating Jesus at Christmas time. While not all of these activities have a spiritual focus, they can all be tools to refocus your family and to anticipate the most wonderful time of the year.

At the last minute we decided to invite the neighbors over for Christmas Eve. Since it was last minute, we didn't have time to attempt to turn our home into a winter wonderland or go overboard with food and drink. I'm proud to say it was fairly simple but was still a great time! Here are some tips to throw your own last minute shindig (quick, call your neighbors and invite them over for NYE!)

Did that title make you chuckle? One day I'll bring you a list of amazing fun and unique Christmas activities. Today is not that day. ;) Today, I bring you the fun we've been having this holiday season and our really average but really sweet traditions.

When my church's youth director asked for help making DIY sheep and cow costumes for the Christmas recital, I didn't hesitate! I love using my DIY skills for worthwhile causes. These costumes take some time but are really not difficult. And how cute would they be for a Halloween costume?! I didn't grab detailed shots along the way, but honestly you don't even need those detailed shots. This is EASY!  Here goes!

I may not have time to share gift guides here on Taste{Full}, but I am pretty happy with the ones I've created for Tall Clothing Mall and Live the Fancy Life!

1. Ornament wreath.  Every year I feel overwhelmed with the thought of Christmas decorating and crafts.  I am not great at decorating for the holidays!  Add Pinterest and the feelings of inadequacy get a little crazy!  So this year I decided to choose just ONE craft, shell out the cash on supplies, and take an after-bedtime-block (or two) to get it done! Ever since I painted my front door yellow, the traditional green and red just didn't work.  I had a hard time getting my wreath to be perfectly round and my hanger is showing a bit but overall I LOVE it and definitely want to make another next year! In case you're interested, I used this tutorial.
2. My little girls in their Christmas PJs.  One of a few photoshoots I tried.  If you have kids you know how hard it is to get those perfect pictures in the moment!  Last Easter was the first time I actually had a little dress rehearsal and took photos of them beforehand and I wondered why I hadn't done that before!  They had lots of "Christmas attire," but I tried to stick to a few outfits and get some cute pictures without the pressure of an event or bedtime, looming.
3. Just a little glimpse into why I'm AWOL.  I'm having fun in the snow.  My mom and I did a winter-y photo shoot. It was so fun and I was totally being inspired by her.  I'll have to share some more of these photos with you because I'm quite proud of the end result.  I got some really great shots of my mama!
4. My napkin wring of a jingle bells ornament and a blue glittery ornament.  I loved and was inspired by this post over on Live the Fancy Life.
5. I love the idea of using all white wrapping with fun embellishments. I had leftover tulle from this project and ribbon from a couple of years ago. So pretty!
6. This modern chevron paper was only $1 at Target!  I got the ribbon for 75% off at Michael's after Christmas last year. And though I had tons of gorgeous free printable gift tags my $@%& printer isn't working (yes I am fake cursing because I'm mad) so I got these pretty snowflake tags from Target.

Creating gift guides is so fun.  If you need a few ideas for a friend, mom, sister, or say, yourself, take a peek at these.  Here are a few fun gifts I've come across during my online window shopping:

2. knitted bow scarf chunky neck warmer. $28 (from $68!).  I saw this one in the TomKat Gift guide.  I need it in my life.  3. MineDesign Chalkboard Candle. $24.95. I suppose you don't have to be a girly girl to enjoy an adorable chalkboard candle.  Don't want to buy this?  Why not attempt a DIY version.  Looks so easy!
4. Essie Nail Color, Mojito Madness.  $8.  I love the idea of a minty green for Christmas instead of your typical green.  So chic.
5. SEPHORA COLLECTION Smoky Studio 2. $34.00 I have one of Sephora's blockbuster sets and I LOVE it!  
6. Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: For Everyone from Beginner to Pro.  $20.97.  I am a total girly girl (in case you hadn't guessed by  now) and I love makeup books! I haven't read this one but the reviews are awesome.

So what are you waiting for?! Head on over to Shutterfly and make your Christmas, New Year's, or Holiday card! Oh, by the way, just before checking out, I remembered to check online for a coupon code and found one!  So I was able to save $10 + 30% off of my calendar!  (Did I mention that I love Shutterfly)? It expired today but I'm sure as Christmas nears, there will be more deals!  Make sure to check retailmenot and Shutterfly's "special offers" section for great deals.

I'm SO excited to be a guest over on Live the Fancy Life today.  I've mentioned Jessica many, many times on Taste{full}.  She is an amazing writer, event planner (you MUST check out her son's little man 1st birthday and her client's Curious George themed party.  like now.  wait, finish reading my post first.  then GO.), and photographer.  I love getting inspiration from Jessica on home design, mama stuff, and  parties, of course!  For my guest post I had way too much fun curating a little girl's gift guide.

To read the post, see the sources, and no doubt get sucked into perusing her blog, go here.

Forever ago, I saw these centerpieces at a corporate event.  I vowed that I would replicate it.  A few years ago, I did.  This is the easiest and least expensive tabletop decor ever.

What you need:
Glass dish--you could get fancy but mine were .97 from Wal-Mart.
Cranberries-- somewhere around $1.50 for a bag.
Water--free ☺
Floating candles/Tea lights--$1.97 for lots at Wal-Mart.

It's not too late to order Holiday Cards! If you're afraid you won't get them out until after Christmas, have no fear- just oder a "Happy Holidays," or "Happy New Year," or "Happy Everything" card! There are so many cool, modern options to choose from...or classic and traditional if that's your thing! Right now you can get 40% off with the code MERRY40. You can't beat that! Kinda makes me wish I would have procrastinated this year ;) "