I Choo-Choose You

Time for a quick holiday decorating update. I had to post a new picture with our updated card display, just to prove we have more than 2 people who love us. lol Here's how it was looking yesterday (and I've since added another card up there!) Yay for holiday love!

I also added a few more Christmas decorations, thanks to a random trip to Michaels for the sink skirt project (I'm finishing that up today and will definitely post pictures once I get it installed in the office bathroom at work!)

Michaels was having a 70% sale for all their holiday décor. Um ... score. I restocked my holiday ribbon supply, picked up six cute faux wreaths for less than $12, and found two new friends to holiday up our dining room table (for $5 each, marked down from $17).

Next year, I might hang the six wreaths outside on the windows like they did here, but for an easy addition to my holiday decorations for the last week before Christmas, I hung them on the inside of the two dining room windows.

It was super easy because of the roman shades. I simply slipped the ribbon through that tiny gap and knotted the end that's behind the shade. The knot is thick enough that it can't slip through the gap, so there's no nails are anything too tricky. Then I just tied the other end around the wreath and added a pretty bow. So simple and with the clearance sale, less than $5 to jazz up both windows.

I'm kind of digging this grey and green holiday theme my dining room is sporting. Totally by accident, but cute nonetheless.

Now for the title of this post. Did you happen to notice a little choo-choo train in the first picture? That little guy is more than just a holiday decoration. He's a present for our nephew, Jackson.

(WARNING: Mike and Erin, if you're reading this, don't let Jackson see until after Christmas! haha)

We actually bought the wooden train set of eight cars at our Regional Farmer's Market back in October. There's a guy who makes all sorts of fun wooden toys, and we can't resist the look and feel of real wooden toys (kinda nice to get away from all the plastic stuff once in a while).

To finish the train, I threw down a drop cloth, pulled out my brushes, and gathered up some fun colors of paint samples and house colors I already had on hand. Then I put a movie on and got painting.

I tried to use a mix of colors that I thought Jackson would like and that looked "train-ish" to me. Very scientific process here. Then I just played around and figured out what I wanted it to look like as I went along.

I added in the black details with a Sharpie marker for better precision.

I also love the interactive elements of the train, like the little crayon holder that we filled with crayons, the bucket car that's now holding candy canes, the log car that holds some unpainted "logs" (see above), and the crane car that has a moving crane and hook (see two above).

So hopefully our train-loving nephew will enjoy this personalized train set both as a toy and maybe as a decoration later on down the line. Although I'm going to miss having it as a holiday decoration in my house! lol

And speaking of holiday decorations, Chris and I recently visited the Lights on the Lake at Onondaga Lake Park. It's two miles of Christmas lights with all sorts of different themes. So much fun I just had to post a couple pics of our tour.

The only thing left on my Christmas To Do list is making some cookies to bring to Christmas Eve at Chris's dad's house. There may be pictures soon. :-)