Our Family Christmas Traditions

Christmas time is my most favorite time of the year, it's the holiday I most decorate for and the one I look the most forward to. There's something so special and magical about this time of year. Today I wanted to share with you some of our favorite Christmas traditions we do as a family. Some we've done since before we had kids, but having kids makes this time of year even more special. 

I always love hearing about things others do in their families, I think it gives everyone ideas too. There's nothing better than sharing special moments with you family. 

One tradition that we do that I'm sure every family does but it's always so fun, is decorating our tree and putting up decorations. We take a whole Saturday and decorate the house.

I've been making Christmas sugar cookies with my mom since I was a kid. Using my Great Grandma's recipe. It's a tradition I look forward to now with my own kids. This year my mom will be in town so we're holding off making these till she gets here. Ava is very excited to do this with Grandma. 

One of my favorite traditions that Orion and I started when we were newlyweds and spent our first Christmas together. Every year we take a picture in front of the tree, place it in an ornament frame and hang it on the tree the following year. I love pulling them out each year and seeing how we've grown and changed over the years. It makes this tradition all the more special. Seven years of frames, I can't wait to have our tree covered in them one year.

Last year my sister and I started this idea with our kiddos called "night before Christmas boxes." We filled boxes with matching Christmas jammies, hot cocoa, pop corn and a Christmas themed movie. We gave them to our kiddos and let them stay up late Christmas eve with their cousins and enjoy the movie and some treats. It was so fun to start this tradition. My sister even had the idea to reuse the same box each year which I love!

Last year I hand painted these Santa mugs for my children. I imagined them drinking cocoa and watching movies together each year. This year they've done exactly that. It's so cute to watch them get to excited, count the marshmallows and giggle together. Simple things like this are truly the best. 

As a family we also enjoy bundling up and driving around seeing lights. We bring some snacks along to enjoy as well. 

We buy gifts for foster kids at Christmas time. We let our children each pick out a child and bring them to the store to buy for that child. 

This year we're adopting two new Christmas traditions that I wanted to share with you. Ava asked a few weeks back if she could buy a Christmas present for Zane. It was so cute and she totally brought it up all on her own. That we thought it would be fun to make a new tradition of each year the kids buying a gift for each other. 

Also this year we're going on a horse drawn carriage ride together. This is something I think is such a cool idea and neat experience for them. 

What are some of your family Christmas traditions? I'd love to hear about them, tell me in the comments below! 

A Holiday Gift Exchange Party

This time of year really is so special, and as the year comes to an end it's a great time to reflect on the year and be thankful. I haven't ever hosted a holiday party in our home since we bought our house. This year I wanted to do something special for my girlfriends, so I decided to host a gift exchange party and invite some friends to celebrate the season & reflect on God's goodness in our lives. 

I gave each of them some small gifts that represented a part of myself and had them waiting under my tree when they arrived. See what I gave them at the bottom of the post & enter to win what's inside! 

We had light appetizers & desserts. I also set up a coffee and cocoa bar for my guests. 

A party isn't a party with out some cupcakes! I made the cupcake flags using the flag dies from Lifestyle Crafts.  You can buy them here. Use code WORLEYHOUSE for 20% off. 

I asked each of my guests to bring gifts to exchange as well with the other guests. I placed them all on my dining table displayed on cake plates and platters. They each got a few "golden tickets" to go around the table and choose a gift. Once they chose a gift they left their ticket on the plate. This idea was inspired by @jennycookies adorable couples holiday party. 

Drink flags made using this die, you can use the code to get 20% off on these as well. 

I had the best time hosting my first holiday party at my home. Having friends come over and share it made it all the more special. This night was an evening for me to express my deep appreciation for them in my life the last year and get to spoil them with a few gifts. 

Ready to see what was in those packages under the tree? Here's what I gave each of my friends that evening. A leather journal, personalized note cards, a coffee mug, and a notebook.

All mean something really special to me. 

A coffee mug, because DUH! Anyone who knows me absolutely knows I love my coffee.

A journal because I've been journaling since I was in 5th grade.

Note cards, because I love sending personalized notes to family and friends.

And a notebook to catch all those good ideas and remember things. I always have one in my purse. 

Jump on over to Instagram find me @andreamworley to enter to win all these goodies! Winner will be announced on Monday! 

Have a great weekend! 

We Decked the Halls.

It's true, we've had our tree and all our decorations up for about two weeks now! I just couldn't wait any longer, I love this time of year and I wanted it to last a little bit longer. 

So we pulled out all the Christmas decorations from the garage and made a day of it. The kids had so much fun helping us. Especially Ava, she's at the age now where she really understands things and we're able to explain to her the true meaning of Christmas. Which makes it all the more special. 

One of my very favorite Worley House Christmas traditions; every year we take a picture in front of our Christmas tree on Christmas day, frame it and hang it on the tree the following year. 2007-2013, there's my heart right there. Fun to see how our family has grown and changed!

I love our tree. We upgraded our tree from a 5 ft one we've had since we got married seven years ago, moved it upstairs and got this 7.5 ft one for downstairs. 

Zane was so tired from decking the halls he fell asleep while eating lunch that day! I hope to have a video Christmas home tour for you soon!

Have you put up your tree yet? Tell me some of your favorite Christmas traditions in the comments below, I'd love to hear them!

Our Thanksgiving Table

Yesterday I showed you my easy DIY place cards, today I want to show you my tablescape for Thanksgiving! I love putting together tablescapes, I find them really easy to put together because they are smaller projects and don't take a lot of time. Plus I really love dishes, cloth napkins and centerpieces! 

I found these awesome wooden chargers at World Market that I just fell in love with and decided to build my table around them. I wanted the table to be pretty neutral but sparkly. You know I love me some sparkle! 

Let's break it down; 

Mostly everything I already had on hand, I did buy the glittery pumpkins and chargers. The rest I already had in my house so I just went shopping in my supply closet. These plates are Longaberger Collection. Have you ever heard of them? They are well known for their hand crafted baskets, but they have an amazing pottery collection too! My mom bought me these plates a few years ago, I love the weave detail on the edge. 

The center of the table is lined with a gorgeous runner from the Everlasting Light collection at DaySpring. The glittery pumpkins and lights are a favorite of mine. 

I'm pretty excited to feast at this table in just a few days. Thanksgiving is my Husband's favorite holiday, so I really try to make the day fun and super relaxing for Him! He's kinda a Thanksgiving food snob as well, so he's got lots of request for foods!

What's your favorite Thanksgiving food? Tell me in the comments below your plans for Thanksgiving, do you travel? Have a quiet evening at home? I wanna hear it. 

See below for sources:

table runner: DaySpring

pumpkins: Kirklands

votive candle holders: World Market & Target

Plates: Longaberger

Wooden Chargers: World Market

Goblets: Target (old)

Gold Dot stemless wine glasses: Target (last year)

Silverware: wedding gift

napkins: World Market (old)

Easy Thanksgiving Place Cards.

It's Thanksgiving week! I thought I'd share with you the easiest DIY place cards ever! Anyone can do this, it's so simple and easy so let's get started!

Here's what you'll need: (use code: WORLEYHOUSE for 20% off your orders from shopwer.com)

• metallic Sharpie pen (mine is gold)
• mini fold letterpress paper
• gold washi tape

1. Grab your washi tape and tear off a piece the length of your card

2. Place it on the card and press firmly holding it to the card

3. Grab your pen and write your names on the cards

4. Tah-Da!! You're done! Now go place them on your table! 

Here's my lovely place setting for this years table! Come back tomorrow to see the entire table and get the details on everything I used to pull it together! 

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Are you hosting, going somewhere else? I would love to hear your plans.