Christmas Wrap-Up in Pictures

Here’s a final Christmas post to wrap it all up. We had loads of fun and were blessed to be surrounded by family! I’m going to let the pictures speak for themselves (for the most part)…


E and my niece, Leah, on Christmas Eve.


My “Nanny” and all nine of her grandchildren and spouses and great-grand girls. Adding two more great-grand girls next year!


Santa made it to our house!





A Christmas explosion!


Christmas night at my parents’ house


This one was too funny not to share!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Our decorations are all packed away and we are ready for New Year’s! We don’t usually do much to celebrate New Year’s because Ben and I both think it’s highly overrated, but my bestie and her husband are flying in from Houston, so we’re headed to the Music City Bowl on Friday and then a nice dinner and fun party are in order for Saturday!

Oh What Fun!

Elliotte and I had a little messy fun the other day! I broke out the washable paints and let E do her thing. She loves to paint at school, so I knew she would love to paint at home too. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I pick her up from school and ask what she did that day, she says "PAINT!" with tons of enthusiasm.

So that's what I let her do...we started with green.





I had envisioned a "hand print" Christmas tree, but E had other ideas...and that was fine.


Then we moved to yellow.











And finished with a little red.





When she started to paint herself, that's when I called it quits!


Luckily a dip in the tub took it all away.


What are some activities you do with your kids to beat the winter blues?
Christmas is just a few days away!! Are you ready?

Merry Christmas from NashvillePug!

We wish you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!


I hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas season! I have been taking it a little slower lately and just hanging out with my family. I've been cooking a little more and just sitting back and relaxing at night. It feels so nice! We get 2 1/2 weeks off school this break, and instead of doing projects like a mad woman, I'm going to spend most of it hanging out with my girl who's out of school too! We're having so much fun right now building forts on the couch, reading, and just playing. I hope everyone gets to take some time out this season and enjoy your family!

Semi-Homemade Teacher Gifts {Spiced Tea Recipe}

Every year I struggle a little to think of what to get for all of Elliotte's teachers. This year, she has two fabulous school teachers and four amazing church teachers. I really enjoy giving something homemade, instead of just going to a store and buying something or giving a gift card. All these teachers put forth so much love and effort in teaching my child that I want to put forth some effort in their Christmas gift. We don’t have much money to spend on gifts, so I got to thinking.

I found these adorable mugs at Southeastern Salvage here in Nashville, and I immediately knew that I wanted to give them as teacher gifts. They came in a pack of four mugs, so I bought two boxes.

For the homemade part of the gift, I decided to make a spiced tea mix. I don’t like tea, but I LOVE this mix! Here’s the recipe I used:
1 jar Tang
2/3 cup decaf instant tea
1 1/2 cups powdered lemonade mix
2 cups Splenda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Add more of less of each ingredient according to your taste.

Mix it all together and then add 2T to a mug of hot water!

For the gifts, I divided the mix into 1 cup portions, and then poured it into Ziplock baggies. The one cup portions should yield about 12 mugs of spiced tea! I was able to get all six teacher gifts out of this one recipe.

I wrapped the baggies in green tissue paper and then stuffed them into the mugs. Attach a printable gift tag with the mixing instructions, and you’re done!

I hope E’s teachers enjoy sipping their spiced tea while relaxing in front of their Christmas trees! At least that’s what I picture them doing!
What do you give for teacher's gifts? Give me some ideas for next year!

Let there be light!

Our garage is not pretty. It’s a garage, so it really shouldn’t be. You’ve probably seen our garage in the background of DIY posts/pictures like this one from my project table:

One of the first things you probably notice (other than the mess) is that it’s very dark. This photo has actually been adjusted for light, so it really was darker than what the photo suggests. The one and only light in the garage is in the foreground of the picture over the work bench. See that area back by the garage door and boxes? That’s where I do all my DIY projects. I used to lift the garage door up and down multiple times while working on a project so the light from the opener would stay on!
I’ve been asking for more light in our garage for a very long time now. Well, we finally got it done!! Last week while Ben was on a hunting trip out of town, I asked my Dad to come over and help me install some additional lighting. While not very exciting, it was very much needed. We he installed two more 4 foot shop lights, and the difference is night and day (pun intended)! It also helps that the garage is now much cleaner and less cluttered. Once I had some light, I got to cleaning like a mad woman. It was literally so dark in our garage that I had to use a flashlight to see which paint I needed.

Isn’t it as beautiful as a garage can be? No light adjustment in these photos!

Every time I turn on the light in the garage now, I’m surprised by all the light! I don’t know how long it will take to get used to it, but I sure am happy!

Well, I’ll tell you!!  It’s my new 12 inch sliding miter saw from Harbor Freight! It was a much anticipated birthday gift from my parents. Now that the garage is cleaned out and lit up like it’s Christmas, I can start using it! I’m quite excited to start looking for my next DIY project that will require a miter saw! Crown molding anyone?

Christmas Door Decor

Our Christmas door decor is up and burning through electricity! That electric meter sure is making Nashville Electric Service really happy right now! Don't you hate getting your electric bill in January? I do! I do my best to be conscious of turning the lights off, but they are so pretty!

Here's a look at the Christmas decor that surrounds our front door. I hung artificial garland wrapped in lights around the door and added a few red, green, and gold ornaments. I stuck two pre-lit topiary trees into the painted urns. And my puffy Christmas wreath is still looking B-E-A-utiful!

The daytime pics are not very pretty at all. Christmas decor meant to be pretty at night always looks bad during the day. Don't you think? All those icicle lights hanging from the gutters and garland wrapped around columns just looks horrible during the day! But it sure does look great at night! I love driving around to look at Christmas lights at night! 

Here it is all lit up at night! I love how it just glows! And my yellow door is smiling too!

Do you decorate the outside of your house or just stick to the inside? Does opening your electric bill in January scare you as much as it does me?!

Make sure you enjoy the reason for the season!

Linking up to some of these fabulous parties! Tatertots & Jello, Between Naps on the Porch, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Serenity Now, Mommy By Day Crafter By Night, The 36th Avenue, The DIY Showoff, Today’s Creative Blog, At the Picket Fence, Home Stories A to Z, Gingerbread, Remodelaholic, Thrifty Décor Chick, The CSI Project, Beneath my Heart, Crafty Scrappy Happy, Perfectly Imperfect, One Artsy Mama

Breakfast with Santa

This morning was Breakfast with Santa at our church. E has been very excited to see Santa and to tell him that she wants a "pig" for Christmas. Seriously, every time I ask her what she wants from Santa, she says "a pig!". She's very consistent. My niece, Leah, got to come see Santa too. The girls had a lot of fun, but it sure was a rough morning waiting until #47 was called for our picture! We will arrive much earlier next year!

Two sweet girls, Leah and Elliotte. Leah is 4 months younger than E, and Leah will be a big sister in April!

Nonna and Ba or Pops (E calls him Ba and Leah calls him Pops!) with their girls.

Santa and Mrs. Claus

E trying to decide what she thinks about Santa! After all that talk, she was not too excited to meet him!

Finally deciding that he's ok after she got her candy cane!