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A post shared by Allison Blevins (@pretendingsanity)

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A post shared by Allison Blevins (@pretendingsanity) on Dec 22, 2018 at 6:34pm PST

See past videos here.

Happy Everything! 2016 #tradition

A video posted by Allison Blevins (@pretendingsanity) on Dec 4, 2016 at 6:47pm PST

2015

Happy holidays, 2015 version.

A video posted by Allison Blevins (@pretendingsanity) on Dec 13, 2015 at 7:20am PST

2014

Happy holidays, ya'll!

A video posted by Allison Blevins (@pretendingsanity) on Dec 14, 2014 at 8:59pm PST

Eden singing at her Holiday Choir Concert

The bar from our Christmas Party.

My favorite homemade gifts I gave this year were tea towels that I made out of one of my grandma’s recipes. I saw the idea on pinterest last year but didn’t have time to order the custom-printed fabric. After I cleaned up the recipe in Illustrator and sent it off to Spoonflower, the project was a quick one. Spoonflower didn’t print the fabric quite as straight as I had expected, but overall, I’m super happy with their linen/cotton blend. My family was THRILLED with the towels and I love them too. It seems super appropriate to have my grandmas handwriting hanging in my kitchen, reminding me of where I’ve come from.

Josh and I also made cutting boards for Christmas gifts. This was another project that I had planned for last year but needed a little help in the tool department to pull off. The wood is Pacific Island Maple and I think it’s beautiful. My favorite boards were the one’s with the most flaws. I still have a few in the basement that need sanding (not a small job) and I need to get down there and finish up one for me! I think part of what made these great was the coat of wood butter that I polished into each one. The wood butter was easy to make up and small jars of it made the perfect accompaniment to the cutting boards.

I also made sweaters for my nephews (although the sweater for the new baby is still in progress…ahem.)

And the kids teachers got jars of Peach Lavender Butter that Amy and I had the foresight to make this fall. (I just LOVE that recipe from Canning & Preserving by Ashley English.

We celebrated Easter at my aunt’s house. It was the last meal we had with my cousin and her husband before the Air Force moved them across the country to Florida. It was a perfectly warm, spring day and we all enjoyed each others quiet company. Josh and I had fun hiding eggs all over the farm for the kids to find. My favorite place to hide them was in the chicken coop, how apropos.

Gunnison and I at church.

This Christmas was the craziest holiday season I’ve had yet. We had four fundraisers for the Good Samaritan Clinic in the month of December on top of it being Tangle’s busy season. I got a flu shot that made me sick for the second half of the month (one sickness after another) and we also celebrated with some amazing parties, including a party at my house for the clinic volunteers, Amy’s fifth annual epic Christmas party and a party for our employees at Tangle. Josh was back and forth between here and Denver so he could participate in all the fun with us and was here to celebrate Christmas too. We had Christmas Eve at my Aunts house and we got to celebrate with my cousin’s husband who was home from the Air Force for the first time since he left in June for bootcamp. My other cousin was also home from college. Alyssa and Scott will be stationed in Florida next year so there was definitely a sense that this was the last year of normality.

Christmas was at my house this year which was decorated for the first time ever. We sort of had a progressive Christmas starting with stockings. I made the kids wait for my mom to arrive to open presents and then Meghan, Jim’s girlfriend, stopped by with more presents for the kids before we ate breakfast. Josh made amazing gravy for my biscuits which was the first time I’ve ever had biscuits and gravy (I’m definitely a fan) and of course there was bacon, eggs and my mom’s cinnamon rolls. Seth and Carrie stopped by after breakfast to exchange more gifts and then my dad came for Christmas dinner which was steak, shrimp, mashed potatoes and gravy (the best I’ve ever made) and crispy brussel sprouts with bacon.

I would definitely say a fun time was had by all. And I just resolve to 1. not be sick next year and 2. relax more!

First year to decorate

Tiny live tree.

butterfly paper chains

sparkly wreath

Rip branches off my tree, spray paint them gold, sprinkle with glitter, hang sparkly balls.

Along with the stockings I knit for Tangle, I also knit 4 stockings for home.

I hung succulents and airplants along with ornaments over my baby tree.

How I wrapped all of my presents.

Christmas Treats

somehow I found time to make a few Holiday treats. I created the graphic with lots of inspiration from spoonforkbacon.com.

glassine paper bags that were inside the paper sacks.

Amy’s epic party

(all photos of Amy’s party are by Lisa.)

I love that we sing carols at the end of the night.

Christmas Eve

Honor and my cousin David on Christmas Eve

my favorite gift of all, an inside joke from my aunt.

Christmas Day

I was sick on Christmas morning so the kids freaked out when it took me a little longer than usual to get moving. Also… it was fun torturing them.

we give Dexter a bone before opening presents so he will leave us alone.

Christmas present aftermath.

loved these crispy Brussel sprouts with bacon

Santa came to visit me at Tangle and insisted that we take a picture

presents all set for my 15 employees at Tangle!

I love the tradition of driving around to look at Christmas lights.

What is Christmas without zombies?

First we have pie for breakfast.

Then we go on a hike.

Then we nap.

Then we eat.

before/after

So, SO, SOO thankful. My heart is full.

This summer Honor’s friends told me that I looked like Katy Perry and my Halloween costume suddenly became clear to me. After hours gluing candy to my dress (which was floor length with a halter when I bought it at Goodwill), my costume was complete! It was definitely fun!

The kids had fun with their costumes too. Eden was a pirate – a cute, girl pirate. Honor was a storm trooper in a costume that was slightly too small for him… They had fun trick-or-treating with their buddies and came home with a HUGE candy haul!