Christmas Past vs. Christmas Present {A few of my favorite holiday posts}

This holiday season has been different than any other for Drew and I. Having a newborn around definitely changes some things, but in the best way possible! We love our little guy so much!

2013 vs. 2014

Instead of planning and having our annual Tacky Sweater party, I bought a sweater for Aiden and we got pictures taken with Santa.

Instead of coming up with cute holiday crafts, I am planning to get my baby's footprint in a mold and call that an ornament.

Instead of putting up lights on our house, we drove around and looked at other peoples.

Instead of putting up our big artificial tree, I decorated a ladder. 

Instead of Drew and I going out on a festive holiday date, we spent an evening snuggling on the couch with Aiden watching Elf and eating Peppermint ice cream.

Would I change any of it? Not for the world. I am seeing Christmas in a whole new light this year. I am so thankful to have Aiden around and to see things through his eyes. The twinkling lights, the sound of bells, the love and joy of family.

All these changes have meant that my blog hasn't been very festive this holiday season. I haven't shared many holiday parties, festive crafts or recipes and I miss that. So I decided to share some of my favorite festive posts from Christmases past...

Tips for throwing an awesome tacky sweater party

Christmas card photo book

The perfect Christmas breakfast

Anthropologie Inspired Snow Globes

Ornament Party cups

What festive things have you been creating and doing this holiday season?

Ladder Shelf {Christmas style!}

Last Spring my husband helped me complete yet another project I saw and fell for on Pinterest...a ladder turned into a shelf. It is still one of my favorite projects we have done together. The ladder shelf is in the corner of our dining room and we usually take it down and put up our Christmas tree there, but this year I decided to change things up. I decided to make my ladder a Christmas ladder.

We wrapped the ladder in lights and I put a star on top to make it resemble a Christmas tree. The bottom shelf I covered in a festive fabric and added some of our Christmas decor to. The middle shelf is a hot chocolate bar complete with festive hot chocolates, mugs and straws. And the top shelf is for a few cards that don't fit on my card holder. I haven't had time to do too much this year with a newborn on my hip, but I'm proud of this little bit of festive fun now in the corner of my dining room.

If you want to see a little more of my home at Christmas time you can check out my holiday house tour from last year here!

Linking up with Anne for her holiday Pin to present!