If there is one thing I hope to convey in all my holiday decorating, it’s that creating from your heart is so much more fun than just buying things off the shelf. One truth I rediscover every year, as I unpack my ornaments, is that it’s the ones that come with the love of friends or memories that make my holiday decorating a heartfelt joy. Camping is like that, too, it’s all about the unique memories we make along our journey.

In this example, I bought an ornament in the half off section of a favorite store in Historic Saint Charles Mo and repainted it to reflect our old life among the deciduous trees on one side:

And our new life, on the mountain, on the other:

So, I heartily encourage you to take up the tool of your choice; be it baking, or woodworking, or sewing or painting and put a little of what is special about you out into the world. If it’s worth doing it’s worth putting love into it.

As I wait for the first paint coats on my wooden ornaments to dry, I will sit back with a cup of Comfort and Joy tea and my freshly baked lemon rosemary butter cookies. Christmas calls for cozy time. I wish that for each and every one of you, too.