A Patriotic Christmas

You may notice something a little strange about my Christmas graphics...

Last year, my husband and I decided it would be fun to theme each of our Christmases.  Our thinking was simple - make every year unique while making our lives easier.  Some may wonder how coming up with a theme would make our lives easier.  Yes, it does, in fact, create a smidge more work, but overall, having a theme simplifies and streamlines the holiday.  When you have a theme, you know what kind of wrapping paper and cards you should buy, design your tree to celebrate the theme, and decorate treats to correlate.  A theme also ensures that each year is maximized and has a unique identity.  So we sat down and made a list of great Christmas themes.  Trust me, the brainstorming was easy.  We came up with a good 20 themes, from "A Cabin Christmas" to "Whoville".  

To celebrate our first year of marriage, we did a "Christmas of Yesteryear" theme using vintage colors and styles.  We packaged gifts up in brown craft paper with raffia ribbon, handmade our cards and took 1950's themed pictures (see them here).  We also stuck to older Christmas movies and music - hello, Bing Crosby! 

This year's theme is inspired by an HGTV special I saw last year featuring the White House Christmas decorating.  I was enamored with the Blue Room's patriotic tree.  So fun to decorate with red, white and blue, but also pay homage to our servicemen and women. I instantly started brainstorming some of the projects you will see in the coming weeks.  Thus, a Patriotic Christmas was born.

Do you need another bonus?  Almost everything I craft for this Christmas can be reused for Independence Day!  Talk about double-dipping! 

I hope you enjoy the celebration with me!  Happy Holidays to you and yours!