Alone Snow More

Today John opened up the "Jo" snowglobe.  When I bought them, this blog was nowhere on my radar. I simply bought one that said "Jo" because I can never find my name correctly spelled and capitalized on racks of personalized items. There's always a Joanne, Johanna, or Jo Ann, but never a Joanna. Jo is something a few of my friends call me, but not my family and not John. But, throwing tradition to the wind, last year, I decided to buy  the "Jo" one along with the "John" one. I guess I couldn't bear the idea of John the Snowman hanging on a tree by himself when his real-life namesake would be without his other half, too. At least our little snowmen will be able to spend Christmas together!

Boxing Day

Welcome to the second post of my Countdown to Christmas Series. To start at the beginning, click here.   I sent my fiance an Advent calendar with a paper, pin-up Christmas tree and 24 small packages, one for each day until Christmas. Daily (or nearly daily) I will be blogging about the day's surprise! 

Today's a super quick post! Hang onto your hat! Today, John unwrapped a miniature snowglobe. I've been hanging onto this bauble for almost a year. Around Christmastime last year, John told me that the rumors about his command leaving for Afghanistan were pretty substantial and it was most likely, probably, possibly going to happen. (That is a conversation I really hope no one else ever has to have. It was tough.) A few days after, I was at a Christian bookstore with my mom, and I saw this little guy (he's so cute!). I picked him up and began planning the care packages I was going to send John.

I realized, after I had sent John's package, that I completely forgot to take a photo of the heart box that I made to package today's ornament. So today, all I can offer is the links to the cutest heart box ever. And it's super easy to make-- you can turn one out in less than 10 minutes, from start to finish. Check out the link to the directions (with pictures) here. Or, if you want to jump right to the template, go here. 

And there you have it! Check back tomorrow for the next Countdown to Christmas post!

The First Ornament

Welcome to the first post of my Countdown to Christmas Series. To start at the beginning, click here.   I sent my fiance an Advent calendar with a paper, pin-up Christmas tree and 24 small packages, one for each day until Christmas. Daily (or nearly daily) I will be blogging about the day's surprise!

Yesterday was December 1 and Day 1 of the Advent calendar. All John got was a box of tacks (although, now, I realize I should have also sent him a roll of tape since he taped the tree to his door instead of hanging it on his wall).  But the exciting parts start today!

Today's present is a mustache ornament! If you read my blog, you already know that this fall, John grew a mustache much to my (feigned) dismay. (I even sent him a No Shave November box a few weeks ago.) He really his 'stache, but ended up shaving it at the end of the month.  So I thought, I'd tease him a little more about the mustache experiment and immortalize it in felt.

John and I had a chance to video chat this morning, and, while we were talking, John "decorated" his tree with the first ornament. I was able to grab a screenshot so you can see how it looks in practice. It's a little pixellated, but today's connection was actually clearer than it's been for a bit. Now, though, because of John's perfect placement of the mustache ornament, it looks like there's a creepy tree-person (treeple? creeple treeple?) looking over his shoulder when we chat. It cracks me up. And I think it made him laugh, too.

If you've got someone in your life that you'd like to  make a snazzy, manly ornament for, I've got the template and directions in a PDF file for you! Click the button and try it out! If you make one, let me know! I'd love to see and feature your ornament on the blog!