Ruly’s Favorite Holiday Blog Posts

"Blogging -- What Jolly Fun!" By Mike Licht, NotionsCapitol.com. From the Flickr Creative Commons.

There have been so many wonderful blog posts this year celebrating the holidays.  I could probably make a list of 100 or more ideas but the following half-dozen were the ones I kept coming back to for inspiration.

1. Wreath ideas from The Nesting Place. The Nesting Place compiled dozens of front door wreath decorating ideas here.  If you are looking for a way to festively welcome guests at your front door throughout the year, you can’t help but be inspired by these suggestions.

2. Sweet Paul’s holiday countdown has been beautiful and wonderful with a tip each day for crafts, cooking or decorating.  Some of my favorites include this family photo wrapping paper idea and these candy and popcorn wreaths.

3. The Reluctant Entertainer’s ingenious remembrance to a departed loved one by preserving their handwriting in ceramics. You could either use the stenciling technique she suggests or hire a potter (here in Fredericksburg there are plenty of potters to choose from at Liberty Town Arts Workshop) to make you a custom piece with engraved writing.

4.  June Cleaver Nirvana’s Hilarious Post about Holiday Photos with Children.  Anyone who has ever had to stage a family portrait with small children knows how fidgety and unpredictable this can be.  This post about a traumatic experience with a mall photographer will guarantee a laugh.

5.  Fun French-inspired Holiday Outfits from Les Chateau des Fleurs by Frenchy. This blog is a really fun read with many great ideas for adding a little French sophistication to your life.  There are many posts I could choose from this month but I thought her adorable holiday photo outfits were just charming and original.  Here is the one she wore for her own family holiday card. And this cute 1950’s inspired photo shoot, complete with some sort of Photoshop manipulation of the finished photos to give them an antique look was Vogue-worthy. There was also this incredible Parisian snowy day outfit.

6.  Relaxing Yoga Routine from Esther Ekhart at yogatic.com. Esther Ekhart is one of my favorite yoga instructors.  In addition to being beautiful to watch, she has a lovely, soothing voice.  She posts regular videos on her website at yogatic.com that you can view for free.  She offered up the simple one for holiday stress below that I love.  The beauty of this routine, is that if you are too stressed to actually sit quietly and do it yourself, just stream it in the background while you do something else and it still has a calming, relaxing effect on you!

This will be my last post for the week. To those who celebrate, have a very Merry Christmas filled with love and joy!