Barn wood

I might have mentioned this piece of string art my SIL Amanda made me for Christmas 100 times or so but it’s pretty fabulous. She made it on a piece of wood we got from an old barn house that was falling in. Right after Christmas, I casually mentioned to Justin’s dad Sheldon that we’d love for him to make Wyatt a toy box for his birthday. Three days later this is what we had:   
He planed down, sanded, stained, and sealed the old barn wood to make a covered wagon toy box that blew any expectations we had out of the water. It can actually be used as a wagon too—the wheels and steering pull actually are functional, although I doubt it will ever be outside for any reason. He even carved his name, “Pa,” and 2012 onto the inside.This is truly an heirloom piece that will remain in our family for generations. Justin talked to his grandpa Theron and found out that his great-grandfather Dud helped cut the wood to build that barn house over 100 years ago. That makes this so much more special.
After seeing the potential, we immediately went back to salvage any remaining usable wood for future projects.
 
Justin and his daddy worked long and hard to get this big fat beam. It will be our mantle over our fireplace if we ever get a new house one day.
          
We got the wagon into the house and loaded up with toys. Wyatt can’t stay out of it very long. He loves it!
   

Presents!

     
Christmas at Grandma and Pa’s came a few days early to eliminate some of the confusion of running around to so many houses. Wyatt got a big wheel tricycle.

My amazing SIL Amanda made this string art Georgia sign for me on old barn wood.
 
Lasagna assembly line at my parents’ house on Christmas Eve.
   
Christmas Eve parties are a family tradition at the Mastrario house. We always love to have a house full of company.
    
Wyatt got his very own recliner for Christmas. We tried to scale back and only buy a few gifts for him. We don’t have much room and he is already spoiled rotten so we only bought him four or five other gifts. By the time he got to the third one, he wanted to stop opening presents and start playing with them. We didn’t feel so bad that we didn’t go all out then.
     
We had Christmas lunch at Papa Theron and Granny Whilden’s house with a lot of the Cook family.
  
Wyatt got a pedal fire truck from Mimi and Pop.
    
David got his big welcome into the family. A few months back he heckled me about the tapestry cat vest I had in elementary school so I got him one of his very own. He was a good sport and wore it while opening the rest of his presents. It is trial by fire to get into this family!
 
Justin found a 1963 Polaroid Land Camera for Sami at an estate sale that we thought would be perfect for her. We even bought film for it but we couldn’t get it to work. Justin said he’d work on it to figure it out.
 
Wyatt and Liam got to spend the rest of the afternoon playing with their new toys.
  

While it isn’t high fashion decorating, I love our new gifts up on our mantle. The sign is from Amanda and the photo is one Sami took of us and had framed for us for Christmas. I think it’s just fabulous!

December Miscellaneous Part 2

 
We got a strange package delivered to our house from the North Pole with our very own Elf on a Shelf. We didn’t name him this year but we can’t wait to see what kind of fun he gets into next year and we can only wonder what Wyatt will name him.

We discovered that Wyatt really really really doesn’t like Santa despite bribes of suckers.
  
Silly string fights in Mimi and Pop’s front yard.
 
We met a real live Grinch.
   
Wrapping presents was lots of fun.
 
Cooking flips with Grandma.
 
Wearing our “ears” everywhere—including the Piggly Wiggly.
 
Getting our annual Christmas ornament.
 
Having lots of toasty warm fires.
 
And hanging out with Pop while we finished up shopping.