luke & i usually celebrate christmas together on christmas eve eve. with a full week of traveling to see family during christmas, we really savor the time with just us two making our own memories & traditions as a little family.
as you know, i love making our home festive. it makes me happy & fills me up to decorate while making do with what we have. the wee stocking is our dogs’ shared stocking. no wee one to announce, we promise.
the little wire carousel is filled with cards from loved ones near & far. my very favorite part of christmas for sure. the box of cards are ones i have saved from past years.
we usually celebrate our christmas with breakfast for two. luke made martha stewart’s french toast with nine grain bread & a side of local bacon.
little details from this year’s gift wrappings. i added a wee bit more color than usual & added little handmade ornaments to clothespins (inspired by ashley!).
& a couple of gifts were exchanged. our budget is always small, but we are able to make & give so much with what we do have. luke found this apron for me & i love it to say the least.
i had this farm sign made for luke. a little more than our budget allowed but the blessing of so many photo shoots this past autumn season made this possible. a full heart kind of day, indeed.
feeling blessed to have each other & this little farm. we are incredibly thankful for you, too. thank you for following along on our adventures!
i will be back in a couple of days after a bit of traveling & merriment! until then… happy everything!
love,
natalie
oh, it has been such a wonderful week full of baby goats & christmas cheer! we have been spending every extra hour outside cuddling the sweet kids (we’re now up to 5 kids! 3 girls & 2 boys!). today i thought i would share with you what is happening inside our home in preparation for the holidays! a little elfing of sorts!
i really love wrapping gifts. i purchased some small bells from hobby lobby, collected acorn tops from around the farm & hot glued the tops to the bells. i also added string so that i can adorn them to packages easily.
i also made these very homemade tags with my little letter stamps (also found at hobby lobby) & vintage shipping tags.
there is a growing pile of drop stitch cowls (free pattern from spiderwomanknits) over here. i started on these when my mom was in the hospital & i am able to knit one up in about 2 hours now. a wonderful, quick & well-loved handmade gift idea!
i found some feed sacks back in october from a flea market for about $3 a piece. my grandpa grew rice for riceland for quite some time before he retired from farming (& became a home gardener! you really can’t stop growing now can you?).
i knew when i saw the feed sack that i wanted to make grandpa a pillow for christmas. i found a pillow from the thrift shop for 50 cents & made a pattern from that. a super simple homemade gift idea for less than $5! vintage tea towels & fabric would be lovely options, too.
i also made my first apron! i found this adorable fabric while visiting ashley & knew it would make the cutest apron.
i used some binding, pom pom trim (everything is better with pom poms… wouldn’t you agree?) & a pre-made yellow fabric flower from hobby lobby. after an hour or so, i had an apron! i am quickly falling in love with sewn gifts for the holidays!
wishing you all a wonderful weekend just before holiday festivities!
what are you making for dear ones this holiday season?
love,
natalie
yes, there are little ones on the farm! i never quite thought i would write that statement or at least so soon. we dreamed for so long of owning our own piece of land & having a barn full of animals, but in our 20s? right now? what a gift. a farmer? me? oh my goodness.
of course, we didn’t do much in bringing these precious babies (err, goat kids) into this world. the amazing mamas did all of the work & finding them was quite the surprise!
you see, from my studio window, i can see our flock of chickens & the coop. i heard quite a bit of ruckus yesterday morning & looked out my window to find a hawk swooping down for one of our girls. i grabbed the nearest pair of shoes & ran out the door frantically screaming & waving my arms in the air. the hawk was gone quickly & guinea feathers covered the ground. i called luke in a panic & told him about the incident. he asked me to count our chickens to make sure we didn’t lose one. i began counting & soon found myself at the goat barn in our lower pasture.
to my complete surprise, heidi was sitting quietly in the barn with two little grey & white furry balls. i immediately called luke & he was as shocked as i was. i watched them for over an hour, taking photos & thanking heidi for bringing these two onto our farm. it was a miracle & one i couldn’t believe i was a part of.
an hour or so later, i checked on the little ones & again, to my complete surprise, bonnie had just given birth to a kid of her own! i found her snuggled in a hay pile next to her little one content & calm. it was so beautiful!
we checked on our newest additions to the farm this morning & they’re all doing quite well! ginger is laboring in the pasture & we should have even more kids this afternoon! our total count is three right now & all doelings (girls)!
meet the kids!…
she’s quiet & a little more reserved than the others, always tucking herself behind her mama or sister. her markings are unbelievably cute.
she’s oh so precious with her white coat & very playful!
this little one has a personality of her own. she’s adventurous & silly. she was the first to come up to me & will follow her mama outside of the barn. we’re going to have to keep an eye on this cute one.
they’re all yet to be named, but we are thrilled with these kids who have joined freckled hen farm!
love,
natalie