Simple Christmas

(please excuse the photos being out of order, I don't know if it is some setting on our european computer or not, but I can't drag photos into place.)

I love to craft! I love to make things, but this Christmas I'm learning to make things simple! We just moved to a very small (but famous) town in Scotland for my husband to finish his education. We are slowly adjusting to life in a new culture, and the Christmas season brings more adjustments. We came here with our two children and our six bags of luggage. Needless to say, there wasn't any room to pack Christmas decorations or craft supplies. There also isn't a craft supply store nearby (the closest big city is 40 minutes away, but gas is about $6.50 per mile. It isn't feesible to drive that far to pick up some glitter and popsicle sticks). So, I'm starting from scratch and it isn't easy. We picked up a tree at a local charity shop (the UK's version of Goodwill) and are slowly dressing it up with homemade ornaments. I think I'm having the hardest time with this. I keep remembering all the cute ornaments that I have packed away in my inlaw's attic and the other things I've made that I had hoped to use every year for our children to remember (advent calendars, etc.). But the fact is my kids don't miss these things one bit! In fact, my three year old daughter is currently having a blast cutting up construction paper to make our paper chain and thinks our tree is perfect (even adding her tiara and other dress up jewelry to the branches). We also made a paper plate angel for the tree topper and are working on these birds, some salt dough creations, and other very simple crafts that use nothing more than construction paper and glue (which is the extent of my craft supplies). We also printed off nativity pictures and glued them to paper towel rolls to make a simple nativity set. Hopefully in a week or two, our tree and home will be full of lovely, yet very simple decorations. I'll try to do a photo update when we get there! I know this post isn't exactly what it was meant to be, and didn't have a ton of great examples of lovely things to make for the holidays, but I wanted to encourage you that it is okay to simplify! There are seasons in life, and in the year when just being together is enough.