Pinning for perfection

We are a “Grinch Who Stole Christmas” family, not because we are grumpy, anti-Christmas Scrooges but because we love the story.

We watch it while we decorate our tree, and I can’t wait for Gracie to embrace the Grinch love. My husband claims he is the Grinch, but just like the Grinch the beloved Dr. Seuss created, his heart grows three times its size by the time the big day rolls around.

In my hometown of Fruita, Colo., there’s a large dinosaur (long story, they found fossils there in the ‘70s) in Circle Park, right in the middle of town, and every year, they put a Grinch in its mouth during the season. We are knee deep in Grinch love in our house.

I decided to run with the Grinch theme for our holiday decorations this year. I searched “Grinch wreaths” on Pinterest and found a bunch of premade wreaths on the website Etsy, but I knew I could do it just fine on my own. At least I felt like I could. After two years of Pinterest experiments, I could handle a little homemade wreath action. I used a twig wreath, which I’m not sure is the technical name for it, but it seemed to be the best choice for simplicity in decorating. I gathered up my Hobby Lobby cache of holiday ribbons and extra baubles and candy canes and made a bow and wired the bling to one side. The piece de la resistance is the small, wooden sign I created that I attached to the other side. I downloaded a Grinch font and painted “The Real Grinch Lives Here” on the sign. I love the result, but I will admit as I write this, I am waiting for a small Grinch doll to be sent so that I can add it to the mix. I’m still not sure if it’s going to be too much, but I’m hoping it will add just enough

Whoville love to make it even better. Even my resident Grinch loved the look.

I got to thinking I hadn’t tested out any alcoholic beverages for a few months, and what better time than the holiday season to imbibe with friends. It is a sacrifice, I grant you, to test drinks, but someone has to do it. There’s a drink for everything, so I searched “Grinch cocktail,” and guess what, there were a bunch of choices. The problem was they all were basically Midori, which is a green, Grinchcolored, melon liqueur, which is super, crazy sweet. The one I made had, in addition to the Midori, a shot of vodka and sweet and sour mix. I am not lying when I say as I write this my “Holy cow, this is too sweet” juicy reaction is happening in a drinky Pavlov way. What I thought was going to be an awesome concoction was really pretty gross, so I added water so I could finish it – all in the name of experimentation for you, dear reader. This year, I plan on just sticking to my classic holiday cocktail: eggnog daiquiris from Tony’s in Shreveport. Sweet enough but not pucker-inducing sugar overload.

Some people are really creatively talented naturally, and my friend Lindsay Thurman is one of those people. When I told her about all of my Christmas experiments, she told she had embroidered paper last year after Pinterest. She printed to fit the size gift she to wrap, taped the the brown craft paper used her embroidery needle to punch out a template to follow. I’ll be honest with you. When she told me about this whole thing, I laughed out loud because that sounded like way too much trouble to me. I’m a big believer in holiday bags where I can just stuff the carefully chosen gift into the bag. Her creations were so cute and personal! The gifts were truly gifts from her heart, including a package with an adorable Grinch, smiling his crooked, wry smile, welcoming you (or daring) you to open your gift. She even embroidered paper with the spitting image of her best friend. Some were freehand work, including a gingerbread man, but they were all clever and made each package even more special. A search of “embroidered wrapping paper” will bring up plenty of ideas for hand stitching paper for any occasion. If you’d like to see Lindsay’s work, you can check out her work on her Facebook page “All Wrapped Up.” After wreathing and drinking and wrapping, I will be enjoying my Grinch and my Cindy Lou Who, and hope that the blessings of the season are as wonderful for you, too!

Mandy Byrd is a stay-at-home mom originally from Colorado.

She is mother to Gracie and wife to her handsome devil-of-aman, Eric. Send Pinterest ideas and comments to Mandy at mandybyrd@icloud.com.