Please forgive the composition of this post, my brain is having trouble formulating proper sentence structure and words. I have deemed it holiday brain. I did not want holiday brain to prevent me from sharing this latest project though, because it is actually time/ season appropriate!

A few months ago, David and I sat down to write a goal list of projects for the house that we wanted to complete by the end of the year. Two of the big goals dealt with the exterior of the house- cut down the only tree we had in our yard (It was right where we hope to add on to the house) and plant a new tree in a better location (the summer setting sun has been brutal).

I am happy to report we have now completed both of these goals as of this week! Yay! Y’all. Crossing things off of a to do list is so incredibly satisfying. I sometimes add completed tasks to a to do list just to have the satisfaction of crossing something off a list.

Unfortunately, I do not have great pictures of cutting down the tree because I was not present for the undertaking. My husband and very kind brother-in-law took down the canopy of the tree one afternoon that I was out. From what I have been told, it is probably for the best that I did not witness this. Apparently things got real and they got there very quickly. Luckily, both boys came out of the incident uninjured, as did the house…

David finished taking the trunk down another afternoon by himself. He was sore for the entirety of the following week, but he has assured me it was still a lot of fun.

So our tree is down! Yay! That left us with the question of what do we do with all of the wood that is left over? We do not have a fireplace and no one in our family seemed to want the leftovers. So we got crafty! A friend, a very talented lady I should add, suggested making lawn decorations out of the leftovers. So we did just that!

Here lies our reindeer made entirely from the tree we cut down. It’s nice because it cost us nothing to do, is a unique decoration for us, and a keepsake of the original tree on our property. I think they turned out really adorable! We added a solar spotlight so that the deer are still visible in the evening.

*Please take note of my pup poking her head in the window 😂

Here is a link to a tutorial of how to do one if you are feeling like channeling some holiday craftiness. My top suggestions:
1. Make sure you have good drill bits to drill the holes for the legs and the neck. It makes a world of difference.
2. Spray the wood with a clear enamel gloss to help preserve the wood. This process is where I also took the opportunity to add some glitter to the antlers. I do firmly believe that glitter makes the world a better place.
3. Do not stress too much about making things perfect. These are yard ornaments. I eyeballed everything except the length of the legs on this projects. The quirks that may show up just add to the charm in my opinion.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Wishing you all a wonderful season of eggnog and time spent with loved ones 🎄🍪⛄