Home
Contact
- Collaborate
Blog
Parties
Holiday Ideas
Seasons
- Winter
- Spring
- Summer
- Autumn
Recipes
- Appetizers
- Beverages
- Desserts
- Main Dishes
- Side Dishes
- Soups
Project Gallery
- Crafts
- Decorating
- DIY
- Good Ideas
- Tutorials

Nav Social Menu

At The Picket Fence with Vanessa Hunt

Where Ideas for your Home Meet Inspiration for your Heart

Book
Speaking
Meet Vanessa
- Featured

Adult Party Ideas

December 16, 2015

How to Make an Appetizer Tree

March 25, 2015

Spring Baby Shower

May 31, 2012

Turning 40 in style…my surprise birthday party!

Primary Sidebar

Search This Blog

Take the Quiz

Stay updated!

Get all the latest goodness straight to your inbox!

First Name Last Name E-Mail Address

Get the book!

Invite Vanessa to speak at your event!

Must Reads

Recent Posts

My French Country Christmas Mantel December 4, 2019
Incorporating Advent Candles Into Your Christmas Decor November 27, 2019
Simple Hot Cocoa Station November 21, 2019
An Update From Me to You November 15, 2019
My Crazy Christmas Shopping at Hobby Lobby November 4, 2019

Get all the latest straight to your inbox

First Name Last Name E-Mail Address

Footer

Instagram

Instagram post 17855252689670737

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity--hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory--because at the Father's will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.” (J.I. Packer).
.
We’ll light the second candle of Advent tonight. The candle of hope, according to the reading schedule we’re following. No little doors to open or gifts emerging from bags hanging from clothespins on a string or chocolates hidden inside tiny drawers.

This isn’t that kind of a countdown to Christmas.

Instead, we’ll reverently and simply light two candies tonight and reflect on the hope that came to earth in the form of an infant Who was the most wonderfully unexpected King. I’m so grateful for this time to pause together as a family during a very busy season. It only takes a few minutes and yet it resets our hearts and minds and prepares us for the week ahead. Do you celebrate Advent at your house?

Instagram post 18042969043211010

Raise your hand if these cold, dark mornings have you feeling a bit befuddled. 🙋🏻‍♀️ So far this week I’ve put a sweatshirt on backwards resulting in me getting a really good look at the inside of the hood and today I tried to put sweat pants on without taking my pajamas off first. 😂 #winning.

But, hey, at least I can take comfort in the soft glow of twinkling lights and having my halls decked for Christmas!

Today on the blog I’m sharing the details of my soft and simple mantel decorations and I’d love for you to stop by! ✨

Instagram post 18116596168021683

Instagram post 17937591637321018

Have you ever longed to belong?

Have you ever felt like you are on the outside looking in at everyone else who seemingly have it all together?

Are you craving more peace in your heart and your home?

Well, today I’m having a conversation with @drbarbaralowe on her podcast and it could not be more timely with the holiday season now upon us!

You can find the link to it on her page and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it and what resonates with you! ❤️

Instagram post 17903771584388964

Confession...I’d rather have cranberry sauce smothering the turkey on my plate than gravy any day!! And this, this right here? Well it’s the best (and easiest!) cranberry sauce ever!! I eat on crackers and sandwiches and sometimes just by the spoonful. It’s so yummy! And I’m just so very thankful for all of you that I’m going to leave the recipe right here instead of making you go to the blog to get it. I promise you won’t regret having this on your Thanksgiving menu but be warned...you may find yourself up in the middle of the night sneaking some helpings of this deliciousness. Or maybe that’s just me!

Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh or frozen cranberries
2 oranges
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup white wine.

Instructions:
Wash and pick over berries, removing any that are soft. Peel and dice oranges removing any seeds. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a full boil. Reduce heat and continue cooking until cranberries pop open and mixture is thickening.
For best flavor, prepare and let stand for several days before using.

Gobble, gobble!! 🦃

Instagram post 17846094718750175

Temperatures are dropping here in the Willamette Valley and I got our hot cocoa station set up just in the nick of time! My kids LOVE this sweet (literally!) spot in our house and my daughter added her own personal touch with the little sign on the wreath. I’ll be happily restocking ingredients over and over throughout the season as my kids and their friends make a pit stop here. We’re definitely ready to cozy up!! Do you have a hot cocoa or coffee station at your house? What are your must-haves for the perfect hot beverage? ☕️🎄

Instagram post 17880974047462626

It’s begun!! 🎄🎄 My best girl LOVES decorating the family room tree (we do a fresh tree in the living room after Thanksgiving) but she does NOT like me to take her picture while she’s doing it (see photo two). Ahhhh...preteens. 😂🤪 I’m just so grateful to have a buddy who is as obsessed with Christmas as I am and who still wants to be apart of it all with me!

Instagram post 17864348974529213

Instagram post 18114202198050565

Happy weekend friends!! This has been one of my favorite kind of days today. The boys went and had some guy time and my daughter and I got some sweet girl time and now we’re all cozied in together at home enjoying just ‘being’. I’m doing some baking and dreaming about this year’s Christmas mantel. This photo is from a few years ago but it’s still one of my all-time favorites!

What’s been the best part of your day today? ❄️

Instagram post 18073546234147166

Matthew 7:13-14 says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it.”.
.
When I was a little girl we took a trip to Silver Dollar City theme park in Branson, MO. One of the attractions there is the Marvel Cave. The whole theme park was actually built right around the cave! I will never forget the feeling of descending into the darkness. We had to walk down a steep, narrow path and I could feel the rocky walls beginning to close in on me. From time to time, our guide would even have to call out for us to duck our heads so as not to whack them on rocks that were jutting out. And just when it felt like we had been walking forever; just when it felt the most narrow and the most dark; just when we were starting to get really weary from navigating this path, we turned the corner and found ourselves awestruck as we gazed at this enormous room. Everywhere we looked there were stalactites and stalagmites. Lights had been installed and they reflected off of these formations creating the most beautiful colors on the walls. There were pools of water in a shade of aquamarine I had never seen before and waterfalls flowing from upper levels. That long, winding, damp trek had been so very worth it. The descent into darkness had revealed light…and life!

My prayer for you friends, is that you will look at that narrow path with the small gate as an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to experience the kind of freedom that our souls are longing for. The wide and broad path of the world promises us a freedom that is fleeting and temporary. But at the end of the narrow path, there is hope and peace and life everlasting.

I’m choosing the narrow path. And in spite of the hardships, in spite of the challenges and the fears and the times that can feel as dark as the journey down into a cave, I wouldn’t trade a single minute of it.

Load More... Follow

Copyright © 2019 · Divine theme by Restored 316

Copyright © 2019 At The Picket Fence