Gifts That Give!

So I'm all about charity and giving back when and where I can. So below are a few of my favorite gift items and/or brands that I think would make fabulous gifts to anyone on your list this Christmas that you haven't purchased for yet.... (AHEM! Hint, Hint to anyone who wants to go Christmas shopping for ME too!) 

ONEHOPE Wine

This wine is FAB.U.LOUS.

That's all.

Oh, and every bottle you purchase gives back to a different cause. No big deal, just saving the world… one lush at a time.

FashionABLE

As you know from my previous post, I've been obsessing over FashionABLE scarves recently. Each one is hand made in Ethiopia and helps create sustainable business for women, so they don't have to depend on charity.

How awesome is this leather clutch? And I wear the below scarf all the time.

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company

Coffee Addicts: Beware!!

This coffee is addicting. I first heard of them when I attended the Justice Conference last February and their booth was stationed right across from me for 3 days straight. Oh yeah, and they gave away FREE coffee.

The free coffee is what lured me in initially. But then I found out the company was started to help reunite Rwandan communities after the mass genocide that happened back in 1994. Since then, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company has expanded to reach communities in other countries such as Haiti and Thailand.

Super cool and super good.

Drink Coffee.
Do good.

Be Free Revolution

You've heard me talk about BFR before, so I won't chat your ear off… (err… type your eyes off?? I'm not sure the best metaphor there… oh well.). 

Anyway, they have awesome handmade jewelry and accessories for anyone on your list - male and female alike. BFR empowers African men and women with trades for sustainability and couple that trade with feeding, education and counseling programs in nearby schools and orphanages.

What's YOUR favorite Give-Back brand??

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

So we arrived home from Chattanooga on Friday night, and immediately we pulled down the Christmas decorations from the attic after putting Meda to bed.

McKenna was adorable and was immediately ready for Christmas to arrive. Only in the past few years have we started decorating for Christmas. I guess that's what happens when you grow up? I don't know. But each year, I accumulate a few more Christmas decor items, so each year, we get a little more festive around here.

Decorating in full swing, complete with Mariah Carey on Pandora.

Thinking of making my own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree with this little guy.

We put McKenna in charge of placing the ornaments.
We may need to work on her spacing techniques.

A sweet moment I caught with Bryant and MK.

Mantle

My Nambe nativity set I received as a gift last year and the
Polar Express bell Santa gave MK on the train a few years ago.

If you've never been to my house, you should know I have an obsession with printables.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2013!
Love, Kristin

Closet Photographers, Non-Coordinated Outfits, Negative 30 Degree Weather = Our First Christmas Family Photos!!

So let's just say I know how to pick my friends.  And I know how to use and abuse them.  And they never even realize they've been had.  Let me give you an example.  I have a one friend who is a closet photographer.  (As in she's uber talented, but is dumb and hasn't come out of the "I'm not good enough" closet yet.)  But once I found out this juicy detail about her, I planted the seed.  The seed about how us Funstons, despite how vain we may be (I mean come on. Take one look in our home at the number of photos of ourselves there are, and you'll agree.), don't have any "good" photos of the three of us.  (Well, that part is true.  We only have good pictures of Bryant with McKenna.  No good ones of the three of us or of me with her.  OKAY!  So maybe I just wanted more photos of myself...geez.)

Anyway, my friend Lacey agreed to take some Christmas photos of our family, and I was quite jolly to say the least.  I went to church that morning, prayed I had a good hair day, came home and in the good Christian way started bossing Bryant on what we need to wear.  The decision was that he and I would wear jeans with a black top and McKenna Rayne would wear red with black pants.  That way her outfit would contrast with our black tops and still be "Christmas-y".  Well, it turns out that Bryant doesn't have a black shirt that was warm enough to go outside or nice enough for these type of photos.  And it also turns out that McKenna needed a coat to go outside, but doesn't have a red one.  Damn.  Two strikes.  It also turns out that it had rained for about a week straight prior to this day and everything outside was super wet.  We had planned on taking photos outside at the Botanical Gardens here in Memphis, because its super pretty and would be the perfect setting for outdoor photos....had the sky been blue and the ground not sopping.  Ugh.  Three strikes.

Anyway, I got over it really quickly and decided we would still meet Lacey to take the photos, since I knew we wouldn't have another chance before Christmas.  And besides, I needed to mail out our Christmas card ASAP since everyone who was to get one was undoubtedly already sitting at their mailboxes just waiting for ours to arrive!  I know I would have been.  So off we headed to the Botanical Gardens.  Upon our arrival, there were a couple technical difficulties with the camera, but Lacey took care of those with her new-camera-battery-purchasing-skills.  So we were good to go.

Despite my O.C.D.ness with the fashion coordinating, despite the nasty dirty Memphis rain, and despite camera battery mishaps, our photos turned out beautiful.  Lacey did an amazing job and I couldn't be happier with the ending results.

And no worries, I was able to get the Christmas cards in the mail in plenty of time!  ;-)