Walt Disney's Birthday

It all started with a mouse... but in reality, it all started with a man.  And that man, Walt Disney, aka Walter Elias Disney, was born on this date 120 years ago in 1901.

Through the years, I've learned a lot about Walt Disney and how he built the brand that we all know and love.  From starting his studio, to designing Oswald and Mickey, to full length feature movies, to building Disneyland, to having a big dream for the "Florida Project" that would become Walt Disney World... he's truly been a creative genius.

I've loved his story, and how he struggled and failed many times.  As a creative person myself, I love his dream big philosophy, and how the sky is the limit.  I love how he pushed on, even when things seemed impossible.  Walt made the impossible possible.

Eliot and I love visiting One Man's Dream at Hollywood Studios and walking through Walt's story.  We've also been blessed to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum twice during visits with Eliot's family in California.  I love that museum so much!!!  Someday, we'd also love to visit Marceline, MO were Walt grew up. 

Though some people are critical of Walt and a few of his philosophies, I choose to see the good in people.  Plus, I didn't know the man personally; I don't believe in passing judgement on him.  Times have changed a lot since 100+ years ago, and things that were acceptable and common then aren't now.  I mean, even the Disney Company themselves have Photoshopped all of the cigarettes out of Walt's hands since him smoking is not deemed respectable in today's standards.

Regardless of what you think of the man, no one can deny his genius.  He saw a vision when other people couldn't.  He saw the possibilities in an empty orange grove... and in a bunch of Florida swampland.  And look what sits there today!

I choose to look to Walt for inspiration to always look for new ideas, to know change and growth are necessary, to dream big and to believe anything is possible.  To this day, I always stop at the fire station and gaze upon the light in his apartment window for a few minutes... silently thanking him for the magic whenever we leave Disneyland.

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Happy 120th Birthday Walt.  Thanks for teaching us to wish on stars, to dream big, to work hard and never give up and that dreams really do come true.  °o°

Small Shop Saturday: Hanukkah

Happy Small Shop Saturday!  Today, I thought I'd share some of my small shop finds of Hanukkah merchandise!  I've mentioned how hard it is to find Hanukkah items in most stores, and small shops also don't usually have many items available.  However, I have found a few things that I really love and I had to share them with you! 

Starting off with home decor, I think this sign from Dawn's Door Decor is perfect for our house!  It has both Hanukkah and Christmas which is perfect!

Dawn's Door Decor also has a Hanukkah only version!

I love these Happy Hanukkah cards from Karma and Kismet.  Sorcerer Mickey and all of his broomsticks are adorable atop this menorah!

I also like these Hanukkah tumblers by Grin and Giggles.  They're perfect for adult beverages or for keeping your water or iced coffee nearby!

Switching gears to shirts, I like this Festival of Lightsabers shirt by Alef Designs. They have a ton of Jewish shirt designs and they're also based in Israel!

Star Wars fans will also like this Keep the Han in Hanukkah shirt by Rock Salt Shirts.

These Mickey Head shirts with small illustrations inside are super popular.  This Hanukkah version by Groovy Days Vintage is really fun!

I love this Spirit Jersey by EHTM Designs.  We need Hanukkah Spirit Jerseys!!! 

This Mickey Menorahs and Miracles Shirt by Childless Millennial Pretzel Company is adorable and simple.  I've had this in my cart for a while and I really need to get one!

Another shirt sitting in my shopping cart is this Festival of Loating Lanterns shirt by The Adventure Effect.  As you know, I love Tangled and this design is perfect for Hanukkah!

Another shirt that has been sitting in my cart are these Magical Menorah Shirts by Customized By Cristina.  I just love her shirt designs so much!!! 

Plus, you can get Cristina's designs on a bunch of things!  She also has Magical Menorah coffee mugs, a blanket, stickers, posters and prints in her shop!

I'm also loving this Mickey Headband by Sew Tangled.  (Ok, so it's in my cart right now too.)  The colors in it will work for Hanukkah as well as winter!

I also like this Mickey and Minnie Headband by Caibriza Creates.  This is made with the same fabric from Joann that I mentioned on Monday!

I'm also loving these beaded bracelets from Say Like Yay.  I have a few other bracelets from her and these are all super cute.  There are tons of words to pick from, as well as larger bracelets to pair with them so you can mix and match!

Of course, I have to end this with a shameless plug for our own Hanukkah mouse ears designs from Happily Ever Hatter.  Eliot and I have made creating Hanukkah ears a priority since it is so hard to find stuff for the Festival of Lights.  Thus, our Hanukkah designs are always popular this time of the year!

My favorite addition to our collection so far are these dreidel mouse ears!

While it's not alway to find fun Hanukkah merchandise, each year it gets easier!  These small shops are paving the way for more items in the future!  °o° 

Please Note: Eliot and I are not affiliated with any of these shops (except Happily Ever Hatter) and we won't earn anything if you purchase something from this post (unless you buy ears from our shop).  I just wanted to spread a little bit of magical good will by sharing some stuff that I love from Etsy!  I know how much it means to small shops for their stuff to be shared.  All of these items are literally things that I picked off of my own Etsy favorites list!  

All of these photos belong to the shop in which I've shared them from.  If you link them from this post, please attach them to their corresponding Etsy shop!

Happy Hanukkah!!!  °o°

Fun Find: How To Make A Mickey Snowflake Ornament Candy Apple

It's Friday and you know that that means... another Fun Find Friday!  Yes, it's another candy apple post.  What can I say?  This girl loves her Disney candy apples!  Today, I wanted to share a fun video of how to make a Mickey Snowflake Ornament design.

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These cute Mickey Snowflake Candy Apples are really easy to make and you can make them in any color you'd like!  I love all of the possibilities!  Plus, I love how they're less Christmasy and that they could be made for Christmas, Hanukkah and winter!

These would be perfect to make this holiday season!  I might actually make some to enjoy this winter after all the holiday craziness dies down.  Yum!!!  °o° 

#tbt 2010 Hanukkah Decor

Happy Thursday!  Today, I wanted to continue with my Throwback Thursday posts to when I decorated our apartment back in 2010.  (If you've missed my other posts, you can read about our Halloween and Thanksgiving posts at those links.)  For today's stroll down memory lane, we're taking a look at our Hanukkah decorations!

I don't have a ton of Hanukkah items, but I'm pleased with my collection thus far.  This was the first year that I went all out with Hanukkah decorations as it was Eliot's and my first time living under the same roof and celebrating the holidays together.

He had a few menorahs on his side table.

I put my other menorah and a sliver gift box on my side table.

Our Eiffel Tower light got a little winter hat that came off of an extra Tigger plush.

Our storage wall had a few decorations on it.

You can see that Eliot and I went a little crazy at Build-A-Bear getting Hanukkah stuff.

I put a few beanie plush and my mini menorah on our DVD storage.

Here's a view of our living room looking towards our porch.

I put a bunch of Hanukkah window clings in our porch window.

Here's a view of our stairs from the dining room.

I put Hanukkah Mickey lights on our stair railing.  Here's a close up of the Mickey light.

I modified an extra winter Tigger into a Hanukkah Tigger by adding a Build-A-Bear set. 

Tigger is ready for Hanukkah dressed up in his kippah and his tallit.

I just love all of the little details in our decor.

At the time, I didn't have any Hanukkah kitchen items but I still tried to decorate the best I could.  I put a garland over the kitchen window.  Then, I added window clings.

Here's the first window all decorated.

I love how Remi fits the decor and he's so cute in the window!

Here's the decals on the second window.

I also tried to decorate our dining room as best as I could.  All of the windows got some window clings and I decorated the table.

Here's a close up of the table.  (We have a lot more table decor and dinnerware now!)

I also decorated our entryway.

The bookcase had another menorah along with our little Disney snowball plush.

I put our Mickey Hanukkah Banner on the door to the master bedroom.

Finally, I put our Disney Hanukkah advent calendar banner on the wall in the entryway!

I'm still impressed with how much Hanukkah stuff I collected in such a short amount of time!  Eliot and I have gotten a lot more decorations since then.  It will be exciting to get it all out together!  Also, I love all of the Disney items.  I wish they'd make more stuff like this.  (I alluded to these items in my post the other day.)  The Disney banners and lights are really cute!  And the least they could do is make a Mickey menorah!

Happy Hanukkah!!!  °o°

Holiday 2021 Bucket List

Happy December 1st friends!  (How is it already the last month of the year?!?)  This year feels like it's flown right by, and I'm hoping it will slow down a little bit.  Around here it's no secret that I love holidays.  And by extension of that, I absolutely love the holiday season.  There's something magical in the air at Christmas time.

I look forward to this season every year.  But as I grow older, it always seems to go by much faster than it used to.  (It seems to be getting busier and more stressful.)  The holiday season is Eliot's and my absolute craziest time of the year with our businesses and all the orders we get in the holiday rush.  I always find myself wanting to make sure that we take some time to enjoy the holiday season instead of just surviving it.

I've had so much fun with my summer and autumn bucket lists that I thought I'd make one for the holiday season.  Eliot and I celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah so this list seemed like the perfect way to make time for some of our favorite festivities and traditions!  Let's see what fun things I've got planned for this holiday season! 

Melissa's Holiday 2021 Bucket List

1. Drink Hot Cocoa
2. Read a Christmas Book
3. Watch all 3 Santa Clause Movies
4. Wear Christmas Pajamas
5. Play the Dreidel Game
6. Drive Around to Look at Christmas Lights
7. Make a Christmas Craft
8. Bake Cookies
9. Hang a Wreath on the Front Door
10. Donate to Toy's for Tots
11. Send Christmas Cards
12. Watch All of the New Hallmark Christmas Movies
13. Listen to Christmas Music
14. Take Christmas Photo
15. Light all Eight Candles for Hanukkah (electric or flame)
16. Wear an "Ugly" Sweater
17. Watch the Disney Christmas "Parade" Christmas Morning
18. Do an Advent Calendar
19. Go See a Christmas Light Display 
20. Have a Family Game Night
21. Decorate Gingerbread Cookies
22. Make a Hanukkah Craft
23. Decorate our Yard with Inflatables
24. Make Treats for our Neighbors
25. Watch Favorite Christmas Movies (Elf, Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty, etc.)

I'm so excited for the holiday season and this list only makes me more excited!  There are so many of my favorite things on it!  Some of these, we haven't been able to do the past few years because we've been so busy.  Last year, we didn't even get a wreath for our front door.  I haven't mailed Christmas cards since before we moved into our new house.  It's been a while since we had a family game night, and I've never played the dreidel game before.  And I haven't decorated gingerbread cookies since our cruise!

I'm hoping that this list will provide Eliot and me an added purpose for carving out time for holiday fun amid all of the hustle and bustle.  The season goes by so quickly that I want to enjoy it!  I'll check back after the holidays to let you all know how we did!  °o°