Merry Christmas!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. " Isaiah 9:5-7

Christmas in February....again

Nathan loves to dress up and play pretend, so I found and ordered this great robot hat from Target online to give him for Christmas. They said it was on backorder.

I ordered it and forgot about it.

Fast forward to January. I get an email from Target asking me to approve a package delivery. I think it's a phishing scam, so I don't respond. I get another and another and another email. Finally, I decide to click on the email to see what's going on.

It is only then that I remember that I ordered the robot hat that never arrived in time for Christmas.

It came in the mail this week. Merry Christmas in February!

I think the boys like it. :)

{Please ignore the pile of laundry behind Ryan in the middle photo. At least it's clean...I'm waiting for the robot that will fold AND put my laundry away without having to be told}

So Sweet

I know it's February and Christmas was over a month ago, but I have to blog this story so that I never forget. It's a story of love so maybe it is appropo for February....

A few weeks before Christmas, we were all out shopping as a family. I had to run into Joann's for some crafty things, so Mark took the older boys to a department store next door. When he got them inside the store, he asked them what they wanted to get me for Christmas. Evan immediately answered, "A necklace," and Ryan agreed, so they headed for the jewelry counter.

After some deliberation and lots of ooooohhing and ahhhing from every lady in the store, they picked a silver necklace with a silver charm. The charm has three connected ovals, small, medium, and large, with diamond chips in each one [I really need to take a picture of it!]

FOUND ONE....

Mark told me that they decided on this charm because they decided that each oval represented each one of them - is that not the sweetest thing you've ever heard?

On Christmas morning, the boys were excited about their presents, but they insisted that I open my gift from them before they opened anything. The above photo shows Ryan and Evan handing me the box. Needless to say, I opened it with tears in my eyes.

These boys never fail to surprise me ~ not just with gifts but with the amount of unselfish love their precious hearts really do contain. I'll never forget this special gift.

Another Christmas Past

Christmas has come and gone....all that preparation....all that planning...all that fun....gone for another year.

I got the Christmas cards mailed.

I got the Christmas cookies baked ~ and they were some of my best yet, if I do say so myself!

I got the Christmas presents bought and wrapped.

Everything was accomplished.

And great fun was had by all.

I hope you enjoyed the Christmas season with your loved ones as we did.

New Mantle Lights

I just bought [myself] the coolest little star light bulb covers for my dining room mantle.

I wasn't in the market for anything new - we have 4 BIG bins of Christmas decorations - but I was in a little country shop in town shopping for my secret Santa and found these along the way. Merry Christmas to me! How does that always happen????

Anyway, they are small silicon stars that just slip over the mini light bulbs so you can use them again and again. I love the way they look....


Someday, this room will be done :)

Look! I caught a Christmas elf on film...

Christmas by the Numbers

to date.....

4 Christmas cards received in the mail - Really? Only 4? C'mon people!

0 Christmas cards sent out in the mail

80 Christmas cards waiting to be addressed and mailed out - this week, I promise

0 Christmas cookies baked

1 Christmas tree up and decorated

13 shopping days left

12 people I still need to buy/make gifts for

5 homemade stockings hung by the chimney with care

7 packages delivered directly to my door - LOVE online shopping :)

143 Christmas songs on continual shuffle play in the cd player

and still and always only

1 reason for the season that I love...

Checking it twice....

Update on the Christmas list....

1. Bake cookies aexcept for that new recipe for Macadamia Nut Creams that I want to try if I have time ~ haha!

2. Make cute gift tags a

3. Address & mail Christmas cards a

4. Finish decorating the dining room & stair rail a

5. Wrap gifts aexcept for Mark's :)

6. Finish making gifts

7. Make these really cool stars abut they're sitting on my dining room table instead of hanging outside......

8. Buy an evergreen wreath for the front door ~ "What??" you may be thinking, "I just saw the most beautiful wreath on your front door in your last post..." Yeah, well, um, that was a picture of my front door last year. Which is a funny story in itself. But currently, there is still a fall decoration hanging on my door amongst the Christmas lights....ah, well, better late than never, right?? :) hee-hee.

Wow, 3 days to go and typing this I actually feel o.k. about things. Still have to clean the house and make food for Christmas Eve dinner, but feeling like it may just all come together in time.

Hope your preparations are coming together, too.

Christmas Tour 2008

I've never participated in the Christmas Home Tour before, so this is all new for me. This is so exciting to share my home during my most FAVORITE time of the year.....

WELCOME and Merry Christmas!!

As you stroll through my home, you'll see that I have a little bit of an addiction to greenery & white lights. If there's a flat surface, I like to brighten it up with some needles & lights.

I also have a an addiction to snowmen. My brother-in-law comes into our house every year and counts my snowmen because he can't stand them. I think they're cute AND they can be left up through February without feeling like a lazy lump who didn't take their Christmas decorations down in a timely manner ~ he-he :)

{Please don't mind the toy mess on the hearth...can't seem to escape that around here}

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care.....and yes, they are handmade by me. I made my hubby's and mine as a Christmas present before we were ever married. Followed a pattern and my mom helped me. The kids' stockings are my own design and I'm quite proud of them. I've helped my friends make stockings for their families, too. It's getting to be quite the tradition to have to get together and make another stocking every time one of us has another baby.

You'll notice that we don't have many Santa decorations. You'll find 3 nesting Santas in this arrangement, but they were a gift and I think they're adorable. I don't buy Santa decorations.

We want to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas around here.

Which you may be thinking is a celebration of snowmen.....however, I think it might be a little over the top if I decorated my entire mantle with Jesus figurines.

Instead, I prefer my simple nativity scene that stands in our kitchen (where we spend a majority of our lives). I bought it at a craft show a while back. Mary with Baby Jesus and the wise man had to be replaced about 3 years ago. Found them chewed up under the dishwasher....LONG story. I'm just glad I was able to replace them!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my dining room fireplace mantle.

No, we don't live in an old house (8 1/2 years old) and no, the fireplace isn't real.

I bought the mantle at a yard sale pretty soon after we moved in here and it seems like the dining room has been a work in progress ever since. Mark mounted it to the wall and cut out the wall behind it. Eventually, the "inside" will be painted black and we'll get a slate hearth put in, but for now, it's fine.

This is our FAKE tree. Got it about 2 years ago. Used to go out and chop down a tree every year, but the last time we did that, I ended up sitting in the car with 2 sleeping children while Mark went out on the hunt for the perfect [$80!!!!] tree in the freezing cold and snow. Figured maybe we'll do it again when the kids can actually enjoy it. :)

Notice the bottom 2 feet of the tree is NOT decorated. House full of boys under 5....

I hope you enjoyed the tour. If you'd like to see more homes, you can click here.

Getting Ready....

Enjoy the new Christmas playlist I put together. It pretty much mimics the Christmas CDs I've got playing non-stop throughout our house right now, so hopefully you'll feel at home....

Christmas Checklist

I've started making my lists (and checking them twice - hee-hee!)

I've got my list of gifts I still need to pick up.

I've got my list of crafts that I'm going to do with Ryan and K when we do "cool tuff" ~ see here.

And I've got a long list of things that I still need to do:

1. Bake cookies

2. Make cute gift tags

3. Address & mail Christmas cards ~ have to buy stamps, too....

4. Finish decorating the dining room and stair railing

5. Wrap gifts ~ after I finish getting them

6. Finish making gifts

7. Make these really cool stars ~ all the "ingredients" have been purchased and are sitting at the ready ~ just have to find the time to put them together.

8. Buy an evergreen wreath for my front door.

I'm sure there's something I'm missing.....I'll have to post some pics as I start checking things off my list.

2 weeks and counting.......What's on your to-do list?

Christmas Welcome

Just wanted to share our BEA-U-TI-FUL entryway (if I do say so myself). Can't take any credit for it except for the wreath. Mark is the "outside lights man." :)

Anyway, bought the wreath on my way home from the doctor's last Friday. There were a bunch of them displayed on the front lawn of the florist and I could see from the road that they were pretty inexpensive. I decided to stop because I really wanted a "real greens" wreath this year.

I went inside and told the florist that I wanted one of the wreaths out front and he said I could just pay for it, then go out and pick it up. Great, I thought....

He went on to tell me how people must be running to the cemetaries today because he's had a "run" on cemetary displays, etc. I'm just agreeing with him that it must be because the weather is decent and it's supposed to be miserable over the weekend, never dawning on me WHY he might be talking about this. I did think it was odd, but whatever....I thought maybe he was just trying to be friendly.

SO, I pay for the wreath and go out front to pick the prettiest one. I try to take it off the green metal STAND and find that it's wired to it - it's a graveside wreath. LOVELY!! It suddenly all makes sense that the florist is not, in fact, a weirdo obsessed with cemetaries, but someone who was trying to empathize with me.

I was so embarassed that I just picked up the whole thing and stuck it in my trunk.

Luckily, I was able to unwire the wreath from the stand and it looks pretty nice on our front door.