Christmas, Part One

I love some Christmas decorations.  Love them.  We had a considerable amount of decorations, but have doubled the size of our house since last Christmas.  Hello, obviously that means we needed to get some more decorations. 

The boys are big fans of these light up villages.  I think they're cute, but I'm not in love with them.  And Jack would be like Godzilla near this thing.  We got this one at Goodwill for $4.  It's on the dresser in our guest room, where pretty much nobody can see it but nobody can break it either.  It will have a better place when Jack won't break it.  In about 10 years when they don't like these things anymore.

I have a confession to make.  I am slightly obsessed with Christmas trees.  Including the small potted trees and mantle trees, I have thirteen trees up right now.  And I would leave them up all year if that wasn't weird.

This little tree is one of my favorites.  It's in the boys' room.  It's a Goodwill tree.  I seriously find the best stuff there.  It's like a hunt for me.  I think this one was $2.00.  It looked terrible when we bought it, but I fluffed it, put some lights on, and put it in this galvanized tub that I spray painted black about 5 years ago.  It's now on a little bench with some cute fabric over the bench, and it looks great in their room.

 This little number is in the playroom.  And has been redecorated no less than 1,238,309,235 times.  It's got quite an assortment of ornaments and about three different types of garland.  And I love it.  Jack loves to move the ornaments around, talk about where we got them, who made them, etc.  I will be sad when we take it down.

 I also have a bunch of poinsettias this year.  This is in our entry.  I have four more in our dining room, but it's also full of sewing and wrapping right now and would make a scary picture!

We did real garland on our staircase this year, and outside.  I am so happy with the way it looks.  I'm not happy to sweep up the needles so much, but I'm thrilled with how it looks.  It is exactly the look I wanted.

This is our entry tree.  It's the only tree that I did with a "theme".  It's only got silver and red ornaments on it.  It's a perfect size for this space and it makes me happy that it's the first thing you see when you walk in the front door.  It's tucked under the stairs, and it looks really cute.  And was a steal at $10 from GW.

 This is our main tree.  It's real, and it's probably close to 10 feet tall.  We cut our tree down last year.  This year we visited the Christmas tree farm at Home Depot.  The tree is enormous.  And decorated primarily only on the top three quarters of the tree.  Jack is all about some ornaments this year.  Hopefully this is the last year for that.

This is one of my favorite ornaments.  I got it four years ago at the Christmas Village.   

We got this ornament six years ago(?!) from our sweet friend Julie, and it's one of my favorites.  And always hung up high!

David and Henry painted these ornaments David's first year of speech. . . I think that would have been five years ago?  They're some of my most treasured - I remember so clearly painting these with them and how much fun they had.

David made this one in preschool with Ms. Frankie, and I think he was three in this picture.  It's the funniest picture of him.  He looks so happy, and every time I look at it I think of Ms. Frankie, who we love so much.

This is a new Christmas decoration for us this year.  And may end up being a year round decoration.  It's a framed Christmas card that my grandfather, my uncle Craig, and my dad apparently gave to my grandmother in 1962 when they bought her a new car for Christmas.  It makes me smile each time I pass it.

This is our note from Santa from last year.  It's framed in our breakfast room during Christmas.  The kids are constantly reading it and asking about it.  We'll definitely do this next year as well.

This is the advent calendar we've been using this year.  When I was little my mother had an advent calendar that had boxes you opened each day, and each box had a candy or a little present.  I've really wanted to find something similar that doesn't cost $100.  I found one at Joann's that is a house, and has 24 doors.  It was $60, but was also 60% off.  And was the last one, with one doorknob missing and one button on the roof missing.  The manager took another 30% off, and the "issues" were extremely easy fixes.  I'm so excited to use it next year - I know the boys will love it.  They've really enjoyed this Santa calendar this year, and have been great about taking turns.  Surprisingly.

Stay tuned for Christmas, Part Two!

BONUS!

So Chris went to pick up our new (junky table)/island.  Purchased from Craigslist, of course.  When he got to the woman's house, she asked him if he wanted a mirror too.  He said it was nice, but that he only brought enough cash for the table. She said, "Oh honey, I just want you to take it.  I'm sick of worrying that it's going to fall over and I have nowhere to put it."  Um, OK.

I have somewhere to put it!

That would be the mantle in our bedroom.  The mirror is huge! 

I'm so excited.  So we got our island and mirror for $40.  Score!

I seriously get a rush when we get a crazy good deal like this. 

Now I just need to get that mantle some more decorations. . .

Crafty, Crafty

We had ourselves a crafty weekend. 

First, I made a coffee filter tree.

I would seriously cover my children in coffee filters if that wasn't weird.

Everything I glue them to comes out cute.

I first saw this on The Nester's blog.

Why does her's look bigger? 

Bigger tree thingy to start with?

I'm making the second one tonight for the other side of the table.

And putting them on cake stands.

Today we were busy, busy.

Jack painted a picture.

Then painted himself.

Then had his first bath of the day.

First of three.

What?



I made these curtains for the boys' room.

They started out just polka dot.

Then I remembered I still can't do math.

And didn't buy enough fabric.

What a moron.

No worries.

I sewed the striped on top, then put a cute ribbon in the middle.

Problem solved.

And cuter than the original.

I had extra fabric left from my dining room curtains.

And extra fabric left from the boys' curtains.

And I love monograms. . .

I used the canvas as a case, and appliqued their initials onto the front.

I will stuff them and use them as pillows for their beds.

You know, when they're made.

 (On Saturday and Sunday, only.)

The pillows will be Christmas gifts.

Because every little boy hopes for a personalized pillow under the tree.

Island Dreaming

I've been dreaming of an island.

No, not this island.

A kitchen island.

I love these from Ballard Designs. 

Unfortunately, I don't have a grand to spend on an island.

Not even close.

Hello, it's Christmas people.

And I just bought a house.

And Daddy doesn't have a job.

And spending $1,000 on an island is stoopid.

Stop laughing.

This is what we bought.

It was $40.00 on Craigslist.

I really don't need extra storage, so a table is perfect.

I have something like 45 cabinets and drawers.

Some are empty.

And I needed something large.

We're going to raise the legs.

And strip and stain the top.

And paint the rest of it. 

Probably green.

Like the one below.

I was inspired by Erin's island from It's a Wannabe Decorator's Life.

Her house is seriously cute.

Stay tuned to see my island go from not so cute to adorable!



Breakfast With Santa

We had breakfast with Santa this morning at David and Henry's school.

It was very cute, with crafts, coloring placemats, and (duh) breakfast.

Pancakes and sausage were on the menu, in case you were wondering.

Jack?  Not just a little interested in Santa.

O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D.

He was in love with Santa.

He followed Santa around for an hour.

He tried to get into every other child's Santa pictures.

He pretty much was all up in Santa's business.

He took a very short break to make an ornament.

In the shape of Santa.

He wanted to know where Santa was. 

I told him maybe Santa was going potty.

He saw Santa sitting down in the library.

And stuck his head in the door and screamed, "SANTA!  What you doing?  You going poop?"

Santa almost Ho, Ho, Ho-ed himself to death, he was laughing so hard.

Jack loved having his picture taken with Santa.

Have you ever seen a child say cheese so big?

Jack pretty much wants Santa to be his BFF.

He asked Santa where his sleigh was.

Santa told him he drove his car, because the sleigh is only for Christmas Eve.

Jack talked about Santa's car all. day. long.

David and Henry? 

Wanted absolutely nothing to do with Santa.

Henry socialized and talked to everyone there.

David read a book about bugs in the library.

And hid under the table when Santa was within a 6 foot radius.

And then Henry got mad when I told him we were going to Goodwill.

Hello. 

It was half price day.

Tree Lighting

We have seriously moved to Mayberry.  Our town had a tree lighting last night with Christmas carol singing by candlelight. 

And a little party after.  That was pot luck.  For the whole town.  I'm. Not. Kidding.  Seriously - everyone in town (population 550) who went to the tree lighting was in the town hall (1 room) buffet style getting snacks and cookies. 

The subdivision we've moved here from had more people than this whole town.  I walked in and a woman I've never in my life seen before said to me, "Oh!  You must be the woman who bought the house on College Street.  It's so nice to meet you.  Welcome to town!"  Are you kidding me?  I guess I was the only person there she didn't know, so process of elimination led her to that?!  And everyone is so nice.  I told Chris I felt like we were in a horror movie - you know - when everyone is so nice in the start of the movie and then go all Freddie Kruger on you?  It was very quaint, and a little strange. 

Wordless Wednesday