Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Christmas Break

I have slacked on my blogging due to Christmas break - and the busy-ness of it all. Sooooooooooo -  here is what I have been doing:

-visiting with Daniel
-shopping
-enjoying Mom being home
-Christmas movies
-playing with Rhett
-shopping
-wrapped presents
-Christmas movies
-Roy and Amber's wedding
-Titanic (Saturday night and Sunday morning)- sucks me in everytime
-church with the family
-Christmas movies
-lazy Sunday
-shopping with Mom
-working in classroom with Kaley
-lazy Tuesday night watching Christmas with the Kranks

So, other than working in my classroom today - all day - I have watched Christmas movies and shopped away my break - and it has been wonderful :) Tomorrow, Cole and I are going on a "date" to see a movie  - and lunch. Can't wait! then more shopping, wrapping, and of course - Christmas movies! 

These are some of my favorites:

      



  

I have a slight obsession with these movies... they make me happy :)

Monday, December 13, 2010

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

WARNING: This is a SUPER long post... sorry :) I combined two weekends!

Let me begin this by saying that I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Christmas - the season, the holiday, the reason for the season, everything. There is not a more fun time in the entire year :) I love to drive around and look at Christmas lights - I love to wrap presents and fluff Christmas trees... two of the things that I more often than not hear people saying they hate to do.


As of this moment, I have decorated 1. Daniel's Mom's house/large tree and two small trees, 2. Net-Net's house/10 foot tree/eight nativity scenes, 3. My house/tree 4. Daniel's house/large tree/four small trees, 5. my classroom tree... I did the math - I have personally decorated about 53 feet of tree... and yes, they all had to be fluffed :) and I have loved every minute of decorating. I have sprayed cinnamon and lit Christmasy candles any and everywhere I can think of... I love this time of year.


Even Christmas shopping - which stresses most people out - brings a joy to my heart... I love to see people buying gifts for people they love. This year, we are doing Christmas different - Morgan, Tyler, and I have decided that since (like it or not) we are adults... that we would not do presents for each other. Morgan suggested we call DHR to sponsor a child for Christmas... so that is what we did... I should also mention that earlier (in November) I was walking down the mall when the Christmas spirit overtook me and I got an Angel off of the Salvation Army Angel Tree - so I we already had one child... make it two - the more the merrier. Anyways, I did the shopping for these two precious girls and it made me have the best feeling. I am not patting myself on the back or trying to say what a good deed I did, I am simply saying that if people knew the joy it would bring to your heart, I think more people would give. So, that is my goal... I want to let people know how amazing it feels. Every toy or item of clothing I picked up brought a smile to my face. I already have big plans for next Christmas... I am so fortunate to have been raised in a family where I never wanted for anything... I hope that at least one day out of the year these children can have a reason to believe in something and not want for anything...


On a completely different (not near as depressing) note, Daniel let me have a Christmas party this year...when I say he is the best, he seriously is... I cannot imagine what I would do without him. I called him one day in November while on my way home and said, "I want to have a Christmas party at your house" - without hesitating, he said "okay, just let me know what I need to do." - and yes, it is like that with everything I ask/need. So, I went to planning (my favorite thing to do).


The first thing I did was decorate. I had already decided that we Daniel was going to have a tree in every room of his house... so I bought four three foot trees. I went to Daniel's a few weeks before Thanksgiving and decorated them. There was an Alabama/houndstooth themed tree in the office,
 a gold/brown rustic tree in the guest bedroom,
a red/gold tree in the master bedroom (which I will post a picture of later), and a flatware tree in the kitchen (complete with pot holder tree skirt)...

so I got all of those trees decorated and put up in the closet - no decorating before Thanksgiving :(
 My next project was to find a big Christmas tree and enough ornaments to fill it up... I wanted a tree that was special to us - not one that looked as if it popped out of Southern Living - that's just not my style. I already had some ornaments I got last year (when I began collecting) for 75% off... that was a good start but not enough to decorate a whole tree. There is no telling what the grand total of that tree would be if we added up all the ornaments. We bought from Wal-Mart (every time we went), DG, and everywhere else that sold ornaments... I was like a kid in a candy store. Whether or not Daniel really cared, he played along and pretended to love certain ornaments as much as I did. We ended up with enough ornaments to make the tree look full but we still had to use some filler ornaments - maybe next year : )

Once I had everything done, all I had to do was wait... for Thanksgiving... it finally came and the Saturday after, Daniel and I went back to his house bright and early to decorate... it was soooo much fun. He did his fair share - putting the tree together and helping me fluff... and I was like a little elf doing the rest. At the end of the day, I turned on all of the Christmas trees, the garland around the bar, and the fireplace DVD that his mom gave us... and relaxed. It was perfect. I added a few knick-knacks that I had bought here and there and some that I had stolen from his mom's Christmas stash... all in all, we had plenty of decor - maybe too much.



Then the party weekend arrived. I had been making list after list, I would add and subtract things, finally deciding on a chili supper with dips and cookies. PERFECT :) except I have no clue how to make chili... lucky for me, Momma had the Friday before off and she needed to get her hair done (in Tuscaloosa) - so she drove the extra miles to Vance and made the chili - on Saturday morning, all I had to do was put it in the crock pot on low and VOILA!
We grocery shopped and cleaned and got all ready for the party. It was so much fun. I made chicken dip, onion dip, salsa (poured straight from the jar into a festive bowl), cookies, and brownies. The chili was ready and everything went off without a hitch. We played dirty santa and I wound up with some cute earrings and a super cute pink scarf from Christy... Mama Hornsby : ) The party was perfect. Once again, Daniel is wonderful for letting me treat his house as my own... and he was super helpful!


I almost forgot... I have a confession. I am a stalker. A blog stalker. A CRAFT blog stalker. I cannot help myself. One post leads to another and two hours later, I have nothing to show but a list of things I want to try. Okay, so I found this one that was a homemade custom candle holder. It looked super easy except I needed Daniel to cut some posts for me. Long story short, he ended up cutting the boards, sanding them, drilling the holes for the tea-lights, painting them, crackle painting them, and painting them again... I, on the otherhand, used my Cricut machine) that he gave me to cut out some letters. Here is the finished product:



I think I have a handy-man... what about you?


Soooooo - you would think I would be party/planned out but no, one more for the year... the Country Club Christmas Party was last weekend and guess who is in charge? You guessed it :) I am super excited, we had a fabulous band (Mama's Mojo)... see pictures below...


My brothers - I only slightly embarrased them :)



My HOT date...

Morgan and Sara - aren't they cute?


The BEST family ever :)

 I should mention here that there are quite a few more pictures - not posed :) on the dance floor. We will keep them to ourselves and our memories! Also, if you are ever looking for a great band... Mama's Mojo is the bomb. They let me play the tambourine, Sara the drums, and I got to sing - "Ice, Ice, Baby" - I will leave you on that note :)

until next time...