Bloggy Christmas Tour of Homes

If you are a regular reader you may have already seen a few of these pics. If you are new, Welome! Make yourself at home!

First, let me say that I was so excited when I heard about BooMama's 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes. For nosy people like me it's so great to peek into other's homes without having to cruise by your house trying to casually look into your open, well-lit windows. Second, let me say that I really have NO BUSINESS spending time taking pics and blogging when I am drowning in clutter, dirt, grime, unwrapped (and unbought) Christmas gifts, etc. It's confession time...I just cleaned the parts of my house I wanted to take pictures of. I KNOW, shameful! Don't judge me.

This year I have really scaled back my decor in the name of sanity. Thanksgiving came so late this year there just hasn't been enough time to drag it all out and I must admit I lack the willpower to put it out knowing that I'll just have take it all down again. I'm a SAHM but I recently started a little business here at home and my first show was Dec. 6th. Yep, that was a shameless commercial plug.

So here's my tree:



and my
Nester- inspired garland:


These guys make me smile:





And these little guys:


I really like my entryway:



This is the beautiful nativity that my mother-in-law gave me:


These are a few of my favorite things...and now you're gonna have that tune stuck in your head too.

Christmas Pics Gone Bad

Today was the day I forced myself (and my family) to attempt to take a picture for our Christmas cards. Emphasis on the word "attempt." I finally gave up after 71 pics. You'd think there would be at least one good one out of 71, right?

Not so much.

We started out with this:

which wasn't too bad except for the creepy eyes and Caitlin's flyaway elbow.

But quickly degenerated into this:

Don't worry. No animals were harmed in the making of this picture. Maddie is actually just yawning. Apparently my feverish attempt to snap the perfect pic was boring.

So we gave up and fired Maddie and Dazey. They were banished outside where they promptly killed a squirrel and played tag with it. Nice.

Tess was being fairly cooperative so we proceeded to try some pics with just her.



Not sure what's going on with the eyes.

By this point even Tess is depressed.



Now we decided the lighting was bad so we moved outside.


Again with the eyes. And Tess is more interested in watching the other two dogs play tag.

So I gave up. This is the one we decided to put on the cards:



So now when you receive our card and open it with eager anticipation you will appreciate what it took to get it. Instead of thinking to yourself with pity, "Is THIS the best she could do?" you will think with admiration, "Wow. This IS the best she could do!"

O Chrismon Tree

Tonight we made Chrismon ornaments for our church Chrismon tree. I had planned to look up the story of the origin of the Chrismon and what the different symbols mean so I could patiently share it with the girls while their angelic voices sang along with Mercy Me's Christmas CD and we all sipped hot chocolate and created beautiful ornaments together. Sigh.

But as usual I waited until the last minute, made a mad dash to Wal-mart for supplies and we made ornaments while listening to the kids call each other "dumb head." And I had to tell them I have no idea what a fleur-de-lis has to do with Jesus.

Here are the results...we're kinda proud of these three...

And then there's this poor unfortunate fellow...


He's supposed to be a lamb but looks more like a rabbit. Was there a bunny in the Christmas story? There should have been.

Here's the aftermath:



The really sad part is that my kitchen didn't look much better than this before we started. And it's all still there.

Christmas Party

Tonight was our church small group's Christmas party. We decided to go out to eat at Ta Molly's. We're easy to please...we just enjoy being together without the kiddos. We also played Dirty Santa and I got this...



Isn't it beautiful?! You too can own one of these handpainted ornaments by Vanessa by clicking here.


Here's a pic of the whole group that I swiped from Amber's facebook:



I also took a 3 1/2 hour nap today. Yes, I had a lot of things I needed to do and no, I don't feel guilty at all.

Caitlin declared today the best day ever because they had baked potatoes at her small group (her FAV food) and they made gingerbread houses and took them to some older ladies and caroled for them too. I'm so glad that my kids like doing things for others. Hayley's youth directors will be leaving soon after they graduate this month. They are moving to CO to go to seminary. We will miss them so much. They have been such a blessing to us and to Hayley this past year.

Fun Day

Well, today was the day. My first show. My friend Amber and I shared a booth at the Red Cross' Ribbons and Bows Extravaganza. She was selling her beautiful, unique, handmade pendants and I was selling my pet accessories. We had such fun! We had plenty of time to visit with each other and with our new friend from the booth next door who sells Mary Kay. It's always good to know a Mary Kay lady. And the girl from the Stone Turtle. She was a lot of fun too.

We also enjoyed having our booth next to our good friend Stephanie who sells her precious kid's stuff and her friend Vanessa who sells really cute pendants among other things.

I am in love with her Christmas pendants. Must. have. one.

There was an interesting assortment of vendors. Towels to hang on your oven door that were shaped like dresses...magnetic jewelry...candles with fragrance names like "Butt Naked" and "Sex on the Beach." I'm not kidding.

Oh and the handmade leather cowboy belts with your name stamped on them...lamps with a hunting/fishing/cowboy/Indian themes...

and my personal favorite (not!)...the booth where they make music cds and insert your child's name in the songs. I will be humming Veggietales and Mickey Mouse in my sleep tonight after listening to it all day long. Please make it stop.