Morning Stuff

Nothing like a hot cup of sea salted caramel cocoa in a Christmas mug on a rainy morning. Starting my day off with this and finishing up the packing of our house. Just two more days until the move. I am so tired...I realized I am sort of like a closet hoarder.
But you would be proud to know I got rid of a ton of junk ... Stuff....
And was able to bless people in my community with our old clothes and other things through
Freecycle and donating stuff to our favorite Thrift Shops.

Speaking of Thrift Shops...I found this little Santa...The cutest one I have seen in a long time...He was just 50. cents. You bet I scooped him up, lickety split. He is about to be packed away though.
 Poor dear.

I even put out a little sparkly Christmas tree just for a day with presents in my entryway. So there you go...Our last Christmas in this home...in a day....And no, we did not open the gifts early...Even though this girl wants to see it all like, right now. Ha...Sorry sweet Freckles
 your going to have to wait 12 more days.

Twelve more days?
I can't believe it. Before we know it,
it's going to be New Years...
2013...
Akkk. Time is sure flying.
See you here in a couple days.
have a fantastic remainder of this week.

Merry Christ~mas Table Setting 2011...

 

Welcome to our home. Today I put together our little Christmas table setting for Christmas dinner. Every year I make potato pancakes, ham with apple sauce and sour cream topping. It has been a tradition in our home for the last 18 years. My Gramma and mother have made it ever since I was a little girl.

  

I used my little white kitchen Christmas tree for the center, decorated with cute food/kitchen type ornaments. I love the colors from red to green to white to robin eggs blue, a touch of yellow and whimsy of course.

  

   

Underneath the Christmas tree you will see there are a few boxes of candies....

I used Christmas recipe cards as place cards with our names on them.

 

There is a special place at the table for Jesus...

And a birthday candle which we will light and sing Happy Birthday, Christmas day.

   

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your time here.

Please do come back and visit. Have a wonderful time preparing for your Christmas festivities.

***

Linking up With:

It's A Very Cherry World

A Stroll Through Life

Savvy Southern Style

Ivy & Elephants

Let The Christmas Week Begin...

 

We are making merry this week....I decorated another tree in my house.

 I got a little white tree for 8 bucks and set it up in the kitchen....

So glad I did...It looks so cheery.

 

Right now....We are lovin'

 She & Him's Christmas album....

We have been playing it over and over while baking and making merry memories.

 

We made Christmas Root beer Floats in some fun tall Christmasy Glasses from The Dollar Tree.

Whip cream, sprinkles and yes, a cherry on top.

 

A wonderful Santa gift came in the mail all the way from

New York City, for little ole' me.

  

This little guy was sent to me by

 My sweet bloggy buddy Viv.....

Oh man...this little reindeer is the sweetest thing I have seen in a while.

I am so excited she sent me one. He is so stinkin' cute and so tiny, he fits in the palm of my hand.

 He will be cherished for many Christmas' to come.

  

Okay, so we have been having some fun family game nights too....

We played Cranium the other night. It was loads of fun and laughs together. The boy's lost won....

There will be a re~match though...so, they better watch out.

  

Okay, so I couldn't resit.....

I had to show you this little guy one more time. Just adorable....Absolutely

 A~D~O ~R~ A~ B~ L~ E...

I love him.

Hope you have a fun filled week with your family.

We are counting down.

Christmas In Coronado....

 

We spent a wonderful evening with our friends this weekend. They graciously invited us to a nice festive dinner and walk around te Hotel Del Coronado.... Beware though...I did not bring my camera so the pictures you are about to see are dark and grainy from i-phones...

I am still happy we were able to snap some memories with our friends. The Hotel Del was built in 1888...With all it's splendor and beautiful lights....What a sight to see and walk through. The lobby was decked out in Christmas lights and a huge Christmas tree right in the middle of it all. We window shopped the shops and sat outside drinking coffees and cocoas. The best part though was the company. Our friends...who have been there for us these past several years. It has become a tradition spending some sort of holiday cheer with them. Memories we will forever cherish.

 

 


 

Do you have any special traditions you share with friends during the holiday season?

have a wonderful week....It's raining and chilly here....

Merry Merry MOUSE~mas....

I found a few more Christmas decorations...Which happened to be mice...Through the past couple years I have picked up Christmas mice and realized I now have a little collection of mice now...It was an accidental collection of mice....I just giggled. I don't purposefully go out searching for mice for any reason...It just happened. So now I thought I would share with you my merry mice.
       
My favorite though has to be the Annalee Christmas Mouse....It is a stocking with the little head and tail popping out....It is the cutest mouse I have ever seen. Do you have an accidental Christmas collection...Or do you purposefully collect something special for your Christmas home?
 Inquiring minds ( like mine) would love to know. Please keep my Gramma in prayer...She was put into the hospital a couple days ago with pneumonia...something we fear with her recent heart attack and emphysema..... Thank you dear friends, your prayers really do mean a lot....
Hope you all are having a wonderful start to a wonderful weekend.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We decked the halls!
 I think we're ready except
I am not completely finished with the gift making....
I hope I can finish in time. We have colds AGAIN!!
 It is a bit hard to do things when you feel terrible.
 I am thanking God even with what we have that
we will be able to pull off a simple Christmas for the kids.

It's looking quite festive around here..

 This is our back family room where we hang out the most.

My friends Son came over the other day and said....

"Well your no Bah Hum Bug"...

 I took it as a nice compliment coming from a 12 year old.

 

Oh before I close check out this oldie...
I found this felted NOEL wall hanging while thrifting and only paid 25. cents!
 I had to glue back some of the rick rack, but other than that it is adorable....
That is my great find of the week....
Hope your all having fun decking your halls!!!

Christmas Glimpses...

This week I spent Christmas decorating our house. I have sorted and even eliminated some of my decor that we have carried around for the last 17 years. it actually felt pretty good to get rid of stuff that didn't hold any fantastical memories. I love Christmas time. I feel like a little kid going through all my Christmas goodies. It's like Christmas in itself! My son put up the tree lights and even put the lights up outside.... As well as tugging in and out the boxes from the garage. he has been a great huge help since Mr. Darling is drowning in his papers and up coming finals for the semester. We had spent the weekend with my SIL last week and my son helped her set up all her entertainment center, stereo, dvd player etc. He was truly her hero for the weekend!

After he put up the lights, Freckles and I got to work on putting the decorations up. We mainly stuck to putting up the older vintage ornaments, homemade ones my kids made, wooden colorful ones, German & American glass ornaments and other old ornaments I saved from thrift shops... I actually have a whole bin of ornaments that I am not using this year... I just didn't realize how much we had collected over the years. It is enough to fill two trees. I am really in the mood for Christmas this year. It is feeling quite cozy as we have been able to finally light fires at night and wear layers! Hallelujah!!! I got the fabric for our Christmas Jammie's and preparing to make some of my gifts for my kids and some family members this year. We are also going to Gramma's house next week to bake Christmas goodies!

My Sil , the kids and I were also able to visit with our Nanno ( Mr. Darlings Pop)... last week. The kids haven't seen him for a year and a half! It was a good visit...I even snapped a shot of the Grand kids with Nanno & Grandma Alice since we won't be spending the Holidays together.
 Thank God for pictures and memories huh?

This month will be filled with Christmas posts,
 my Christmas decorations, traditions, crafts and such...
 I hope you are having fun decorating your homes!
 keep the pictures coming out there.
 I love to see all the wonderful Christmas cheer in Blogland!
 Have a happy day!