This is what happened in our house Saturday morning...
Randey, Jacob and Kaleb took charge of the Christmas decorating! As you all know, I pretty much wimped out this year. I just couldn't make myself unpack all the Christmas stuff. Figured it was too stressful and didn't want to take that stress out on the family. But, wonder of wonders, it seems Randey and the boys felt that seeing the Christmas glitter spread all over the house was worth them putting out an effort. A really
big effort, as it turns out! They were all worn out by Saturday evening, but they'd gotten most of the stuff unpacked and put up. And here I thought they didn't even
notice when the house was decked out every year. I guess they
do notice and
even better, they love it, too. Here's a few pictures of the "finished" product.
The tree. This is the prettiest tree we've ever had. I loved watching them decorate it and we all had some great laughs while they did it. Kaleb hasn't mastered the art of "spreading" similar looking ornaments all over the tree...he tended to want to cluster them together. Listening to Jake explaining to him how he's supposed to spread them out was priceless. Listening to Kaleb explain how he was creating a "Grinch Village" when he hung 3 Grinch-themed ornaments next to each other was even
more priceless.
I guess it's kind of hard to see, but that's our "Christmas Town" there on top of the bookshelves. I wish I had a better place to put it, but I don't. Maybe one day, when we move into our 6000 square foot condo and have space for that grand piano I'll never learn to play, I'll set it up on top of that. (That strange noise is me laughing myself silly at that thought. lol)
Here's my Grinch. He has a microphone attachment so you can sing along with him. But Maddy's the only one who ever really liked doing that so the microphone didn't get unpacked this year. Okay, so
actually, Randey likes singing along with him, too, but nobody wants to hear another rousing "Randey Rendition" of
You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch so we kind of
forgot to keep the mike out. (Love you, Honey!)
These are two of my favorite Santas. Both of them were gifts from Randey. The Irish Santa is from McGuire's Irish Pub in Destin. Randey bought it for me in October 2001, right before he deployed to the Middle East. The other one he bought on a trip to Utah. And the lamp was a gift from my sister, Sherri.
This is the dining room. I replaced the panels in that wallhanging with Christmas fabric. I'm loving the look of it, although I'm not really sure why.....
This is a picture of the dining room taken while standing in the kitchen. See that large "candy" garland hanging over the bar? The kids love that thing. I made it about 12 years ago out of Mylar paper and empty 2 ltr coke bottles. The poor thing is starting to look pretty ragged. Every year I say I'm going to replace it, but never seem to get around to it. Maybe this year. Ah who am I kidding? The thing's already hung up...guess I'd better aim for
next year to replace it.
Guess I'm really diggin' the dining room because here's yet another picture of it. See the Santa there on the left? Blu-boy came running into the house and skidded to a stop when he spotted it. I guess he decided it wasn't a threat because he didn't eat it.
See this log? This is one of my absolute favorite Christmas things ever! Sherri bought it for me....I think back in 1999. It's called Yule Burner (get it? It's a take off of Yul Brynner.) Anyway, Yule is motion activated and if you walk by him, he says things like "I sleep like a log at Christmastime" and "Don't stop me now, I'm smoking" and "Hey friend, got a light?". I laugh every single time I hear him. I really don't know why, though. You'd think I'd be used to him by now, huh? But...come on, if you heard him, you'd laugh, too. He talks like he's a 1960's lounge singer in Vegas. Funny, funny stuff. Trust me.
A couple of the "Believe" signs by the front door. There's a big "BELIEVE" set up in the window above the front door (not pictured in this shot). I had it facing the room where you could read it from inside, but then I noticed that, with the lights on inside, the letters can be read from the outside so I turned it around. Now at night, when you look at our home, you see "BELIEVE" glowing in that window. Cool, huh? I'll take a picture next week when Randey's finished decorating the outside of the house. By the way, is it just me or does
everyone think of
Annie and
Izzy when they see the word "believe" these days?
And last, but most certainly not least, check out this wonderful card we got from
Jayme . She's so talented, isn't she? And since I'm still attempting to do homemade Christmas cards this year, I can't even begin to tell you how much I admire her abilities. She did Halloween cards
and Thanksgiving cards. Makes me feel like a total slacker. lol But I'm glad we're on her card list because her cards are so very beautiful. Thank you, Jayme! We
all love it!!
Okay so that's about it for today's post. We're heading up to OKC to spend Thanksgiving with my Dad and my stepmother, Wendy. Can't wait to drag her and Leah, my stepsister, out for a little Black Friday shopping! They don't really seem as excited about it as I am. (I don't get it. lol)
Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!
The next picture tells, on the left side, of 12 things my father taught me. The right side tells of twelve things my father never taught me. I used the same photo, but used a program that makes it look like a water-color painting. Then for the picture on the right, I reversed the image and changed it to black and white.
These next pages show my dad's parents (on the left) and on the right is a picture of Dad with his brothers, individual pictures of his sisters and a single picture of me.
This next one shows, on the left, an action shot of Dad sliding into 3rd base. He used to play on a softball league out at Tinker Air Force Base. Those games were a lot of fun to watch. The right side shows Dad demonstrating his perfect bowling form! My parents were always in a bowling league when we were growing up. In fact, that bowling alley is where I got my first real job. First I was a waitress in the snack bar, but kept forgetting to give people silverware. Then they switched me to short order cook. I still can't believe they didn't just fire me and be done with it. lol I think it's because the owners liked my parents so much, they didn't have the heart to tell them their daughter was a dork!
The next page I did (below on the left) tells my dad about some of the things I feel certain I inherited from him. (most of which I'm sure he'll agree with!) The page on the right is a picture of Dad and his lovely wife, Wendy.
These next pages show Dad's kids on the left and Wendy's kids on the right. His and Hers.
And then "theirs" (below) - the left page is all the grandchildren that Dad and Wendy have, combined. I whited out the names because I don't know if their parents would want their names all over my blog. The page on the right is a note to Dad from me. I blocked out some of it because that part is particularly personal.
And here's the back cover, featuring my brand-spanking new stamp that I so love. I know you guys are wondering why I've started showing so much scrapbooking stuff lately, aren't you? Well, aren't you? You're interested enough to wonder, right? (Say yes. You know I need the validation. lol) Anyway, the answer is simple. It's the easiest way I know to show this stuff to my daughter-in-law, Jodie. Loading these pictures onto e-mail takes forever and a day. Unfortunately, it means I'm now boring you guys to tears, I'm sure, but bear with me. I at least tried to make the background of the pictures bright and happy so they'd look halfway interesting. :)
Moving on...has anybody else seen these "Poof" fairies? I love 'em. I found them at our local Hallmark store and they just crack me up. Wendy's birthday is a few days after Dad's so I got her a "Poof" fairy to celebrate. It says "Poof! You're 29!". LOL They have ones that say "Poof! The dishes are done!" and "Poof! The house is clean!" (I could really use one of those...). Here's what they look like, although the different phrases come in different colors. They're so ugly, they're cute.
This next picture is NOT FOR MADDY'S EYES, JODIE! Do NOT let Maddy see this! This is the new Build-a-Bear they came out with today. It's a Topaz bear. I had to get it for the Moose because Topaz is her birthstone (she's a November baby). This is the cutest little thing! I named her Daisy May. Shut up, you guys! I happen to like that name! Although I kind of wish now that I had named her Buttercup, 'cause that's what I think of when I look at her. Not that I've been playing with her or anything. ha! The trick will be for us to hold off giving this to Maddy before her birthday. It's hard to hang onto something that long. It's the reason I can't shop for Christmas gifts throughout the year...I always end up giving the gifts waaaaay before Christmas and then I have to buy more. 
Okay - that's enough goofiness for now. It's almost midnight (Yikes!). Time for all little bear buying, fairy poofing, scrapbook making chicks to be in bed. Goodnight, ya'll!
