Okay, I just feel you have to see my tree at night. I think it is so magical and wish you could see it in person. One strand of lights are set to blink, twinkle, glow etc. It is so fun to watch and see what comes next. So here are a few photos for you to see.

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Last night, burning the midnight oil once again, Connie came and decorated our piano. I was the clean up girl. I basically did whatever she told me to do in between my cleaning. I have no clue and feel like I am in the way when she is in her zone. So I just pick up wrappers and vacuum snow. Here is what the piano looked like this morning. I think it is beautiful and full of fun!

Her husband Rick is decorating our mantel using pieces of their village. So I will have more photos later of that. It will be so pretty and I promise you have never seen a village like they have. It is truly magical and unbelievable. Store displays aren’t as nice as their village. They have been collecting pieces for years and really do a wonderful job putting it all together. Now if I could just find someone to finish up my shopping and making my cards I would really have this Christmas stuff finished in no time. Sadly though, I think I have used up all of my elves and better kick it into high gear as I can feel the clock ticking down fast.

Happy Holidays.

So yesterday was not starting out well with the tree. Major stressing over the lights not working… just two strands worked out of six. I do realize there are far more important things to worry about but I really want this Christmas to be magical for Alan’s family. They will all be here to celebrate Christmas with us. So the photo below shows my tree before my friend Connie did her magic.

Connie is amazing, you should see her house. It looks like it is ready for a magazine spread. That girl can decorate! As we were shopping at Hobby Lobby, Target and Wal-Mart Connie was grabbing stuff and I’m basically just nodding my head yes, I love it and pushing the cart. Really that is the extent of my help… totally clueless. So as I was putting on the ornament hangers, opening boxes of decorations and handing them to her she is putting everything in, around and on top of the tree. It is just the most perfect tree ever. I’m so happy to look at it as it just makes me smile. She even ran some twinkling lights in the tree that are so fun to watch. It really adds to the funkiness of the tree. I guess you would like to see the finished results so here ya go….

I’m just beside myself. Now all that is left is to decorate the piano, and den. I will post photos when this is completed.

Have a great day.

I finished my first batch of cards last night. They are ready and waiting for the mailman. I can not stand to repeat myself over and over so I am going to come up with another design for my second batch of cards. I think these came out pretty cute.

Last night, while trying to put up the tree (which is still NOT put up… I do NOT like LIGHTS! Well, I love lights just not putting them on and getting all the strands to work at once! This is a vent that could go on for hours!!!) Anyway, we had some of the best hot chocolate ever!!! Really this stuff is incredible and I’m so glad I forked over the money to buy it while Christmas shopping with the girls Friday night. I think anything Williams-Sonoma makes is just fabulous! This hot chocolate is worth every penny.

So my list for today prioritized I might add…

• finish my second batch of cards
• get lights on the tree
• wrap gifts
• wash clothes
• clean the house

Have a great day.

My Christmas cards are in the making. Why I decided to start them yesterday I have no idea but I did and here is what they will look like once I get all the branches made and everything glued down. Well actually, the reason for me making them this year could be that I searched for cards all over Frisco Friday night and could not find one box I liked. Anyway, I just LOVE Daisy D’s Christmas line (last years and this years). I’m such a vintage kinda person during the holidays and these papers are just fabulous. As you can see I could not create my cards without using some silver pipe cleaners. Making Memories Tag Maker has the perfect rims to create embellishments for my cards. I love having four different sizes of the same tag. Makes all my cards the same yet different.
Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend with friends and family.

This layout by Judi Van Valkinburg reminded me of the very first Christmas ornament I recall creating. I’m so glad my Mom kept it. I was 6 years old and in the 1st Grade at Longfellow Elementary, in Mrs. Young’s class. I remember thinking how funny it was that her last name was Young and she was so old! Anyway, I remember sitting at my desk, cutting out my gingerbread man, hat and vest (making sure I got my lines as straight as I could), then gluing everything together and putting my glue and glitter in just the right spots. Now it is a little tattered and torn but that is to be expected … after all it is 35 years old. My ornament hung proudly on the family Christmas tree for many years.

I also love this letter to Santa that my Mom wrote (check out her hand writting) for me when I was really little… around 3 or 4 years old. She wrote just what I said. It reads, “Dear Santa, I have been a good girl and Richie has been a good boy. How are your reindeer? How is Mrs. Santa? Thank you for all our gifts. Love, Lisa I love you Santa.” I think my little scribbles are cute. I really need to figure out something to do with these two cherished items so that I can bring them out and enjoy them each holiday season.

Wishing you all a wonderful day and holiday season.