The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 31

Well, I don't like to admit it but it's the truth... I did not do a good job on this blog in December. Good thing tomorrow is the start of a new year and a chance to begin anew!

I've so enjoyed reading all of your blogs this year. I've been inspired by them in so many ways.

Thanks to those of you who exchanged Christmas cards with me. I value your friendship!

And now... on to 2020!

Blog Change

Due to the idiot hacker who's been leaving tons of comments on my blog today I am making a change. I will be moderating comments, at least for a while. Why are there people like that? I have no idea...

Thanks for understanding. I will be reading and publishing your comments... just not the ones from this jerk!

Christmas Countdown: 52 Weeks

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 25

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 23

A peek into our Family Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 20

Remember back in July when I told you how I was going to wrap my family's gifts this year? In a family of Snowmen?

Well, I did it!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 19

There's no point in me telling you how un-stress-free my Christmas is this year, you can tell by the fact that I'm woefully behind on my blog posts. Even though they've been planned/written since early October. Going out of town for Thanksgiving has REALLY caused me stress.

Last night we took a break from the madness to go to Snow's first Christmas Program. She was adorable! She waved at us when she saw us and then proceeded to sing with confidence. I foresee a future in choir for her!

So glad she's in the front row so I can see her!

Look who was at the concert!

Santa attended last year's concert for Storm.

Guess he needs a break once in a while too.

Adam, Jessica, Storm, Snow

We love these cuties!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 16

If you've read my blog for a while you know that I love to make Christmas stockings for my family.

This stems from when I was a little girl and saw the movie "Yours, Mine and Ours". The original one with Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. My favorite scene in the movie is Christmas morning when the 20 stockings for the family are hung above the fireplace. That became my dream.

Fast forward to 2019. Our little family has grown to 16. Although I don't have a fireplace in this house, I find a way to hang all 16 stockings for Christmas. It's hands down one of my favorite aspects to Christmas. It is a dream come true for me.

I always stitch two stockings for each family member. One for my house, one for their house. Here are the stockings I've completed this year:

I admit, I'm stocking-ed out for this year! I have three stockings to make next year and then I'm up-to-date unless someone blesses us with a new baby.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 14

I am very fortunate that my home is flexible. By that I mean that as our family grows and changes I am able to repurpose the rooms in our home to meet our needs.

To that end, I've typically had a tree in the Guest Room. The room was decorated in a Beach theme, so at Christmas I always had a Snowman tree. Get it? Opposite themes!

This year the Guest Room is in a different room in our house and I don't have room for a Christmas tree. So I put the snowman tree in the front room of our home which has been, at times, the Library, the Playroom, the Craft room, and is now the combination Train room/Library.

See what I mean? My home is very flexible!

The Guest Snowman Tree

The only new Snowman ornament this year.

I need to find a doily to stick under this nativity to give it some dimension.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 12

It has become a tradition for the grandkids to decorate the office tree. This year a new team of grands gathered for the task. Storm (5) and Snow (3) were very excited to be chosen for this important job. They were particularly thrilled that they got to "climb the ladder" (my two-step step stool)!

They did a great job and I can see that this will be their responsibility for a few years until Blizzard and Winter are old enough to take over.

A new set of ornaments this year

Another new ornament

They arranged the Nativity in a tight group. I said wow, everyone is crowding in to see Baby Jesus. I started to spread it out, but Dan said just leave it, it's cute!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 11

Two Weeks From Today!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 10

I enjoy decorating the house with greenery and wreaths. I do not, however, like storing greenery and wreaths. They take up a lot of room.

I had purchased several pre-lit garlands for the past few years and last year they started giving out. For some reason it wasn't just that one bulb went out and I had to replace it, instead the entire line shorted out and was not repairable.

So, I've given up on garlands. But I still enjoy wreaths. Here are the wreaths that adorn my home this holiday season:

This is a wreath I made this year. It's much more sparkly in person than in the photo.

I made this wreath a few years ago. 

It fell and broke a while back and I finally got around to repairing it.

This wreath is made of Christmas socks.

My granddaughter said to me, "Oh, I get it! It's decorated with candy cane ornaments and lights because it's a candy cane".

Each year I buy two "real" wreaths. One for inside the house and one for the front door. I purchase them for the Christmas-y smell so I don't decorate them.

This wreath is actually up year round in Dan's office.

The front door.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 9

We've always decorated the exterior of our home with lots of lights and displays. My husband loves doing it and I love looking at it. We have made a few changes this year, though. We're no longer stringing lights on the highest parts of our roof line. Dan does not want to climb the ladder and I'm, frankly, relieved that he doesn't. He's always had a fear of heights and I would worry about him. But that doesn't mean we can't decorate the lower part of the house and yard with enthusiasm! haha

The front east side of our yard. We also have some projected images on the house but it's too light to see them in this picture.

We've been shopping for a nativity for a few years, this one is simple and cute.

We both like the look of this "willow" tree!

The front west side of the house.

The snowman lamp post and nativity lights are new this year.

A close up: it's snowing in there.

This has a sparkly effect to it.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 5

When my first grandchild was born I treated myself to a "Grammy" Tree. It's purple, of course, and I decorate it with ornaments depicting each grandchild's birth year, ornaments that represent my hobbies, and ornaments about Grammy-hood in general. The tree is starting to look pretty worn and the lights have lost their purple color. I really need to replace it, but I haven't found another purple tree that I like.

Here's a peek at this year's Grammy Tree:

I usually set the tree up in my craft room, but now my craft "room" is sharing space in Dan's office. I didn't want to have my tree competing with the office tree so I set it up in a corner of our family room.

This is one of the new ornaments I purchased this year.

Another new find for this year.

My mom gave me this thimble nativity from Hallmark over 40 years ago.

This ornament represents my newest granddaughter who was born in January.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 4

Three Weeks to go!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ 3

One of our family traditions is to give each family member a Hallmark Ornament each year. As the new year starts I eagerly await the arrival of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Dream Book. I pour through it marking the ornaments I think I'd like to buy. Then I let each person go through it and initial the ornaments they'd like to receive. They can initial as many as they want, but they only receive one ornament. I have to remind the grands of this multiple times!

Once everyone has chosen, I fill out my pre-order form and turn it in to my local Hallmark store. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of some of my order the 2nd weekend in July! This year I was able to pick up all of my ornaments but one in July and October. One will not be coming until December.

Here's a look at this year's order. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the looks on their faces when they see which ornament they're getting...