Back In The Saddle

Hello to all my dear friends, I have missed y'all so much! I can't tell you how much your emails of concern have meant to me. I am so happy to report that I am doing much better and am able to blog again! There is nothing like sitting on the sidelines to make a girl realize how blessed she really is. Mr. P and Miss Bonnie took excellent care of me, although I'm sure I tried their patience many a time! lol I am so ready to begin enjoying this blessed Christmas season that is upon us. I've got Christmas carols playing right now, the tree is lit, candles are glowing, and at the moment I'm the only one at home. Why not, though? I am going to enjoy every single second this magical time of year has to offer! What about you?

When we read the story of Jesus' birth, how can we not be filled with joy?!!

Signs Of Christmas Around Our Home

I wanted a very simple wreath this year ~ made a big bow and added a few pine cones and holly.

Candles burning everywhere!

One of my favorite tatted snowflake ornaments from childhood.

The reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Dining room table ready for family and friends.

Little tree that sits atop the sideboard in dining room.

Here's the apothecary jar I was so happy to get in the Fall. It now holds colored balls.

The scent of Yankee Candle's "Mistletoe" fills the den.

I always keep this cup out to remind me to slow down and take the time to appreciate all the beauty and wonder this most blessed season has to offer.

Six Done . . . . .

Twelve more to go!

Homemade Personalized Christmas Ornaments

Every year Miss Bonnie and I set aside an afternoon and make some homemade Christmas ornaments. A few weeks ago I went to our local craft show and I saw the perfect idea for this year's ornament. All you need is:



A container of the clear "make your own ornaments" They have either six small or 4 large. These are on sale for $2. 49 right now at Michales. I bought two boxes of six because I plan on giving them to each of my neighbors along with some yummy fudge.



Christmas ribbon of your choice (on sale at Michaels now for 99 cents).



Shredded gift basket paper in either plain or metallic. As I was doing them I found out that I could have gotten away with buying the smaller bags for this project. These were the most expensive item ~ $2.99 each. Fortunately, I had my 40% off coupon!



Letter stickers (your choice of color to coordinate with paper and ribbon). I already had these in my craft stash!



Take off the top of the ornament.



Start stuffing in paper. You will need a pen or pencil to help push the paper through the hole.



Really pack it in nice and full.



Tie ribbon at the top.


Place monogram or person's name on front, tie a piece of ribbon through the hook, and hang on the tree or give as a gift Easy, peasy!!

Gumdrop Wreath

Miss Bonnie made this over the weekend. It took less than an hour and she really enjoyed making it. I would suggest putting newspaper down first because if you don't you will have a lot of sugar to clean up ~ unless of course you just want to lick it up:) lol



Supplies:

Gumdrops
Styrofoam wreath
Toothpicks
Ribbon (optional)



Break toothpicks in half.



Place gumdrop (flat side first) on the broken off end of toothpick.




Place sharp end of toothpick into wreath.



Keep working until . . . .



You get this!


Add a bow and hang!

Edited to Add: Meredith asked about the amount of gumdrops Miss Bonnie used ~ with the 12" wreath she used 4 8 oz. bags of gumdrops. The project took all four bags of gumdrops with maybe one or two to spare. Hmm, I can't imagine what happened to them;)

We Went "Over The River

And Through The Woods" . . . .

And Now It's Time To

"Deck The Halls!"

With a little bit of help, of course;)

Jake is trying to get the reindeer antlers off of his head. He says, "what I have to do to put up with these humans ~ the indignity of it all!"

Annabelle must supervise to make sure we get it right!

I'll be back on Monday with a quick and easy craft that Miss Bonnie did over the holiday break.

This and That

Here are just a few more scenes from home!

Fireplace is all "dressed up" for Christmas!

Gingerbread house being made by Miss Bonnie.

Candles are burning everywhere!

Hot cocoa being consumed (lots of it;o)

Bailey taking a nap with Santa!

A few last touches being added here and there.

I'm sure that scenes like these are taking place in your homes, too!! What a wonderful, magical time of year!

Recycling Used Items

I had a few extra ornaments on hand so I decided to bring out my candlesticks and put them on display! I'm very happy with the results, especially since I have a "new" decoration by using things I already had on hand. Now, that makes me happy:o)

Hickory Dickory Dock



This little guy was made by me when I was probably six years old! Every year he has to come out at Christmas and he always makes me smile. I think one of the best things about Christmas is the traditions and memories we have, isn't it? I'm posting about this because I think would be a cute and easy craft for your children ~ all you need is some red, green, and black felt and two wiggly eyes. Who knows, maybe they will be bringing theirs out forty years from now!

This is too funny, y'all. When I was looking up the nursery rhyme I was amazed to find that there was a different animal for each hour! I had no idea! Just goes to show you can learn something new even at 50 years old! lol

Hickory dickory dock

The mouse run up the clock.

The clock struck one

And down he ran

Hickory dickory dock.

If you want to see the complete rhyme go here. They have a whole page with crafts, etc.. dedicated to this rhyme! What fun!!

Dining Room

Our dining room is the only semi-formal room we have in our home. We sit down together at the table every night as a family in this room. The colors are done in gold and cranberry so I incorporated that into my Christmas decorating. Everything you see in this room I made. I love ribbon ~ you can do so much with it!

This little tree sits on top of my Grammy's hutch.

I was so happy when I found thisVictorian fan at Michaels ~ I love how it looks at the top of the tree.

Dining room centerpiece ~ pardon the blurriness but I couldn't get a good shot with the lighting.

Dining room table ~ all I did for the napkin rings was tie matching ribbon around napkins that is on the centerpiece wreath.

This is on the door to our dining room. The colors don't look like they match in the picture but they really do ~ the poinsettias are cranberry with gold flecks in them.

Christmas Around Our Home Place

For the next three days I will be posting pictures of our home all decorated for Christmas. I'm so glad you could join me!

Front door

The Reason For The Season!

Dept. 56 Dickens Village. It's not easy keeping it looking like this ~ remember, we have three cats who want to "visit" the village everyday!! Grrr :o)

I love decorating with greens, berries, and pine cones! They not only look pretty, they also smell wonderful too.

Here are my Christmas bears. The one on the left says, "I'd stop eating chocolate but I'm no quitter!" The one on the right says "I'd rather be naughty!" Now, why in the world do you think I would have bears with those sayings, y'all? lol They just make me smile whenever I walk by them.

Thanks so much for visiting. Tomorrow I will post some more pictures. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!