Christmas Tour of Homes 2008

WELCOME TO SNOW WHITE'S COTTAGE!


I had so many things to show, I had to do it in three posts!

Check out this one (about tiny touches) and this one (about ornaments) for more:-)










(Real classy of me not to turn off the tv for a pic, huh? I live with three males.....do you know how hard it is to get a shot of the t.v. withOUT ESPN on?)














(I have just discovered these clip on bird thingys.........and they are my new favorite thing. Next year I want to have clip on birds on EVERYTHING!)




This is where the Gingerbread Men hang out:




Candle Rings:


I was searching for small wreaths to hang in the windows and came across these "Candle Rings" that are really supposed to lay flat with a big honkin' candle in the middle. They come already decorated so it's much easier than buying the little wreaths and re-inventing the wheel!

(My parents payed for nine years of piano lessons and pretty much all I can do now with a piano is decorate it.......and play "The Spinning Song" over........and over.........and over.........all dad ever wanted to hear was "Bring In The Clowns" and I still haven't learned it for him! Maybe it will be my New Year's Resolution?)

Cranberries and pine cones!

(Ornaments aren't just for trees!)

Mrs. Reindeer:

The Snowman village: (along with Mr. Flamingo that R decorated at Bible Study)

Here is my tree skirt that my Mother-in-law made me. The boys put their handprints on it in red every Christmas, then she stitches around it and has them sign their name in Sharpie. This item is one of those, "If my house were burning, what would I grab" kinda things. I love it.

And this thing?...............................................

Don't ask............it's a long story.

THANKS FOR VISITING! SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

Ornaments Are Not Just For Trees

This year I decided to do something a little creative with some of my favorite ornaments.

Often times, when I just stick them all on the tree, I can't really "focus" on them since they are all in one big lump of happy holiday hullabaloo in the corner of my dining room.

I took all the ornaments out and pondered what I could do.............here is what I came up with:

I made an ornamental "Sports Tribute" to the sports in our lives (those are golf balls, in case you can't tell from the flash) over the kitchen table. Why? You ask? Because behind, around, beside, and under, and sometimes even on top of the kitchen table is where all 568 pairs of sporting shoes live most of the time.....I felt it was an appropriate place.

Then, I took my favorite Santa ornament in the whole wide world and hung it on a ribbon on a lamp.


Now, on to the "Fancier" things.........................................

I have been blessed with a Mother-In-Law that loves loves loves to buy me ornaments!

Over the years, she has given me so many beautiful crystal ones that are so sparkly and fancy schmancy! I bought some really thin ribbon and hung them over my dining room table.

I feel like I can finally appreciate them since they aren't hidden on the tree with all the others!

She also loves loves loves to give my boys a Lenox ornament every year (beginning 8 years ago).

I took them all out of their boxes, talked to them a little bit, asked them how their summer was, gave them a drink, and lined them up in yearly order on a shelf, thinking that would look cute........but it looked a little "flat"..........

so I dug down deep into my "inner-Martha" and tried to make them into a cute little grouping.

Drum roll, please.................................................

CAN YOU BELIEVE I DID THIS!!!!!!! Don't feel bad, I'M SHOCKED, TOO!

(And......after I completed this task, I had a strange urge to go put on some lipstick, high heels, an apron and make dinner..............but then I stopped and took a little break until the feeling went away)

(R's 2003 Moose ornament lost 1/2 of his antlers in a bad fall last year as you can see from the above picture. I dropped Someone dropped him in the mad rush to pack up all the Christmas stuff last year the day before Valentine's Day. He's okay, you just have to make sure you look at him when you talk and he tends to lean to the left when he walks.)

(I even included what is left of R's 2001 ornament that I dropped someone dropped on the floor last year)

So............there you have it. Ornaments are NOT just for trees!

Where else can I hang some? (ruthie just heard me say that and ran under the bed........)

Addiction

I am totally addicted to these little things:

They are .50 each at Hobby Lobby and since I have discovered them, I am intimidated NO LONGER with Holiday Decorating.

You can stick these things ANYWHERE and VIOLA! they make everything a little more festive and lively.

These little "whippies" jazz up everything from an ordinary lamp:

to a pair of golf shoes in the middle of the floor..........

and EVEN the stack of junk that lives by the phone! (not to be confused with a pile....piles are something totally different).

These little jewels can even make a crabby Grandpa of a cat with an attitude say, "Happy Holidays!"

(T's number one rule when we bought the pool table was: NO CATS ON THE POOL TABLE..................Rascal doesn't really agree with that rule)

PeeWee looks festive....................................

(T's number two rule: NO DOGS ON THE COUCH.......hahaha)

Ruthie looks..............well..............as festive as Ruthie can look................

(She's festive on the "inside")

You can EVEN hang them on regular boring, typically UN-Festive like household items and now EVERYTHING in your house is ready for the holidays!

(Sadly, the kitchen is probably the most overlooked room in holiday decorating.......

you really have to look for those little spots that are screaming out for some holiday lovin')

BUT WAIT..............THERE's MORE!

You can create a whimsical husband display......................

or EVEN a teenager-in-a-computer-coma vignette!

All I know is....................thank goodness I have found these things. I now have probably around 4,357 of them as you will see tomorrow in the Christmas Tour of Homes on Goldilocks blogsite.

See you tomorrow!

Goldilocks Challenge

A while back, Goldilocks issued a "Fall Decorating Challenge". (Here is her original post)

This was a challenge where I failed miserably. Click here for the sad evidence.

Today, Goldilocks issued a new challenge of sorts. On Dec. 15th, she has requested blogland show off their holiday decorating!

Who wants to play? I am certainly glad she gave me ample time to throw something together.

SO........Next Monday it is....................wish me luck. This is a little intimidating for me.

Christmas Shopping Music

Is it just me, or does the Christmas music in the stores seem to be a little excessive?

I was trying to do a little Christmas shopping yesterday and I honestly had to leave the store because I felt like I was going to rip my eyeballs out from all the Christmas cheer.

I know I tend to lean more toward the "scrooge" side of Christmas since I'm not a big holiday person, but honestly.......how many more recordings of "Winter Wonderland" can a girl hear?

How many artists are going to record this song? I've heard the regular version, the rock and roll version, the Chipmunk version, and (get ready to throw up in your mouth a little bit), even a country and western version! (Yes, Virginia, there IS a way to make Country/Western sound more miserable than it already does.)

Has Snoop Dog ever recorded a version? HEY! Maybe the rappers are onto something. They seem to be the only genre of music not jumping on the "Let's Make A Christmas CD" bandwagon.

I'm going to start looking into enjoying more rap music. I just realized I need to give them more respect simply for the above paragraph alone..................

Maybe it's because I'm from Texas? Maybe these songs mean more to people up north?

I mean, no matter how many HOURS I could spend "dreaming.....of a whiiiiiiiiiiite Christmas"....it AINT gonna happen. I have spent MANY a Christmas day wearing shorts. I have NEVER roasted chestnuts on an open fire.....I don't think I would know a chestnut if it bit me. What is a chestnut? And what is Yuletide?

There is only one way I can think of to make all that Christmas music tolerable.........


Have this woman be in charge of singing every song.........maybe THEN I could tolerate.

Nope.........I lied...........maybe if she just re-recorded Rhiannon with jingle bells in the background, now THAT would be acceptable.

"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night.......(insert jingles here)".............

So, tell me........am I just being scrooge-y or does it get to you, too?

The End of An ERA

R played his last game ever for Sports Association Fall Football on Wednesday night:-(




(Next year will be school district try-outs.....no more Sports Association. Gone will be the days of nice, clean, fresh, cushy, top of the line mommy and daddy bought pads and helmets.....say hello to cootie city having to use community equipment from the school!)

We have been with this team for what seems like forever and it has been a great ride.

Wednesday night's game was the first playoff game against the Cardinals. The game started off looking good for the boys.

(That's R's hand hiking the ball.....when your kid plays center, it's REALLY hard to get a picture of him in action since he's in the middle getting pummeled...so just revel in the glory that is his right gloved hand and know he is AWESOME!)

So......touchdown numero uno.

Touchdown numero dos.

In the above picture it was a pleasant 73 degress out, no rain, no wind.

Then, THIS happened.

You could just hear Charles Ingalls saying, "Half-Pint.....Hurry! We have to get the horses in the barn...........tell Ma to get those babies in the storm cellar........it's a commin a big one!"

In a little less than 45 minutes time, the coldest crappiest yuckiest front blew in and the temperature dropped to mid 50's and it started pouring down icy cold miserable rain.

All the "prepared" moms had umbrellas, ponchos, tarps, etc. because they

are, well................."prepared".

I am not one of them, unfortunately.

Prepared moms always have what they need. If it starts raining while they are in a store, they have an umbrella in their purse. If it's raining while they are in the parking lot trying to get IN the store, they have one in their car.

My umbrella always seems to be where I'm NOT. I own one, just have never had the chance to use it. I think it's still in it's original packaging.....somewhere........where I'm NOT.

I am fascinated by these moms. They are what I want to be when I grow up.

Okay-----I'm done dwelling on my shortcomings........ON WITH THE STORY!

Prepared Mom Exhibit A: Mrs. W with her orange poncho.

(And I can use these "court" terms like "Exhibit A"........my sister's a lawyer, you know)

Exhibit B: Prepared Mrs. R. (she even had a tarp thingy for the kiddos!)

Thank goodness for prepared friends. Mrs. W. gave me an extra poncho and Papa Bear and Goldilocks let me hang out under their umbrella....ella...ella....ella.....ella...hey...hey....under their umbrella......ella.......

The rain kept coming coming coming.......temperature kept dropping dropping dropping.

We were the "Home" team so here's the scoreboard with a few seconds to go and we are three points ahead.

Almost there............................................. just 36 more seconds until we are one step closer to the SuperBowl....................................

And then, sadly, over the next 4 seconds.................THIS happened.

Which meant that this happened....................

Which meant that THIS had to happen..........

One last coach talk at the end of a game.

One last huddle.

One more "retired" jersey.

Bye #66! You had a great season and we are so proud of you!

Exciting News "FORE" Our Family!

HE MADE THE TEAM! G is now an official member of the Golf Team.

Being a young man of few words, this is how it went:

I pick him up after tryouts. He puts his bag in the back of the car. (Insert mother DYING to scream out, "WELL....DID YOU MAKE IT?"...but I hold back.......trying to be cool and not make a scene in the parking lot.....waiting until the doors were shut and nobody could hear me screaming)

He closes the back, comes around to get in the car, gets in, closes the door, I put the car in drive, he says....."Yes".

THAT'S IT. "Yes"........Does that mean, "Yes, I need to come back next year.....yes, I need to practice more.....yes, I am hungry......WHAT?"

So I said, "Yes, you made the team, yes?"

Guess what he said: You guessed it........"Yes".

(Is there an echo in here? Hello.......hello........hello.........heeelllllooooooo)

Two yes's........that's about the extent of it. I could insert one of those MasterCard commercial moments here and tally up just how much that "yes" has cost us in golf clubs, balls, golf shoes, golf bags, green fees, club memberships, surgeries, etc.............but I won't......mainly because I really don't want to know what that "yes" costs...............because it's PRICELESS!

(I can hardly believe that nearly two months ago to the day.......THIS HAPPENED)

So, of course, we needed to have a "Celebration Dinner"! (My second favorite thing about that afternoon......#1, kid makes golf team.......#2, don't have to make dinner)

R asked his friend, S and G asked his friend, H to come with us.

It wouldn't be a trip to Willie's without G's favorite appetizer.....fried pickles.

(and nothing says, "CELEBRATE" like a plate full of pickles, am I right or am I right?)


Congrats, baby boy! (Just noticed the Corona sign over one shoulder, the Miller one over the other and the Dos Equis salt/pepper/silverware holder on the table.....hahahahaha!)

Golf Try-Outs

Post from blog:

THIS young man will be trying out for the high school golf team today.

If you get a minute sometime around 3ish today, send a Happy Thought his way!

Good Luck, G!