Christmas At Our House

Click to enlarge pix for better viewing.......

Ok I FINALLY got a chance to get started decorating for Christmas! My hubby even joined in this year since the daughter was off courting. She did manage to come in right after 10 p.m. and help us though. We were just starting to put the ornaments on it. It was VERY NICE with everyone helping decorate it this year. That's VERY RARE around here! lol I noticed after I took the pix and put them on here that one of my streamers on the trees bow needed to be moved over. It was over the other one. :) So that's fixed now.

First off I have to show you a pic of this puppy of ours! lol He's mega spoiled already and I do think he really loves me! ;) Anytime I am in the floor, I am fair game for him to come attack. I was in the floor trying to get pix of things under the tree and here he comes. I see him coming so I am at his level so I think, good photo moment here. So I TRY to get a pic and he's wayyyyyyy too close. So I back him up with my hand and hold him in place to get a close up shot. It turned out rather cute if I do say so myself. ;) I had to lighten it up so you could see it so that messed it up some. I really NEED to put a red bow around his neck and take a pic!

The little manger scene lamp, my sister brought that to me one year. I thought that was so sweet of her and I LOVE IT! It's soooo cute! You know how I LOVE lamps! Well she DOES TO! LOL So it runs in the family! hee hee I have found out that I also have that problem with tables AND wooden picture frames! LOL When I cleaned out the attic you would NOT BELIEVE HOW MANY I HAD UP THERE! Oh dear! Anyway BACK to the Christmas decorations. ;)

Hubby bought me this cute little carousel many years ago. Since I was decorating with red this year I decided to use it again. A friend gave me the little glass car with Santa filled with all kinds of critters. I thought it was just too cute! lol He knows I like to decorate for Christmas so when I was helping them pack up stuff he brought that thing to me and said here, here's you something else to decorate with. I tried to get a close up so you could see all the stuff in this car! LOL

Our daughter bought me the little gingerbread men at Cracker Barrel this year and a few years back she bought me the little red birds with the little diamond shape above them. I dearly love these because they are like iridescent in color. I dearly LOVE ANYTHING THAT SHINES! ;)

I tried to do close ups so you could see what all was on the tree.

Also I need to explain something because I know I will be asked about them. ;)

The gingerbread men, :( well lets just say they did NOT work out! I put them in the microwave to dry them out some because they were soft. That hardened them some what. THEN when I sprayed the varnish on them, that softened them BACK UP! I had already done the hole for the red satin ribbon I had planned to put in them. But had used fishing line for hanging them up so I could spray the varnish on them. Then I was going to take that off when they dried and add the red satin ribbon. They dried a good 4 days or more and I started trying to get the satin ribbon in and the hole would rip out, they were still TOO SOFT! :(

I've got to decorate our mantel and something in the dining room and then I think I will be done. That is except for the mailbox. I also did a wreath on the backdoor. I forgot to get a pic of that. I will do that tomorrow if I can remember.

I wanted to add some lights to my centerpiece with the sleigh in it but with the puppy he wants to chew on cords right now and I knew it would be too much of a temptation for him, so I didn't add them since they would be kind of low for him to get at.

Hey you can leave me comments if you'd like. I love those. :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Rose

Christmas

Click on pics to enlarge.

I have started today pulling off all the whatnot's off the shelves and tables to Christmas decorate. I rearranged the dining room and man it looks sooooooooooo much better like this! Although I DO HATE to put something in front of my windows I did put the sideboard because it's under the windows and doesn't block the view. BUT I still hate putting anything in front of them because it makes it harder to get to the curtains to pull them back everyday. Anyway it looks much nicer like this though because the table and the china cabinet is long ways like the sideboard and it makes the room look larger. ANYTHING to make it look larger! LOL

Here are some pix of my rearranged dining room. Ignore my drying gingerbread men on the table and my unpainted curtain rod. ONE OF THESE DAYS I AM going to paint the thing! I have a few spots that need touching up in there as well! I really don't have anything arranged on the table center or on the top of the sideboard or the curio cabinet because I plan on decorating it for Christmas. So I'll have to move some of what is there now. I think I am going to decorate the china cabinet and the sideboard for Christmas and just use a small centerpiece for the table. I am still in the thinking mode trying to figure out WHAT to do. I am just now putting away all the fall and Thanksgiving decorations! lol I did manage to get the Christmas table cloth and place mats on the table today. :)

I have also decided in this moving around today that I am going to take all that off the top of my china cabinet and put something else up there. It's too much I think. I am doing my dead level best to get rid of some clutter!!!!!

I am STILL working on some boxes I had in the attic as well. Trying to go through those and see what I want to keep and what needs to be gone from here.

Now the living room is next and then I'll have to stick all the items I took off the shelves into the attic while my Christmas decorating things are out. It's wayyyyyy too cluttered in this small house to use my normal decorating things as well as my Christmas decorating things at the same time. So one goes in the attic while the other stays out.

I'm thinking about putting the off white and green dishes in my china cabinet for Christmas and putting the Old Country Rose ones up for awhile. Since my color will be red this Christmas I thought the green and off white ones would look nice in there with the red. You know me though, I'll probably have to toss in some gold as well since I LOVE gold for Christmas decorating.

Christmas Candy Recipes, Loads of em

Someone just sent me this in an email and I wanted to see IF this would work so I could share it with you all. I clicked on the Caramel Corn one because DH loves the stuff and thought I might just make him some for his coffee basket we always do for him. Anyway on each link you can also send out cards and write Santa a letter and all kinds of other stuff on there to. Have fun!

Here is also a link for cookie recipes! And if you're like me about the Amish, you LOVE to see their recipes! There is an Amish Cookie recipe on there. ALSO check out that 1-2-3 cookie recipe!

http://www.northpole.com/Kitchen/Cookbook/cat0001.html


Just click on the name of the CANDY and the recipe appears!

2 Minute Microwave Fudge
5 Minute Fudge
7 Layer Bars
Aaron's Buttery Cashew Brittle
Almond Bark
Amanda's Peppermint Creams
Ann's Cream Nut Candy
Bavarian Inn Peanut Bars
Beth's Delicious Fudge
Brownie Fudge Dessert
Buckeyes
Buckeyes
Butter Toffee
Candied Yams
Candy Bar Brownies
Candy Cane Brittle
Candy Cane Fudge
Caramel Krispie Treats
Caramels
Caramel Corn
Carol's Christmas Treats
Chocolate Almond Bars
Chocolate Balls
Chocolate Billionaires
Chocolate Chow Mein Candy
Chocolate Covered Cherries
Chocolate Covered Nuts
Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Chocolate Nut Caramels
Chocolate Popcorn
Chocolate Silk Bon Bons
Chocolate Truffels
Christmas Candied Walnuts
Christmas Crackle Candy
Christmas Mice
Chunky Mallow Candy
Cinnamon Hard Candy
Cinnamon Popcorn
Cranberry Nut Fudge
Cream Cheese Candy
Creamy Chocolate Truffles
Creamy Microwave Pralines (Texas Stye)
Crispy peanutbutter balls
Dark Chocolate Fudge
Deborahe's Holiday Chocolates
Disappearing Marshmallow Brownies
Dish of Dirt
Divinty
Dorothy's Peanut Butter/Butterscotch Noodle Cookie
Dreamcicle Fudge
Easy Candy
Easy Divinity
Easy Divinity Easy Divinity Candy
Easy Fudge
Easy Granola Candy
Easy Microwave Carmel
Easy Microwave Fudge
Easy Pecan Logs
English Toffee
English Toffee
English Toffee Bars
Fabulous Fudge
Fake Brittle
Fantasy Fudge
Festive Chocolate Truffles
Five Minute Fudge
Fool-Proof Fudge
Frosted Pecans
Fudge
Brownies
Fudge for One

Fudge Puddles
Georgia Nuggets
Grandma Donna's Nummies
Grandma F's Delicious Fudge
Grandmother' s Holiday Fudge
Hard Candy
Hard Tack Candy
Hazelnut Fantasy Fudge
Ho-Ho Hash
Holly Confection
Honey Comb
J & D's Peanut Butter Balls
Jeanne's Tiger Butter
Jen's Chocolate Meringues
J's Cream Fudge
Kim's Famous Cashew Brittle
Magic Marshmallow Fudge
Mama's Fudge
Maple Rum Balls
Margie's Best Candy
Martha Washington Candy
Martha Washington Mounds
Marzipan
Melting Moments
Melting Moments
Memaw's Reese's
Meme's Best Ever Peanut Butter Fudge
Meringues
Micky's Mints
Microwave Peanutbutter fudge
Microwave Pralines
Milk Fudge
Milky Way Bars
Million Dollar Fudge
Mimi's Famous Fudge
Mocha Truffles
Mom's Mints
Mr. Monroe's Famous Fudge
Mrs. Eisenhower's Fudge
Never Fail Fudge
Never Fail Fudge
No Bake Rum Balls
No Cook Peanut Butter Fudge
No Fail Fudge
Novia Scotia Treats
Nut Mallow Goodies
Nutty North Pole Fudge
Orange Balls
Orange Glazed Pecans
Out Of This World Fudge
Oven Carmel Corn
Peanut Brittle
Peanut Brittle
Peanut Brittle
Peanut Brittle (Microwave)
Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut Butter Balls
Peanut Butter Bars-An Elve's Favorite Treat
Peanut Butter Candy
Peanut Butter Candy
Peanut Butter Cups
Peanut Butter Cups
Peanut Butter Fruit Squares
Peanut Butter Fudge
Peanut Butter Fudge
Peanut Butter Fudge
Peanut Butter Snowballs
Peanut Clusters (microwavable)
Peanut Krispies
Peanut Patties

Gingerbread Men

Well I have all my little Gingerbread men cookies lying in there awaiting their spray varnish. Hopefully they wont get up and run out the back door! ;)
They have their hole in the top for the string and all I lack is spraying them with the varnish. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow because they're saying it's suppose to be like 70 degrees out there! Dear me, ONLY IN SOUTH MS! A couple days ago it was in the 40's in the daytime and last night it was 29 and now 70 tomorrow? OH DEAR!

The box of Little Debbie Gingerbread Men cookies my daughter bought, NOT ONE of them were broken! BUT the 3 boxes I bought for my tree, they were herds broken in them! :( The last box I opened had 4 broken! Out of three boxes I bought, that has 8 cookies each in them, I wound up with only 15 Gingerbread Men to put on my tree.

I have the tree sitting out on the carport. I took it out there and sit it up this evening to blow it off and shake some of the green sprigs out of it. I had it just lying up there in the attic and it was dusty. I tried to find a box for it last year but never did find one. The little green things that make up the tree falls all over the place and makes a huge mess! SO I figured I could sit it up out there and blow it off and also get some of those loose sprigs out of it to keep all that from being in my carpet.

Christmas Decorating

My dear daughter bought me something last night at Cracker Barrel that I dearly love! They are just darling and she said they were 40% off. I had told her I was going to put gingerbread men on the tree this year so she bought me these. Aren't they the cutest things you ever seen?

I bought the little ribbon candy ornaments for the tree at Fred's the other day.

Now I also wanted to show you all something else. I wanted to show you what my homemade cranberry sauce looked like in the little glass dish I found on Wed. for .55 at the thrift store. I just LOVE this little dish! I LOVE cut glass dishes like this! LOL Also I had taken a pic of one of my homemade pecan pies and I'll post that one on here as well since I didn't put it with the Thanksgiving pix. I hope I don't make you all too hungry. :)

Edited to say: You just GOTTA go over there to Bonita's blog and see what she's doing! It's just an awesome idea and she's SUCH A GOOD WRITER TO BOOT!

http://www.bonitalillie.com/2008/11/christmas-devotion-2.html

Like I said in an earlier post, I am cleaning out my attic and donating the stuff to a place that is helping women with addictions. It's a Christ Centered place and they are doing some great work for God. They sell the items you donate and that helps their mission. I love to be around the ladies in the center because they are so cheerful and they're always listening to gospel music or preaching sermons on the TV. They are always excited to see me pull in. And believe me, I had some stuff up there in that attic. LOL Or should I say WE, not just me. ;) Still do in fact but it's looking much better now and I'm also feeling much better and MUCH lighter! Anyway I have fought with myself and fought with myself about donating some of the items because I really really liked some of it. But I told myself, self, you don't use those things, and it's wrong to keep them when someone else can use it. It's not right for me to hoard the stuff in my attic "just in case" I might use it "one day". I had some very pretty large baskets and just kept thinking, man I like those, man I hate to get rid of those. But then thought, I don't have space for all this stuff and someone needs them and can use them! THEN to top off ALL THAT, I have been collecting little prom dresses, wedding dress and stuff like that for a little dress up tea party I wanted to have "one day" for some little girls. I've been getting the dress up dresses for about 3 years now and all of them were about 1.00 each. I had thought, well I'll keep those and take them to the tea room and see if she wants to buy those from me just to get some of my money back from them. I had probably 10-14 of them. Well when I got the Murano loaded I went back inside yesterday just to make sure there wasn't anything else I needed to load. There was that pile of dresses on the chair. I just grabbed them and took them with the load. When I got there they helped me unload everything. There were some shoppers in there with a little girl about 10-12 years old. Her grandma I believe it was, was with her, got the little black velvet dress with the green wrap on the shoulder, and let the little girl put it on. She walks all over the store in that little dress and was having a ball in it. It made my day that I went on and took the dresses after I saw what a fit she was having over that one. WHAT A BLESSING it was to see her so excited over it and that was payment enough for me right there. She didn't want to take it off when she was told to take it off. ;) She told her that was for her to wear for Christmas so she finally took it off. I thought about it after I pulled away from there yesterday, I thought, now if I'd took them to the tea room I'd missed that blessing! YES it's MUCH more a blessing to give than to receive! God is SO GOOD!

What have you got that you can give? Are you hoarding anything you could give?

I'm Dreaming of A Red Christmas Tree

After I have thought about it today after Sue made her comment to me. She told me how to do those Little Debbie Gingerbread men I have really been thinking on this one. I think red balls, the Little Debbie Gingerbread Men, the red and white stripe ribbon candy ornaments I've seen at the $ store and then the clear bulbs for the lights would really be pretty on our Christmas tree this year. I have some of the little clip on candle things like I saw on the magazine cover I already mentioned in my other post. I also thought I might even add a few of my starfish I bought in Gulf Shores to the tree or my decorations this year.

I want something different instead of doing the window in the kitchen and the mantel and the spindles etc. I was trying to think what other thing I could decorate this year. Was thinking about changing out my china cabinet and doing it up Christmas-y this year. I will do the mantel but want it a little different and I have NO IDEA HOW YET!


What colors have you decided to go with? Or have you decided yet? ;) I usually can't get it together until way later when I am about to run out of time to decorate! LOL
My daughter tells me I decorate right up until Christmas. I almost do because I can't decide just how I want everything and then I see something and I think, OH I wanna do that! So I go at it! lol That's the joy of it though! Isn't it? I am going to TRY and figure out HOW to make my tree smaller this year though. I may just use the top out of my tree. lol

Moving and Southern Living Christmas Cookbook

Just to let you know that I am still alive and kicking. ;) A friend of ours is moving back to New Mexico and I've been over there helping her wrap and pack her breakables for the past 3 days. They've sold their home over here now and are going back to New Mexico. They had been living over there for awhile and was just renting their house here. But she had retired at her job in N.M. and they came back home thinking they wanted to live here. But have since decided they didn't want to live here. Their son is still in N.M. and didn't want to move back so they wanted to stay over there with him. They love it over there as well. So she and I have been wrapping and packing boxes. I just couldn't go back today because I had to catch up on things around here.

Have you guys seen the Southern Living hard back Christmas cookbook? I saw it awhile ago at B.A.M. (Books-A-Million) and it's awesome! It's such a pretty book. I sure did want it but don't need all those sweets! lol I found a "Brown Sugar Pecan Coffee Cake" recipe in it that looked awesome! It had my mouth watering. lol I also noticed Emily Barnes had another pretty little Christmas Tea Book out. B.A.M. had all their Christmas books on a table toward the back of the store. When you're in BAM check out that Southern Living Christmas cookbook! :)

How many of you have started decorating for Christmas already? I was in Lowe's this evening as well and man I got the Christmas spirit while looking at all their displays! Sure wish I could afford to buy that slim Mountain tree this year. It was under $100.00 but I've GOT TWO trees already! BUT they are mega mega huge trees and I dread putting them up because they are sooo large and I have such a small house with NO ROOM for those big trees! WHY don't they look as huge as they are in Lowe's? In my house they take up the whole living room almost! I don't know the "going colors" this year for decorating but I think I am going to do red balls and white things on mine. I don't go by style on anything else so why should I do that at Christmas time? ;) I really really like the one on the front of the Victorian Homes magazine this month!!!! I love that ribbon candy on a tree and I noticed the dollar store has some of them for only 1.00. SO CUTE! Also BAM has some real ones for eating that would be cute on the tree and they aren't but 1.99 a pack I believe it was. ALSO the Dollar General store was selling little gingerbread men cookies. I think it's Little Debbie brand and I was telling my daughter those would be sooooooo cute on the tree! LOL We could varnish them! ;)