Sing it to me Barry

Can you believe it's New Year's Eve already?

Another year coming to an end.

Barry Manilow will not stop singing in my head,

It's just another New Year's Eve,
Another night like all the rest.
It's just another New Year's Eve,
Let's make it the best.
It's just another New Year's Eve,
It's just another Auld Lang Syne,
But when we're through this New Year
You'll see, will be just fine.

If you don't know the song, watch this:



Hopefully you won't have Barry stuck in your head all day now too. :-)

I would like to wish all my bloggy friends & their families a Happy New Year!
Let's hope that 2011 is filled with

happiness,
good health &
lots of love to go around.
See you in the new year!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

This may be a long post, so I apologize because I know this may not be the best time for long posts.

Several months ago, my son came home from school and told us he had joined the 4th/5th grade choir. I must admit we had to stifle our chuckles. Not that we were laughing at him, but it just struck us as a little odd for him to do. (The week prior to that, we also had to stifle our chuckles when he said he was going to play the cello in the school's orchestra. Another odd choice for him.)

Forward to December 16th, his school's Christmas concert. The orchestra honestly sounded wonderful. I can't tell you the number of teachers at the school who said it was the best the orchestra has ever sounded. (My son hasn't learned how to "bow" yet, he only plucked the strings.) As for the choir, they were simply angelic sounding. Such a sweet & pure sound.

For the choir's last song, 5 girls came forward holding paddles with Cindy Lou Who's face on them. The music began and we hear:

Fah who foraze!
Dah who doraze!
Welcome Christmas!
Bring Your Cheer!

It was that song. You know, the one that the Whos in How the Grinch Stole Christmas sing? It was beautiful. Then the music changed. The 5 girls flipped their paddles and it was the Grinch's face they now displayed, while the choir started singing, "Your a mean one, Mr. Grinch."

Out from behind the choir came this:



Yes, my son dressed in Grinch gear! He circulated the gym of some 700+ students, not counting teachers & staff, while the choir sang his song. He stuck his tongue out at students & stared them down with an evil-grinchy stare. It was one of the most magical moments I have ever experienced. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes.

I knew he was going to play the Grinch. At the time, I thought how ironic...he is probably the least-Grinch like child on the planet. Honestly, I thought he'd get scared and not be able to pull it off, but he did pull it off and amazingly at that!
He got thunderous applause, everyone remarked that he stole the show (see, the Grinch really did steal Christmas) and kids he doesn't even know, now say, "Here comes the Grinch!" whenever they see him.

The book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas has long been on of my favorite books. Every year, I read it. My favorite part is this:

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

Yes...the magical words of the genius, Dr. Seuss. I may not follow his words, but oh how they fill my heart!

So, if you have stayed with me through this whole post, I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of New Years!



In the words of the great Doctor:

Welcome Christmas!
Bring your cheer!
Cheers to all Whos far and near
Christmas Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp
Christmas Day will always be
Just as long as we have we
Welcome Christmas!
While we stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand

Merry, Merry Christmas....may it be magical!

Baking up fun

Good evening friends. I am so looking forward to Christmas vacation, it's so close I can almost taste it! This year the school district has given us Dec 22-Jan 2 off, so I'm grateful for the few days before Christmas so I can prep and prep and prep some more. (Lots of cooking to do!)

I wanted to show you this baking display on my kitchen counter.



The snowman baker is something my husband bought for me quite a few years ago. As a person who loves to bake and loves snowmen, I just adore this piece. The gingerbread house was purchased from Kohl's this year. They are both standing atop my red cake pedestal from Target. The rolling pin is a Hallmark find this year. I added a few Christmas cookie cutters, some baker's twine & a branch of greenery to complete this display.

I will be joining Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday.



Wishing you a stress-less week!

Christmas all Around

I thought I would share a peek of my Christmas decor with you today because I know that by the weekend, I will have started baking cookies. Once I start baking, I will likely fall into a cookie-making abyss & not resurface until December 24th covered in flour! LOL

I've already shared my mantel here and my tiny Christmas village here. So let's get started on some other things, shall we?

Dining room table:
Silver & blue sparkle, I really do love it!



Dining room chandelier:
I had to add a little blue/silver sparkle here as well.



Dining/sitting area coffee table:
More blue/silver. I love mercury glass, I love milk glass, I love cloches...



Dining/sitting area end table:
I fell in love with this little blue cottage and just had to have it.



Dining/sitting area shelf:
I bought this shelf just before summer so I had no idea how I wanted to decorate it for Christmas. I'm not sure, but I may have gone just a touch overboard.



Another display in dining/sitting area:
I had this adorable Nativity set since before I was married. It came from Avon of all places! I remember buying a couple pieces of it at a time in order to collect the whole set.



So that's about all I have for today. I hope you enjoyed a peek at some of my decor. I'm going to link to Hooked on Houses Holiday Home tour. You can join in on the fun here.



Have a wonderful Thursday!

Christmas in the tiny village

Today I would like to share my tiny Christmas village.



I bought these little houses some 25 years ago. I was in high school at the time & I found them in a Christmas store marked down after the holidays. True story.

Imagine that? Why would I have bought these when I was in high school? What 16 year old is going around buying stuff like this? Weird but true.

As a newlywed, I did display these houses at Christmas. However, for many years, I had them packed away with Christmas stuff that I no longer displayed. Until last year. I remembered them & put on a full out search party to find them in my attic. (Luckily, I'm fairly organized so the box they were in was labeled as such)







I love their pastel colors, I love how tiny they are and I love how cute they look displayed on my vintage blue dresser.

The tale of the mantel challenge

I have a feeling this is going to be one looooong post so you might want to grab a little snack or a hot beverage before you read.

My mantel was a real challenge to decorate this year. Let's spell out some of those challenges, shall we?

First: the walls of my living room are no longer orange.

Second: the fireplaced wall no longer sports dark paneling.

Third: the giant 6 foot by 4 foot mirror from the 1940s no longer hangs on the wall above the mantel.

Fourth: my ceilings are 9 feet high and there's just a whole lotta wall to deal with along with the mantel.

Fifth: I decided not to display my Christmas village on the mantel this year as I have in years past.

Sixth: My mantel is huge. 6 feet long, but it's the depth that's the killer...just over 17 inches deep.

I can't tell you the photos I looked at & the trips to stores that I took just to get ideas. I have spent so much time in Hobby Lobby I'm now embarrassed when I see the store manager. I just know he's thinking, "she can't possibly be in here again!" I just know he's thinking that.

Anyway, I changed my game plan more times than I would care to count.

While out searching for ideas for the 800th time, I came across something in TJ Maxx that stopped me in my tracks...a giant canvas candy cane. I studied it for some time, but I didn't think it was large enough for the monster wall. I thought of buying two candy canes & criss crossing them, however, they were not oriented in opposite directions to criss cross.

Then I had an epiphany.

Why couldn't I "frame" the candy cane? I bought it, went back to Hobby Lobby & bought a frame. With a little help from my hubby, I had the perfect wall filler.



Now what to do with the mantel? Why not play out this whole striped, candy cane, red, white & green thing? I then enlisted the help of every glass vessel in the house (not to mention another trip or 2 to Hobby Lobby). I filled all the jars with striped candy & colorful Christmas balls in my red, white & green color scheme.

So here she is in all her striped, candy cane, red, white & green glory.









Considering the challenges, I don't think she looks half bad. Now truth be told, I really, really, really wanted to change out the stockings for something that was complimentary to my whole candy cane theme.

Believe me when I tell you, the mere suggestion of it brought about a rebellion in my house...children revolting...how dare I...they are the stockings we've had our whole lives...hubby scowling in disgust...it was getting ugly, I tell ya. Oh the anger towards me for even thinking it!

So, I had to give up the fight. It just wasn't worth the anguish. (I guess there's no hope of my ever switching out all of the hundreds of Hallmark ornaments from the tree one of these years, is there? LOL)

I'll be back soon with more Chrismas decor photos. Have a good one!

One last thing, even though I'm a week late, I think I'll link this up for Layla's
Mantel Party.





Also, I would like to link this at Marty's blog A Stroll Thru Life. Do you think a mantel can qualify as a table top vignette for Table Top Tuesday? I hope it's ok with Marty.

See you soon!

The weather is ruining my fun

Hello everyone! I have been wanting to share some Christmas decor photos with you for the past several days, however, the weather is ruining my fun. It has been quite gloomy here & you know what that means...bad pictures.

Have you made a stop at The Lettered Cottage yet? Layla is hosting a holiday mantel party. I haven't had a chance to check out the links, but I can bet there are some really beautiful, completely inspiring mantels out there in blogland.

Hopefully, the gloominess will turn around here soon & I can share pictures of my holiday home. Until then, here are some pretties for you to look at. (All from Better Homes & Gardens)









Can I please have this room now?

Pretty please?

Friday is my annual mother/sisters shopping trip. I love, love, love this day spent with my mom & sisters! Christmas shopping & eating, shopping & eating, & of course, laughing. (Oh the stories I could tell!) I look forward to this day all year long.

So, if I don't post before then, have a wonderful weekend!

Give Thanks 2010

I've really been neglecting the old blog lately. There's just so much to do!
We're hosting dinner for 13 tomorrow so I've been running around like a whirlwind the past couple of days.

This year, I made these little placecards for the table. They're just some precut wood ovals from Michael's that I painted with chalkboard paint. (The holders came from The Christmas Tree Shop a few years ago.) Kinda cute, huh?



Other than that, I've almost got the rest of the table set & ready to go. Just lots of cooking remains. (The pies are done though. My mom, sisters & I made 7 pies today!) Of course, this year (thanks to my committing a design sin) I have this wonderful item on my kitchen counter:



to enjoy this:



Have I told you that one of my most favorite parts of Thanksgiving is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? I've watched it faithfully every year since I was a kid. I also cry (although I'm reluctant to admit here) when the Rockettes dance. Awe struck, I am!

Since I inherited Thanksgiving dinner two years ago from my husband's aunt, with all the cooking & such, I could no longer watch the parade. I would DVR it, but somehow watching the parade hours after it occurred really took all the fun out of it. It was never the same. Thanks to my little kitchen TV, I can now watch the parade live & still cook. See, there's something to be thankful for everywhere!



So with that, I would like to wish all my blog friends & their families a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! I hope it's a happy one and filled with lots of blessings. Please know that I am thankful for each & every one of you!

Happy Mail Day

It's been quite awhile since I had a Happy Mail Day.

When I was an avid scrapbooker, I used to have Happy Mail Days all the time. You know, the ones when your friendly mail man (or lady) delivers a package filled with all the scrap crap that sets your heart aflutter? Yes? No? Maybe you don't know the feeling of a Happy Mail Day.

Anyway, today I decided to take a half day off from work. I had not been home for 10 minutes when suddenly, I heard a "thump" at the back door. I curiously ran to the window and spotted my mail man walking away. For the life of me, I couldn't imagine what he delivered that would have gone "thump."

I ran to the back door and sure enough, I was delighted to find a package. It was the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday 2010 book that I ordered. I then turned to the mail box and found another delightful sight...the Matthew Mead Holiday book! Two in one day! See what I mean? A Happy Mail Day!



So here I was, home from work, with any number of grueling tasks to do, but somehow, somehow, the Mail Gods decided to send me a diversion...a wonderful, happy, diversion.

Just need to grab a cup of hot tea & cuddle up in this spot.



Ahhh, thank you Mail Gods...I owe you one!

Dreaming of Tablescapes

I seem to have disappeared from blogland for the last couple of weeks. October can do that to me. It's such a crazy, busy month for us. Half the time I didn't know whether I was coming or going. My entire calendar was filled with birthday parties, anniversaries, games & practices, Halloween parties...ugh...can I just say I'm relieved that October is over?

Phew!

Anyhoo, I've been dreaming of tablescapes. Thanksgiving tablescapes to be more specific. I have amassed quite a collection of pictures for inspiration. Wanna see some of this inspiration?










**all photos from Better Homes & Gardens


I think I've got a little too much inspiration going on here. I've got to narrow it down & make a decision as to which direction I'm going in. Do you host Thanksgiving at your house? If so, have you planned your tablescape yet?

Another Shot of Halloween Fun

May I share another Halloween tabletop with you today? It's only the second one I'm sharing, but still I don't want to bore you to tears with Halloween tabletops or anything.

I never was a huge fan of Halloween until I had kids. Then still, I was not a big decorator when it came to Halloween...you know...just a few things here & there that my kids enjoyed.

Lately however, I find myself enjoying Halloween more & more.

Just so you know, when my hubby asks why he carried 2 Halloween totes down from the attic at the begininning of the season and now carries 4 Halloween totes up at the end of the season, I'm blaming it on all of you in blogland. Deal? ;-)

I have this display set up on the yellow desk in my hallway.

Meet the witches table.



The ever important Eyes of Newt.



You never know when you might have need for some Zombie Virus or silver glitter skulls to make a potion.



Watch out for that orange glittered spider! I hear they're venomous.



I'm linking this up at Marty's blog (A Stroll Thru Life) for Tabletop Tuesday. Go on over to Marty's & take a look at all the inspiration.

Anyone got an antidote for an orange glittered spider bite? Ouch!