Christmas 2009: A Walk Around Christmas Light Paradise

Though the next few post are a little late I wanted to make sure I got them up before the new year.

Christmas this year was amazing - filled with fun, laughter, love and family!! The first of our festivities started off with a party at my brothers. . . just a couple of months ago my brother moved into a new house a couple of blocks away from our favorite lighted neighborhood so we had a party and then trekked through the beautiful Christmas lit paradise!

my brother's house in all it's lighted glory

his awesome present lights!


all the incredible appetizers!!

Ratatouille

the nutcracker

santa's reindeer taking flight

The Beatles!!

"we all live in a yellow submarine"

so awesome!!

cars

101 Dalmations

Rudolph!!

peter pan

beauty and the beast

the little mermaid

the incredibles

my absolute favorite - Alice!!

Magic is in the Air

I love this time of year. Actually that may be an understatement - I absolutely, positively, L.O.V.E this time of year!

It's filled with

colors

creativity

kindness

love

music

traditions

family

It's filled with magic.

Ever since I can remember my parents, especially my father, has made Christmas magical. The entire house is decorated with lights, garland, tinsel, wreaths, bells, Santas and ceramic towns. You walk in to the smell of a fresh Christmas tree and homemade cookies for decorating and eventually for Santa to taste on Christmas Eve. There are the classics playing on the television - Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life. There is a beautiful tree adorned with piles of perfectly wrapped presents. Most importantly, there is always love and family.

I hope my parents realize how special they have made this holiday for me, my siblings, and others they know. I hope they know that because of them Christmas is a wonderful time of year, filled with love, laughter, hopes and dreams. I hope they realize that because of them Christmas is not just a holiday -- it's a magical time of year. I hope they realize how much I appreciate the magic they have instilled in my heart. I hope the know I will carry this magic forever and make sure their grand children understand and appreciate the magic of the season. I hope they understand how much I love them and am thankful for all that they do.

And if they didn't before I'm sure they do now. :)

I love you guys and thank you so much for allowing me to experience magic each and every year!

Oh Christmas, How I Love Thee!

When I was in college in my dorm room, my mother bought my a tiny tree that I could decorate in my dorm room and my roomie and I strung lights throughout the room and windows (the lights in the room stayed permanently). Then when I transitioned from the dorm to my first apartment we had a tree and my parents gave me extra decorations to fill my home away from home with all the Christmas goodies that I loved. I made stockings and presents for all my friends and in turn infected them with my family's Christmas spirit. A dear friend had told me "I never appreciated Christmas until I knew you". To this day, this is one of the most special compliments I have ever received.

When I lived at Comstock with a house full of roommates (including Geoff and my brother) we hung lights on the house and topped it off with a tree on the roof. As in college, I made stockings for everyone but this time I sewed unique stocking shapes from discarded articles of each of their clothing. We had a beautiful tree lit with all bright blue lights, it was calming and beautiful.

Since Geoff and I have been on our own, I have decorated and created Christmas in all of our rented homes, filling them to the brim with Christmas spirit. And as the caring and loving husband he is, he allows me to go as crazy as I want. :)

This year marks our second Christmas in our home, proudly owned, and I love how our decorations look in our home. I love how our tree fills the entire house with a fresh pine scent. I love watching my grandma's bubble lights glow and bubble with love. I love the warmth of the fire in the front room. I love the Nutcracker Village I searched high and low for and finally found on ebay two years ago. I love watching my favorite Christmas shows on our huge TV. I love my growing nutcracker collection and the newest addition - an Elf from Santa's village. I love our Christmas light lamp that I created. I love the thrifted pink, glittery peace banner I found earlier in the year. I love our snowman light porch.

I love that our house if filled with Christmas Magic.

Here are some pictures of our Beautiful tree . . . more pictures of everything else to come very soon!!

Only a portion of our Christmas Boxes ;)

Casey Jones (aka Bubbas) helping decorate the tree by chewing on a cut off limb . . . it was his favorite toy that night!


Terrapin (aka Baby Boy) loving the tree and watching us decorate it.

My love placing the star on top

Our star

My favorite - Bubble Lights!!

Our tree in all its glory.

The Afternoon's Tools: An Edible House and Silly String

We were lucky enough to babysit little miss Jayde over the weekend. If you read this blog, you know how much I adore this girl so we (Geoff, too!!) wanted to make this afternoon very special and fun for our favorite five year old! We started of the day making a beautifully delicious gingerbread house that she was able to take home to share with mom and McLean.

Then we followed up with a trip to "the store" where she could pick out anything and everything her heart could want. Little did she know "the store" was the Dollar Tree ;) She had a blast filling up the cart with all sorts of crafty objects but favorite was a can of silly string. She spied this neon topped can the minute we walked into the store! Though she originally thought the can was color hair spray and was excited to add some temporary pink to her blond locks, she was even more excited to find out it was string she could shoot on McLean when he came to pick her up! Yep, that was Geoff's idea ;)

We kept looking out for my brother through the window and when he knocked on the door . . .

BAM!!!!!!!!!!

and that's not the end of it . . .

after Jayde's fingers got tired - Geoff went to town!! Hey, what are best friends and brother in laws for if not to add some humor and silly string into your life ;)

Yep, that's a smile in the midst of pulling the string off. He thought it was hilarious too!!

We had a blast and I'm pretty sure Jayde did too because before she left she asked my brother if she could spend the night with us!! Ahhh, my heart melted!! It's too bad we had to work and she had school the next morning or the fin would have continued!