Day 2 of our Holiday tour

Welcome to day 2 of our holiday tour. 

Yesterday I showed you the entry way and sitting room.  Today we'll move on to our fireplaces.

Ready?

We'll start in the basement.  Remember this post and the idea I got from here?  Well, it was time to redo my branch and get rid of the leaves.  So, I purchased some inexpensive red and gold ornaments (not quite as nice as the ones at Restoration Hardware, but I will be watching for clearance ones after Christmas) and replaced the leaves with them.  Once again here are some before and after shots.

Before:

After:

And our upstairs fireplace:

Before:

After:

Thats it for today's tour ~ come back tomorrow for more!

Welcome..

Ahh, The Christmas season is in full shiver bloom and I don't know about you, but I am enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas at my house.

Welcome to our home ~ first stop the entry way:

Before:

After:

The sitting room:

Before:

After:

Don't forget to look here  to check out the mantel and here for the dining room!

Oh, and on another note, I had a lovely girls night on Saturday. 9 of us went and saw "New Moon".  Of course the book was better, but the movie was pretty good and followed the book well.  LOTS better than "Twilight" and  Oh, and the muscles.....

Oh, sorry I got side tracked. Then we went to dinner and had a great night of conversation and laughter. A wonderful night with friends!

Have you seen it?  What did you think?

Something to Think About Sunday

What if Jesus Came?

Would you have to change your clothes or clean your house before you let Him in?

Or hide some magazines, and put the Bible out where he could see it?

Would you hide your worldly music and put some hymn books out?

Could you let Jesus walk right in, or would you rush about fixing up things?

And I wonder if the Savior spent a day or two with you,

Would you go right on doing, the things you always do?

Would you go right on saying, the things you always say?

Or would life for you continue as it does from day to day?

Would you take Jesus with you everywhere you go?

Or would you maybe change your plans for the next few days?

Would you be glad to have Him meet your closest friends?

Or would you hope they stay away until His visit ends?

Would you be glad to have Him stay forever on and on?

Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone?

It might be interesting to know, the things that you would do,

If Jesus came in person, to spend some time with you.

~ Stacey Chillemi

ABC book ~ shhh.... Don't tell!

I know, I know, its Friday. And that means Friday Funny ~ well, read through to the end and hopefully you will get your smile on for the weekend!

But first I bring you a Christmas idea for the little ones in your life.

Personal, Handmade, Easy and Inexpensive! What more could you ask for in a gift?

Go get yourself a very cheap, flexible, photo album. One that holds 4x6 prints, is made of plastic (remember its for a child) and holds at least 26 pictures.

Next gather your pictures ~ one for every letter of the alphabet.

Add text to them.

Print them yourself, or upload them to get printed somewhere else.

Voila a little ABC book.

Here are some of the pictures I am using for Smiley's book (Don't tell her):

I am LOVING this book! Hopefully she will too!

Oh, and before I forget, I am linking this post up

Here:

And will be linking it Here on Tuesday:

One more thing! Let's see if I can at least get you all to smile today:

Once again,

I was disqualified from my neighborhoods

"Best Decorated House"

contest due to my bad attitude!

*Quick disclaimer ~ no, this is not my house, but come back next week for a little holiday tour.*

2,506 reasons

Why I have not been blogging much this week.

The last two nights I have been volunteering at our church for a 3rd grade advent retreat night.  At it, the 3rd graders come to 8 different stations to do a craft that puts Jesus in perspective.

My station?  An Advent chain.  You know, a paper countdown to Christmas chain, except with things we can do for and with others listed on each slip ~ one for each day until Christmas.

What a lovely thing we can do this time of year to redirect our children's focus (at least try) away from themselves and their I wants. 

Back to the 2,506 reasons:

100 kids x 25 slips = 2500

4 sessions of kids and parents = 4

2 full evenings  = 2

= 2,506

And yes, I was lucky enough to cut out the srips for all of the kids ~ gotta love a good paper cutter!

Our weekend in Photos

After traveling for Thanksgiving, we are back and since I have piles of laundry to attend to and decorations to put out, I am going to give you a quick peek of our holiday.

We spent Thanksgiving day with both my and my husbands families.

Did some shopping on black friday.

Hit the lighted parade in the evening. My favorite part, besides being with my family, the fire from the hot air balloons... minus the balloons.  Ahhh, warmth on a chilly November night.

Hubby went hunting.

Celebrated a 80th birthday.

Good food, Family and Friends.  What more could a girl want?

I don't think so.

I went to the store the other night, to get a couple things for Thanksgiving.

When I was checking out the cashier checking customers out in the lane next to mine leaned over and said, "Has anyone ever told you you look like Amanda Bynes?"

Me: "Umm, No and I would guess I have a few years on her."

Cashier: "Well, you do and you don't have to tell people you are older than her."

I said thanks, took my items and went on my way. When I got home I was compelled to google Miss Bynes. Yep, thats who I thought she was. And nope, I'm not seeing the resemblence.



Oh, did I mention I was buying wine?

I think he must have been tasting the product!

Well at least he didn't say her (nothing against her ~ so take no offense!):

Hmmm, what are your thoughts?

And who have you been told you look like?