Christmas is Coming!

Ryan's "First Attempt Bow Masterpiece"

November 23, 2008

What a crazy few days we've had, but it has been great. We had Ryan's parents coming over yesterday and his grandmother and we wanted the house to look really nice so we spent a lot of time this week cleaning and getting part of our Christmas decorating done (nowhere near all of it though!). I finally had a chance to sit down and take several pictures tonight.

I got our mantle pretty much finished. The stockings for each of the kids need to have a picture added to them, and of course I've got to finish filling them, but other than that the mantle is pretty much done.

I hung a beautiful tea-light chandelier in our bathroom that Ryan's mom had given us. It is so pretty! I'm not too happy with the bow I made for it. I've never made bows before so it didn't turn out so hot, but I did use it anyways. The bow in the picture above is one Ryan did with my remaining ribbon while I was hanging the chandelier. Who knew he could make bows?! He apparently didn't either! lol Little does he know, he's going to be making my bows from now on! He has been so wonderful and helpful with all of the cleaning and decorating. Tonight he installed a new dishwasher (A "Christmas present" for me. :) ) and I'm already loving it. Our other one was just not doing the job, and I was spending as much time unloading and reloading the SAME dishes as I was doing anything else. We also got some electrical boxes and supplies tonight to have 4 outdoor outlets wired in. We've got an electrician who is going to wire them for us, directly from our meter box so that we've got more power for outdoor lights as well. I'm really wanting to get that done before Jody's kids come at Thanksgiving.

I also got my "Cooking Up Christmas" tree finished, and its got a picture below as well. I've worked a lot on my hutch just off our dining area and I've got my tea-tree up in there. It's still got a few ornaments I need to put on it but for the most part I'm happy with it as well.

I don't have garlands up on the bookshelf yet, but the Reindeer Reader's Library is very much in motion. The bookshelf picture you see is entirely Christmas books! It is one of my collections I am most proud of. On the Christmas To The Max group list I am a part of, we are in the process of doing a Secret Santa Exchange. My secret Santa sent me 4 miniature Christmas books this week. I was so thrilled with them! They're with my collection now as well.

The snowman picture is of a Lenox piece I got this year called "Sam's Soda Shoppe". It is sooo cute! I just love it. There are other pieces similar to it, I'd love to start collecting them. The butterfly tree picture is also of a Lenox piece I got. The coolest part is, both pieces are limited and numbered, and I got them for about 75% off at Marshalls this week, and there's not a darn thing wrong with them!

Better get off here for now. I need to get on in bed- Work awaits tomorrow and there's a lot of decorating to do this week as well!

Thanks for reading!!!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Reindeer Reader's Library Shelf

A One-of-a-kind Raggedy "Chloe" I got at Canton Last Month


"Sam's Soda Shoppe" by Lenox

Top of my Reindeer Readers Library Bookshelf

Our Wreath at the back door (Why its crooked in the picture, I'm not sure)

Lenox "Butterfly" Tree

Peppermint Candles by our tub

Soaps basket, featuring Ryan's bow

Our Chandelier from Ryan's parents

Our Chandelier from Ryan's parents

Another one of Ryan's bows

Dining Area Hutch

Dining Area Hutch

Dining Area Hutch

Tea Tree

Kitchen Table

Our Fireplace and Mantle

Our Fireplace and Mantle

Our Fireplace and Mantle