Slaton Christmas Blog

A Cheery Christmas Door!

2010-11-14T17:08:00.003-06:00

November 14, 2010

Last year we decided for our Christmas trip to the Gaylord Opryland, we wanted to decorate our door for the weekend. Where we live, on homecoming during football season, girls get "mums" to wear showing their school colors, hobbies, etc. and a few years ago we started having mum's made for my baby sister who is homeschooled- as door decorations for her cheerleading competitions that were out of town and required a hotel stay. So, we had the idea last year to have a Christmas Mum made for our hotel door, and I could not love it more! The photo of ours is above, and several photos of it up close and also of Tiffani, mom and dad's door mum are below.

We collected several small ornaments, 3-D stickers, and Christmas ribbons, told Hobby Lobby (because we aren't great at making mums like they are!) what style we wanted, and had them make it. It has become one of my favorite Christmas decorations ever, because its dated, and we picked out everything for them! I shopped a lot after Christmas this last year, and found lots of ribbons to have a new one made this year. I've got various styles so I'm not sure what the theme will be... Any ideas anyone?

I'm Still Here

2010-10-07T08:46:00.002-05:00

October 7, 2010

Almost a year after my last post, yes I am still here. I recently received a comment on my last post from someone named Jackie in Texas. Thank you for your kind words Jackie, and your prayers. My husband and I appreciate them very much. I too am sorry for your loss, I can not even imagine how hard it must have been to lose your baby so far into your pregnancy.

To answer your question, I disconnected somewhat last year but God still provided a wonderful Christmas for us, as you can see in the photo above with my little sister, my husband, and I. It was hard, but we are blessed, as always.

It's hard sometimes to write when your not sure what to. I love Christmas, and that's what this blog is about, but life's circumstances make it difficult to look forward to Christmas sometimes, even as much as I love it.

Just when you think your recovering it seems that there is another roadblock there to steal your joy. We found out we were pregnant again this May, and right before I started my second trimester, once again we lost our baby. The last year has been the absolute hardest of my life. I know God is still there, still listening and still working, but sometimes my heart cries out "When will it be our time?". My husband and I are both so anxious to share our world with our own family and want to expierence the joy of children. We have a wonderful support group of family and friends who are there for us constantly, praying, talking and just being there. Without God and them, I don't think we could have handled this last year on our own.

Thank you Jackie for inspiring something in me with your note. It's nice to know someone does read these posts, even if they're a year out of date, and that a stranger who doesn't know me, cares. That to me sums up the Christmas spirit, and what it should be year-round, better than any card or movie could. I do intend to post on here more frequently. I can't guarantee how often, because life is busy with family, work, and other daily randomness, but I promise, it won't be a year before my next post again.

For any of you who still follow this blog or read it, thank you as well for your continued reading and support. May God bless you richly!

Life Does Go On

2009-10-15T22:59:00.005-05:00

October 15, 2009

It has been a less than pleasant few weeks. We found out around 3 weeks ago now that our baby had no heartbeat anymore. After many tears, an emergency surgery, and a lot of asking why, life is going on. Each day gets a little easier, but things are still confusing why they happened this way.

The first few days, I was so discouraged and didn't even want to utter the word Christmas, let alone think about decorating this year. Then, I had my emergency surgery Saturday morning because I wasn't being able to miscarry on my own, and I lost too much blood. In the ER, in the middle of the night, I nearly died. It was the single most scariest moment of my entire life. It was a rough weekend, but I was home by Sunday, and had a realtization--- Yes, I had lost my baby and that was devastating. That alone should make me not want to even think about celebrating my favorite holiday in just 11 weeks. But, I quickly realized I had things to be thankful for. I had my family; my loving husband, parents, sister, and countless others who have cried and prayed with us and been there for us... And I still had my life. Something that was nearly lost. I had been given another chance. That in itself is enough to make me remember the real reason of Christmas, and why we celebrate it.

I still wish we were going to be having our baby in April, and will never understand why things happened the way they did. The one comfort I do have is that our baby is in Heaven, waiting for the day we will meet.

We always try to do projects each Christmas for families in need. This year I feel even more reason to do so. We decided tonight, we are going to send 16 childrens stockings to a missionary couple we know. They sold everything and moved to Mexico a few years ago to be missionaries. They are doing a wonderful work, and we want to be able to bless other peoples' children. These kids might not have a Christmas otherwise, and we feel like it is a way we can bless them. The picture above is the stockings we bought tonight online. I look forward to filling them over the next couple of weeks and sending them.

Doing things a little different this year....

2009-09-11T16:54:00.003-05:00

September 11, 2009

As you can tell, things have definitely changed around our house in the last several weeks. We are *finally* expecting our much awaited miracle baby! We did it all on our own (With God's wonderful and amazing help of course), without any treatments or medical intervention. It was totally unexpected at the time, and a wonderful surprise. We had a scare this past weekend, but things seem to be looking up now, and our ultrasound of our beautiful 7 week old baby is above. Thank you all so much for your prayers these last couple of years. It's been a crazy but wonderful ride.

With this awesome new addition, comes some change for Christmas and the holiday's around here. I'm going to cut-back on how much decorating I do this year, because I'm not going to be able to throw around tubs and trees like I normally do. Ryan is more than willing to do box movign and lifting, but I just don't think I'll have the energy for that many trees. But, I plan on spending that time working on other fun easy-to-handle stuff around here and enjoying being with family.

I am most definitely going to do a Baby tree though, and will still do our main "Close Knit Family" tree. Everything else is still up in the air. We'll just have to see! I couldn't be happier though, to be decorating less for such a wonderful reason. A lot of family and friends have suggested in my free-time on the weekends when I can't do much outside/a lot of stuff inside, to scrapbook. I will probably become well-aquainted with my scrapbooking supplies again over the next several months.

Another fun thing I am planning on doing is my Christmas dollhouse. It's awesome because I can add-to it without any fear of "doing too much"... I can sit at the bar and work on it a little at a time without worry! I will probably start buying new things to add to it soon, and get Ryan to get it out of the closet for me over the next month or two.

Christmas Scrapbooking!

2009-08-17T20:50:00.006-05:00

August 17, 2009

I have had such a fun time the last couple of evenings. I've been working on digital scrapbooking. I never really got into it before, although I love regular scrapbooking. Digital scrapbooking always seemed kind of like "cheating" to me... But, I've done several pages the last couple of nights, and love it! I bought some cool tempaltes, and had some friends pass on some awesome templates to me, so I've been working like crazy! Several smaller versions of the pages I've done are below. You can click on them for larger views. It's really fun, and is a little less stressful than regular scrapbooking. I'm one of those people who loves being crafy, but sometimes don't feel like I'm too great at it, as much as I would like to be.

Tomorrow Ryan and I are taking Tiffani to see the Disney Christmas Carol train in Dallas. I can't wait! I think it will be so fun. I'm sure we'll take tons of pictures, and of course, more new stuff to scrapbook with!

Whimsical Christmas Table & Chairs

2009-08-12T22:29:00.005-05:00

August 12, 2009

I had found a table and two chairs last week at a local antique mall, and initially didn't buy it. But it bugged me all weekend, and I decided I would go back and buy it this week. I am SO glad I did! There's just something about it that makes me smile. I plan to replace our breakfast table with it each Christmas. I've attached several pictures below in case anyone wants to try their hand at painting their own table or chairs.

I also plan on doing a feature sometime in the next few days, of some wonderful handpainted chairs I've found from fellow bloggers. I wish I had the talent that they do, but unfortunately I don't! Thats okay though, I'm thrilled with the pieces I got today! :)

Catch Doc and Max in the picture there? :)

Happy Anniversary!

2009-08-10T09:12:00.003-05:00

August 10, 2009

In celebration of the One-Year anniversary this week, of Slaton Christmas, I am giving away Christmas signature tags! I've got 5 choices below, and you can pick one, or all of them! :)

All you have to do is, either email me or leave me a comment on this post, telling me which tags you want (Tag numbers are BELOW each tag), and what you want them to say, and an email to send them to you! Please be patient with me and I will get them out to everyone as soon as I possibly can.

Thank you all so much for your support, comments, and fun times this last year!

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Christmas In August!

2009-08-09T18:08:00.003-05:00

August 9, 2009

Can you believe it? I'm actually posting! :) I know you all thought I disappeared, but I haven't, I'm still here! It's just been a crazy and bsuy few months, full of work, vacationing, and working around our house.

We have been trying to get flower beds put in, and lots of fun stuff like that, so this summer's kept me really busy. I plan to be back for a while now though, working on Slaton Christmas as much as possible, and hope to see lots of you here enjoying new ideas and adding your input too!

I started thinking today, and planning for the events I want to try and fit in this Christmas season. I'm hoping if we plan it now, we'll be able to stick money aside, as well as schedule time to go see everything.

If your not sure what all is going on in your area around Christmas, the easiest way to find out is go to a site similar to google.com and type in Christmas events near ___wherever you want to go___.

So, here is what I am trying to fit into our schedule and what we want to see this Christmas Season:

1. Nashville Christmas @ the Gaylord (Rockettes, Charlie Brown ICE! and more...)

2. Christmas at the Dallas Arboretum

3. Christmas @ The Gaylord Texas

4. Santaland Lindale

5. Athens Christmas Land of Lights

6. Zilker Lights in Austin

7. Jordans Plant Farm

8. Trans Siberian Orchestra

9. Holiday In The Park 6-Flags

10. Schlitterbahn Country Christmas

That may not sound like much but its spread all over the state (Not to mention all the way to Tennessee.) so it takes some planning to see when we can go and when we'll have time. We love to do weekend trips, and most of whats on the list, we could leave on Friday evening and come back Sunday night and easily fit a lot of it in. We'll just see how much we can fit in! :)

I'm Back! :)

2009-04-18T10:09:00.005-05:00

April 18, 2009

I'm sorry it has been so long since I posted any updates here! Life has been crazy, and I just haven't had the time to post as much recently. But, have no fear, Slaton Christmas is still up and running and full of ideas for wonderful Christmas time celebrations. I had an idea this week for a new Christmas tree theme. This year I am going to do an Italy tree. Grapevines for garland, use my Italy ornaments and my ornaments that Ryan's mom gave me of the different fountains and Italian landmarks. I can't wait!

Below is a neat survey I found online, I thought it would be fun to post. Feel free to copy it and send it to your friends as well!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like bags, because I can't wrap real well, but I love wrapped presents under the tree. Ryan is a great wrapper, he does most of our actual wrapping.

2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually I start a few weeks before Thanksgiving. I do several trees, so its a pretty long process.

4. When do you take the tree down? January ideally. This year, February because we were so busy.

5. Do you like eggnog? Not really.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmm tough question. There were so many favorites. Probably though, my Belle Barbie doll, from Beauty and the Beast. My star too, but I was in high school, so I don't consider that a childhood gift.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Ryan

8. Easiest person to buy for? Tiffani

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I do. I've got a beautiful "fancy" one Ryan's parents gave us the first Christmas we were married. I've also got some small ones I've collected.

10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail them.

11. Worst Christmas gift ever received? I don't think I've ever received a bad gift. One Christmas, my mimi gave me a pearl necklace (real pearls) she had gotten free from a credit card comany as a "Thank You"... At first I was kind of disappointed she had gotten something free then gave it to me as a gift for Christmas. BUT- Those pearls soon became one of my favorite elegant pieces of jewelry, and to date are the only piece of jewelry I received from my mimi, so they are now a treasured item for me.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and the American Girl movie, about Samantha. Such a good holiday movie!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Start shopping? More like when do I STOP shopping. lol

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mom's turkey and dressing.... Makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

16. Lights on the tree? White usually, but I liked multi color too.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Deck The Halls.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? "Home"- One of our parents/grandparents houses.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I think so... Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Cupid, Comet, Blitzen, Donder.... is that all of them? I'm still half asleep this morning, give me a little break.

And The Winner Is......

2009-02-08T10:30:00.002-06:00

I apologize for the delay in posting the Giveaway winner. It has been a crazy few weeks! I came home from our cruise and was sick with the flu and it seems like life hasn't slowed down since then!

I did notify the winner, and ther Stocking is on the way to her now- But for those of you waiting I wanted to let you know who the winner was. It was Sharon, comment number 7! Thanks so much for all your comments, compliments, and ideas! I appreciate you all reading and enjoying the Christmas season with me!

New ideas for Christmas 2009 will be coming, but I am splitting my time between Slaton Christmas and my personal blog Faith Amore right now. :) If you don't see anything here, hop on over to Faith Amore, and you'll probably find me there! :)

Slaton Christmas Give-Away!

2009-01-03T22:30:00.004-06:00

January 3, 2009

I thought I would start off the New Year with a Christmas Give-Away!

I want your opinions! All you have to do to be entered to win is leave a comment on this post, and tell me what you most liked about Slaton Christmas in 2008, and what you would like to see more of at Slaton Christmas in 2009! The winner will win a Christmas Stocking filled with Christmas themed goodies, and your comments will help me know what my readers want to see more of!

If you would like to gain a second entry into the Give-Away, post an additional comment showing me where you linked to Slaton Christmas and your name will be entered again!

Please be sure when leaving your comments that you leave me an email or some way of getting in contact with you, in case your the winner!

The deadline is January 15th 2008! I will announce the winner here!

New Blog Design!

2008-12-29T09:56:00.004-06:00

December 29, 2008

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, you've probably noticed, it has a new layout as of this morning!!! Michelle at Shabby Creations had a layout that was perfect for what I had been looking for. I get bored over time with old layouts, but I think this one is a keeper! It has that Victorian and Shabby Chic look that I'm really in love with right now.

I also made another addition. I want to post my decorations of my other seasons decorating, our travels, etc, but this blog is dedicated to my Christmas decorating. So, I now have a new blog! I'm sure I will be updating it more often than Slaton Christmas in the next few months, but have no fear, I will keep new ideas coming and keep searching out cool Christmas things, but in the mean time, I will also be keeping up with other holiday's and the life of Heather and Ryan at my new blog. Michelle did a great layout for it as well. To visit my new blog, Faith Amore, go to: http://faithamore.blogspot.com/

I always appreciate your comments, so please let me know what you think of the new layouts!

Shabby Creations

2008-12-28T23:13:00.004-06:00

December 28, 2008

I was looking for a new template for my blog tonight, which I've been doing for a while, but haven't found one that just "hit" me yet. But, what I did find tonight was absolutely amazing! There's a lady named Michelle at a place called Shabby Creations (Click the image above or go to http://shabbycreations.blogspot.com/ to view her designs) who does amazing work! I knew instantly when I saw her designs that I was done looking for a template designer, I had found mine!

Check out her blog and see what she has to offer, there is some great stuff there! She is even giving away blog templates this month as well! Be sure and get over to her site before Jan 3rd!!

New Tree for Me!

2008-12-28T20:07:00.003-06:00

December 28, 2008

We made it home from Shreveport earlier today, and when we got home we both took a long nap! lol It's been such a long few weeks with get-togethers and last minute preparations, etc. It was so fun decorating so much this year. With the TSO show being our last "Christmas Event" for this year, I was almost sad to see it go. I think I had been leaning heavily on my Christmas decorating and planning to keep my mind off not being able to get pregnant yet. We had such a good time at Christmas, and Ryan was such a wonderful husband helping me with everything. I enjoyed the nights with mom and Tiffani helping me with trees and dollhouses. We are going on a cruise in a couple of weeks, to Mexico. I think that will probably help a lot with the fertility frustrations...

Today when we were in Shreveport, we went to Target so I could pick up a Champagne colored tree I had found there last week and passed up- For my new teal and copper theme I want to do in Christmas 2009. While we were there I saw some really cute Valentines decorations. I've never decorated for Valentines Day but it was so cute. It made me go back to that episode of Jon and Kate Plus 8 that we saw where Jon and Kate had made heart shaped pancakes for their kids breakfast on Valentines Day etc... I just can't wait until we have our own children and celebrate holiday's with our kids. I know Ryan will make such a wonderful father, and I hope to be a good mother one day. My parents have been the best example that parents could be I think. Sometimes the chance to have children seems so far away for us. I just hope our kids understand one day how much we went thru to get them here, and how much we loved them, before they were ever brought into existence. It sounds crazy to some I'm sure- but I already love them with all of my heart and would do anything to protect them and keep them from harm's way.

Somehow when I sat down to write about my new tree it turned into a baby post... I would apologize about that, but, that's part of our lives right now, and I'm okay with that. Sometimes it just feels good to write what your feeling. We talk about it at home all the time, but writing the frustrations does something different. Not sure what. Maybe its a mental cop-out.. dunno. But hey, it works. :)

More to come...

*Heth*

Back from TSO!

2008-12-28T08:03:00.003-06:00

December 28, 2008

We got to go to our first Trans-Siberian Orchestra show last night in Bossier City, LA. Wow, it was amazing! If you ever get the chance to go to one of their shows, RUN!!! lol We had bought tickets a few months ago, thinking we would be sitting on the floor, but close to the back of the arena. When our tickets came we saw they were in section 2. We ended up being 12th row! It was great. They put on such a good show. We had been there a little over an hour, and they did what seemed like a finale. But, they were just getting warmed up. We ended up being in there another hour and a half, and that part of the show was even more outstanding than the first show. I would definitely love to go each year to see them.

I wasn't able to take any pictures. :( They weren't allowing cameras in. Tiffani managed to take her small camera in, but I don't know yet what kind of pictures she got. I will post any as soon as I get them though.

We went shopping on the Boardwalk last night afterwards and that was fun. I got some good stuff at the Farmer's Almanac store there, lots of after-Christmas finds. Ryan also got me the two coordinating train pieces to my Jim Shore train engine he got me for Christmas. they are sooo cute! I can't wait to use them for a centerpiece next year! Their so cute I hate to put them away for the rest of the year. Maybe I'll find somewhere to display it and not put it away. lol We've been looking at getting a curio cabinet. Maybe I can manage a couple of year-round Christmas shelves in it.

I guess I better stop rambling for now-- Breakfast should be here any minute at the hotel, so I need to put the computer away!

Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive,

Heth

Day-After Christmas Shopping!

2008-12-26T19:07:00.002-06:00

December 26, 2008

Well..... Needless to say I do NOT need anymore Christmas decorations. Actually, truth be told, BEFORE today, I did not need more decorations. But, that didn't stop me! lol I got up about 6:00am this morning and headed to Wal-Mart for the first of many stores Day-After Christmas sales. I got quite a few things there, including several new trees. All pre-lit, woohoo! No more stringing lights for me! I got a 5 ft black tree that we're going to do a black and gold theme with, a 4 ft. blue tree that is going to be used for a Winter silver and blue theme, a 6.5 ft. white tree that I am going to do a Beach theme tree with similar to Tiffani's, and a 6.5 ft. green tree just-because... And who could forget, a 4 ft. purple tree. :) Not to mention several smaller trees, for above the cabinets, etc. this coming year.

We found some cute Annalee's at Dillards, and went to Target, Kohls, Michaels and Marshalls. Marshalls had the best deals of all in my opinion! They're Christmas decor was marked at least 50% off, then, they took an additional 50% off the clearance price! It made everything so cheap.

The Tahoe was loaded so full you could not fit one more thing behind my seat or Ryan's, all the way to the back! lol So, we got home and unloaded it all so I could start sorting it. Ryan was so helpful to me today. He is such a wonderful husband and so supportive of my Christmas addiction. :) I've attached some pictures below so you can get an idea of what all we fit into the Tahoe! Crazy huh? lol The sacks are ornaments we've yet to sort. We go see the TSO tomorrow in Louisiana, so i probably won't finish sorting it all until at least Sunday afternoon when we get back.

*Hugs*

Heth

Christmas at Mom and Dad's

2008-12-26T18:10:00.002-06:00

December 26, 2008

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and Tiffani. We had a great time. I got in the kitchen and helped mom and Tiffani cook, and then we watched a couple of movies, one being Christmas Cottage, the story of Thomas Kinkade. It was wonderful! I suggest it to anyone who likes Thomas's work, Christmas Movies, or just a good all-around family movie with a Christmas air to it.

I love Christmas and as you can tell by my posts here, I spend much of the year preparing for it, because it has always been such a special time to me. We had really wanted to have our first child by this Christmas, or at least be pregnant by Christmas. We've been trying for about 16 months now, and after a corrective surgery and many months of doctors and treatments are seeing a new specialist next week. We had prayed that we would be pregnant by now, but we are still waiting on our miracle. Also, I have received several comments and emails from many friends and readers over the last few months and I want to thank you for all of your compliments and prayers for us.

So, in saying that, I had in the last couple of weeks dreaded Christmas a little... My brother and his wife are expecting, and it seems like everyone we know is expecting or just had a child. But, our family really helped make it a wonderful Christmas and helped me get my mind off of the fact that we weren't pregnant.I felt just like a kid again. One of the first packages I opened was a 25th Anniversary Cabbage Patch. She is so adorable. Cabbage Patches were my favorite toys when I was a girl. I always had one toting it around. I also got a Molly American Girl doll, another character that I loved when I was a girl.

Talk to you all soon!

*Heth*

Me with my Cabbage Patch Kid

Ryan opening his new Tackle Box

Tiffani with her two new American Girl Dolls

Ryan and Tiffani at Mom and dad's earlier in the week when our brother's were over

Mom opening a gift, a beautiful ring from Dad!

Dad with his gifts and handing out gifts from under the tree.

Christmas At Home

2008-12-26T18:00:00.002-06:00

Our cat peaches, hopping in one of Ryan's open boxes.

December 26, 2008

Christmas Eve night when we got home from mom and dad's house Ryan and I opened our gifts to each other. I am so blessed to have the wonderful husband that I do. I cried with everything I opened, in a good way!

I got a gorgeous stained glass, and two Jim Shore figures, my favorite of the two is the one called "The Real Meaning Of Christmas" with Santa praying at the manger. He also got me a really special surprise- Custom made earrings. When we got married, he had 3 gem stones from when he was a boy. He had gotten them from a jewelry store "Christmas Tree" while he was there with his dad, and he said he knew he would always use the stones for a wedding ring for his wife. Well, when we got engaged, he had taken the largest stone, a diamond, and had it put into the center stone section of my wedding band. This year, our second Christmas married, he had the other two stones made into stud earrings for me. It was so special. I bawled like a baby! lol

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is blessed in the coming new year!

*Hugs*

Heth

Ryan with a gift

Me with my "Real Meaning Of Christmas" Figure

Christmas at Grandma's

2008-12-26T17:53:00.002-06:00

December 26, 2008

We spent Christmas lunch and afternoon at Ryan's Grandma's and with his family. We had a good time seeing everyone. As usual, the deocrations were beautiful. The candleholder (above) is one that Ryan's uncle did.

I got some great Lemax villages and village pieces from Ryan's parents for Christmas, yay!! More to add to my village collection. I also got the most adorable gingerbread lady pot holder and cup towel set, along with a beautiful Painted Pony Carosel horse. :)

Below are a couple of pictures from our Christmas lunch!

*Hugs*

Heth

Ryan opening gifts from his parents

Ryan's parents opening their gifts.

Christmas Trees @ Gaylord

2008-12-26T17:47:00.005-06:00

December 26, 2008

We made an evening trip to the Gaylord Texan to see the lights, ice show and trees there. It was so pretty! I think I liked the Gaylord Opryland better, but everything was still amazing! I've attached several pictures below. Enjoy!!

Christmas at Ry and Heth's

2008-12-20T00:16:00.002-06:00

December 19, 2008

Tonight we had our Christmas with my brothers and their families, Tiffani, and my parents. We had a good time. We ate Mexican food, then played some Christmas games with the kids, and they had such a good time. After we played games, the kids opened presents, and finally, we decorated cookies!!

After our date night this week, I told Ryan I bet the kids would really enjoy getting to decorate cookies. So, I worked last night and this morning making several dozen cookies and getting sprinkles, food coloring, and icing to decorate them tonight. The kids did so good! We also picked them up all aprons tonight, which is what they're wearing in the photo above. They had such a good time and we enjoyed doing it with them. I've got a ton of pictures from tonight, but I only posted a few. By the time everyone left it was so late, I didn't feel like editing all of them. I'll post the decorated cookies later this week, they were all very creative!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

Heth

My sweet Ryan in his "crown" he got out of a Christmas Cracker

L-R Bryson, Haley, and Conner

Danielle and Tiffani

James Michael

Conner

Braxton

Abby

Cookie Making Date Night

2008-12-17T21:46:00.003-06:00

December 17, 2008

Sometime about 3-4 weeks ago, we were laying in bed about to go to sleep and Ryan suggested we go on a date one night. This isn't odd for us... We're newlyweds, and go out to eat or to the movies, and do things that you could call a date all the time... But, the date night he wanted was what was so special and sweet to me.

He asked me if we could make sugar cookies from scratch one night and decorate them and the whole nine yards. Of course I loved the idea and said absolutely! :) So tonight, we got in the kitchen and made some yummy sugar cookies and decorated them with icing and sprinkles. We didn't make our own icing, but we did color it ourselves. I made green and Ryan made red. He was kind of upset at first because he mixed some blue with it and it made more of a burgundy than a bright red icing, but I told him it looked great. :)

We had such a fun time making them, and no, I don't think we're ready to open a cookie store yet, but we had a great time and it was so much fun to get in the kitchen and make homemade cookies with my husband. I did manage to snap a picture of him working the mixer. It is so cute. I was going to take it candid style but he turned and smiled right about the time I took it. lol Isn't he just dreamy? ;)

I think we're going to make another big batch tomorrow night, and use cookie cutters on some of them, and leave them undecorated and Friday night when my brother's and their kids are here, let the kids decorate some cookies. I think they would have a blast doing it.

*Hugs*

Heth

Christmas Villages, DONE!

2008-12-16T12:58:00.003-06:00

December 16, 2008

So we FINALLY finished all of the villages on Sunday! Tiffani came and helped me and was a lifesaver. We ended up with a total number of 117 villages. I was shocked it turned out to be that many. I am so happy with how they turned out!!! Below are pictures of the villages from each side, and I've put the ones we put up a few weeks ago on this post to too so everyone can see the entire display all in one post.

*Hugs*

Heth

Victorian Splendor

2008-12-16T12:46:00.003-06:00

December 16, 2008

I finished my Victorian Splendor Tree Sunday night. Originally I had planned to do a 6ft tree in our bedroom sitting room, but this year I ended up doing my 4ft pink tree on our dresser as the Victorian Splendor tree.

I found a beautiful Vintage Tree Skirt (close-ups below) at Goodwill last week and I just had to use it for my skirt. I thought it was so pretty and unique. I was thrilled with it, for $3.99. I didn't know what to use for filler, and I wanted it to be "unique and romantic" since it was Victorian... So I took several roses I had dried over the last year that Ryan had given me, and I put them in different sections of the tree.

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Dollhouse Completion for 2008

2008-12-16T12:34:00.003-06:00

December 16, 2008

Along with the other work this weekend, we put the finishing touches on the Christmas Dollhouse for this year. I don't have a "family" for the dollhouse because I haven't found anything I'm really in love with yet. I may keep looking for them, and for a living room sofa set, but other than that I think we've put the finishing touches ont he house that we want. I changed the top room in the dollhouse to a "wrapping room" and put wrapping paper on the table and floor, to seem as if the mother of the house had been busy at work decorating and wrapping.

I'm very happy with the end result. I can't wait to collect and add more to it, but I am very happy with the way it turned out for this year's display.

*Hugs*

Heth

Piano Recital and Decorating

2008-12-16T12:16:00.005-06:00

Tiffani at her Piano Recital

December 16, 2008

Saturday we had Tiffani's piano recital to go to. She did such a good job! I snapped a few pictures while she was playing. They had a nice setting in front of the Christmas tree, so it made a good picture.

We worked all day Sunday on decorating the outside of the house. We didn't get done, but we did make a lot of progress. Those pictures are below. It's a little fuzzy, but you can tell what we got done. You can also see lights from inside the house of the trees. That's fun too. I was glad they showed up.

I got several trees decorated this weekend, and some of my miscelaneous decorating I put in this post. My other trees will be in their own individual posts. I did the two Heth's Angel's trees with the ornaments all of the kids had made. They are very home-made looking, but they're fun, and I like them. I can't wait until the kids all come over Friday and see their trees and ornaments displayed in the Window off the den.

I also put together a 3 ft. paper tree, that I put on my desk area with all of my crafting supplies. I thought it was a nice touch to the area, and theme-fitting for the area too. I am going to try my hand at origami and do some hanging doves from the cabinet above it, and maybe some snowflakes. That is, if I get time this week with everything else.

Yesterday we went out to eat for Dad's Birthday, then tonight we're going to Family Night at the nursing home, where Tiffani is going to play piano for mimi and the other guests there tonight. Tomorrow night is free, but we've still got things to do, and Thursday night we're watching Tiffani while mom and dad go out for their Anniversary. We may do some ornament work then, but we'll just see. We're probably going to take her bowling that night too, so it depends on what we have time for after that. And, then Friday Michael and Jody come in with their families for Christmas. We're opening at our house on Friday and at mom's on Saturday. We will still do a traditional Christmas Eve at mom and dad's next week too, but that will just be Ryan and I with mom, dad and Tiffani because Michael and Jody don't come down on Christmas Eve anymore since they live away with their families.

My Beadazzled tree is also below. This tree is actually about a foot tall, but I love it because of the Jawa Ryan put with it. lol He's so funny. It's so fitting too, because Ryan loves Star Wars so much. It's cute, and added Ryan's own little touch to the Christmas decor.

Enjoy the pictures!

*Heth*

Dining Room Centerpiece. I keep this one simple, because the cats tend to jump on this table easily.

My crystal candleholder Ryan bought me last week. Isn't it pretty?

Our dining room Chandelier with a little Christmas added to it.

My paper tree

The Nativity on our Christmas Bookshelf

The Back of the house (we enter thru the back, so this is where we decorated)

Some pieces I added under Ryan's Woodlands Tree

Our back deck (with all the junk still on it! lol)

Tiffain playing at her recital.

Tiffani again, after playing.

Bedazzled Tree and Ryan's Jawa

My two Heth's Angel's Trees

Bedazzled Tree Minus Jawa

More Christmas Cards we've received

Mickey's Magic Christmas

2008-12-16T12:08:00.003-06:00

December 16, 2008

It's been a crazy few days and I'm just now getting a chance to post pictures from this weekend's decorating. We decorated just about all weekend and Tiffani had a piano recital we went to, before having a wonderful date night on Saturday. We went to see Four Christmas's. It was so good! Perfect blend of Christmas, humor, and romance. :)

We worked Friday night on the Mickey's Magic Christmas tree. It turned out pretty good I think. I don't think it's my favorite tree this year, but this is the tree my nieces and nephews will open from underneath, and they love all the Disney Characters so that will be good I think. We put the Disney train under it, but the area isn't quite big enough to run the train so it will be stationary for now. I look forward to collecting more Disney ornaments to fill it with next year. That was my only requirement on this tree. Besides my gold palm leaf type filler you can see (because the tree was a really thin one, come to find out when I took it out of the box) everything on the tree including the Christmas balls are Disney. I collected a lot of them on our trip to Disney World last year.

I may be adding more to it over the next few days, but these are my pictures of my last work on it.

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

Heth

Christmas at Mimi's

2008-12-16T11:35:00.003-06:00

Tiffani and Mimi with Mimi's Christmas Stocking

December 16, 2008

Tiffani and I went last week to the nursing home to decorate Mimi and her roommate Mrs. Baker, a Christmas tree each. We had such a good time! They loved it! We did a Santa Tree for Mimi and a Snowman tree for Mrs. Baker. Then we put up their stockings and of course, Santa had them stuffed for both of them. We took some pictures and I wanted to share them with everyone. :) It was a really good time, and reminded me of when I was a girl and helped put up the tree at Mimi and Pawpaw's house.

*Hugs*

Heth

Mimi with her Stocking

Tiffani giving Mrs. Baker her stocking

Mrs. Baker with her stocking

Tiffani working on Mrs. Baker's tree

Mimi's tree, village, and elf!

Mimi and Mrs. Baker's stockings

Mrs. Baker's Snowman tree

Candy Cane Lane

2008-12-11T18:50:00.002-06:00

"Candy Cane Lane" Tree

December 11, 2008

I worked this afternoon for a good while after work on my "Candy Cane Lane" tree. Tiffani came up to see it and ended up helping me finish decorating it. We got it done in half the time with her on one side of it and me on the other, decorating and making sure everything was evenly distributed. It turned out soo full. I wasn't expecting that at all. Originally, I planned to use a pink tree, but I just didn't like it. Earlier this week I had bought a red tree and I ended up using it. I love how it turned out. Ryan came in the den and goes "Whoa. It's red. It's busy". LOL But he liked it too. Red is his favorite color, so I knew I couldn't go wrong with it.

The tree is in our den, above our entertainment center. This is next to our fireplace as well, and the colors all matched so well. This makes Tree #9 for us this year. I've still got so many trees I would like to get done. I want to do the Disney tree, my Heth's angels tree- this one should be very simple. It's decorations done by Tiffani and my nieces and nephews, a Victorian tree (which is what I may use the discarded Pink Tree for now.-- Maybe one day a Shabby chic tree from this tree? Hmmm), and the Nascar tree. So, my plate still looks to be pretty full of decorating, but that's okay I wouldn't have it any other way. Just gotta get it done before Christmas. lol Next year, I'm starting way earlier. :)

Supporting the Economy, One Tree at a Time,

*Heth*

Three New Trees!

2008-12-10T20:26:00.005-06:00

December 10, 2008

I got industrious tonight. lol I didn't have the energy to drag out a big tree and begin decorating it , so I decorated above the cabinets where our Christmas Cards are displayed. (Although I've got to do one more big one, to put all of our "extended family" gifts under. )Under our "Close Knit Family" Tree are gifts for/from Ryan and I, and the gifts for Tiffani. She always does an opening with us too at some point, besides our "family" night. The other tree is our parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews gifts. We open on different nights with them, so its easier to put up two big trees and make sure the gifts are split. Keeps us from getting confused and giving out gifts we intended to open another night.

So to what I got done tonight... I added 3 new trees (all about 2 1/2-3 feet, but trees none the less) to our Christmas decorations, and the worst (or best? lol) part is that these were not trees that were on my list of themes for this year. It's good that I had the trees to do it. But, at the same time, that means I still have several trees I need to do! lol

You may remember a post a few days ago showing my cabinet with our Christmas cards on it. Well, tonight I stripped all the decorations off the top of that cabinet (which has a little over 3 ft. tall space to use for decorating) and put up my "North Pole" and "Toy Shop". Oh it was so much fun. I had such a good time doing it.

First, I put up my large Annalee Santa and Reindeer then I added a tree there to make my Santa's workshop. I had my "worker mouse" with his hammer and wood, and my large green elf up on a ladder adding decorations. This whole section I did with Annalee mouse dolls and ornaments, and some elves on ladders ornaments. I also added on the other side of it, Santa reading the naughty and nice list, and my Annalee Penguin.

Then, my favorite part, I got out my American Girl dolls, Samantha and Nellie and dressed them in their Christmas dresses, added stockings to their hands (And Samantha's reindeer doll), and put them around a tree I decorated for them. I didn't get real elaborate with this tree, I just did a lot of small ornaments, and tried to keep them in appropriate size with the dolls.

After that, I moved over and did a silver, green, and red tree and made it my elf tree. I filled it it with elves and elf ornaments. I have several more elves and hope to be able to do a large elf tree next year, but this one was just right for my space this year.

I still need to add a few small things here and there, but overall I had such a great time doing this cabinet tonight, and in person I am just in love with it. I also plan to add a "North Pole" sign above the American girl dolls. If this space were a little bigger, I would've liked to have added Christmas toys and make it a real "toy shop scene". I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I have enjoyed working on this tonight!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

A from the floor view of the entire cabinet area

My Annalee elves and tree

My American Girl dolls and their tree

Elf Tree and Scene

Close-Up of my American Girl Dolls

Side-View of my Elves

Side view of Naughty and Nice Santa and Elf on the Ladder

Christmas Mice

More Christmas Mice

Santa and Reindeer

Carpenter Mouse... Isn't he sooo cute?

Snow in East Texas

2008-12-10T20:12:00.002-06:00

December 10, 2008

Can you believe it? We got snow tonight, in East Texas! That is really unheard of for us, especially in December! It started sleeting earlier, and when I went out to the barn to get some of my Christmas decorations out, it was snowing big snow flakes! As you can see, it didn't stick a whole lot on the ground, but there is more snow expected tonight, and it sure would be cool to wake up to a white-blanketed yard in the morning!

But, you know how it goes, when you never get snow, you have to run out like some tourist and snap pictures of the snow on the trucks. lol I'm almost ashamed to show my Tahoe, its so dirty! Did I mention we live on a dirt road and I'm lazy and don't wash it near as often as I should? lol The other photo is part of our back deck. The sleet and snow blew in on it so I snapped a picture of the steps too.

*Heth*

Santa's Littlest Elves

2008-12-10T08:31:00.002-06:00

December 10, 2008

Yesterday we dressed the dogs up like Santa's Little Elves for Christmas pictures. They were really unsure what the heck we were doing to them at first, but we were able to get a couple of good pictures.

Doc, is our newest baby. We got him earlier this year from my parents. He is in the top pictures. Prissy (AKA Booboo lol) is my Chihuaua that is 3. She is my little baby. She's a nut sometimes but I love her so much!

Enjoy!

*Hugs*

Heth

Christmas Park Athens: Land Of Lights

2008-12-08T18:53:00.007-06:00

Doll Display at Christmas Park Athens: Land Of Lights

December 8, 2008

Each family has traditions they always love and remember. In my family, we always made it a point to go look at Christmas lights when I was a kid. A few years ago when my husband and I were dating, during our first Christmas, his family introduced me to what is now one of my favorite Christmas events each year.

Located in Athens, Texas is Christmas Park Athens: Land of Lights. It features over 2 Million lights, countless cutouts and animated lights, numerous light tunnels, and even a small lake full of lit sea creatures and even a paddleboat! My favorite part of the park is the areas with actual glass-front buildings, loaded with Santa’s toyshop goodies, lights, and more! We’ve enjoyed it so much that we have been there twice this year.

From the second we drive in to Christmas Park Athens: Land of Lights, I feel my stomach start turning flips, excited to be there. It’s so exciting and makes me feel like a child again with ooh’s and ahh’s and saying “Oh! That’s new this year!”.

On our most recent trip there, on December 6, I took several pictures for all my readers to see. I also had the opportunity to get an E-Interview with the owner of Christmas Park Athens: Land of Lights, Garland Pool, you will find the interview below. Also, please note when viewing my pictures, some of them appear to only be partially lit- this is most likely due to the piece being animated, so the lights were caught when that section was not lit.

If you have the chance, please stop by there and see the lights! It took us about an hour to drive thru the park, but it is SO worth your time! I’ve been to many light shows and light parks, and this is by far the best!

For more information on opening dates and times, as well as directions, go to www.christmasparkathens.com.

All of my pictures of this years display can be seen at my Flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27520785@N07/collections/72157610932180330/

Interview with Garland Pool, Owner of Christmas Park Athens: Land of Lights:

1. How long has Christmas Park Athens been running? 10 Years.

2. Do you expand each year, or do you leave the displays the same? We make changes and add to the scenes each year.

3. When do you start preparing for the current years lights and Christmas decorating? We work on the park all year, add items as we prepare them, Start Oct. 1st Finalizing Scenes.

4. Do you take down the display each year, or leave it up year-round? Some we take down, big items stay up.

5.When does the actual Christmas decorating and repairing of burnt out lights begin? We add decvor as we finish new additions all year. We check lights in Oct.

6. How long does it take to decorate the park start-to-finish for Christmas? All year.

7. How many people does it take to do the decorating? This varies.

8. What is your favorite part of decorating the park for Christmas? The new additions.

9. What is your favorite Christmas decorating memory? It’s all hard work and long work, no favorites.

10. Do you have any neat stories from visitors you've had over the years? I think our website tells of a 3 legged dog and horse, an old car trying to make it up our hills , our out of states visitors and different countries visitors.

Day At The Beach Tree

2008-12-08T17:50:00.002-06:00

Tiffani's Day "At The Beach" Tree

December 8, 2008

Tiffani and mom worked this afternoon on Tiffani's "Day At The Beach" Tree. She has been collecting ornaments for months now, and finally had enough to do it. I thought it turned out so cute and they did such a good job! Tiffain had bought the pink monkey stuffed animals earlier this year for another project, and didn't need them for that project anymore, so since this was a tropical/beach theme, she used them for this tree. I loved it! The photos don't do it justice. In person it is so whimsical. :)

There is also a picture of a flamingo stocking Tiffani got and hung behind the tree to the side. My favorite is the tree skirt, which you will also see a picture of below. Most of the ornaments were found at Canton and at Marshall's and TJ Maxx. They have got such great stuff there. It is absolutely my favorite place to shop.

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Christmas Dollhouse Indoors!

2008-12-06T12:15:00.004-06:00

My Dollhouse Gingerbread Hutch

December 6, 2008

Tiffani and I worked for a long time this morning on the Christmas Dollhouse. Some of you who have been reading my blog for a while, may remember when I first started on the dollhouse a few months ago. I worked on the outside of it for a while, and got my furniture for the inside but didn't get much done on the inside. We got the Fall/Halloween house put away and got the Christmas one back out and it is on the kitchen island.

Tiffani worked today decorating the tree in the dollhouse living room, and we did garland on the fireplace, and even decorated a mini dollhouse that goes INSIDE the dollhouse! It was so fun doing it. We had a great time. Tiffani was so creative in helping me decorate it. She took mini ornaments and cut the hangers off of them and made them into knick-knacks for the nightstands, etc.

My favorite project of the day was the kitchen gingerbread hutch. I used a picture from Melody Howell, who runs Christmas To The Max Yahoo Group that I am a member, as my inspiration. She has a life-size hutch she puts gingerbread decorations on, and I wanted my miniature one to be full of Christmas like that. So I worked on it for a while adding things here and there until I was happy with it. I love how it turned out.

I'm not quite done yet, I've still got to decorate the 3 small rooms upstairs. One of them is a sewing room, one of them is kind of like another small living area, and another is an office type area, and I am going to put wrapping supplies on the table, etc. and make it like a crafting and wrapping room. Ryan's mom brought me several rolls of miniature wrapping paper a while back along with mini sleighs with Ryan and Heather written on them. I've got to put those on there, but for the most part I think I am close to being done with it for the 2008 season. I'm sure we will add lots more to it each year, but with it being my first dollhouse and first project, its taking me more time to find neat things I like for it and ideas on how to decorate it with a Christmas theme.

I would love to do for another project, a North Pole dollhouse. I think it would be os neat to do one compeltely whimsical and "magic" like. I think I'll add that to a 2009 list and be looking for items to do one thruout the next several months.

I know a lot of you reading do miniatures and dollhouses, so any tips you could give or anywhere that sells Christmas miniatures would be of great help!

Thanks for reading!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Outside of my Christmas Dollhouse

Close-Up of Gingerbread Hutch and Cooking theme Mini tree

Another Close Up of Gingerbread Hutch

Dollhouse Kitchen

Stocking in Dollhouse Bedroom at the Top of the Stairs

Mini Dollhouse in the Dollhouse Bedroom

Dollhouse Bedroom

Staircase downstairs

Living Room tree that Tiffani Decorated

Mantle, complete with Advent Calendar

Livingroom (gotta add a sofa! lol)

Dollhouse Front Yard

Back View of Dollhouse

North Pole Dust

2008-12-06T11:24:00.004-06:00

December 6, 2008

I had an idea a few weeks ago for what I like to call "North Pole Dust", just for fun. I saw the glitter first at Michael's and bought it because it was so pretty and shimmered so well. Then, we were at Ross and I found some crystal salt and pepper shakers, and they were only $5.99 so I got them, and filled them with the glitter. I plan to do a cute poem with them about sprinkling the North Pole Dust on the tree, to make it shimmer like the magic of Santa's workshop, but I don't have that done yet. As soon as I have it done, I will post it in case anyone wants to use the idea too. The shakers make pretty decorations in my hutch too, they really sparkle in the light.

Kitchen hutch Decorating and More!

2008-12-06T11:09:00.004-06:00

Our Dining Hutch Area

December 6, 2008

I'm not positive yet whether I will end up finishing all the trees I had originally planned on or not. It's been such a hectic few months with work, and my surgery in October threw me a few weeks behind because of recovery time, etc. I just don't know that I will get them all up. But, everyone I have up is finished, so if I don't I've still got 6 Trees up, and that doesn't count my smaller ones that I have spread around the house. You will see some of those below. I've found a lot of blown glass trees this year that are so pretty and I displayed them in my hutch area. It started out kind of sparce, but as you can see above, it's pretty full now. I like it though. It's a mixture of styles and colors, but its all unique pieces that I've found and I love having this kind of area to display them.

I've also got pictures below of when we caught our cat Peaches under our "Close Knit Family" Tree earlier this week. You can see she's got the tree skirt wadded up. Silly cat.

I also have been putting up my Christmas cards that we've been getting on our kitchen hutch area, which is what I use for crafting/scrapbooking, etc. It's not done yet, but I have a picture of it below too.

Last night, Tiffani came over while mom and dad went on a date and she and I made homemade pizza and then we watched Christmas movies with Ryan. This morning she and I got a lot of work done on the inside of my Christmas Dollhouse. That is for another post though. I will be posting those pictures just after this post.

Pictures are below, as always, your comments are appreciated!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Peaches under our "Close Knit Family" Tree

A cute floral arrangement Ryan picked out

One of my blown glass trees
A Santa I found at Goodwill for 49 Cents

My Annalee Santa and his sled, deer, and tree :)

Our Christmas cards from 2008 so far

My new "Other" Kitchen Tree. I found it at Goodwill for 1.99

Diva Tree

2008-12-03T04:46:00.001-06:00

December 3, 2008

Tiffani had music lessons today in and after music we found the cutest teal pre-lit tree that is almost 3 feet tall, and it is the exact color of Tiffani's new Cheer Team colors. It was adorable! So we got it, and got some ornaments. We're still going to look for some stars to put on it since her team is called the "Silver Stars" but other than that we got it pretty much finished this evening. She was so excited and we had a great time doing it.

We took teal, white, and navy curling ribbon and made streamers on the tree then Tiffani made a bow for the top of teal ribbon, and then we used several shatterproof ornaments to make a Christmas ball topper.

'Tis The Season for Fun and Family!

*Heth*

Start A Tradition...

2008-12-02T15:36:00.002-06:00

Our 2008 "On The Road Again" Travel Tree

Reading this, you may already have a family full of already established traditions. Or you may be looking to start your own. Either way, I think it is always fun to hear about traditions, even if it’s something our family doesn’t adopt that season, or even if it’s a tradition we already have, maybe someone else has a new twist on it.

A tradition Ryan and I started almost 2 and a half years go after we had just been dating a few months, was to collect a Christmas ornament everywhere we traveled to. If your not a big traveler, you could collect one for special outings you have, or field trips your kids take with school groups. Most places that feature souvenir or gift shops of any sort, carry Christmas ornaments most of the year. If we tour or visit a place that doesn’t have Christmas ornaments, or don’t have them during the season we visit, we will find something as close as we can get, and use it for an ornament.

For example, we went last year to a Renaissance Festival that didn’t have any ornaments. So, we bought a porcelain magnet they were selling and added an ornament hanger to it, and instantly we had what looked like a professional made Christmas ornament. No one knew it was a magnet! Most of the time you can find ornaments at these shops for anywhere from $5.00 to 15.00 each, so it’s a relatively reasonable tradition to start.

We do a specific tree (right now its just a 4 footer, but we’re collecting more and more, so it may get bigger than that within the next year or two) that has all of our travel ornaments on it. We top it with a star, and I can’t help but think about that star being like the light leading the Wisemen and Shepherds from all over, to come meet baby Jesus. We’ve been all over (hence the travel ornaments) but, still the star brings us back to what it is all about and where Christmas originated, and its true meaning and celebration of Christ’s birth.

I don’t have them on mine, but a lot of ladies I know are doing paper mache type Christmas balls, with pieces of maps from places they have been, glued onto them as extra embellishments. You can also use blown glass planes and globes to add to your tree if you want more “themed filler”. The ideas are endless, and that’s what makes traditions fun and individual to you and your family.

Another fun part about it is, purchasing the Christmas ornaments on trips almost always spurs on conversation with the clerks, and with that, we usually learn some neat facts about the way that person or people in that area celebrate Christmas

Merry Christmas Ya'll! It's almost here!

*Heth*.

"Close Knit Family" Treee

2008-11-26T23:30:00.005-06:00

"Close Knit Family" Tree, 2008

November 26, 2008

I had originally planned to call our family and Hallmark ornament tree "Traditions". But, when we got to decorating it tonight and putting it up, I ended up putting a collection of miniature sweaters and stockings on the tree. And it dawned on me... This is a family and traditions tree, and I'm using the sweater collection on it. Why not call the tree something really cute like "Close Knit Family" Tree? So, the traditions tree has a new name. :) Mom came up to help me do the ribbon and filler/ting tings. I'm not good with the ribbon. It drives me nuts. Mom is amazing with it. I'm glad she came to help. It was a lot of fun. We decorated trees while Tiffani watched a Rockettes DVD, and earlier when Ryan and I were working this afternoon we turned on Christmas Carols and worked for several hours to those. It was great. :)

Ryan and I worked a long time this morning unloading boxes from the barn with ornaments and trees. I ended up getting 3 trees done today, all of which were major ones I was doing. I got the Woodlands tree done, and our Travel tree is done. I'm happy with everything so far. The Close Knit tree is my favorite though.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far and has a great Thanksgiving tomorrow! More pictures of today's decorating below. Thanks for reading!!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Close Knit Family Tree

Woodlands Tree

Travel Tree

Woodlands Tree

Christmas is Coming!

2008-11-23T22:48:00.006-06:00

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

Another one of Ryan's bows

Dining Area Hutch

Tea Tree

Kitchen Table

Our Fireplace and Mantle

More Nashville Fun!

2008-11-17T21:30:00.005-06:00

One of Santa's Elves at Bass Pro Shops

November 17, 2008

VIEW MY ENTIRE NASHVILLE PICTURE COLLECTION HERE

We are on our way home from Nashville tonight. I miss the festivities already. We went on the General Jackson Showboat for a luncheon cruise yesterday and got to see Tim Watson, a wonderful fiddle player! He did a great Christmas show and was so entertaining. Ryan, Tiffani, and I got to meet him after the show and get autographs. A picture of Ryan and I with him is below. If you ever get the chance to go to Nashville, make sure he’s going to be performing that day! It’s so great.

Ryan, Tiffani, and I went shopping afterwards (again) at Opry Mills mall. We went and took pictures of the Christmas decorations at Bass Pro Shops and the Christmas Shoppe in the mall. I found some great elf ornaments, and I am going to do a small elf tree. I’ve got a lot of work to do when we get back home! One of our last stops in the mall was Build A Bear Workshop. Tiffani made a teal bear with a Nashville shirt, and Ryan and I made a Mr. and Mrs. Claus Moose. They are so adorable! We named them Nicholas and Sarah. (What we want to name a son and daughter one day, Lord willing)

Then last night we got to see Louise Mandrell at her Joy To The World dinner show. It was good, and we got several pictures. We left before it was fully over, because Ryan and I had a massage scheduled so we wanted to get to it in time. We also took a boat tour around the hotel. It was really fun.

The luxury we experienced at the Gaylord was unmatched by anywhere we’ve ever been. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Definitely. We did not encounter one rude employee at the Gaylord, and everyone was so helpful. Even for people touring inside the hotel and not staying there, we never saw the staff acting anything but professional.

Today before leaving Nashville, we went to the Hermitage and toured the home owned by Andrew Jackson. It was a great tour, and was really special to see because Ryan’s mom’s side of the family were Jackson’s and somewhere along his genealogical line go back to Andrew Jackson’s family. I’m not sure of the relation, because Andrew Jackson had no biological children, but there is a connection there somewhere.

Our final stop on the way home, was to the Gibson Guitar Factory in Memphis, TN. We got to take a tour of the factory and see how the guitars are made. Tiffani, being a guitar and piano player loved it. She got to play piano on the Grand Piano in the Gaylord main Lobby as well. She absolutely loved it.

I’ve got a link above, but in case you didn’t see it, and want to view all of my Nashville pictures, you can do so by going to the link on the right in my link list, or by clicking the photo link at the beginning of this post.

Enjoy the pictures, and as always, please let me know what you think!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

A view of the water from the General Jackson Showboat

Ryan and I with Tim Watson, Fiddle Player on the General Jackson Showboat

A Wreath in the Gaylord Delta Hall, that I loved

Louise Mandrell Performing at the Gaylord, Joy To The World dinner

Bass Pro Shops Display

Nashville Christmas Fun!

2008-11-15T22:32:00.008-06:00

The Grinch Ice Show (Yes, that is ALL ICE!!)

November 15, 2008

We have two days left in Nashville, and I must say, this has been one of the best trips we've been on! Nothing tops our Honeymoon, and we had a wonderful Anniversary trip, but this one is right up there with those. So far, we got to see (AND MEET!) the Radio City Rockettes, attend the Grinch ice sculpture show, attend the Grand Ole Opry, view the lighting ceremony at the Gaylord Opryland, and still have two days of shows and events left. We are here with my parents and sister Tiffani, and the first night here, my dad surprised Mom, Tiffani, and I with Swarovski crystal pieces he got here at the Gaylord. Mom's was two foals (baby horses), Tiffani's was a grand piano, and mine was Winnie The Pooh. They are so gorgeous! Then today, Ryan got me a set of 3 pearl neckalces (they stagger in sizes so you can wear them all at once, I love them!!). I've got a pearl necklace from my grandmother, one from Ryan's parents two Christmas' ago, and Ryan got me a set of pearls on our Honeymoon. I guess tradition carried itself on here in Nashville. I wore them today with a Christmas sweater I got. They looked so pretty. :)

To give a brief run-down for those of you thinking about visiting the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, TN this year (or any other Gaylord, for that matter) on our first night here, we got to attend the lighting ceremony. It was great. They had a Rockabilly Christmas band there playing, an Elvis impersonator, Robin Meade (who is the host of CNN Headline News) and Louise Mandrell host the lighting ceremony. We were surprised when the Radio City Rockettes came out and did a special dance at the lighting as well! It was so beautiful to see. Being the Christmas nut that I am, it brought tears to my eyes. I turned to Ryan and said "Now THIS, is my kind of vacation!" lol

The same day, we also got to meet Christmas book author Harry B. Knights. Tiffani and I got his books and he signed them for us, and he was even nice enough to take a picture with us. One of his books, "The Boy With A Wish" is one of the only religious and Christmas themed books that is approved for both school and church children's readings. He was such a great author and wonderful to talk to. I would highly suggest to anyone looking for children's Christmas books, to look his way!

The next day we went and toured the Belle Meade Plantation. They were all decorated for Christmas, it was really pretty. I learned a lot about Victorian Christmas Tradition as well. I'll have to post when I get back home, the Christmas traditions they shared with us there. Very interesting.

That night we got to see the Radio City Rockettes. This was probably my favorite event of the entire trip so far. They were outstanding. I wish I could've taken pictures but they weren't allowed at the show. If you EVER have a chance to see the Rockettes, please do! They are so great! We also got to meet two of the Rockettes and get their autographs today. That was VERY cool. The two Rockettes we got to meet were so very sweet. They weren't uppity at all, which is nice. Usually, people with such talent and who are performers, are on the snobby side. Not these girls at all!

Today, we went to the Grinch Ice Sculpture Show. It was so impressive! It was 9 degrees in there (COLD!! lol) but they gave us Parkas to wear so we were able to keep fairly warm. All the sculptures were made of ice, and they did such a good job on them. We were told this is the last year Gaylord Hotels are hosting the Grinch Ice event, so if you can get a chance to go to one, it is VERY worth it!

We went to the Grand Ole Opry tonight. It was fun. It had a lot of older artists I didn't know, but we did get to see Diamond Rio and Jamie O'Neal, both of which I really like so that was fun.

A funny story, at supper, we had Hard Rock Cafe to eat, and our waiter was asking me why I was wearing a Christmas sweater so early in the season, so I told him I prepare for Christmas year-round, not to mention run this blog and am a member of several Christmas lists, namely, Christmas To The Max, that all have people who love Christmas year-round like me. So he goes "Well maybe I've been a scrooge then! Hang on, I'll be right back!" so he runs to a back room, and comes out with a Santa hat and puts it on so he could "Be In The Christmas Spirit too!". It was so funny! :)

I will be posting several more pictures thruout the week, especially when we get back home, but I just had to give you all an update on what had been going on this week. It has been great and I am having a blast. I'm so thankful to be here with Ryan, Tiffani, and my parents. We are having a great time and I hate to see the trip end. We've most definitely got to go back again! I would love to go see the shows in Grapevine at the Gaylord there this year too. We're not but about 3 hours from there, from home.

Please let me know what you think of the trip pictures! I've got probably 200-300 more I will be putting in a photo album soon!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Angel Ice Scuplture at the Grinch Ice Show

Nativity Ice Scuplture at the Grinch Ice Show

The Radio City Rockettes Santa

One of the lobby trees at the Grand Ole Opry House

Inside a corridor of Gaylord Opryland

Ryan and I in front of the lit tree at Gaylord Opryland

Inside a corridor of Gaylord Opryland

A beautiful sleigh at Belle Meade Mansion and Plantation in Nashville

Inside a corridor of Gaylord Opryland

Inside one of the corridors of Gaylord Opryland

Nativity and Lit Trees at Gaylord Opryland

The beautiful lit tree outside of Gaylord Opryland

Tiffani and I with the Grinch

Peter Weinen, Senior VP and GM of Gaylord Opryland, CNN Headline News Host Robin Meade, Louise Mandrell, and an elf helper.

Louise Mandrell at the Gaylord Christmas Lighting Ceremony

Radio City Rockettes at the Gaylord Tree Lighting Ceremony

Tiffani and I with author Harry B. Knights

On The Road Again...

2008-11-12T21:46:00.004-06:00

November 12, 2008

We're on the road again tonight, headed to Nashville. It will be great to have a weekend away. We're always running here and there, but its been a while since we've been on a full-out vacation. It will be so much fun. We're going to stay at the Gaylord Opryland and will get to see the Radio City Rockettes and also the lighting ceremony at the Gaylord Opryland, in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm really excited about it. I've always heard so much about the light displays they do and it will be really neat to get to see it. I won't be back home until Monday, but I will have my camera with me so I will try to post some pictures of the lights and shows.

We also went the first weekend in November, to Canton, Texas, where there is a great flea market. If you live close by or are ever anywhere near Canton on First Monday weekend, you need to go there! It's great! I found some neat Christmas ornaments there, and they had the cutest display up high on a ledge above the door going out of a shopping center there. It was such a neat scene I just had to take pictures of it to show all my readers.

There's been a lot going on lately, and I'm doing some interviews with some great people who run some great Christmas attractions, as well as some Christmas crafters who do some beautiful work, so keep a check as I will be posting a lot of new content over the next few weeks leading up to Christmas!

Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive,
*Heth*

Cute Canton Display:

2008-11-04T15:26:00.021-06:00

November 4, 2008

Today’s post is filled with my latest Christmas Trip! I’m always thinking Christmas, no matter what time of year it is. But this time of year, I really feel like the “Christmas Reporter”, running everywhere I can to find all the decorations and Christmas events that I can, because number one, I absolutely love it. Number Two, I’ve got a great group of readers and friends who want to know about this stuff too!

I made it back to Jordan's Plant Farm in Henderson, Texas today, for the first time this-season to see their trees and this years decorations. (They start in June decorating for Christmas, and finish around October.)

WOW. WOW. WOW. That's all I know to say!!! I took my camera, and took tons of pics! If you ever have the chance to go anywhere and tour trees, I HIGHLY suggest Jordan's! They are my favorite Christmas store out of all the stores I've been to (Yes, I even like them better than Decorator's Warehouse in Dallas! They're that great!).

If you’d like to see their website it is http://www.jordansplantfarm.com/. Please be patient, as there are a lot of pictures so it may take a few moments to load them all. I assure you though, they are worth your wait!

Their address is also below if you would like to visit them.

Jordans Plant Farm

7523 STATE HWY. 42 SOUTH

HENDERSON, TX 75652

800-635-1147

They had tons of great themes. You can see the pink tree below, called the “Nativity” tree. It has the angel topping it, and below her is the nativity scene, within the tree. I’ve got close ups of it as well. There were red, black and silver trees, Animal Print Trees, ANY color you can imagine! Their prices aren’t bad either! If you want custom arrangements, they’ll do those too. All in all, they’re a great store ran by a great bunch of people. If you go, you won’t be disappointed!

Enjoy the pictures!

Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive,

Christmas Spirit

2008-10-26T10:23:00.004-05:00

October 26, 2008

Some of you reading this are married, some may not be... But for those of you who are, do you remember that moment when you realized you were in love with your spouse? So in love that you wanted to run to the tallest building or the highest mountain and shout it so everyone knew? Or wanted to stop a random stranger on the street just to say "Guess what??? I just fell in love and it's GREAT!!" I remember feeling that way when I realized Ryan was "the one", then again when we got married, and I still feel that way about him now. It's being truly in love and passionate I think.

In a way, I think we as Christmas "enthusiasts" feel similar about our decorating and our special bond we have as those who do a "Year-Round Christmas" and constantly plan for our next one.

For me, yes I love the decorating and the food; and sure, who doesn't love presents? But what I love the most is family and the special times you get to share. We don't always get to have "ideal" Christmas celebrations, but even then there are memories, and ideas for what to do or not do the next Christmas.

Being raised in a Christian home I was always taught to enjoy and appreciate what I got, but to enjoy just as much giving and seeing others receive. I really appreciate my parents instilling that in me and teaching me that. I believe it has largely made me who I am today. Christmas is the most fun time of year for me, and thats probably why I enjoy preparing for it so much, all year long. It doesn't mean I have a terrible rest of the year or dislike other holiday's and seasons. I consider myself to have a wonderful life and I wouldn't change one thing about it. I have an amazing husband, an outstanding family, and I don't "need" for anything. God has blessed us richly and all I want is to be able to help pass those blessings on to others.

We usually buy for an Angel off of an Angel Tree, and for a few years we did a Girls Home project with our church, until the girls home was closed and re-located to another city. And there's even been the times when we've bought gifts for someone we thought might be in need and they showed up at that person's door without them having any knowledge of who or what did it, just that they had their own Christmas miracle in their time of need. It's in those moments when you know that you have done something good for a person, because you genuinely wanted to, not for any glory or praise, that you feel really good. It makes you smile to yourself, and know that you've made that person's day brighter and that's more fulfilling than any gift you could receive.

Sometimes, it's nothing material at all. It's listening to your heart, even when you don't understand it. This week, I did something I've not done in a long time. I went to see my Mimi in the nursing home. (Dad's mom).

Before I go any further, let me explain why this was such an oddity for me. We (my siblings and I) don't have what you could call a great releationship with either of our grandmothers. Both of our grandfathers are deceased, and it's always seemed like on both sides of the family that my brothers, my sister and I, never "add up" for our grandparents. No matter how good our grades were, how well our careers were, or that we were morally upstanding, we still weren't good enough to be part of the "inner circle" grandparents usually have with their grandkids. I married Ryan and saw a grandmother (His mom's mom) who dotes over her grandsons like they are the only people in the world. We considered it a great achievement if our grandparents showed up at a Birthday party when we were kids. Over the years you learn to ignore it, but for a sentimental softie like myself, during holiday seasons you miss that connection. I do have a few memories of Christmas time at each of my grandmother's houses. They weren't all bad, just not a lot of good memories.

Back to what I did this week- I hadn't seen my mimi in several months, because usually when I go see her she ends up telling me that I have gained a lot of weight and look worse than ever and I end up leaving more frustrated than when I came. But, I kept having this nagging feeling that I needed to go see her. Being like my mom (sorry mom, but you know its true! lol) I thought to myself "God, are is something about to happen to her and you don't want me to feel guilty for not seeing her recently?", which I hope is not the case. But, I listened to the feeling speaking to my heart to go see her. I got in the car and drove over there, and had the best visit with her I've had in years. For the first time in a really long time, she seemed truly interested in what I was doing and how I was doing. Her first question was, "Are you going to be able to have babies?". My mom had told her about my surgery and she was truly concerned over it. We talked on and I told her I wanted to bring her and her roomate each a small Christmas tree and decorate it in their rooms, and she told me how much she would enjoy that. We talked about Christmas memories and I told her about my blog.- Because this was one thing we did always do together when I was a girl. I always got to help decorate their tree when I was little. For the first time since I was a girl, I actually felt a common ground with one of my grandmothers, and felt like she really cared. It was a great feeling, moreso than any gift I could've gotten.

It really put me in the Christmas Spirit more than I already was. Sure, I'm busy decorating and have a million things to do. But, it was a special moment with a family member that I hadn't had in a long time.

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

*Heth*

Starting on My Villages

2008-10-25T16:05:00.004-05:00

October 25, 2008

Today's decorating found me on top of the cabinets working on my villages. I was SOOOO excited. Ryan helped me get all of the Village tubs out of the barn, and we got the tops of the cabinets cleaned off and started decorating. I didn't realize just how many villages I had bought this year. I am really glad though, because I'm thrilled with how it is looking so far.

Our kitchen has a ledge above it, perfect for decorating. This ledge also faces into our dining room and our living room. So, below you will see photos from each side. I am being able to do a "town" on each side.

Below are before and after pictures. Please note I am NOT DONE with the villages yet! There are cords showing in some of the pictures, and my "snow" AKA cotton batting is not fixed yet. And yes, there are still more villages to come. Ryan and I just both got worn out though and my feet were hurting from standing up there for so long! lol It has been so much fun today though and I can't wait to get them finished.

Please let me know what you think! I always love hearing your comments and ideas! :)

Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive,

*Heth*

Cooking Up Christmas!

2008-10-24T22:23:00.003-05:00

October 24, 2008

Well, my Christmas decorating for 2008 has officially begun. I am so excited! I've been working all evening getting things ready to decorate. I started in the den and cleaned it (including the carpet- Woohoo! Go me! lol) and got the mantle started on. Our elf, "Bob", brought a load of elf friends and they took over our mantle in the den and started a snowball fight. I've attached a couple of pictures below. The mantle isn't done yet, but I liked it. It makes me smile when I go in the den and see the elves being mischievous.

I also got a chance to work on my "Cooking Up Christmas" tree in the kitchen. It is a 3 foot cooking and kitchen theme tree. I have been so pleased with the little graters and miniature cookbook ornaments I have found. I am going to put some more filler in it, but other than that, I'm mostly done with it. I've got to decide what to do about a tree-skirt as well. I used my Annalee Santa and Mrs. Claus who looked to me like they had been in the kitchen, to accent. If you can't tell in the picture, Santa is holding hot chocolate and Mrs. Claus is in her Apron.

I didn't get any pictures yet, but I also worked on putting a lot of my Annalee snowmen and mice in the hutch where I usually keep my teapots. It's not finished yet, but I'm liking how its looking as well.

I'm sure I won't be finished for several days or weeks still with all my decorating, but I just had to get started on it. It was driving me crazy to have so much to do and none of it being done yet. We've still got some sheetrock to be fixed from the hurricane causing it to leak, so I'm sure after that I'll have some clean-up I'll have to do, but I'm okay with that. For now, I'm resting and enjoying progress for tonight.

Keeping The Christmas Spirit Alive,

Love Of My Life

2008-10-19T08:22:00.002-05:00

October 19, 2008

We got great news from our doctor on Friday. He said I healed up well from my surgery and can resume normal activity (I can begin some of my decorations now! yay :) ) and that we can start trying for a baby again. I was so happy to hear that.

We ended up spending the weekend in Dallas. A celebration of sorts. :) It's been a while since we just went out of town an went shopping and didn't really keep a schedule. lol We went Friday and did a lot of shopping at TJ Maxx and found several Christmas decorations. Then yesterday Ryan took me to the decorators warehouse in Dallas..... WOW. That place is the best Christmas store I've EVER been to. I didn't have my camera. I was so upset! I definitely want to come back with my camera later. It's too gorgeous to pass up coming to again. I did find an adorable pre-lit 30" tree for my kitchen tree. I was thinking about a 4ft, but I just don't have the space for that. I love this tree though. It is flocked and has miniature pinecones on it, and is prelit with red and white lights. It is really cute. We also went to 6 Flags yesterday. It was really busy so we only stayed a few hours, but we had a lot of fun. I think we're going to go shopping in Hillsboro today. I've kicked around the idea all weekend debating if I want to go or not, but its been so long since I've been, I think I'd really like to. Plus, I'm shopping for mom's Birthday gift, and I think what I am looking for I might find there. *I hope!*

So why is this post called the "Love Of My Life" you ask? Well, I'm sure if you know me and are reading this, you know who the love of my life is. If you don't, its my wonderful husband Ryan. He has taken me all over the Dallas area shopping this weekend and not once complained. He even told me at the Christmas store yesterday he was "so glad" he got to carry me thre while we were up in Dallas this weekend. He is so wonderful to me. :) I know he will make a great father one day. I hear some people say "oh I dread the day so-and-so becomes a parent" but I know Ryan will be wonderful at it. You can just see it in his eyes and in the way he talks about when we have a baby.

Well thats it for now, but I've got something else I'm sure I'll post in a little bit. It's in the works. lol

'Til Next Time,

NEW Christmas Store!!

2008-10-15T22:18:00.007-05:00

October 15, 2008

As you can tell, we had a BUSY day today! After work I was able to make it to 3 different places that had out their Christmas trees and decorations. We went to Dillards, Potpourri Housem and the newly opened Christmas Store. I've posted pictures of each place, but this post is for the Christmas Store.

They had some AMAZING trees! They also had some great Dept. 56 Villages. I found out they have a D56 Collectors club they are sponsoring. Ryan and I are planning on becoming a part of it as well.

The store was just great overall. I saw this store before it was a store-- When it was just a warehouse needing a lot of TLC. Today it took my breath away. It had trees and Santas everywhere... Ledges, walls, on the floor, on counters. They had done their trees so well, and had such interesting themes.

For the Santa collectors- they had some of the most beautiful and unique Santa's I've ever seen. They were really unique and classy. I highly suggest this store to anyone who might be near the area! They are open 7 days a week.

The address is:

Christmas Store

2822 W. Erwin St.

Tyler, Texas

Phone: (903) 526-5556

Dillards Trees

2008-10-15T22:07:00.004-05:00

October 15, 2008

After work, while we were in Tyler making our rounds, we went by Dillards to take pictures of the trees they had there. I've got to say, Dillards is really doing a good job this year with their trees! I think they're very pretty! The lighting was a little bad for good pictures, but I tried to get all I could, including close-ups of Victorian trees and Western Trees. They did have an adorable tree skirt I would like to go back and get.

This evening in Tyler, we also got a chance to go to the newly opened "Christmas Store" in Tyler today as well! I've got a TON of those pictures being posted in the next post. Too many pictures taken today to post in just one! lol

Let me know what you think! Like their trees this year?

*Hugs*

Heth

New Trees At Potpourri House!

2008-10-15T21:52:00.003-05:00

October 15, 2008

I was finally able to take my camera in Potpourri House today when mom and I had supper and take pictures of the rest of the trees they put up. The one at the top of this post is my favorite! I've also included one duplicate, of a tree I took pictures of before. This picture turned out better so I wanted to include it as well.

They have a snowman theme tree, as you can see its got Frosty with his arms extended out. There is also a white and silver theme tree that is stunning. It is just about my favorite! The prices are really good on the ornaments as well. They're competitive, and don't break the bank to buy them. But, looking at the trees you would think they cost a bundle. They're just that gorgeous.

If your in the Tyler area, please stop by and visit them! Let them know Heth from Slaton Christmas blog sent you by. They have great food, a great gift shop, and great staff. It's a restraunt and store you won't want to pass up!

I've had many inquiries of where Potpourri House is, etc. so I am putting their address and information below.

Potpourri House

3320 Troup Hwy

Tyler, TX 75701
Phone: (903) 592-4171

Website: http://www.potpourrihouse.com/

Enjoy the pictures!

*Heth*

Meet Bob The Elf!

2008-10-14T19:32:00.004-05:00

October 14, 2008

Meet the newest Elf in the Slaton Family--- Bob!

This weekend, my brother, Jody, was in with his wife and sons and they had heard the tradition of the "Elf On The Shelf", that watches to make sure children are good so Santa can come.

Well, Aunt Heth and Uncle Ryan, AKA me, had just gotten "our elf", Bob, from "Santa" so I printed out the letter from "Santa", below, along with an Elf Passport that I got from www.organizedchristmas.com and a Christmas Mailbox (picture below also), and took it to mom's house to show my nephews.

Santa is also sending them one of their very own. The boys were SO excited! They loved Bob, and kept talking about how cute he was, and how they wanted to make sure they were good so the elf could tell Santa. When they got back home Sunday night, they called me to ask how the elf had been, and if he had been good. :) They just love it.

It's a great tradition to start--- Whether you do the mailbox or not, the whole "magic" behind the elf makes the kids just love it and love the tradition!

Always,

Reindeer Readers Library

2008-10-12T22:46:00.002-05:00

October 12, 2008

I had an idea this weekend, and I got a lot of work done on it, in between Jody's boys being down for a visit. I was thinking about the things I need to do when I get back on my feet totally from my surgery, and making sure I have all my Christmas books out when I start decorating, is one thing I was thinking about.

See, I collect Christmas books. And, I've always been a book worm. So I got to thinking, what would be more fun, than to have a designated Christmas "Library" during the holiday season for Tiffani or any of the other kids to want to read from, and when we have kids, they can have their very own "Reindeer Readers Library" to read from (Or have mommy and daddy read to them from) during November and December?

Once I had the idea more concrete in my head, I got to work and made up a "Library Card", just for fun and novelty, using Tiffani as member number one. Then, I looked around online and found some neat white Shabby Chic bookcases. I found one I like, but I'm not going to purchase it just yet. I also found a great collection of Christmas books (72 in GREAT SHAPE!) for $59.00 on eBay. It was a great deal!

Here is my rough-draft plan (Please feel free to implement this into your holiday's as well if you like this idea! I can also send the blank I used for my Library cards if you'd like it, just email me @ hethslaton@hotmail.com :) )

1. Put Up Bookshelf Strictly for Christmas/Winter Books

2. Organize Books on Shelf by Age (Younger age books on the bottom, easier for little hands to get to. Keepsake and treasury books, up higher.)

3. Make Christmas Bookmarks (I've got some your welcome to use, attached below) and put in a container on the bookshelf, to keep your spot!

4. Decorate the top of the bookshelf with a "reading" theme Christmas tree. There are multiple ornaments out there depicting Santa reading (usually he's reading his Christmas list, but it still works!). For those of you doing Letters To Santa trees, you could incorporate something similar to this as well. The bookshelf should be very festive, and grab children's attention. After all, this is one "fancy Christmas decoration" that they can openly "touch" and is for their enjoyment.

My overall thoughts were, it would be fun, give me a place to put my books I've been collecting the last several years, and hey, it would be educational as well. Many of the books are based on fact, and teach reading skills, giving, life lessons, etc.

Christmas is Coming!!!

Book Cover

2008-10-09T21:23:00.002-05:00

October 9, 2008

Still not being able to do much on the house (one more week and I should get my doctors release, yay!) I played around and made a new cover for my Christmas ideas book tonight. I have a notebook that I keep my blog posts, new ideas, themes, etc. in and I decided to use the picture above as my new cover for it. I thought the picture of Tiffani in her reindeer antlers from last year was really cute.

It was so fun looking thru the pictures to put on there, even though I've seen them before. I am a picture nut anyways, but Christmas pictures always make me smile. They make me realize just how much I love my family and how much they mean to me. It always seems like there aren't enough ways to show them all how much I love them. Thats a good thing though. I think maybe that in its own way shows just how much I do love them- That I feel like I can't do enough to show them, because its so much! :)

I've been trying to find really unique ideas for Christmas this year too. I'm having a bit of a tough time. Everyone's got everything they want. Which is a blessing. But, finding something unique and that is a really "special" gift is a tough task.

My dad always gets my sister and I special gifts each year. It's always so neat. :) He gets us something really special. One year, he got us each our own star from the International Star Registry. My certificate is framed in my office. It was one of the coolest gifts I've ever gotten. Last year, he got us Journey necklaces.

Why is it men, who women think are generally terrible at shopping for women, most times get the most heartfelt gifts on those kinds of occassions?

Our first Christmas together, Ryan got me a Vermont Teddy Bear. He told me when he gave it to me, he had always heard of them and wanted so badly to have someone to give one to. So, our first Christmas dating, he got me a Christmas Caroling Vermont Teddy Bear! She is so adorable! I display her ALL year long, on our dresser in the bedroom. She's adorable.

Just writing this post has made me smile yet again. And too, almost emotional thinking about the wonderful family I have and how blessed I am. I'm close to all of my family, but Ryan, My Parents, and Tiffani hold such a special place in my heart. It's one of the best feelings, to think about how much they mean to me and how much I know they love and care about me too.

I think I'm done for tonight. I think we're about to head to bed soon. Good night!!!

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

Thank you for your prayers!

2008-10-07T18:25:00.001-05:00

October 7, 2008

I want to start off by thanking you all so very much for your prayers before, during, and after my surgery. It went great, and the doctor said they think they were able to fix the problem. Hopefully there will be a baby Slaton on the way soon!

As “get well” presents, everyone seemed to get me Christmas! Lol It was so cool. My parents came back to the hotel where we were staying after my surgery, and had brought me a Wall-E ornament for my Disney tree. Then, Ryan took me to Cracker Barrel for lunch the next day on the way home, and bought me a Gingerbread village, along with some other neat ornaments, and to top it off when Ryan’s parents came over after my surgery to see us, they brought me a Christmas book. I could not have been more excited. They were all so sweet to do that for me.

Being in bed and not being able to lift anything this weekend I got a chance to write down a lot of my tree plans. Some of you may remember my Tree Theme List. I added to that, a page for each tree I was doing, so I could get more detailed with the description, topper and skirt type, and whether or not I was done shopping for the tree. I have posted it below if anyone would like to use it. I created the template myself, and you are more than welcome to take and use it for your own personal use. (Please don’t sell it! I give it free, pass it onto anyone else you think might could use it!).

I also decided when planning my trees to do on the top of all my cabinets and kitchen overlook, to do my villages there. I have probably 70-80 villages, and this would be the perfect place for them. We were going to use them for our Toys for Tots Festival, but so far a good location for that hasn’t panned out. I sure would love to be able to do that though. I was really looking forward to it. Maybe if we can’t do it with the Rangers, we can find somewhere else to do it. I had even thought about doing it at the nursing home, where my Mimi is, because I know the people there would enjoy it. But, I’m just not positive. I’ll find somewhere to do it though. :)

Gotta run for now! I’m sure there will be much more later!

Always,

Heth

Getting Ready for Christmas Miracles...

2008-09-27T14:00:00.005-05:00

September 27, 2008

Many of you who follow my blog are Family and Family friends, and of course all of my Christmas Group Friends, so you may already know this, but the end of the week, I go to Dallas for a corrective surgery so I will not be posting a whole lot of new posts next week. I'm sure as soon as I can put a laptop in my lap, I'll be back on posting away! :)

If you don't know my story, my husband Ryan and I have been trying for our first child for over a year now. Thru a long process of testing we have found out I've got a couple of problems keeping me from being able to get pregnant. That's what the surgery is for next week. I will be home by Friday, and probably back online sometime Sunday or Monday.

A lot of you who follow my baby blog have emailed me wonderful encouraging stories of success and hope. I thank you all so much for your past prayers, and future prayers!

Our prayer is that we will be granted a Christmas Miracle from God this Christmas, with a healthy pregnancy and the expectation of our first child. That is why I posted today's header picture as a photo of a gorgeous baby in a Christmas outfit. By Christmas 2009, I want to hold that little angel in my arms and begin our family traditions and let that baby know how much God has blessed us with him or her.

Please pray with us for a speedy recovery, and that God blesses us with our miracle soon after surgery!!!

Praying and Waiting for our Christmas Miracle,

Traditions and a Book Sale

2008-09-27T12:22:00.002-05:00

September 27, 2008

A tradition I started with our nieces and nephews a couple of years ago was to get each of them a book for Christmas along with their toys, clothing, or whatever else they were getting for Christmas. It is usually a keepsake book with Christmas Treasury type stories, or something of the sort. I (and Ryan and I now since we're married) Write a note on the inside to each child, and the hope is, that in years to come they can read it to their children when they are grown.

I went looking on Barnes and Noble online this morning at different books, and they ended up having a great sale on tons of Christmas books! Their "Bargain" books are buy 2 get the 3rd free.

A few of the ones I bought are below:

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker

Bird in Santa's Beard

Christmas Carol : And Other Christmas Books

*Hugs*

Heth

A Wonderful Tradition to Start

2008-09-25T16:13:00.002-05:00

September 25, 2008

Ryan and I recently listened to an audio book called "The Autobiography of Santa Claus". You can get it in paperback as well, but it in audio form, it is formatted for listening and is split up so you could listen to a portion of it each night leading up to Christmas, in December. As adults, we thoroughly enjoyed the book and its history behind Christmas and the "legends" of Santa. It added fact with wonderfully inviting fiction and made us feel like kids again. And best of all, it was written first person, as Santa Himself.

I would suggest it for anyone to read or listen to with their kids and grandkids, and for themselves!

From The Barnes and Noble Review:

"This enchanting Christmas classic returns for a new holiday season, combining historical fact with glorious legend as St. Nicholas himself reveals the definitive story of Santa Claus. With seven centuries of holiday magic all rolled into twenty-four chapters-one for each cold December night leading up to Christmas-The Autobiography of Santa Claus is a great gift for the whole family! Author Biography: Jeff Guinn is an award-winning journalist and books editor of The Fort Worth Star Telegram. "

On Barnes and Noble's website.

Merry Christmas, All Year Long!

Love,

ANOTHER Christmas Dollhouse!

2008-09-21T21:42:00.004-05:00

September 21, 2008

If you've read my blog before, you probably know I am working on doing a Christmas Dollhouse. And today we also received a Halloween Dollhouse from my mother-in-law. While we were visiting she showed me a Victorian dollhouse she was wanting to get rid of, and I ended up taking it home and we are going to do my sister, Tiffani, her very own Christmas Dollhouse. I think it is so beautiful and they did such a good job on it! It's even landscaped!

I've already got a lot of extra pieces from my house, so she's got a good start on it. She was so excited when I called and told her about it, and then when we got home and she saw it, I think she was even more excited. I'm glad. :) I enjoy doing that kind of stuff and when she came up and helped me with mine a few weekends ago, we had such a good time. Now we can do this one together too. In case you don't notice it, she and I are extremely close; which is exactly how sisters should be. She's the most awesome kid there's ever been. :)

Picutres of the new, undecorated house below. Enjoy!

'Til We Meet Again,

Spooky House

2008-09-21T21:30:00.005-05:00

September 21, 2008

As you can tell, this post isn't at all Christmas-like, but I just had to share it. :) Ryan's mom used to do Dollhouses and miniatures all the time, and when he was 12, they started a summer project for a "Spooky House" to set out at Halloween. This weekend we were in Austin visiting them, and she gave it to us to use in our own home!

I know my nieces and nephews are going to love looking at it, and one day our kids will love it too. The furniture shifted some in the move home, but I took some quick pictures to post of it. This is a Halloween version of what I am going to do with my Christmas-House. Neat isn't it? They did such a good job and it's something they got to do together. Doesn't get any cooler than that!

Show Me Your Trees!

2008-09-18T20:51:00.004-05:00

Ryan's Uncle Raymond's 2006 Tree

September 18, 2008

I want to see YOUR trees! I am accepting submissions for the First Annual Slaton Christmas Blog Tree Contest. I was thinking about how much I enjoyed looking at different pictures of trees and getting ideas. And, for some people, they don't get to show their trees off to many during the Christmas season, so that's what I've decided to do here!!

Here's how its going to work:

Send me pictures (any size is fine as long as its big enough to see the tree nicely) of your tree(s). They can be any size, shape, theme, style, or color of tree. It doesn't matter what year it is from as long as it is a tree of yours or one your family did. (I don't want to get in trouble giving credit to someone else, if its not their tree! :) ) I will accept pictures until October 20th, and then the voting will begin!

I will post all the pictures on my blog, along with a voting option to rate each picture and vote on each picture. Voting will begin Oct. 25th, and run thru December 10th. The Top 3 Submissions will receive an awesome Christmas gift set filled with Christmas Goodies!

So send in those pictures, and Show Me Your Trees!!

Please send your picture and the following to slatonchristmastrees@hotmail.com

Your Name:

Your Tree Theme/Name:

Tree Size: (Just for reference)

Year This Tree Was Displayed:

'Till Next Time,

The Stockings Were Hung...

2008-09-16T21:05:00.012-05:00

Mom's 2007 Mantle Display

September 16, 2008

Remember when you were a child and you had that thrill of running in to check and see what Santa had left in your stocking? It was one of the funnest and most meaningful traditions to me. We always had wonderful gifts, but there was just something so neat about the stockings and what was in them. There were always things that "Santa" just seemed to know I would love and seemed like they were made just for me.

Some families have different traditions where stockings are concerned... Some use the same stocking every year for each child, and then some families buy everyone a new stocking each year. However you do your Stocking Traditions, know that they are so meaningful and can be a lot of fun for you to do as well!

I have decided this year, for our gifts we give family and extended family, to add to our gifts to them, each their very own stocking filled with things just for them.

I've put together some lists of stocking stuffer ideas for different themes/ages/genders. Along with the themes, I also put what I call "random" items in my stockings. Things everyone needs, and is small enough to go in them and make great filler. These can be found a number of places including Dollar Stores, Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, Michaels.

The list could go on forever, but this is meant to get you thinking about those special to you, and what they would love, and only you can truly decide that! A great place to find stockings is on eBay. I have linked the eBay Christmas Stocking Category HERE.

"Random" Stocking Stuffers:

Pens
Pencils
Note Cards (Monogrammed ones are great)
Sticky Notes (Monogram is also great here)
New Gloves/Mittens
Christmas Socks
Miniature Ornaments
Sewing Kits
Manicure Kits
Ball and Jacks Game
Mini Decks of Cards
Toothbrush
Travel Toothpaste
Candy Cane Pick-Up Sticks
Christmas Erasers
Hershey's Kisses
Small Boxes of Legos
Miniature Porcelain Doll
Lottery Tickets
Compass
Bookmarks
Book Light
Nail Polish
Bouncy Ball

"Fisherman Stocking"

Age Range: Little Boys to Grown Men

New Fishing Line

Lures and Worms

Hooks (Boxed ones preferably so no one gets stuck. This can
happen with stockings in plastic packages)

Fisherman Ornament

Gift Card to Bass Pro Shops

"Gardener Stocking"

Age Range: Young Children to Adults:

Gardening Gloves

Small Hand Shovel

Gardener Ornaments

Small Packages of Seeds

Farmers Almanac for the coming year

"Cooks Stocking"

Age Range: Any Age Cook:

Whisk

Christmas Theme Recipe Cards

Measuring Spoons

Cook Christmas Ornament

Mini Cook Book

"Frog Prince Stocking"

Age Range: Toddler Boys to Elementary Age Boys

Bag of Marbles

Dangerous Book For Boys

Crayons

Coloring Book

Mini Slinky

Matchbox Cars

Bendy Straw

"Girls Rock Stocking"

Age Range: Pre-School to Pre-Teen Girls

Lip Gloss

Small Doll or Barbie

Hair Clips/Bands

Stickers

Christmas Music CD

Bubble Bath

Jewelry (Simple or Expensive, depending on the child and setting your going for)

"Motzarts Stocking"

Age Range: ANY Age Music Lover

Sheet Music Gift Certificate for a local Music Store or online Music Store

Guitar Picks

Electronic Tuner

Instrument Cleaning Kit

Drum Sticks

"Cowboy Stocking"

Age Range: Any Western Lover

Book on Western Living or Quotes from the West

Boot Polish

Snaffle Bit Keychain

Horse Weight Tape (If they're a horse owner)

Other Ideas for great Theme Stockings they will always remember:

Vegas Stocking- Dice, Decks of Cards, Coin Purse Gift Card to Vegas Hotels.

Nascar Stocking- Collectible Cars, Trading Cards, Tickets to a race

Scrapbooker Stocking- Scissors, Stamps, Stickers, Subscription to a Scrapbook Magazine

Lego Stocking- Lego and Lego Books, Gift Card to Lego Land or Lego Online

Tee Time Stocking- Golf Balls, Tees, Golf Tips Book

Sweet 16 Stocking- Car Wash Kit, Keychain, Air Fresheners

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

Christmas Mums

2008-09-14T21:44:00.004-05:00

September 14, 2008

This weekend while we were working on ornaments and crafts for the "Heth's Angels" tree, I worked on an idea I had for "Christmas Mum" ornaments. They go along the same idea or theme as Homecoming mums, only much smaller. This tree was going to be "cute and crafty" which is why I did the mums. I wanted to add a lot of ribbon to the tree without having to use the same ribbon and doing it the same way I always do, wrapped around the tree. Above is a picture of one of the mums. It needs a few tweaks, but I was pleased with the product so far. If you'd like to do your own, I have put instructions below.

Materials:

1 Wooden Stocking from Hobby Lobby (You can use snowflakes, snowmen, whatever you like. I wanted stockings in my case). Mine was also pre-decorated so I didn't have to worry with painting one.
Ribbon in Christmas themes or colors (non-wired). I got most of mine in the scrapbooking section.
Christmas Buttons and embellishments from scrapbook and craft departments (Mine are by "Dress Me Up". I believe that was the name)
"Ho Ho Ho" Miniature Cow Bells
Paint Pen or Gold/Silver Sharpie to write names on stocking.
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Scissors

To assemble:

Take stocking and write the childs name on it with your paint pen. Before starting your project, take each of your ribbons and cut them in approx. 1 ft. strands. I wanted my mums pretty full, so I used several different styles and colors.

Hot glue each strand to the back of your stocking one at a time, spreading them out just a bit so they create somewhat of a "Fan" effect when you turn the mum over.

Once you glue the ribbons on and have them in place, turn the mum over and take your embellishments and hot glue them one at a time then attach to the ribbon. I used 4 embellishments on most of my stockings, but you can do more or less depending on your budget and look you want.

These are also small enough that they can be attached to a gift bag to give it a crafty flare, and make a keepsake for the kids as well.

Keeping Christmas In My Heart,

Weekend Crafting

2008-09-14T21:27:00.004-05:00

September 14, 2008

What a crazy weekend this was. We went with our family to Beaver's Bend, Oklahoma to ride 4-wheelers and stay in a big log home/cabin. We had the trip planned before the hurricane, but it looks like it was a good idea we left town. When we got home, our new barn was demolished from wind! It's not Christmas Related, but I did post a picture of it at the bottom of this post.

While we were there, the kids worked on crafts and ornaments for my "Heth's Angels" Christmas Tree. It was so much fun working on the ornaments with them. As I said in another post, my goal was to let them have fun and make crafty ornaments from the heart for the tree. And thats just what they did. Ryan even sat down with Jody's boys and made a Rudolph from pipecleaners and a foam ball. It was so cute. :) I attached some pictures below of the kids decorating and crafting.

Abby Crafting in Oklahoma

Tiffani Crafting in Oklahoma

Bryson's Snowman

Conners Wreath with his flip-flopped Gingerbread Men :)

Our Barn Demolished when we got home, from hurricane Ike.

Always,

Potpourri House Trees

2008-09-11T20:26:00.006-05:00

September 11, 2008

Mom, Tiffani, and I went to eat at the Potpourri House in Tyler yesterday. It's a beautiful restraunt that has a gift store surrounding it, and they had their trees up! They always to do some amazing trees, very similar to Jordan's Plant Farm trees. I didn't have my camera with me, but Tiffani had hers so I used it and took several pictures for ideas, as well as to show everyone here. I knew there were a lot of you constantly looking for new ideas, and I decorated about 15 more trees in my head, just while looking at these! lol They were gorgeous, and as good of a quality as the photos are, they still don't do the trees justice.

So please take a look, gather all the ideas you like, and most of all, enjoy!

Thanks for reading, its great to have you here!!

Heth's Angels Tree

2008-09-11T20:11:00.002-05:00

September 11, 2008

We are going to Beaver's Bend Oklahoma tomorrow and going to spend the weekend there as a family. It will be the first time in several years that my parents, Ryan and I, Tiffani, and Michael and Jody with their families have all been on a trip together at the same time. I hope it goes well. :) We're taking 4-wheelers up there and going to ride, and we've rented a great log home/cabin to stay in. Hurricane Ike is supposed to be blowing in this weekend as well, but I think we'll miss a lot of it.

I'm going to take the opportunity while we're there to do crafts with my nieces and nephews and Tiffani. :) I love fancy Christmas trees and all, but I want to do the "Heth's Angels" tree this year, with ornaments all the kids made. I hope they want to do some crafts, because I think it would be a lot of fun and would love to put them on my tree for them. Doing Christmas decorations and doing stuff with the kids really helps me calm some of my own desires for a child right now. Actually it probably doesn't calm it but it makes it more bearable. :)

I got a lot of my dollhouse furniture in the mail yesterday, so when we get back from Oklahoma I'm sure I'll be back to working on the house, on the inside now. Tiffani helped me a lot last weekend, I'm sure she'll help again when I start on the inside. Before its over with, I think she'll probably do a Christmas house of her own. I told her if she wants to, I'll help her with it. :)

Another cool note of interest is, this week we bought tickets to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on December 27. If you don't know about them, go to http://www.trans-siberian.com/ and check them out. They do some of the most beautiful Christmas music you've ever seen, and some of the best rocked out Christmas music as well! I am sooo excited about going to see them!

'Til We Meet Again,

Finalizing Tree Themes

2008-09-07T22:49:00.004-05:00

September 7, 2008

Well I finally sat down tonight and made out a template for my tree themes, as well as narrowed down my themes (added a few since last time. lol) and decided where these trees I am going to put up, are going to go. I've been reading a lot of organization tips from a Christmas Notebook list I am on, thats affiliated with Christmas To The Max. Karen, the author of the notebook list articles has some wonderful ideas. I ordered her Tree Theme and "form" templates, and got enough ideas from them to make my own, for what fit my own questions I ask myself when I am planning my Christmas decorating. Because of the format I have my themes in (Landscape Printing) they do not publish well to my blog, so to view them, see below.

VIEW MY 2008 THEMES HERE

If you would like to use my template, you are more than welcome to. I am considering making templates for each tree individually as well. If you would like to see these posted here, please let me know either via email or in my guestbook and I would be happy to post them for you!

Until Next Time,

Dollhouse Work

2008-09-06T17:27:00.004-05:00

September 6, 2008

I have had an absolutely wonderful day today. We are always so busy on the weekends, but today, we didn’t have any obligations, other than just being at home enjoying our Saturday. I took the opportunity to work on my Dollhouse and got quite a bit of work done on it! It is still nowhere near finished, but I am happy with the progress I made today.

I ordered a LOT of furniture and decorations for the inside, but they aren’t here yet, so I worked on the outside a lot. I got garlands put on the windows, lights on the edges of the roof, and the door decorated. I’m going to do more around the windows, but I need to go to Hobby Lobby and get more supplies. My favorite touch was the miniature trees in the windows. Because it wasn’t good lighting, you can’t exactly tell it in the photos, but it really gives that little tree in the window look. It’s been so fun working on it today! I can’t wait to get everything else in, and decorate the inside. Tiffani came up earlier and helped me hold lights while I attached them. I had a theory that I could attach the strands on each end, and then in the middle but that theory didn’t work, so I ended up attaching every light to the house, each bulb individually. Thank God for hot glue! Lol It works wonders. Once I got the “webs” from the glue cleaned off, I was extremely happy with how it turned out.

Now for the pictures!

If you would like to reproduce the look I did, let me share with you what I used, in case it’s something you’d like to try. I got everything I used, at Hobby Lobby in the Christmas Craft Dept.:

Around the Windows:

Miniature Garland by “A Tree For Me” ($1.50 for a package, each window took 2 strands, and there are about 10 strands in a package)
Miniature red Jingle Bells ($1.50 for the pack, and each pack has around 50 bells in it)
Miniature Wreaths with sleigh buttons glued on ($1.99 for wreaths, 6 to a pack, $1.99 for package of buttons, and it came with other buttons as well)
Snowflake button ($1.99 for package of buttons, and it came with other buttons as well)
Miniature Candy Cane Ornaments by “A Tree For Me”, just snapped off the ornament loop. ($1.99 for package)

At the door:

Miniature Garland by “A Tree For Me” ($1.50 for a package, each window took 2 strands, and there are about 10 strands in a package)
Miniature red Jingle Bells ($1.50 for the pack, and each pack has around 50 bells in it)
Miniature Wreaths with sleigh and Gingerbread buttons glued on ($1.99 for wreaths, 4 to a pack, $1.99 for package of buttons, and it came with other buttons as well)
Miniature Trees ($1.47 a pack, 4 in each pack, I used 2)
Miniature Reindeer buttons glued on tree ($1.99 for package of buttons, and it came with other buttons as well)
Miniature Gingerbread, Elf and North Pole Buttons ($1.99 for package of buttons, and it came with other buttons as well)

Keeping Christmas Near,

Christmas Dollhouse, Here we come!

2008-09-04T21:53:00.004-05:00

My New Dollhouse!

September 4, 2008

I am so excited. We had a doctors visit in Dallas today, and on the way home we stopped by Hobby Lobby to look at Dollhouses. And….. Ryan got me a dollhouse to work on and decorate for Christmas!!! It’s already put together, so I don’t have to worry right now with a kit. Although, we’re talking about getting a kit to work on all year next year, then we’ll be ready to have it out for Christmas, and use the current one also, and when we have a little girl one day, let her have the first one to play with/display.

I am going to do a more modern furnished house, so I can use outdoor lights, etc. but it will still have a Victorian flare. There is baby wallpaper in one room, so I am going to buy a crib set, etc. for it to make a baby room. I took pictures of most of the rooms, and I’ll post them below with pictures of the front of the house. I wanted to take shots of it undecorated and then some once its decorated so it can be looked at in stages. I found some neat stuff online too that I’ll have to post. Who knew there are so many different places to buy cool miniatures?

More pictures of the Christmas stuff I’ve found to come, but in the mean time, you can look at the cool stuff I’ve been finding at: eBay Christmas Miniatures

Now, to the pictures of my new house :)

Keeping Christmas Close to My Heart,

Christmas Doll House

2008-09-02T18:40:00.005-05:00

September 2, 2008

I got on a major kick today and there's no stopping me now. lol I found some pictures online of a Christmas Doll House and I just have to have one! I don't care whether its built, bought, whatever, but I would love to have one and decorate it fully Christmas style, inside and out. Ryan did a Halloween House with his mom one time, I've heard a lot about, and she is going to let us use it in our house at Halloween. I would love to do one for Christmas and display it. That would be just about the coolest thing ever. I would put it out on my Island Bar every single year. :) Heck, I'd probably find somewhere to display it year-round. lol

I found the Advent Houses online, like the one in Christmas Vacation, but one that you could look in and collect pieces for each year would just be ideal. :) It would be so much fun, a great conversation piece, and can't you just SEE the kids having a blast looking at it? I know I would've pulled up a chair and sat there mezmerized when I was a kid.

I'm posting some neat pictures of miniature Christmas pieces I found to put in a Doll House. I didn't buy them, but they sure made me want them! Do you know of any places that sell Christmas miniatures? (1/12 Scale most likely) Please post them to me!

Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive, One post at a time