Oh Christmas Tree

I think most of us have ornaments on our trees that are special to us; they may be from someone we love, remind us of a special time or brings back memories of years past.  Today I'm going to share a few of my special ornaments with you.

These bells decorated our wedding cake almost 45 years ago.  I had read something back then about saving things from your cake and putting them on your tree.  I did, and they've been on it every year since.

This is one that always makes us laugh.  When Bob and I were dating, we spent a day at a cottage with his family.  His sister was working on these ornaments for a bazaar.  Her work place was raising money for the residents there and she had been assigned these ornaments.  I helped her and we both laughed because we thought they were pretty ugly and we wondered if any would even sell.  Well - one did and was given to me that Christmas!  Every year it brings that fun memory back.

This beaded bell was given to me by the family of one of my patients.  She had dementia and made these while she still could. I became friends with her family and her daughter gave me this.  She's been gone for quite a few years so this one is special, and so is the friendship with her family.

Andy made this cute little angel in preschool.  It's a golf tee, a pine cone, a milk weed shell and a wooden ball.

These ornaments are so special.  My sister found someone who made these ornaments that had writing transferred onto them.  The one on the left is my moms writing from a card.  She's been gone for 21 years now. The one on the right has writing from Bob's mom who's been gone for 5 years.

This is an ornament my sister Terri gave me the year my Dad passed away. If you look into the little glass piece hanging down you will see a picture of him.

These are all Santa ornaments that Bob carved.  I love the character in each of them!

That's the end of my special ornaments for this year. I'm going to take a blog break now until after the new year.  Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas, celebrating the birth of Christ!

Christmas Home Tour

Today I'm going to show you around our home, and share some of our Christmas decorations.

We'll start outside.

The gate on the side of the house is decked out in snow and a wreath.

Here's our front porch.  I have an old sled and a little tree by the door, and a wooden snowflake hanging above the window.

Here's how it looks at night.  The lights on the tree are twinkling lights and look so cheery!

This is the back entry, with a little wreath and sparkly bells.

The dining room is decked out with a skinny tree which has no decorations besides lights.  There's also trees on the shelf, Christmas pictures hanging up and the joy banner which was made by a blog friend many years ago.

This kissing ball is hanging from the light over the table. It was a gift from a patient several years ago. She has since passed away and I enjoy remembering her when I put this up.

This is on the table, I made the ornaments using decals.

Here's some Christmas treats for you too. The two layer peppermint fudge is very easy to make and the recipe for it can be found here.

Here is the tree lit up in the evening. 

Next to the dining room is one of my favorite Christmas things; the card holder.  It's so fun to get cards from family and friends, including some of you!

We even have a few decorations in the main bathroom.

In the living room is the Christmas Tree!  We don't have a big room, so the tree isn't real big either.

I have decorations set out on the side tables,

and also on this shelf, along with a wreath on the mirror.

This is one of my favorites - a Santa that Bob carved quite a few years ago.  Isn't he cute?

Of course, we need a Nativity set to remember the real reason for the season.  This one is a toddler friendly set that I made when I was a mentor mom for MOPS.

This one was made by our daughter Laura when she was 16. It has the wisemen and shepherds, but also cows, horses, sheep, and even chickens!

Last, but not least is the fireplace.  Bob put this fireplace in this past summer, so this is the first time I got to decorate a mantle.  There are snowflakes, trees, deer and the stockings. I also found the cute deer to stand next to the fireplace.

Here's a closer picture of the stockings.  I decided it was to hard to put up stockings for everyone, and just put them up for the grandkids.


Thanks for coming on my home tour!

Family party

On Saturday we had our family party with my siblings and kids. It was a smaller group this year as 4 of the grandkids now live out of state, and Laura and Aaron had his family party today. We also were in the middle of another winter storm, with very cold temps - 4 degree wind chill!  But the rest of us made it and had a good time.

We had an ugly sweater contest which my sister Cheri won.  Here she is with her husband Mark.  You have to admit, that sweater is pretty bad!

Here's my sister Terri with her daughters Katelyn and Chelsea. Their guys didn't come wearing an ugly sweater, so it's only those 3 in the picture.

Heather, Andrew, Cassie and Connor were all decked out.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to get one of Bob and I, and I missed a few others too...

Here's the whole gang!

Cassie had fun...

So did Connor!

Connor actually sat with my brother for awhile.

We had plenty to eat!

We played games and everyone had fun, and we all made it safely home through the snow.

UPDATE:  You may remember that Alaina was scheduled to have an ablation on her heart to take care of the issue with the fast heart rate.  It was done on Monday afternoon, she is home and is doing well.  She's a little sore and has to take it easy for the week but otherwise ok. The doctor is confident they found the problem spot.  Thanks for your prayers!