More Christmas Decor!

I hope I don’t bore you with all my Christmas posts but it is December after all . . .  I haven’t shared Kristen’s room yet, so here we go. . . .

This is how it looked a few months ago when I repainted her room and we changed from a jungle theme to a wolf theme. She didn’t want a bed in her room but wanted a ‘den’ made so she could sleep with her wolves at night!  It looked cute enough but let me tell you it was no fun trying to make her bed and put clean sheets on it! Thankfully a few weeks ago she asked to have her bed back in the room and so it now looks like this . . . .

Perhaps not as cute, but much easier to keep tidy and much much easier to make the bed ;-)

This cute guy is the latest addition to her ‘wolf’ collection! She bought him with some of her birthday money from my family.

He gets pride of place on her bed right now, and later will probably join the ‘guys’ in her reading nook . . .

For Christmas decor we decided on a ‘winter wonderland’ look. I hung snowflakes from the ceiling. . .

And hung an icicle garland at the window with icicle lights.

 

 

And that was all we did really, a few little snowflakes hang on a tree in the corner too.  She loves it, and I think the lights and snowflakes may well stay up even after Christmas! 

What about you? Do you decorate your kiddies bedrooms? I’ve always wished I had Christmas bedding so we can totally change the rooms at this time of year, but so far I haven’t gotten around to buying any. I do have snowman sheets on Kristen’s bed, but that’s about all!

 

Denise

Come on in . . . .

Hi there, before I start this post I just wanted to let you all know my sweet little Mam is in hospital yet again :(  My sister called yesterday and it’s the same gallstone trouble, Mam was in a lot of pain and had to be admitted. I got word this mornign though that she had had a comfortable night, they are getting the pain under control and we’re hoping she is sent home pretty soon. I hope so, we don’t want her in the hospital for any length of time. She really doesn’t fare well in there and seems to end up much weaker by the time she comes out.  I’ll keep you all posted and would appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery for her.

So I promised you an inside tour of our home for Christmas , some of the photos are not that great, but I’ll share with you what I have. . .  come on in,

 

As you saw in my last post, this is the view as you walk in the door. You can see a blurry Boo walking towards me and shoes left on the stairs…. but ignore those little things!

Instead look at the nativity in the hallway  - if you can see it, the lighting isn’t too good. I haven’t put Christmas lights up around it yet!

That’s a little better, but you get me in the mirror too!

As you look to your right you’ll see the dining room.  It’s just a small room so there’s not much I can do in there. I haven’t set a Christmas table this year because there will just be the 3 of us again for dinner so we might just eat in the kitchen.

I put a tree up in this room for the first time last year because I wanted to see one from the front window. our main tree is in the living room.

I still feel I need a little something under the shelf (now that I took the black buffet away), perhaps a little cocktail bar?

Garland up the stairs.

My bow making is getting better ;-)

 

    Trying to get a good shot of the mantel is always tricky!

     

Taking close up shots of it seems much easier.

Santa and garland on top of the tv/entertainment unit.

Some very special ornaments.  .  . I made the pom pom robin when I was about 8 or 9 yrs old I think. It sat on my Mam and Dads tree for many years, Dad would sit him at the bottom of our little tree (which was so small it actually fit in the base of an old can of paint with sand in to keep it standing! Then after my Dad passed I asked my Mam for an ornament from their tree that I could hang every year, and she sent me him… I nearly cried when I opened the package.

I love the red telephone box, a simple reminder of home.

A special ‘first’ ornament for Kristen from Grandma, I hope she keeps this forever. The bauble is glass so I’m always worried it might break one year!  

When I get a better shot at the tree you’ll see these little guys climbing the ladder. There are 4 little elves, I got this at a craft fair one year in Maryland, you could have it personalized with your names, ours say Jason, Denise, Kristen and Chewy (that was the dog we had at the time).

A blurry picture of the tree!

I still haven’t gotten round to putting ‘seasonal’ pictures in my wall frames!

So there ya go! Picture overload, but I know my sister will love it ;-) I hope you enjoyed it too. I will work on getting some better shots of the tree and the full room, and I still have Kristen’s bedroom to share with you. 

Have a wonderful start to your week. There’s lots to be done around here so I should jump off and go get started with it all. One last trip to the post office today, then housework and gift wrapping on the agenda. What are you up to?

I’m linking to Susan’s ‘Deck the Halls’ Party. Click on the picture above to see lots of Christmasy tours. 

 

Denise

Christmas Decor

I finally got out the camera tonight and went outside to take some photos.  I also took some inside too . . . wanna join me for a little Christmas tour -

 

Despite the fact I used my tripod I still find it hard to take pictures of the lights without it looking quite blurry.

I guess the pictures are rather self-explanatory. This is our front yard.

  

And this is Cheryl’s to the right of us.

Above picture is taken from my front yard looking at Cheryl’s.

I stepped back a lot to get both houses in the picture.

    The picture above is the house to the left of us. (my other neighbor didn’t have her lights on! so I only got pictures of 3 homes).

      Cheryl only has 2 reindeer! She had 3 the other night?

Oh, looks like a little one wandered over to my yard for a visit – thanks Cheryl ;-)

 

Next time join me for a little tour inside. . . 

Have a great weekend. I’ll be back Monday.

Cocktail of the Week

I made a cocktail last week on Kristen’s birthday and I wondered if anyone else had come up with the idea? So, I googled it first and guess what . . . .  I can’t find anything like it. So you all may be pretty grossed out when I tell you what I did! I mixed eggnog with my  champagne!!!  Usually each year on Kristen’s birthday I open a bottle of champagne to celebrate (I’m actually celebrating the fact that I made it through 46 hours of labor all those many years ago). One day Kristen will be old enough to drink with me and we can share the bottle together. 

This year I thought I’d add her favorite drink to my favorite drink, and voila, the ‘Kiki Cocktail’ was born (although there’s probably only me will ever drink it!)

You may think it sounds yucky but the taste was very reminisce of  a Snowball. Now to many of you this will not mean anything, but to my fellow Brits  . . .  well I’m sure you all know what a snowball drink is.  My Mam used to drink them every year. You could buy a premixed little bottle, or you could make your own with Warninks Advocaat. My Dad would often mix up a snowball for Mam and I’d have a little taste too.  It was a nice little reminder of home.

I’ve never seen Warninks Advocaat (you don’t pronounce the T) over here, but it’s a rich creamy liqueur made with sugar eggs and brandy – you could say it’s the English version of Egg Nog!

Now, the holiday season is really heading here fast so I’m off to search for some yummy Christmas cocktails to try.

The Countdown Begins

This pretty little thing is patiently waiting for her ‘Advent Calendar’, you know the ones that have chocolate behind every door – I still haven’ t picked one up! So that is my quest for today.  Also on the agenda is more catch up with the laundry and housework (a never ending saga for many of us).  

But here it is, December 1st, yikes, only 24 more days til Christmas. Are you ready?  I’m not quite there yet, so I really need to buckle down and get some things accomplished each day. I will no doubt go in to ‘list-making’ overdrive!

I’ve got just about all my decorations up (there’s always room for improvement ;-)  but haven’t had a chance to take any photos yet.  Until I do, I thought  I’d ‘borrow’ a few from Cheryl. She took some of our cul-de-sac the other night. There are only 4 houses on it and it looks so festive out there.

   This is Cheryl’s house with the reindeer and Santa train inflatable that you can just say see. My house is to the left and you can see a little of my white lights.

I decided I wouldn’t try to hang lights up high this year but I used my old netting lights around the bushes and trees. I have some up at the garage too but they may not have been lit in the picture.

I covet her reindeer ;-) I’ve always wanted lighted reindeer in my yard but Jason ‘poo poos’ the thought because he said we would have nowhere to store them for the other 48 weeks of the year :(  (if he’d get rid of all the tools/machines in there that he doesn’t use, maybe there’d be room – I’m just sayin!).

OK, must jump off here, go get ready and off out to shop again.  And THEN I’ll do the housework – yes I like the sound of that order ;-)

Oh and btw, that photo of Kristen was taken by Cheryl on Sunday at her son Connor’s birthday party. I had ‘curled’ Kristen’s hair using some new foam rollers we got her. She looked so pretty! Finally my little girl will let me play with her hair – I’ve only had to wait 10 years!