NEWBORN MITTENS

Pink and blue mittens for my niece's twins who were born at Thanksgiving.  I made them to match the socks below.  So much fun making these little mittens.  

CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE

One of my mother's friends

allows us to tour her

home every year to enjoy

her decorations........

Every square inch is decorated.  There is at least one tree in every room and even the banister is transformed into a Wonderland.

The dining room tree is completely white this year.  She does change them around every year.

Some of the decorations on her kitchen countertop.

My great niece came with us and could not believe her eyes when she walked into Mrs. Goodheart's house and saw all of the decorations!

I love the snow village in the den with all of the houses and accessories.  I have one of the original Snow Village houses.

Her kitchen decorated...

Stairs.....

This tree has ornaments on it that belonged to Mrs. Goodheart's mother and grandmother!

Notice the tea service matches the picture on the front of the book!

The master bedroom tree.

My great niece couldn't believe all of the houses in the basement.

And here we are in the foyer.....

This is the Christopher Radko tree filled completely with CR ornaments from top to bottom!  It was absolutely stunning!!  Mrs. Goodheart (that's her real name) loves for people to come by and visit her home during the holidays.  It just puts me in the Christmas spirit when I see her house and I'm so grateful that she allows us to visit and take photographs in her lovely home!  Enjoy and have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS CRAFTERNOON

Every year I mean to make Gingerbread Houses.  This year I bought a kit from JoAnn's and invited my great niece to help us decorate our Gingerbread House.

The masterpiece............

Luckily I read the instructions the night before.  I found out that you have to make the frosting and put the house pieces together 3 hours before you want to decorate it.  I did not read all of the frosting instructions..........or I would have put the piping cone INTO the frosting bag instead of sitting on the counter!

I piped the frosting onto the edges of the pieces and held them together with heavy cans until the frosting was set.

Tai is five this year and had so much fun decorating the Gingerbread house.  I squirted the frosting onto the roof and let her decorate one side at a time.

My daughter, Kelly, helping "glue" a peppermint onto a window.

And my son, Ben, made snowmen for decorations.

Tai adding peppermint around the front door.

I think this will become a family tradition.  I'll buy many gingerbread kits next year!  I think everyone wished they had their own to decorate.

Next, we decorated Christmas beaded necklaces.  My husband had drilled little holes through these erasers that I found at Dollar Tree.

Add string, fun beads and presto........

fun stringing......

beautiful necklaces for Grandmother and her Great Granddaughter!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE LIKE CHRISTMAS

Just wanted to share a few holiday decorating photos from around our house.  I was asked to paint angels on several mirrored ornaments.  They are to go to caregivers and say "I can see an angel".  I used a glossy slick pen for the angel and glitter glue for the halo.

I made yarn baskets for Christmas presents for my friends at the library.  A lot of us knit and have fun sharing patterns and our latest projects.

I wanted to try a "woodland scene" for my mantle this year.  My son cut a pile of branches off our Leland Cyprus and another pile of branches off our Curly Willow.  I put them in my "vintage" bicycle basket.  I call it vintage because I actually used it when I was in college.  I had the glitter deer, I added silver pinecones, birds and found these cool feathered balls at Walmart!

In the background you can see my glittered sweetgum ball stars made with toothpicks and tons of hot glue.

And this is the nest we found in our Christmas Tree this year.  Luckily, the critters were long gone!

One of my vintage elves.  On.  A.  Shelf.
I remember decorating with them when I was little.  They came attached to Whitman's Chocolates.

A little deer diorama sitting on my window sill with a bottle brush tree (from Walmart) and the most beautiful Christmas card from my husband's aunt.  Aunt Margaret is an artist and usually paints oils.  I love her winter scenes (wish I could afford one).  The last few years she has had them printed on Christmas cards.  I need to frame this one fast!

CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PARTY

Sunday was our annual Children's Christmas Party at the Woodstock Library.  This year we had the wonderful harpists again.  Their harps are absolutely beautiful and all of the children were amazing.  People sat around the fireplace, listened and were mesmerized.  

Face Painting - moustaches are in!

Santa and Mrs. Claus took time out of their busy schedule to visit us.  The children were very excited!

I was able to gather all of the part time staff together for a group photo.

The children came dressed in their finest and enjoyed making crafts.

Making a Rudolph ornament.........

A visit with Mrs. Claus

One of our little elves, Emily, helping the children make Rudolph ornaments.

Debby and Asha getting ready for the party.....

Lisa and Debby pose with Santa....

Fun with stickers......

The dulcimer was back.  The music was so relaxing and beautiful.

Making a Snowman bookmark...

Face painting...

The parents were encouraged to bring their cameras.

And after a long day of sitting and listening, Santa enjoys listening to the harpists before his long trip back to the North Pole.