Now it really looks like Christmas...

Finally! I have been trying to get pictures uploaded since last night. You gotta love dial-up service.

Anyway, I have completed my Christmas decorating for the year and wanted to share. I have several pictures so bear with me.

Remember the frames I told you I purchased at the garage sale? Below you will see the tree after Mike painted it white and the angel as Mike and Taylor began putting the lights on it.

This is the finished angel! Just had to plug it in to see what it looked like. Even in the garage it looked great to me!

For the last several years, I have designated locations for my decorations. The entertainment center is the main snowman center. However, I do have other snowman decorations throughout the den. I didn't take pictures of all of them. I am an avid snowman collector!

The mantle has become the santa collection. I had stocking holders last year that spelled out Santa. One of my stockings hanger came off last year, and we don't really do much with stockings any more since my family has grown, so I really only needed to hang 4. I found new hangers that are santa in his sleigh and 3 reindeer, so I got them and gave the others to Taylor. This way we don't have to move a stocking every time we build a fire, which is everyday!! The wreath is really too small, but I haven't found anything I like any better yet. I will though! Mike told me last night he thought the mantle looked better than it ever has.

While I was snapping pictures last night, Mike asked me to take one of him. He likes to have his picture made more than anyone I know! Anyway, I snapped this one of him and it got the wall and the top of the tree. The angel on top is not leaning, I don't know why it looks like it in this picture.

These next two pictures are my new additions this year. I took everything off the walls in the living room and gave them away, so they were completely bare and it made the whole room look funny. The tree and all were up and looked good, but something was definitely missing. Friday when we were at Kirkland's, one of my very favorite stores, I found this quilt and knew it would be perfect on the big bare wall. I was right, I love it. The three framed words were also in Kirkland's and I was relatively sure they would fill the space above the computer. Taylor agreed so I got them too. They do look like I thought they would. I probably really need a little something else to go with them, but for now, I am happy. That completed the living room nicely. It is very homey in here right now.

The next picture is the Grace zone! There are lots of Christmas pillows and stuffed animals in this pile. She went crazy playing with them and carried them all over the house. It is nice to have something down that she can play with and not get in trouble for! She did get into the potpourri in a little basket on my snowman table and played with the tree just a little bit, but not bad considering how curious she is. She did see where the tree lights are turned on and off so she had to try her hand at that, too, but it won't be new the next time she is here!

The piano has always been where I display my nativity scenes. I also collect them, so I have several. I didn't even get some of them out this year. I am very proud of how this area looks as well. Tanner got the wreath for me several years ago and it is perfect over the piano.

Last but not least, we have the yard display. Nothing elaborate, but I am very proud of it as well. Tanner and some of his friends built the snowman several years ago and then the angel and tree are what we added this year. Mike ended up stringing the tree all by himself!! He is not really a very big fan of Christmas, but he is always very complimentary of how good the house looks when I finish decorating.

I hope you have enjoyed my little tour. I didn't share it all with you, just the highlights. I look forward to this all year long and am so pleased to have it all finished so that I can sit back and enjoy it.

Looking forward to seeing more decorations on blogs!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I know it is not Thanksgiving yet, but I also know that I am planning to be pretty busy on Thanksgiving weekend, so I decided to go ahead a change my blog a little early. I spend quite a while looking for Christmas backgrounds that I liked before I settled on this one. I am a HUGE fan and collector of snowmen, so this one seemed appropriate! Hope you enjoy it.

We have had a pretty productive weekend around here. We got the lights strung on the angel frame that we had bought at the garage sale. It looks great! I will post pictures later. Hopefully we will get the tree done this week, it should be easier than the angel was. I wouldn't have been able to get it done without Mike! He had the plan. Taylor worked with us for a little while yesterday on it and then Mike and I finished up this afternoon. I can't wait to get it set up in the yard.

Well, I am off to watch the 24 movie that is on Fox. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

It's beginning to feel like winter!

Wow, it feels like winter is here. I love the fact that it is cold. I was tired of being hot. It's also easier to get into the holiday spirit when the weather is cold. For the last two days, Taylor, Grace and I have been out in it. Tanner joined us for a while yesterday and then Corey was with us today. Both days were lots of fun and pretty productive as well. I am crossing items off my Christmas list rapidly! It feels great to be getting things done this early. Last year I was shopping up until the very end. This year, when I am out and in the mix at the end, I don't plan on being panicked!

I have been making some changes in decor at the house, and in doing so, have changed some of my Christmas decorating options. I have been studying on just exactly how I am going to make everything work out this year. I have been decorating basically the same way for several years now, just adding more every year, so I guess it is time for a change. I have already told Taylor that I will definitely need her help this year! I am going to have to quit looking at Christmas decorations whenever I am out, too. I have a hard time telling myself 'no', especially when they are on sale like the ones I found today!!

I have new lighted decorations for the yard this year, too. I bought an angel and a tree at the garage sale the police department had. They did not work but I got them so cheap that I couldn't resist. Last weekend, Mike and I stripped the lights off both of them and he repainted the frames so they look new. All we have to do now is string lights back on them. I can't wait to see how they look. Tanner had built me a lighted snowman a couple of years ago, so now I have 3 lighted decorations for the yard. I am ready to get it all set up! I really love Christmas time!

I have been looking at blog backgrounds, too. I defintely will be changing to a Christmas theme just as soon as Thanksgiving is over! My house will be transformed the weekend after Thanksgiving as well. My dad was a big kid when it came to Christmas, too. We always put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving, if not that afternoon. That is a tradition that I have followed. I usually am involved in setting up two trees that weekend. We, probably I this year since Taylor won't be there, will help Mom get hers up before we come home on Thanksgiving Day. She has a brand new one this year so we will have a new experience there as well. I can't wait!!

I know that Grace will enjoy Christmas more this year than she did last year as well. She is already into snowmen!! She tries to sing "Frosty the Snowman". She's such a doll! (No prejudice there at all!)

I guess there is nothing more to talk about at this point. I hope it hasn't been too boring.

Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!

Nana's jewelry, "trick or treat" and a Razorback game!

When Grace was over here on Monday or Tuesday she got very quiet while she was back in our bedroom. I called for her to come back to the den where I was and in just a few minutes here she came will all these necklaces on. She thought she was soooo pretty! Of course I had to snap a picture or two! We have lived in the same house now for 20 years and I don't remember ever having trick or treaters. Last night we had a special one come to our house! She was so cute in her little fairy costume complete with sparkly silver shoes and a wand. She even cast spells on all of us before they left.

She' checking out her loot! At this point she had not been very many places, however, she already had some pretty good stuff.

"Have it!" she said to her papa. Her mom and dad had already told her she had to wait, so he didn't give in!

I had to give you a view of the back! She was just adorable, not that I am prejudiced or anything!

One of Mike's good friends from Fort Smith has 50 yard line tickets for the Razorback games. They are also only 42 rows up!! They typically only go to one game a year and sell them for the rest of the games. The game they decided to go to this year was today's game and since they have 4 tickets, they offered to take us with them. How could we possibly turn down 50 yard line tickets! They have excellent parking as well. We had a great time. The weather was perfect, completely shaded after about the first hour we were there, and the game was awesome with the Razorbacks beating the Tulsa Hurricanes 30-23. What a great game to get to see!

One of my favorite things about the games is the band. This was right before the game started. Right after this formation, they moved into the 'A' that the players run through.

This was the view from out seats! Pretty good view, huh? Thanks Larry and Cindy!! After the game we had dinner at Doe's. What a great way to end our double date! The food was great and we didn't have to wait to be seated. Larry did a great job of getting us around and to the restaurant before the crowd got there. When we were leaving, there were people waiting outside! Our timing couldn't have been any better.


One of my favorite things about living in Arkansas is that we have a change of seasons. There are many beautiful trees in this area right now. I snapped this picture while we were waiting on Larry and Cindy today. It is not the prettiest tree that I have seen but it ranks right up there. I cannot imagine living anywhere else!

With all the excitement we have already had this weekend, we still have more coming. Mike's mother will be in tomorrow afternoon for a brief visit on her way to Branson with 2 of her friends. She has not seen Grace since April! She is very excited to see her. We are very excited to see Mema. We don't get to see Mema or Papa nearly often enough. They live in Fort Worth and it is hard for us to make connections with everyone's work schedules. They are retired, but traveling has gotten more difficult for them over the years. It should be a fun, albeit short, visit with Mema tomorrow. It will be a good way to end what has been a really good weekend!! We also get an extra hour of sleep tonight, yay!