And All Through The House...

For the last hour, our three kids have been; shooting each other with Nerf guns, running up and down the stairs and building tents in the basement. I told Husband that even though the noise level rivals that of a rock concert, I'm so glad they still play together at times.

Meanwhile, our English Mastiff, Juno, continues to crash despite the clamor, probably since she recently had surgery.

I chuckle when I tell friends and family what our dog got for Christmas, "Juno got a hysterectomy!"

Last week we had two Christmas concerts to attend. Many of you know that I don't post our kids' photos for privacy reasons, but our seven-year-old is here, and let's be honest, trying to find her would be like trying to find Waldo. And I like this photo because it's amazing how first-graders have a hard time staying in one position.

We are hanging out in jammies today, recovering from all the festivities, food and fanfare of the holidays and looking forward to visiting the stores this week to buy more "stuff," for ourselves, this time.

Happy holidays and see you next year! :)

A Re-Purposed Christmas

There's so many wonderful things about Christmas, but I have to say that this season is a great reason to let your creativity take off!

My favorite thing to do is to reuse things we have, like those peanut butter jars and fill them with home baked cookies to give as gifts. I hot glued the material and ribbon on the top and glued on this adorable label I downloaded from a blog I found last year (but unfortunately don't remember what blog it was!)

One of my friends is starting a new business and reusing materials to make these gorgeous head ties.

I love these 'Scrabble coasters' I pinned on Pinterest.

Here's another Pinterest idea that I copied for our youngest's teacher.

Hope you're inspired to make your gift-giving efforts special this year! Have a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and safe New Year!

Sweet (Treats) Christmas Traditions

There are some traditions that should never be broken come 'h--- or highwater,' as they say. And even though my schedule is kinda crazy, I refuse to give up the tradition of baking cookies with my kids. I want them to always remember our times together covered in flour and munching on the best Christmas cookie recipe I found from Alton Brown, years ago.

We also make Peanut Butter Blossoms (a Midwest tradition) and Orange Sable cookies (from Martha Stewart) which are very much like shortbread cookies (the adults love them too!)

But why stop there, last year I made these cuties for school.

What are you baking for the holidays? Got a cookie recipe to share?

Tis The Season...To Decorate

As I attacked the enormous loads of laundry today, I found myself humming Christmas songs, because tis the season, right?

The decorating has begun...

The tree has been trimmed...

I think Juno, our English Mastiff is ready...she looks excited for Christmas, right?

Our kids even helped my mom decorate her tree when we were there for Thanksgiving...

Hope you are all enjoying this special time of year. :)