Jack Frost...busy at work

We woke up a few days ago to the remnants of Jack Frost playing in our yard. I have to say, as bad as I hate winter....this was beautiful. There was a slight breeze and the frost was falling off the trees and looked as though it was snowing big icicle shaped flakes. It was a sight to behold for sure.  

Jack Frost can decorate like no one else....he's quite an artist, when it comes right down to it!

Holly Fair Fun Times = BUSY TIMES

Dayna and I dove into our "crafting" mid summer, early fall....crafting day and night to be able to pull off our annual "Fall Sneak Peak Holly Fair Boutique" AND the annual "HOLLY FAIR". We enjoy our time we get to spend selling our "goods". Its stressful, and fun at the same time. We had a good year... and were able to sell all of our stuff. Another year down...now to come up with some new things for next year! This year's boutique/craft fair included some of the old favorites that we have done for several years, but also some NEW things that we tried out........

We had block sets, and chalk boards.....

...suitcases and wreath hangers.....

antique shoes.....

....furniture~

...made over to look old and vintage............a favorite of ours!

All in all, it was a successful long few days, but fun times were had by both of us!

.....see, we are still smiling! 

Wedding Bells and Mischief!

I guess you could say that our family had a "Christmas Brownie" (AKA elf) before they were popular. Deron's family has a LONG history with the Christmas Brownie (long before we were married). When we got married we got a Brownie, his name was "Darby". Santa dropped him off on Thanksgiving night. He left a movie and a note to let us know that he was here and would be watching to see if the kids were naughty or nice and report back to Santa. Throughout the season he would leave treats, gifts and notes. The kids have loved it. 

 This year...DARBY GOT married. Now we have two Christmas Brownies, Darby AND HAZEL. They have left little treats and a movie, but have also made a few messes here and there too.

The kids (Halle 16 and Cam almost 20) have gotten a few laughs I think. Cam even said the other day, "Mom, what happened to Darby being invisible and just leaving treats, now he's married and getting into all kinds of trouble?"..."but its FUN"......guess that means he's still a kid at heart and Darby and Hazel will stick around.

Its a fun tradition and I'm glad that its a tradition that ALL my kids grew up with, even before it was "the thing" that everyone else was doing. Traditions are fun and are what keep the magic alive for me during the holidays!

1...2...3..click

I"M SOOOO far behind on my blog posts...I should just scratch the past

and pick up with the here and now...but I couldn't resist these few "past" posts!

I always take Halle's "school year" pictures. We took these several months ago (obviously, with the green grass and NICE weather). We had a fun afternoon just shooting picture after picture. Here are a few of my favorites!

After taking her pictures, I captured a few "scenery" pictures by the lake we

were at....its amazing how if you are in the right place at the right time, you can 

see some beautiful things.....I think I was lucky on this day...right place, right time, right pictures.

HONESTLY, I think the pictures don't do the amazing scenery justice, but I thought

I would share anyway!

Can't wait for Spring and Summer to come back...its beautiful!

Did THAT just happen?

 I love "real", fresh cut Christmas Trees, BUT I am not patient when it comes to going to get one....so YEARS ago, I bought into the "ease of the trees", and got some "fake" trees....that way I could put them up when I wanted, leave them up as long as I wanted, avoid vacuuming up pine needles for a year and cleaning sap from the floors. I've adored my fake tree's but have always missed the smell of the REAL pinion pines that fragrant the air of my home for the Christmas season. The year Cameron wanted a real tree, I told him if he wanted to go and get one, he could...I would be fine with that. (Honestly, I expecting him to NOT want to journey to the mountains to chop a tree down)....two days later we had a gorgeous tree adorning our house. I took hours and wound the lights back and forth across the tree (it sat in a corner and was TOO big to go around and around with the lights). Halle and I spent an evening decorating the tree with all the "homemade" family ornaments from years past....AND THEN we scrounged for old tree balls because the tree still looked barren (yes, it is LARGE). The end result was BEAUTIFUL (at least to us). We turned on the lights and watched old sappy Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel....all was well...UNTIL..........

...two days later, I went to the store...I was gone for an hour...came home to 

THIS..........

a DOWN TREE!! 

We don't have any pets in the house that would knock it down, no one else was home....I was baffled! I thought maybe the screws from the tree stand had come undone, or that maybe the tree stand BROKE...NOPE, nothing explained the crash of my evergreen. I sat and stared in amazement, didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Deron came down from his office (he works from home) and helped me pick it up (tree stand was STILL attached) and put it back where it originally was. The ornaments scattered the floor, the lights lay mostly in a heap on the floor and all I could see was "MORE WORK". Decorating a tree once is fun, relaxing and enjoyable. Decorating the same tree AGAIN...not so much!!

 I HATE to wrap lights on trees....the worst job ever!...so having to untangle 10 strands of lights and THEN RE-WRAP the tree was difficult. Part of me ( A VERY LARGE PART OF ME) just wanted to drag the tree out of the house, along with the ornaments that were still attached and call it "GOOD RIDDENCE", but because Cameron took the time and was thoughtful enough to go and get this beauty, I decided I would spend the day RE-DECORATING it so it would be dressed when he got home from work.

The lights took approximately 2 hours to untangle and wrap....only to find out that NOW 2 strands no longer worked. I am one that likes ALOT of lights, ALOT of decorations....its not complete unless the entire tree lights up. I scrounged through some boxes and fell upon 2 more strands of lights (whew) and got my 10 strands back on the tree. 

After 3.5 hours of decorating...our REAL tree was up and lit again.................she is NOW tied to the wall, she shouldn't be going anywhere until we are ready for her to come down (but then it will be OUR decision). She is one of my favorite trees ever!