Looking forward to a great year!

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope the same is true for all. What a year this has been. It seems that every year flies by faster than the last. However this year I feel I have been a bit behind all year. In the coming year I hope to become a bit more organized, and do a few projects around my home that are desperately needed. I tend to get these great creative inspirations going and fail to follow through on tasks around my house. I intend to go through each room this year and sort organize and redo. Something about my mid forties has made me want to declutter.I guess I'd better start with taking down my Christmas decor.Have a wonderful week and blessed New Year!

Family Traditions

One of my Favorite family traditions is spending a day with each of my kids. We call it their "Special day" Each child picks how we spend their day and where we go, what we eat,what we do, whether it be shopping for others, doing an activity, going out of town etc. I look forward so much to this, it is a chance to spend time alone with each kid and have fun one on one. Today was my 17 year old son Aarons day. We went all over and had a great time shopping for siblings and checking out a few knew places. Here are a few more Christmas pictures including some wreaths that I made.

My brush tree collection

Just a few additional pictures of my mica village and brush tree collection. I wont show pictures of our tree as it is decorated completely by our kids,who each have their own ornament collections and it may not be picture perfect but boy is it covered with sweetness!

Cozy Christmas

I Truly love this time of year!! I love our home all decorated, I love to bake, I love the coziness that the holidays bring. It even smells good to me. If it were up to me I would celebrate for three months instead of one. I constantly have to remind myself why we celebrate this season, that it goes far beyond the decorations and family gatherings and all the fun activities. For it truly is such an incredible event that we celebrate. The birth of our savior Jesus Christ. If only our shop crazy culture could slow down just for a time to realize just what it is we celebrate this time of year. There are no amount of gifts, food or activities that can give us the peace and fulfillment that we can know in this incredible gift our Savior.

Monticello OpenHouse

Today was the first day of the Monticello's Christmas Sale. It was Magical and filled with lovely vintage Christmas items. The store was packed with people and it was fun to watch what items they filled their baskets with. Everyone has their own personal taste when it comes to Christmas decor and that makes it so much fun.We helped in the morning and then headed home to finally relax after days of preparing, setting up and driving. Tomorrow we spend some quality family time and decorate our home. Yeah!!!!

Upcoming Monticello Sale

My gift is not blogging I have decided. I seem to never remember to take pictures and the computer is often not on my list of to dos. I spent yesterday and today frantically setting up my area at the Monticello in Portland. I tried so hard to finish the job in one day but that didn'y happen. So after jostling my schedule and kids around I finally finished and got home around 9:00 tonight. Yeah!!, its done at least as done as it is going to get. If you have not been up to the Monticellos Christmas openhouse, it is a must. The venders are outstanding and the featured Christmas area in the back is looking fabulous. There are some really talented people out there. My sister-in-law Deb has done a wonderful job along with many others. Its hard not to want to shop instead of setting up. I stayed on task ,knowing today was my last chance. Here are a few photos I managed to take before closing time.