A First Time for Everything

The first white Christmas in Atlanta since 1882, and our son's first ever

was made more beautiful by that falling snow.

These smiles made our hearts warm while our toes were cold.

First Christmas Eve dinner

First bottle on Christmas morning:

First stocking stuffed with fun:

First visit from Santa:

First piece of silver (a gift his future wife will appreciate, I hope)

First Christmas being big sisters to a baby brother:

Kisses from the great grands:

A nap with Papa:

First snowman/alien:

First debonair hat like Uncle C.

First Christmas!

Me Want Cookie, Me Eat Cookie!

To all my friends and neighbors:

The girls have been out of school since Wednesday, so we've been cooking up a storm.

-Sugarplum Thumbprint Cookies

-Chocolate Chip Muffins

-Easy Oreo Truffles

-No Bake Cookies

-Candy Canes (store bought)

-Spice Drops (store bought)

-Dark Chocolate Caramel with Sea Salt (store bought from Trader Joe's)

Oh, The Christmas Parties and Programs!

Tis the season, right?

No breaks for this mama this week:

Monday- HJ's Christmas party

Tuesday- AE's Christmas party

Wednesday- Both girls' Christmas program

Totally caught in the act eating the marshmallow for her snowman creation!

Decorating Santa hats

In HJ's class, they decorated stockings:

Then they painted each child's hands to make antlers from the hand prints!

SJ was a trooper and enjoyed each party!

The Christmas program took place in the sanctuary:

I had not been in there before and it was beautiful!

We sat on the back row, so SJ and I could bounce and sway at nap time.

AE finally saw The Daddy:

HJ never really saw any of us AND didn't sing a word:

Looking forward to a weekend of delivering Christmas goodies to neighbors and friends!

It's Like I Went Shopping, But I Didn't Spend ANY Money!

Welcome! It's sunny down here in Florida, but inside it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Last year, we had just moved into our new house and the only decor was cardboard boxes. Opening all the storage boxes full of holiday decor has thrilled me beyond belief because it has been two years since I've been able to use any of it!

I picked up pre-lit garland at the after Christmas sales two years ago, so we had plenty to swag across the front of the house.

Had to slip in this picture of our new garage door:

I MAY or MAY NOT have had an accident with our previous garage door!

This year, I got rid of SO MUCH STUFF because our new house is smaller and I'm liking the living lighter feeling. We got to see Santa already this year:

In the dining room, I kept everything neutral using silver, gold, clear glass and burlap:

HJ brought home this handmade decoration from preschool and it fit in just perfectly!

I poured the ornaments into jars and stacked a couple of cake plates with nuts and metallic ornaments:

This is the closest we have to a nativity right now, if you don't count our Little People one:

I love the way this turned out and how easy it was!

I got the burlap table runner from Kimba two years ago, too.

Our elf named "Pinnochio" landed on the dining room wreath last night.

I tried to keep the mantel simple:

But I just couldn't help myself and kept adding this and that until it looked like this:

Little birdies landed:

A nest came back out:

Along with some feathers, silver trays, sticks and other greenery:

Five minutes after we hung this curtain rod last Spring, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it for Christmas:

I just stuck those berry sprigs in the grapevine wreath and propped good ol' St. Nick up!

And there is the tree!

Love the reflection of the tree in the coffee table!

I buy a glass church every year.

For The Daddy, who is asking for a National Championship for Christmas:

And a daytime shot(with simpler mantel):

I like the lights at night. So romantic and magical!

In the girls' room:

In the kitchen:

Also, a new tradition:

I'm going to put a picture of the whole family together from the previous Christmas in these frames so we can see who has changed the most in the last year.

I buy HJ a nutcracker every year, and AE a snow globe.

Another creation by HJ

Jesus and Joseph are missing because the letter of the week was "J" and AE took them to school!

Our best present this year: