It's Begining To Look Alot Like Christmas...

I have been such a slacker blogger here lately. This post was suppose to be posted the weekend of the 15th and it never happened plus I haven't posted any other Christmas posts this year. BAD Blogger!

Well, here you go...I warn you there are lots of pictures and I will try to post some other Christmas posts also.

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I have finally finished decorating for Christmas!

I'm not sure why it was such a CHORE this year but it's done. And just in time for Christmas with Ashley's family. They will be leaving next week to go spend Christmas in Ohio with Mark's family so I decided to have Christmas early at my house for them and the boys complete with a full Christmas dinner. I wanted it to feel special for them.

Here are some pictures of the living room/dining room decorated.

I have two trees set up in my room. This is one that my boss gave to me last year after Christmas. It was made using a tomato cage. Here it is without the lights on...

And here it is with the lights on. I love this tree, it was so much fun to decorate it.

Remember these Dollar Tree hurricane vases I made last year? I love how they look with different colored ornaments in them. You can see how I made them here.

I have a thing for Santas. I bought this fellow from ABC Distributing several years ago. He originally was made to go in the bathroom and hold a roll of toilet tissue but somehow we have lost the dowel that went with it. I thought he looked great holding this sign.(He might have been cuter had I written the number of days before Christmas on the chalkboard).

And here is my wreath I also made last year from Dollar Tree ornaments. You can see that post here also.

I am not very happy with the way my hutch is decorated. I'll have to try and find some good deals on pretties to go in here after Christmas.

The table is set for dinner!

I saw this idea on Pinterest and had to run out at the last minute and pick up some mini stockings. LOL!

This is my original tree on the other side of the room. This poor tree is on it's last leg and will have to be disposed of after this year. I had to "tie" up several branches on the bottom to the upper level so you could see the tree skirt. It was dragging!

This year I decided to put the deer in a Christmas mood also. I don't think my hunter was very impressed but I figure if I've got to look at those monstrosities, then at least they need to make me smile.

Before dinner, I fixed some Grinch Punch especially for the boys but it was a hit with everyone.

Dummy me forgot to take any pictures of our dinner! It was a wonderful dinner with my Mama's recipe for cornbread dressing, black-eyed peas, candied yams and of course...turkey roasted chicken. There was a slight problem with the turkey but we don't need to get into that. Hehehehe!

After dinner, the boys couldn't wait to open their presents.

Pop had gone outside and brought back in these 2 switches for the boys. Of course, they had no idea what they were for but thought they were great and even tried to take them home with them later that night!

Every since "Elfie" made an appearance at their home, Davis has wanted an Elf that he could actually touch and cuddle with (if he touches or plays with Elfie then he looses his magic). This was the best gift of the night for him.

After opening all the presents, we played a game of Hedbanz with Chandler. Wow, Ashley is really aggressive with her questions.

It was a great night and although I'm going to miss them at Christmas, we still have some wonderful memories.

I know I’m late posting these pictures from last night but I was just too pooped to do it last night. I take far too many pictures every year so I won’t post all of them. LOL!

Here is Cassidy holding my latest Great-Niece, Charlie Anna. She sure does love to hold the little ones. Later, she had Skylar in her lap during the fireworks.

 

Here are some of my favorites…

 

We had a great time as usual. It’s nice to spend time with your family at the same spot every year.

Today, the girls and I spent some time on the beach. This was the 2nd time this week and I think I could really get used to that. Too bad I have to go back to work next week.

This is the only picture I have to document this since I forgot to take a picture on Tuesday. Tomorrow I will be spending the day with a friend shopping (or window shopping in my case). I can’t wait!

Easter Decorations

I had all intentions of really going ALL-OUT this year as far as decorating for Easter/Spring but unfortunately I didn’t get it all done. It wasn’t because I ran out of time…it was more that I ran out of enthusiasm
I did manage to get some done so I will show you that. It all started when I was going into consignment shops looking for Gabrielle some suits for her play. I spied some PINK salad plates for !.50 each. Now I don’t know if that is a good price for them or not but I loved them so I snatched them up envisioning a pretty pastel table setting for Easter.
From there I found some light green plates at The Dollar Tree along with some baby blue tins that I stuffed with Easter grass and some Easter Eggs on sticks that I also picked up from The Dollar Tree.. This is what it looked like all together.

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I think they turned out pretty cute! The only problem it that I was only able to get 4 of the pink plates…that’s all they had. :( The rest of the table was decorated with a pair of bunnies I picked up from either Family Dollar or Dollar General. They were only $3.50 each and were adorable. I added some hanging styrofoam eggs (also from The Dollar Tree) to a tree my mother gave me. The Dollar Tree had some other frees also but they were smaller and I wanted something a llittle bigger.

    
 
I put the extra eggs I had leftover into 2 pink tins that I bought from…you guessed it, The Dollar Tree. The chair covers are bunny faces but I forgot to take a picture of those.

Remember the hurricane vases I made back in the Fall? I decorated them for Easter also. I put some plastic eggs in a glass cheese dish that I bought from Princess House years ago.

I bought a glittery sign from Family Dollar for the wall. My intention was to make a wreath with some pastel colored eggs and hang it in the middle but I never got around to it. The carrot tree and the carrots were purchased from The Dollar Tree.

 

 

  On the other side of the room, I put some flowers from the dollar store in a Princess House pitcher. I love the look of flowers in the home but I have a BLACK thumb so I have to go the artificial way.

 

I saw a great idea on Pinterest showing a chocolate bunny sitting on top of malted Easter Eggs in an apothecary jar. I did that also and every time my grandson, Davis came to visit he would stop in front of it and just drool but he never ate one.

One night after my 3 day fast I was craving chocolate something fierce…’nuff said. So instead of chocolate easter eggs, I had to fill the bottom of the jar with Easter grass.

My last project  was another Pinterest inspiration but I can’t find the link. Using the “My Peeps” stamp set from Close To My Heart I created some “art” and put it in a black frame. I’m not 100% in love with it, I think it needs some more tweaking. Sorry about the poor quality photo…I couldn’t get a pic without a glare on it.

Well, that’s all I finished before Easter. My china cabinet sits bare even today.