Christmas 2009

It's crazy how you prepare for weeks or months shopping, decorating, cleaning, baking, and wrapping and then Christmas is all over in a flash! :o) This year Christmas flew by to me. I did enjoy it very much so, but it was just over and done with sooner than I wanted :o)

Christmas Eve we were headed out to a family gathering and we stopped to snap a few pictures. Obviously Mr. Smith was in a playful mood! :o) I didn't realize why the boys were laughing until I looked at the picture I had just snapped......Crossed eyed and all! Gotta love him :o)
Ahhh, much better! :o)

These four people make my heart SMILE! I love them SO! I can't get over that I am now looking up to a son and I do mean literally! I have to look UP to him when I am talking to him and he absolutely LOVES it! And before you know it, Wade may be looking up too! ha!!! This picture makes me giggle. He is my joker! He loves to goof off and joke around. I was trying so hard to get a good picture of him, and this is what he did when I snapped the picture....Lovely! Since our children do not "believe" in Santa anymore, it is a little different at our house now. Not too different, but we are not up at 4:00 a.m. anymore opening gifts. They now sleep until about 7:00. ha! No, it is really bittersweet. While I do miss that, it is less stressful!!! :o) I suppose I will ALWAYS fill their stocking and put out their "Santa" stacks. Even when they are long gone and come home to see us for Christmas (or we go see them), they will have "Santa". But that is a few more years away! whew!!! :o)

"Santa time"

Everyone got pretty much everything they wanted! They were happy as clams! :o)

My, what pretty legs you have.....:o) Both boys got some new boots that they had been wanting.

Daddy was feeling a little left out Christmas morning so he put on his work boots and sported them around! :o) I love this man's style! ha! ABS in her new hat that I had made for her for Christmas. My boss' daughter started making these hats a few months ago and I of course had to have one for ABS. She made it to coordinate with her new scarf. I love how it turned out and it was cold enough to wear it Christmas morning to ride her new ride!!!
A BIKE!!!! Finally!!! This child has NEVER shown any interest in learning to ride a bike until this past year. So she has been knowing for a while what she wanted for Christmas...and she got it! She jumped right on and did great!!!
Avery got an IPOD Touch and I'll just say that it has kept him quite content since Christmas morning. Andrew and Annah Brooke laugh at him and call him a "computer geek" or something of that nature, but name calling hasn't phased him. He has even turned down hunting a few times b/c of this thing, ha!!! He LOVES it!
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookie Fun!!!

Normally I do a good bit of baking during November and December, but this year, I was quite busy with...you guessed it...sewing!!! I had orders galore, not to mention my own personal sewing to do so baking was definitely on the back burners. I am not complaining about it as I am SO blessed that my little hobby has turned into something more. I'm just saying that I was extremely busy and honestly, I didn't quiet expect it to happen like that. Glad it did though! :o)

I am also so blessed to work for such a wonderful company that allows me to take the week of Christmas off to spend with my little family! This was the 2nd year that I was able to spend a week home with the kids during their Christmas break, and it was oh, so great!!! I actually worked Monday, but was off the rest of the week.

So once we finally finished all of our Christmas preparations, we started our "baking". Funny, I say baking, but after we were done with everything, not one thing we made was baked..ha!

Last year, I received this recipe for Oreo Truffles at least 5 times through emails from different friends telling me I had to try them. They seemed quite popular. Since then, I have seen them all over the Internet and people oohing and ahhing over them. So we decided to try them this year.

Oreo Truffles

Take a whole package of Oreo cookies and finely crush them (I used my food processor).
Add one block of cream cheese to crushed oreos and blend well with your mixer.

Once the two ingredients are mixed well, put in freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up.

In the meantime, let your little one lick the bowl and the mixer sticks....do those have a name? I just drew a blank?!

Take the mixture out of the freezer and roll into little balls (I did mine about the size of sausage balls). Dip each ball into melted almond bark and let dry on waxed paper.

Once dry, drizzle with chocolate almond bark and ENJOY!!!!

These were super easy, fun, and so kid friendly! ABS really enjoyed making these! We also made white trash, graham cracker truffles and oyster crackers. I said we didn't bake anything, but the we did have to toss the oyster crackers into the oven for a few minutes. :o)

I saw the recipe on Kelly's recipe blog for the Oyster Crackers. It sounded really yummy and would help level out all of the sweets we were going to be eating. Ha!!! I figured Wade and I would especially like them, but guess what?!?!? This is what was left for us..... CRUMBS!!! I didn't even get a picture of those yummy little crackers! ha!!! So I have no picture to go along with the recipe, but I assure you they are scrumptious! These would be so good for showers, cook-outs, etc...

Oyster Crackers

•3/4 cup vegetable oil
•1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix
•1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
•1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
•1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
•1 (12 ounce) package oyster crackers

1.Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
2.In a mixing bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, ranch-style dressing mix, dill weed, lemon pepper and garlic powder. Pour this spice mixture over the crackers in a medium bowl, and stir until the crackers are coated. Arrange the crackers on a large baking sheet.
3.Bake in the preheated 275 degrees F (135 degrees C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

She's gone quacky on me!

My sweet little, adorable, animal lover has turned a little quacky on me lately. She has been having a fit to go with her Daddy and brothers hunting, and she finally got her chance. This wasn't her 1st trip, but I normally persuade her to stay home with me so we can hang out and do girly stuff. I am quickly seeing that she is over the "girly" mother/daughter time and she loves hanging with the guys.

Today wasn't a great day for ducks as they only got 3 or so, but she did have a blast. She also got to shoot the gun, but realized quick that shooting was not so fun. She wasn't expecting the backfire or whatever you call it. She told me that it hurt her arm. :o) Brings back memories when I shot Wade's gun while we were dating and I had no idea it would backfire on me like that. I dropped Wade's gun in the mud and we'll just say he has never let me do it again...not that I'm complaining! :o) I would much rather stay home and do crafts, sew, shop, bake, and play on the Internet any day! ha!!!

She was so anxious to get home and show me what they shot. The boys quickly undressed out of their camo and were not in the picture taking mood...imagine that! So, I guess I am out numbered for sure!!! I now have FOUR duck hunters on my hands!!!

CHRISTmas Card Carousel

I am joining in on Faith’s Christmas Card Carousel today!

I ♥, ♥ Christmas cards! It is probably one of my favorite things about Christmas! I run out to the mailbox every afternoon, and I get really giddy when I open them from our dear family and friends!

I have designed our Christmas card for the past few years and I also have designed a few cards for friends and family this year. When I am creating their card, I have NO problem what.so.ever, but when it comes to creating my own…well my mind just goes blank and all of those creative juices just aren’t “juicing”. So I finally just put together this simple design at the very last minute for our 2009 card and once I sent them to the printers, I realized that I didn’t even put one of my favorite CHRISTmas verses on there that I had planned on using! :-( I was a little upset, but there was no turning back at that point.

Even though my kiddos are older, it still seems impossible to get a good photo sometimes. Especially when they  are in goofy moods which seems like most of the time around the Smith house.

These are some of the shots that didn’t make the cut, but I still treasure them!!     And this is the final, thrown together really quick, no verse 2009 Christmas card. :o) But, I am happy with it!

I am a little late this year in getting them out but, they are in the mail. I’m sure some people that will be getting a card from us may see it here on the blog first (so sorry), but rest assured, it is on it’s way! :o)

Thank you for stopping by and Merry CHRISTmas!

Christmas Tour of Homes

Welcome! Come on in!! I am so thrilled to be participating in The Nester’s Christmas Tour of homes this year! Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I love to decorate every room of our house! :o) This is my front door. I made this burlap stocking last year with our initial. I added some foliage and voila….There you have it. My front door decoration :o) I have some ideas of what I’d like to add to our front entrance, but it didn’t happen this year. Hopefully, I will have it ready for next year! :o)

This is the view from the front door coming into our home.

I started collecting the Willow Tree figurines a few years ago and I was so excited when I saw their Nativity scene. I still do not have all of the pieces for it, but for the most part, I do. My dad made me the crèche last year because I could not see paying $100 for it when he could build it for me! I ♥ how it turned out!!

My MIL gave me these red glittery trees a few years ago and I have them sitting in the foyer. Actually I borrowed them from her to use and she ended up giving them to me later :o) I was so glad, because I didn’t know if I could give them back!! This is my living room. After my mom passed away, I took over her Santa collection so I have them everywhere. My Dad now gives me a new one each year to add to my collection. The ones on the mantel are some of my newer ones. The bulk of them are on the top of our entertainment center and then I have a few more on the end table.

There is a very funny story behind our tree this year…Wade and I bought our very 1st tree last year after Christmas. We’ve always used the tree my parents used growing up. Needless to say, it had about had it. So we head out a few days after Christmas last year in search of “the tree”….We found the perfect tree. It was huge, but we really loved it.

Well, this year, we get it out and put it together and the darn thing is tooooo big for our living room. It really fit, but the top was seriously smashing against the ceiling….SO, we took the top section off of the tree and made it work for us. I found these sequin sprays at Pier One and some feathers from Hobby Lobby to help fill in the gap and for the most part, I think we pulled it off! Hopefully one day, we’ll have vaulted ceilings and we’ll be able to use the top of our tree :o) But for now, this is how we roll!

These are a few of my new ornaments this year!

This is my mantel. I am ever so pleased with it this year! I love, love, love the word “JOY” at Christmas! I’m sure most people do, but this word is almost a theme in our home. I’ve made towels and ornaments and shirts that say “JOY”. “JOY to the world, the Lord has come” is really why we are celebrating!!!

I painted some letters that I picked up at Wal-Mart (or Hobby Lobby) and attached ribbon and hung them over our mantel! I LOVE the way it turned out!

I made our garland by using white lights, red balls, red feathers, foliage, & pinecones. So easy and so cheap! And I LOVE the look it added to the mantel! I have used garland in the past for our mantel, but by adding some things I had around the house, really made it (in my opinion)! :o)

This is a glittery tree and basket I have sitting by the fireplace.

Last year, my Dad gave me this “Kneeling Santa”. I do think this one is my favorite one yet! LOVE it! More Santas

My dad gave me this Nativity snow globe for my 21st birthday! It is beautiful!!! This Santa plate was my mother’s. I have always used it at Christmas to put goodies on, but have never thought about standing it up on a plate stand until this year! Another platter. I LOVE platters!!! I bought this tree a few years ago for really cheap and it has become Annah Brooke’s tree. We added some tulle and pink balls to it. I am going to be on the look out for a few “girly” ornaments after Christmas this year, but we were pleased with the new look of this tree! We made this ornament this year. We put some pink shred in clear glass balls, added her initial, & some ribbon and cute, cheap ornaments!!

I have a tree in the boys room, but just realized I don’t have a picture of it yet. My granddaddy made it out of grapevine and we added white lights to it. I will have to get a picture of it and post it later. I love and cherish that tree now especially since he has passed away!

I posted some pictures of our dining room tree and decorations in the post below so be sure to scroll down.

Thank you for touring my home! Merry Christmas!!!