December 18--The Big Tree

Here's the big tree in our living room. Check this out to see our day of picking it out and bringing it home. Nice photo, Craig...thanks!

December 17--WHK's Tree

OK, if you are paying attention you'll notice I fell off the blogging wagon today. I am really posting this on December 18. What can I say? We are having a busy, but fun week. Lots and lots of work during the day and entertaining friends in the evening. Anyway, here is the boy's tree. It is in our den and is adorned with homemeade and other kiddo ornaments. Not really the best of pictures but here it is...

December 16--Charlie Brown & Cotton Headed Ninnymuggins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fig956-MuVA

Don't you love Christmas shows and movies? I do!

December 15--A Tree For Me...

...and Craig, and WHK, too! Our little trees match our room decor--black & white toile for the master and a patriotic theme for the boy.

December 14--More Seasonal Treats

Clementines, Coke in a glass bottle and soft peppermints. All of these fun things make me think of the holidays and seem to taste especially good this time of year. Oh yes, don't forget Bluebell Peppermint Ice Cream!

Coming soon...trees, trees and more trees!

December 13--Santa Claus

Loving the childhood wonder!

December 12—Christmas Dishes

Each year after Thanksgiving, we swap our everyday dishes for our Christmas dishes. They are neither fancy nor fashionable (they were circa 1993). However, it is fun to have a change of scenery during our meal times. Even though they are dated, I do love my Christmas dishes. My sweet grandmother Marcette made table runners to coordinate and when she passed on I was blessed to receive her cut glass goblets which match perfectly.

December 11—SISSY BOX!

A HOLIDAY FAVORITE I GET TO ENJOY ALL YEAR!! My dear sister and I have a long-standing tradition of giving each other what we call a “Sissy Box” on Christmas morning. This box is filled with fun little odds and ends that we purchase over the entire year. It is true that it is more fun to give than receive. I have so much fun spotting little things throughout the year to put in Jenny’s box. The items are never fancy or expensive and most are probably found on a post-season clearance shelf. But, it is so much fun to have a few quiet moments together on Christmas morning and exchange our trinkets and treasures with each other. My relationship with my sister is one of the greatest joys in my life—I love you, Sissy! Can’t wait to exchange our prizes to each other.

December 10—Christmas Cards

Love to give and receive these fun greetings from family and friends. Ours are coming…soon…

Congratulations to the Pierce family in Pennsylvania and Senior Anglin family in Arkansas for making it to our mailbox first!

December 9—Decorating My Hutch

I must thank my pal, Tracy for this inspiration. She has new décor in her hutch each season. I try to do the same but sometimes fail…do you remember this post? Anyway, I am so happy with the way things came together this year. An end of season bargain from one of my favorite stores furnished the sweet nativity on the top shelf. I accented it with some snow and some fun gold stars—I have got to bug Craig to install some light in my hutch! Shelf two has a Santa motif—a letter the boy wrote him last year, a favorite plate and the sweetest photo of WHK putting an ornament on a tree. The bottom is home to a sampling of my awesome 1990’s pink Christmas dishes and my grandmother’s pink cut-glass goblets which I treasure so much. I also did a little re-arranging and came up with some new things for the top of my hutch. It is really a warm space in the house—a sampling of so many of my favorite things!

December 8—Holiday Soap & Hand Lotion

I am so enjoying the yummy smell of this Twisted Peppermint hand soap and lotion. It is fun to have a new fragrance that constantly reminds you of this fun time of year.

December 7—Christmas Books

This is a two-tiered favorite—both a long-standing tradition and the start of a new one, too.

The first of my Christmas favorite things I can claim from my mom—she has had the same tradition for years. It is a tin/basket of favorite Christmas books. As we decorate for the holidays we pull it out and place it by the fireplace. The bucket is filled with all sorts of holiday favorites—from simple baby picture books to treasuries filled with old-time holiday tales. The boy love, Love, LOVES to sort through the books and read familiar stories and dive into new things that he might not have read yet. It is a great way to keep our daily reading log filled up, too. It is also fun to add to our collection each year.

The second part of my tradition is more for me. I have noticed a trend of Christmas books for adults—they seem to publish more and more each year. I enjoy reading but consider it a bit of a luxury I can not always afford because it takes away time from things I MUST do. This year I bought The Christmas Sweater By Glenn Beck. It is a wonderfully warming story about Christmas, family, second chances and giving yourself the gift of forgiveness. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend this easy read to anyone. I hope to pick up a fun holiday book like this each year and start my own little collection of holiday books.

December 6—Plastic Snow

OK, how tacky does that sound? Plastic Snow! I love the look of flocked trees. However, in these parts they are very expen$ive and a little overdone. Many years ago, I discovered bags of “Frosty Snow” it is found at both large superstores and craft stores. Each holiday season (or sometimes post-season) I stock up on this festive fantasy flocking. The finishing touch on all of my trees, tablescapes and nativities is a generous sprinkling of plastic snow. I love they way it looks—it reflects the Christmas tree lights beautifully and fills in the gaps. It also is good for making a tired, old artificial tree look a little more “happy” (note to self, get a new artificial tree for the den next year).

We've Been Elfed!

Check us out!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/MVUhJqtfs9Vb6r0MKkLm

Here's Mum & Apa with their grand-kiddos

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/wrO3dNBVTR747AGz

Thanks, asc for the cute idea--love yours!

December 5—This Picture and Other Holiday Memories From Childhood

I love the holiday season because it is the perfect time to create new memories and traditions for our family and reflect upon my own fun childhood memories. When I look at this picture (which is now one of my holiday decorations) I can remember so much...having breakfast with childhood friends and Santa at Sanger Harris, pretending I was a reindeer, the smell of cedar from the trunk my mom stored the Christmas ornaments in, the handmade ornaments you can see hanging on the tree in the picture, listening to a Harry Mancini LP album on the record player. Thanks, Mom and Dad for great holiday memories...hopefully I can do the same for our boy!

December 4—Holly Jolly Thursdays (a glimpse into UMS)

So, some of you may or may not know our choice for the boy's education. There are so many options available, our decision is University Model School. This type of school is a blend of both the traditional classroom and home school. WHK's school meets for classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and I have the pleasure of continuing his studies (as planned by his teachers) on Tuesday and Thursday. For us, it is a perfect balance...we love it!

Because we have a bit more flexibility in WHK's school schedule, we have a December tradition of completing all of our home school studies on Tuesdays so that we can have our HOLLY JOLLY THURSDAYS. On our Thursdays in December we will do fun holiday activities such as:

• having our holiday portraits made
• shopping for our Christmas shoe boxes
• soaking up the fun of the season--today we will see the Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• planning & building our gingerbread house--see last year's here
• holiday baking, shopping & wrapping

These are fun times--it is worth working double-time on Tuesdays to be able to make these memories on our HOLLY JOLLY THURSDAYS!

December 3—Peppermint Mocha Creamer

This particular holiday pleasure usually graces us early in the season. But let me tell you, when I am strolling through my neighborhood market in late October and spy the Peppermint Mocha Coffeemate in the diary section I am instantly jolted into the holiday spirit. I enjoy it even more when I am drinking my coffee from one of my holiday mugs--but that is an entry for another day…

December 2—Christmas Music!

Many years ago Craig bought me a 200 CD changer. During the holidays, I love to load it up with my 36 (and counting) Christmas CDs and put it on random/shuffle. I have everything from sacred to silly. I am a complete sucker for any store’s promotional Christmas CD usually sold at the check-out. Anyway, I get all sorts of holiday joy having it on all day long. It is a wonderful backdrop for entertaining friends and family throughout the season. I also love knowing that the boy is exposed to all different types of sounds and styles of music—hey, isn’t it OK for Handel and Jimmy Buffet to make a joyful noise? PS, if you haven't already, turn your volume on--I have a fun sampling of Christmas songs here on my blog.

December 1—December 1st Present & Advent Calendars

So, here is the first reason I love the Christmas season…it’s a little tradition I have with the boy and Ava called December First Present. I usually buy a little something that can be enjoyed by the entire family for the holiday season like a Christmas movie, book or CD. This year WHK will receive the Curious George Christmas book (from Khol’s) and A Christmas Story on DVD (our copy is on VHS) which I bought this summer. It is a fun way to begin the season and both WHK and I look forward to it.

On December 1, we also begin the ritual of counting down to Christmas with two different advent calendars we use. The first is a hand-made gift from my Aunt Linda—it is hung with pride in our entry way and each morning the boy hangs an ornament on the tree. Our second calendar is a yummy chocolate calendar from World Market which we do in the afternoon or evening. Both are so much fun and I hope WHK never gets tired of them!

So Thankful...

...for all of the amazing blessings in my life. God has blessed our family abundantly!

This year we celebrated a little differently. The Henricks and Kelly clans were scattered all over the country with people to see and babies to celebrate. We stayed at home and had a glorious week of family time. We had lots of turkey with all of the fixin's throughout Thanksgiving week, so we went to Benihana for Thanksgiving day--lots of yummy food and no dishes, hooray!

On Friday had our traditional day at the tree farm. We took a hay ride and selected a beautiful 9 1/2 foot Frasier Fir for our living room. We spent a few evenings with our fun friends, the Kings playing cards and letting the kids run around. We wrapped up our long weekend just being at home putting the finishing touches on our Christmas decorations and preparing for another busy week!

Christmas is my absolute favorite season of the year--I love, Love, LOVE to be in my home with a fire going and listening to Christmas music and taking in all of the wonder of the season as I reflect on God's greatest gift to mankind. If I can get it together (which is doubtful) I hope to post a snapshot a day of why I LOVE this time of year! I am sure all two of my readers will eagerly await!

Here She Is!

Jane Ryan

Blast From The Past

Today my elementary school had a 30 year anniversary celebration. My BFF, Amy, and I just had to check it out and show our boys our old stomping grounds. It was so much fun! I saw my two favorite teachers and lots of familiar faces.

Welcome Baby Jane!

Congratulations to my Sissy on the birth of her new baby girl, Jane Ryan. She came all by herself (a little early) weighing in at a whopping 8 pounds, 10 ounces. Picture to come soon.

November Rose

Look at this beautiful peace rose from our yard...and in November! This is my mother-in-law, Esther's, favorite flower. I post this picture in rememberance of Craig's dad, Larry Kelly. He went home to be with Jesus 20 years ago this month.

Indiana Jones and The Quest For More Candy

Here is our sweet boy on Halloween!

Congratulations, Sissy!

My sweet sissy is doing me the great honor of becoming an auntie for the 6th time! There was a fun shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of her sweet new baby. Due to my life being too crazy, I had to stay home. I am looking forward to seeing her soon and giving her my own little sprinkle of gifts and love!

Mexico In October: Take 2

Cruise Pics

BFF Trip!

I'm off for a little R& R with my BFF of 25 + years, Amy. Life has been hectic with a new job, the start of school and all of the activities that entails. Our agenda: sit, read, eat, sleep.

Our Week In Review

This past week was hectic! We...

...played Laser Tag in celebration of PJ's big 7--Happy Birthday!...

...had our first day of second grade...

...celebrated an outstanding year of first grade and kicked off the start of a new year with...

...sushi...


...Grandy & Mum...

...Apa...

...and a delicious lemon cake, easy with the knife there, Buddy!

Our Stay-Cation!

So, Craig had an opportunity to do a little free-lance job here in our area and part of the deal was a 2-night stay at a nice hotel. WHK and I took total advantage of this opportunity and celebrated our end-of-summer and kick-off to second grade. Here are some highlights:

We met Grandy at one of WHK's favorite Italian restaurant's downtown.

WHK had no boundaries on his DS playing time!

We had a little room service and ate all sorts of junk food we don't keep in the house.

We watched the Olympics--a real treat since we are still in the midst of our little family experiment.
Do you remember this post?

WHK is very intrigued by condiments in small containers. During both of our hotel stays this summer he had to have something with jelly on it, just because it was a novelty. Please note, he never wants jelly at home because it comes in an ordinary

mammoth-sized jar.

One last hurrah! Summer's over and school is starting. Tomorrow.

Edible Ethiopian Flag