Changing Fall To Christmas

During the week of Thanksgiving we got our Christmas tree and Christmas decorations out and started trading out our fall decor. I usually leave everything decorated for fall and Thanksgiving on the first floor until the day after Thanksgiving, but I'll start on the tree or get it up, and it's on the second floor in the front window. So each floor is decorated for different seasons/holidays!

Everything took a little longer this year with me still in recovery mode and having doctor appointments to start radiation. I also didn't do much of the physical work and just supervised (i.e. bossed people around). I had Buddy put the tree together, Hubby and a couple of the kids fluffed out the limbs (which I can usually be so anal about), and then Hubby put on the lights as I followed him around holding them (920 lights!). These are all things I usually do because I'm such a control freak, but I just let it go and it was okay.

I also let the kids decorate the tree. Not that they don't usually, but I stayed away and let them put the ornaments where they wanted to. They weren't as happy about it as I thought they would be. They were impressed that I didn't move things around after they were done. Giving up control I tell you.

Honestly, the tree looks almost identical to last year's tree, except that it's a different one (because we have two and I had Buddy put up the one that is not pre-lit because it's such a bear and needs more than one person).

I switched out the fall artwork I found on Pinterest with Christmas artwork.


I put a few things on the mantle and coffee table, and I put the little evergreens in front of the fireplace. I also got my Christmas wreaths and the stockings (which we call socks) out. I still need to put the nativity together, but other than that, I'm done. Going simple this year.

And it's totally okay.

Pom Pom Garland

I'm already getting ready for next Christmas.

I'm making pom poms. Like crazy.

In all different colors and four different sizes. I got pom pom makers for Christmas!

If you click on the picture it will take you to Amazon. (If you purchase them I will receive a small percentage from the sale.)

They didn't have the best directions, but decent enough pictures on the back that I could figure out what to do. Best of all, it was fast.

I have about four feet of pom pom garland right now. I strung the pom poms on plain embroidery thread. It's quite heavy.

I'm going to be making pom poms and garland to have them ready for next year. I'm going to make snowmen with the pom poms on skewers too. But I couldn't resist hanging the little bit of garland I had, even if it was just for a few days.

I can't wait to see lots of it on my big tree next year!

Undecorating

I definitely don't like that word.

I had a nifty idea though on storing my ornament trees. I definitely did not want to have to reassemble them next year.

Take off the top glass ball and put a cork on the knitting needle. I bought corks today at the store when I was buying more plastic containers.

Decorating our tree is often a little more difficult than it should be, and we always have ornaments that we can't seem to locate that are in a box with un-like items, like maybe with stockings or the sit-around decorations. Then we have ornaments strewn all over the place because there are so many in one box, and tissue paper and bubble wrap, and chaos in general.

I knew there had to be a better way for us, and it was smaller containers. I also separated out most of the kids' ornaments into their own boxes. They will either still go on the big tree next year or on a tree in their own room. Either way, that's their box to put on that no one else touches.

I have one box that is just glass balls (special ones). It's the fabric-looking red box on the left. I purchased lots of glass balls on clearance this year that are still in boxes. I wanted them for crafting next year. They are in a couple of large plastic bins on the floor.

Our Hallmark ornaments were another issue for me. Every year we take them out and put them back in the boxes they came in. It's cumbersome. But some of them need to be there for protection. I decided that all of our Hallmark train ornaments could be kept out of the boxes and put in one small box together, simply bubble-wrapped. It will be so much faster. (I kept the boxes and put them in a larger container 'just in case.')

I labeled almost every box. I can see in them now, but next year when we get ready to put things away it will make it much simpler.

Every year when I get out the Buffalo Snow, Caboose gets out some animals and adds them in for decorating. I've taken down the ornament tree, but I'm not sure what the cat's going to do if I take away the rest. He's become rather accustomed to the comfy spot with extra heat from the fireplace. He doesn't have to wait on the vents to blow anymore.

I still have to take the lights off the tree and take it apart. And figure out what to do about the cat.

Merry Christmas!

From the girls in our house,

and the two boys willing to be photographed this morning,

Merry Christmas!

We had an atypical Christmas for us. It was only the second Christmas in my life that I haven't had the traditional homemade chicken pie. The other time was 1993 when the girls were in the hospital and we were staying at the local Ronald McDonald House.

After unexpectedly spending Thanksgiving Day in the hospital with Hubby this year and the kids spending it with special friends from church, I cooked our turkey on the evening of Black Friday. It was what has become known as the great turkey disaster.

I always cook my turkey in the large plastic bags and they always turn out fine. My problem is that I always want to cook them upside down. Hubby always has to tell me which way is up. Since he wasn't here, I couldn't ask.

And the year I decide to cook it opposite the way I think it should be is the year I'll have it right the first time.

Well, the meat thermometer said the turkey was done and I started cutting. Eventually I realized I'd cooked it upside down and most of the meat wasn't cooked. It was too late to remedy the situation. I also found a second bag of innards, which is my second turkey-cooking issue. I can never find them or there is a second bag I don't find.

So for Christmas we had turkey! Complete with a surprise bag of innards upon cutting it!

I can also cook a turkey right side up if I buy one with a pop-up timer.

Here are the kids with their beloved socks, which we open last.




This is our "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" cake. It's a Williamsburg Orange Cake with Williamsburg Butter Frosting. I'll share the recipe soon!

I pray that you all had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior!

Ornament Tree

We always had at least one of these around our house when I was growing up. Of course back then there weren't all the glittery ball choices available in the stores today.

And just so you know, the shatter-proof balls with unusual tops will not work. You have to have ornaments with the typical round hooks at the top like vintage glass balls. If you can find shatter-proof like that, go for it.

You'll need a knitting needle that is at least one foot long and skinny enough to go through the circular hole in the top of the ornaments.

Start at the bottom and place two balls on the knitting needle across from each other, and then place the two that criss-cross. They lie better that way. Sometimes you have to finagle them to make the bottom sit well. My mom doesn't, but I did. I just had to stretch the wire the tiniest bit on the top of the criss-crossed ornaments on the bottom row for it not to wiggle.

Alternate sizes as you go up the needle. You can do a couple of rows of each size, or more depending on how many different sizes you have. When you get to the top, take one of your smallest ornaments, pull the top off and sit it on the top of your needle.

I have five different sizes on this ornament tree. Two of my other trees (that I didn't show you here) only have three sizes. That's because I just got the two smaller sizes of ornaments yesterday and dismantled this third tree and re-did it.

The largest three sizes are actually shatter-proof balls with the correct type of top. The two smaller sizes are glass balls. They all look the same. If I drop it, they won't.

I love this new addition to my Christmas decorations this year!

I'm linking up over at Skip to my Lou.

Quick Fabric Gift Bags

I needed to 'wrap' the gifts I had for my 2nd grade Sunday school class. Regular wrapping was not going to be conducive due to shape, and I didn't have any inexpensive Christmas lunch bag type gift bags. I also did not want to buy a gift bag for nine kids, even at the dollar store. That would have been another $9, plus tissue paper as filler.

I still had some Christmas flannel scraps from the Christmas stockings, which are actually Christmas bags, which we call socks, that I made for my four kids about eight years ago. I pulled those out and cut them down to size. I had just enough for nine bags.

I folded the top over and made about a 1/4" to 1/2" hem. Then I put the right sides together and sewed up the sides. I snipped the corners, flipped the bag right side out, and I had a bag.

I used the pillowcase scraps I had from making pillowcases that fit to make the ties. I just cut strips and then tied the bags shut. No hemming, no finishing, just cutting and tying.

I was finished in under an hour, and it was so much cuter than anything I could have purchased! It kind of reminded me of a mini-Santa bag.

I'm linking up at Tip Junkie:

2010 Christmas Tour Of Homes

This year we put up the wrong tree.

See, we have a pre-lit tree that weighs as much as an elephant. We bought it around eight years ago. We haven't used it in at least four.

When we got to Michigan, we purchased the most beautiful artificial tree. It's the same height and fullness as the heavy monster. And no, we don't do real. I'm allergic.

Hubby thought for some reason that I wanted the pre-lit tree this year. I think he forgot about the other one. I'm not sure why. I think the packing tape that hadn't been touched should have indicated that the elephant hadn't been opened for many years, but by the time he'd gotten it to the second floor, it was the one getting put up this year.

On top of that I planned to put the colored lights on and already had them out. So you know what I did?

I mixed them! White pre-lit and multi-colored LED lights all on the same tree!

It makes for lots of lights, which we all love!

Here's the view coming down the stairs from Chatty's room.

And an early morning dark view with snow falling outside.

Here's a small mosaic of some ornaments. I did an ornament post talking about some of our special ones here.

This cross-stitch stays out year-round. I stitched it on navy fabric so it would stand out. I did it before kids in the early '90s.

This is on the top of our game cabinet. I added the garland of berries to the leaf garland from the fall.

I've had this little doo-dad since Hubby and I first got married. The Santa goes to the top of the wire and jiggles down. I took the picture fast, but he got halfway down in the second picture.


My greatest treasure from this year is my new Nativity. My maternal grandma passed away in May. She and my grandpa travelled to the Holy Lands in the summer of 1976. They purchased one of these Nativities for my mom, my aunt, and themselves. Since I am the oldest grandchild, my aunt and my mom decided that I should have the first choice as to whether or not I wanted it. I can't tell you the amazement I felt at that moment, and the pleasure I feel owning this treasure. I put it up the first week of November as soon as Hubby and Buddy brought it back from Arkansas.

Those are ornament ball trees on the side, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of them like my mom yet. As soon as I get them figured out where they look a little better, I'll do a separate post on them.

I'm linking up to the Christmas Tour Of Homes at The Nester's and also at Kelly's Korner.

Ornaments

Jolanthe at No Ordinary Moments is hosting a linky party for us to share our favorite ornaments.

Unfortunately it's impossible to share my entire tree full of ornaments with you and the story behind each one. That's literally what it would take! There are only a handful of ornaments on our tree that don't have a special story or some significance behind them, so I chose to share a few older ornaments, picked on a whim, and the new ornaments for each family member from this year.

This little painted Santa on a glass ball is small. It might be the diameter of a nickel. I picked it up in the late '80s in a little shop in Hermann, Missouri.

This ornament was a gift before kids (I think from my cousin). We had cats that were like our kids at the time. I giggle every time I hang this ornament. Down low, of course.

This ornament was actually not originally an ornament, but you may have figured that out. Both of the boys made these turkeys at Thanksgiving with a dear man from our church in Illinois who has since passed away. When they made them, they brought them home and stuck them in the tree branches. They've been ornaments ever since, much to the boys' chagrin!

Hubby and I love National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We don't let our kids watch it so whenever we have it on, Caboose says, "They're watching Cussy Christmas," because we've told them one of the reasons they can't watch it is for the language. So when this ornament that Hubby and I got last year came out of the box this year, Caboose and Buddy both said, "It's the Cussy Christmas ornament." The boys like to listen to the three (non-cussing) sayings, all courtesy of Cousin Eddie.

Sparky's new ornament this year, because she loves frogs.

Hubby's new ornament for the year, since he is retired from the U.S. Army.

Our new ornament for the year together, since we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year.

Buddy's new ornament for the year. It reminds him of the squirrels that always got on our feeders in Virginia along with the birds. Plus he loves cardinals.

Chatty, our chocolate fiend's new ornament. You can also see the garland I made with the felt circles. Our tree is so big I definitely need a few, so I'm working on more circles.

Caboose's new ornament. He loves stuffed animals, stuffed birds, and this one has a 'squeeze me' feature and he chirps.

Always one of my favorites and the real reason for the season. It's only a couple of years old but it always has a prominent place in front.

Thanks for dropping by and cherishing some of our memories with me! Be sure to visit No Ordinary Moments to link up your favorite ornaments or visit some other bloggers.

Felt Garland

I started a new craft project tonight. You know, because I don't have enough craft projects and other activities on my plate right now.

I saw a cute idea for a felt garland a while back on the Anna Maria Horner blog. Here's the link to the blog. I'm not going to make a straight link to the actual garland because a lot of the comments on that specific post were spam (like hundreds) and so I don't want to have that linked straight in here. But there's a link to the post on her sidebar once you get there.

The directions call for 60 sets of felt circles for a 5- to 6-foot garland. You can see that five of my circles are about 6", so 15 will be a foot and a half, and 60 will be 6 feet. So it's correct.

The diameter of my circles — just shy of 1 1/2". The stitching is about 1/4" around.

Do you know the little trick to cutting better shaped circles? Keep your scissors in place (of course squeeze them to cut), but move your felt, or paper, or whatever you happen to be cutting in a circular motion. Don't move the scissors around the object.

When I have more done I'll run more embroidery thread through the middles where you can't see it to attach them all together into a long garland. I think it will be darling on my whimsical Christmas tree this year.