Sunday, December 02, 2007

Christmas-ier and Christmas-ier

Tiring, but fun weekend. Lots of work. But also loads and loads of spirit-filled fun!

Got in our yearly viewing of Year Without a Santa Claus (my all-time favorite from childhood!). Also fit in Elf and Robbie the Reindeer.

We got a little snow Friday night, and then a bigger one Saturday night. And what could be more fun than a snowball fight in Santa hats?





And we also managed to get our tree up and trimmed. We have the most pathetic tree in the world. No fresh cut blue spruce. Nope, just this scrawny, lopsided artificial thing. But it is priceless to us! Each and every ornament on it is handmade. No "bought" ornament has every graced our "main" tree. Some day I should do an actual count, but I'm guessing there are ornaments made by probably 15 different friends and family members. So, will our tree ever grace the cover of House Beautiful? Not a chance. But I couldn't imagine it any other way.






We're still plugging away with Cornelia Funke's When Santa Fell to Earth, too. And let me tell you, it is positively delightful so far!

Grammy is the quintessential "spoiling grandma" and each year she fills Advent wall hangings for each of the kids with little presents. We're talking little things, like super-balls and chapstick here, but the excitement the kids feel each morning when they pick out their present for the day...well, it's just priceless!


And Rich and I got to open a present this weekend, too. Because Mom is also the quintessential "spoiling mom"! She's been working on this for a couple years now, but I had no idea she'd finished it. What a beautiful, beautiful Christmas surprise!

So, yep, I'd say we had a pretty good weekend!

(And I even got my first two boxes of gifts wrapped and ready to mail!)

12 comments:

chrisa511 said...

I loved this post, Debi! First of all, I would kill for snow like that! I would kill for snow at all. Looks like your boys had fun in it :)

Y'alls tree is great. Reminds me of ours. There's nothing quite like those homemade ornaments. We have tons and tons of them. We don't go for the matching ornaments either :p all homemade half torn 20 year old ornaments here with jiggly eye balls falling off!

I really think I'm going to have to pick up When Santa Fell to Earth. I have no idea how I'm going to fit anything else in this month, but I think I'm going to try. I just went to read about it on Amazon and it sounds great! And that quilt is gorgeous! Is it a quilt? You can tell she put lots of time into that and it's such a nice gift :)

I got all of my gifts wrapped this weekend. I had to do something to occupy my mind! I always love seeing all the gifts piled up under the tree after they're wrapped. I love these Christmas blog posts!

Katie said...

We do our yearly Christmas photo in santa hats. it's fun!

Your tree looks good, I like the chain, is that pipe cleaners? My boys could do that tomorrow!

~**Dawn**~ said...

Well aren't you a busy little elf! And I love the third photo, with the hat falling down over the eyes. Totally made me smile. =)

Debi said...

Chris-

You really should get When Santa Fell to Earth! You'll be able to fit it in somewhere, I'm sure. Probably won't take you more than an hour or so to read. It's taking us considerably longer, because two little boys ask questions and make comments several times a page :-) It's only about 160 pages and has lots of illustrations (by Paul Howard...any relation?). I really think you'll enjoy it!

Kathleen-

Yep, pipe cleaners. Great kid project, huh? And it really does look cute on the tree! Gray is quite proud of this latest contribution.

Dawn-

Thanks...that picture was my favorite, too!

Joy said...

It sounds like a FABULOUS weekend, Debi! We had more icy/slush than snow here. Can't wait for more of the real stuff. :)

Oh...and the sampler (?) is beautiful. I want one!

Carl V. Anderson said...

Wonderful post, Debi! Love the pics. I'm very, very jealous of your snowfall. It has been sadly un-Christmas like here with the exception of a few days of cold temps. But its getting up in the 40s and 50s again this week, which is not the kind of weather I associate with Christmas. Oh well, not going to let it spoil my spirit.

Very fun Christmas tree. We don't have homemade ornaments, but we have many ornaments that we have had for years and years that we just cannot part with. My wife suggested maybe doing something different this year and Tori and I quickly vetoed that...we love our traditions. After we were done Mary was glad we did it with our usual ornaments.

Love the dog under the tree...that is priceless!

Carl V. Anderson said...

Forgot to mention that the quilt is beautiful and certainly looks like it would have taken a loooong time to make with all the detail it has.

Ana S. said...

Aww, they look so happy! Thanks for sharing the pictures :) I want some snow for Christmas so badly, but I don't think I'll be lucky.

I picked up When Santa Fell to Earth this past weekend thanks to your recommendation, and I'm really enjoying it so far! Thank you! Actually, I have something in mind for my Advent Calendar post involving it, but I shall say no more for now :P

Melody said...

I really enjoyed reading this post, Debi! I can already sense the Christmasy feeling in the air!! And ooh, you got snow...I'm so jealous! Too bad we don't have that over here... It's so wonderful to have a white Christmas.

kreed said...

Girl, you have been busy! Love the snowball fight pictures...you're kids are getting so grown up looking!. And precious puppy under the tree...do you want to trade your housebroken one for my unhousebroken one? And in your spare time, can I convince you to come down for a visit and pick up your Christmas presents since I do not have them wrapped for mailing yet?!?! Too bad I can't just jump in the car and deliver them...I miss y'all!

Somer said...

We started reading When Santa Fell to Earth late last week for bedtime. On your recommendation, maybe? (I can't remember!) It's delightful!

gail@more than a song said...

Cute pictures! I love trees like that, ours is very eclectic.