The Sugarplums are Dancing!!

So ... having ... too ... much ... fun.

Must go have more fun.

Happy New Year!

There IS a Santa Claus!!

So ... contrary to popular belief, Santa doesn't just bring you presents to put under the tree ... he brings you the tree and a floor to put it on ... and chairs to sit on and admire it.

Thanks Santa ... you are the BEST!! Aren't you glad that I didn't make you put my present in the sleigh and stuff in down the chimney?

Now ... if I can remember how to cook, I'll whip you up some cookies that will make it all worth it.

I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas Week. May exhaustion feel as good to you as it does to me.

Wrap Music

So ... I am trying to accomplish as much as I can before the time comes (very soon) when I must drop everything to put my house back together and actually decorate for Christmas. Today I (nearly) finished the wrapping, and I just wanted to show off my tags. These are another one of the Target Dollar Bin specials where you get 8 of these for ... you guessed it ... a dollar.

I am quite enamored with these guys who have both glitter and felting on them. This is some serious (and seriously cute) quality for the ol' dollar bin. I really enjoyed the wrapping this year. It's a Christmas Task that I either love or hate depending on how on top of it I am in any particular year.

"Oh, what's this?" you innocently ask. "Why it's a corner in my family room bay window that just happens to show off my new floor and my new base boards. I don't know how it got into this post? Dear me."

So spill. Wrapping: Hate it or Love it? And while your at it, how much do you love, love, love my floors?

Blatant Plagerism

So ... due to a lack of personal blog-worthy material ... plus the fact that I have the most intelligent/funny/creative/darling/slightly-weird children/grandchildren in the world, I am just going to direct you to go here so that you can lift your weary holiday spirits without further ado.

If you are not personally acquainted with my progenity, here are a few navigating tips ...

* The bearded Elf is my son, Sonny Boy and yes, he always makes those faces in photos. The fact that he didn't in (most of) his wedding photos was nothing short of a miracle.

* Yes, this is why I love my Sonny Boy so much.

* Mrs. Boy is the other adult who put together this bit of revelry and so it's pretty obvious why I love her so much.

* The two children involved are not their children, but they are knee-deep into a campaign to win the "Favorite Aunt/Uncle Competition" and this could pretty much cinch it.

*Miss Dub has her finger up her nose in the first video and has not mysteriously grown a trunk.

* Li'l Gee looks like two different children in the two videos, but that is just my multi-faceted baby boy.

So go. Indulge. Make yourself Merry!

Your welcome.

Don't think for one moment that I haven't started decorating yet!

So ... I am furiously working on the kitchen curtains ... Kevin is furiously working on the floors ... and some lady that I accidently blocked at CostCo is just furious.

Who cares!?! While I was there I picked up this scrumptious wreath with real greenery that is uber-fresh and smells like Heaven. I put it on the front door so it has some remote possibility of staying fresh, but I have already walked out there three times to take a little whiff.

I'll be honest. I would just love, love, love to have that aroma emanating from a real tree in my family room every year, but I got tired of going to bed at night wondering if it was really wise to have a tinder-box in the middle of my house. Seriously, I am somewhat of a paranoid person and my thought processes concerning the rapidly dying tree caused me to be uber-cranky.

I took the wreath that had been on my door and stuck in on the only available nail I could reach. What you aren't seeing in this lovely picture ... just to the right of the stairs in my entry-way ... is my stove. But that is wonderful news. That means my floors are completed in the family room and now inching through the kitchen.

While we wait for the official unveiling, let's dish. Real Tree or Fake Tree??

Go!!

Me? I wanna hoola-hoop.

So ... while the rest of the world is stringing popcorn and making cider ... I'll be sewing new kitchen curtains. It's okay ... really ... 'cause I'm quite excited about my new kitchen curtains. (See KC fabric, above.) And it's not like I'm missing out on any Christmas Spirit in the meantime. I am oozing with Christmas Spirit.

After all ... I have this basket of inspiration that pretty much smells like cider. And this weekend we put all the outside lights up, which includes a lighted tree that is right out of our family room window. So we get to absorb it's beauty in an inside-out kind of way. We also went to the ward (church) party on Friday night where we witnessed (among other wonderful things) 3 grown men dance around and lip-sync to "Alvin and the Chipmunks". I had a moment as I witnessed that where I thought ... "there is no other place in the world that I would rather be right now than here."

And that's some mighty Christmas Spirit.

Also ... and you may need to sit down for this one ... I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Seriously. I am totally on top of it. Wrapping? Eh ... not so much. No probolemo though. I'll get to it right after that other well-known Holiday tradition.

Making kitchen curtains.

Brown Bagging It

So ... anyone who knows me or has been to my home knows that ... where decor/wall color is concerned ... I'm a white kind of gal. As opposed to cream or bone or eggshell. Swiss Coffee* to be exact. And that is exactly what our handy-dandy-man Kevin painted the family room and kitchen. No surprises there.

My home is one of those that is so open that one public area runs into another and so I don't have much choice but to paint them all the same color and I want them all to be ... Swiss Coffee*. The only exception to that rule is the Dining Room. The Dining Room is it's own room and I have always considered painting just that room a different color. I actually didn't know that Kevin the handy-dandy-man was going to be painting the Dining Room in this round of painting, but this morning he announced that if I wanted him to paint it other than SC*, I needed to pick that paint ... today. Pronto. Eeeek.

I can't tell you how proud I am with myself for picking so well under pressure. I actually brought home 3 different colors to sample, but it was immediately clear to me which one it would be.

When I tell you the name of the color, you will say without hesitation, "Oh ... of course ... that makes perfect sense." And that name is ...

Kraft Paper **

I am ecstatic. Giddy. Beyond excited. Thanks for being excited with me.

* I don't drink coffee, but I apparently like it on my walls.
** Paints by Dunn Edwards.

Christmas in Kilarney

So ... I told you that I would give you the heads up when it was time to start listening to Christmas Music. Well ... ready, set ...

GO!!

Yeah, you probably figured that out all on your own. The truth is that I have been listening to it non-stop since I declared that it was heresy to do so. Hypocritical?? Yes. Sanity-saving?? Absolutely.

Since I won't be able to decorate for at least a couple of weeks, I have to live vicariously through all those songs, through my strolls around Marshall's and ... through you.

So let's hear it. Have you started to decorate? Do you have pictures on your blog?

Are ya listening to some Bing?

Dish.