Decorating and Making Memories and Planning

 Call me old fashioned, but Christmas is my favorite time of year. I'm sentimental. I love the smell of baked goodies and the memories. I love the music, reminds me of all the choral concerts I was in when I was in elementary and jr high school, and oh, the lights. I remember trees with so many lights when I was little. Homemade ornaments. My mommas handy dandy, but careful decorating. The candy. The fire in the fireplace. The Christmas Angel's glowing. Sometimes home made gifts because you knew they were from the heart. The beautiful snow. All the memories of being with family gathered around to say the blessing and eat and laugh and have fun even if it did get a little loud. The singing Christmas songs together. Making memories for children to remember the rest of their lives. The beautiful red bows and poinsettias that was my grandmother's favorite. And the old childhood movies. Those are the memories that are dear to me and I will do my best to keep it going as long as I live. So keep up is all I gotta say. #isittoomuchtoask

I hope I'm passing down some memories for our younger generations. This is a few pics of years ago when our boys were younger and decorating our tree. They also helped every year. 

Hello Friends. What have you been up to? Around here, we have been decorating, making memories, having fun, cooking, baking and just in the Christmas groove. 

While the grands were at school, I set out to getting all the decorations out of storage and getting them up to the house. Sometimes you just have to man up ladies and do it yourself. 😆 

I struggled while managing to get my things loaded, and one of our calves just had to christen our tree with its slobber. Thanks 😊 

And in other news, this is what can happen when you get the toe of your boot stuck between the gas and brake pedal trying to back up to the door to unload stuff. Just great. 🤦‍♀️

Trust me when I say, I keep my man very busy around here 😌 

We got the house and tree decorated. I made some new things for our house this year from the Dollar Tree haul I had last month. I made a new table scape and arrangement. I love how it turned out. 

The granddaughters had fun helping me decorate. Every year they are in charge of the small Christmas village. They love setting it up. They also have their own Christmas tree. 

When our boys were younger they were always the ones to set up my small Christmas village. Now, I have passed it down to the grands. They really love it. Is my OCD kicking in? You betcha, but I'm not going to touch it. They will know. TRUST ME THEY WILL KNOW.  😆 🤣 

Everyone gets a new ornament every year. This is all of ours for this year. 

The Santa Claus 🧑‍🎄 🎅 is extremely special. This belonged to my dear late Mother in law. She loved it. She always put it out just for the kids every year. It warmed her heart to make kids laugh and smile. When she passed, I told my husband I wanted it for our grands and I would keep the tradition going. They love him. 

For some reason, they are extra nice to each other when he's around. Maybe I should keep him out all year long. 🤔

They helped with the tree and we finally got it all done. 

The top manger scene has always been put out for Christmas ever since I was a little girl. I have protected it all these years. The bottom manger scene is one that David bought in 2014 when we spent Christmas in CO when he was on a work trip. They both have sentimental value. The girls love both of them. So a few yrs ago I gave them the one on the bottom and they loved it. 😍 I hope it serves them well in their childhoods. ❤️❤️

Then it was bath and shower time and then smores and hot chocolate. We colored some pictures for Santa to leave with his cookies and milk on his big night. 

What a great day and spend the night party. 

The next weekend, dear hubby planned an anniversary suprise for all of us. He wanted to share it with our girls. We use to always take our boys on dates with us for our anniversary.  (We never went anywhere without our kids). He really outdid himself on this one and that is not exaggeration. 

This is something I have been wanting to do for years and we finally got the chance to. 

He planned, bought all our outfits,  accessories and all, and suprised us by taking us to see ( and him sit through 2 long hours) the ballet production of The Nutcraker.  I will post pics but sorry about the quality because you could not take flash photographs or video and we were in the balcony. 

This is an experience I hope they remember for the rest of their lives. We had a great time. My man is the best. 

When no one is around, I get to wrapping gifts. They know there are some already under the tree for them and we explain the purpose of gift of giving to those you love. They will still have gifts from Santa that will be put out last minute. 

We also have been getting goody bags ready for kids at different families homes we do every year. This is a good way to teach them service and gift giving. 

We are just going to keep doing our thing and get ready for our times together and events coming up with family. 

Hang in there everyone. Breathe and slow down just a little. Don't get overwhelmed. Let's remember the Reason for the Season. 

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Have a Blessed Day

Tracy 

Keeper of the Home