HAPPY NEW YEAR

All the best for a great 2009!

No More Wire Hangers!!!

Well, it's almost the first of the new year and that time to get organized around the household again. Time to go through closets and edit and organize what's there. While out the other day I happened to visit my favorite store....Home Sense.....and found these adorable padded hangers.....

My goal is to go through my closets and replace all those hideous wire hangers with lush padded ones like these.....

I guess I'm a bit like the actress Joan Crawford who went ballistic in getting rid of all her wire hangers!

Feast for Brandon's Birthday

Today was spent in the kitchen once again making spinach lasagnas for my son's 24th birthday. He invited 10 of his close friends over to celebrate....but, had mommy make the feast. We had lasagna...carrots and sausage.....ham.....ceasar salad....french baguette bread....and WINE! For dessert, baked apple pies and pineapple/cherry dump cake. 

Mmm....Apple Crumb Pie!

It was a long day in the kitchen and now it is time to clean up before going to bed. I will leave you with a few pictures....

The table was set.....

The group was ready to eat.....

My daughter Becca acting silly in the kitchen....

It's Snowing Again...

The day after Christmas.....a day to relax after all the festivities yesterday.....but, my daughter had something else on the agenda for today.....a trip to the mall for the Boxing Day sales and to spend her gift cards. When we left town this morning it was not snowing....when we got to the mall 1/2 hour away from our house it started......the white stuff starting spilling the skies with it's big snowflakes once again! The roads were not that bad, so I wasn't too terribly worried about our drive back home. 

Our shopping day was successful (returned items and bought new ones - Christmas cards and gift wrap and bows for next year were bought) we were on our way home again. This is what we came home to:

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas To You!

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

Look What We Woke Up To.....

Snow.....snow.....and more snow...over 10 inches of the white stuff.....such a beautiful winter wonderland! I am so glad that we don't have to drive anywhere far away in it! It truly is a White Christmas!

Christmas in the Guestroom

It is looking a little like Christmas in our guest bedroom. The room has been "fluffed" and a few key decorations have been added to welcome our holiday guests. Here is the basket on the dresser filled with some blue and brown glass ornaments along with glittered friends.

And here is a close-up view.....

Here is a full look at the dresser.....

And another close-up - the vanity set was my grandmother's - the "C" was for Conrotto - her maiden last name...

Here is a Christmas village on the other dresser in the room.....

I just love the little church...

A cute chenille tree that I found at the Christmas in the Barn sale.....

So vintagey and cute.....

And look who was all sleepy-eyed and tired - it is the little puppy Minnie and Alyssa.....taking a nap in front of the warm and cozy fireplace.....

2 more days till Christmas!! And, I am a little bit more prepared for it. Today I finished all my present wrapping. I also made my stuffing for the turkey, green bean casserole, sauteed carrots and italian sausage, and the cherry-pineapple-walnut cake.....mmmm.....

Here is a picture of the sauteed carrots and sausage....rosemary and garlic too.....so savory smelling...

And here is ol' Tom the Turkey defrosting......

Hope all your preparations are going off without a hitch!

Lists....Lists...Lists

It is now 12:58 a.m. and I am still awake. Awake because I am cleaning up the mess left from constructing gingerbread houses, which by the way will also be a mess tomorrow because the royal icing didn't set up fast enough so we couldn't put the roofs on our homes! So, here they stand.....alone until tomorrow when we can adorn them. Where I am going to showcase them I haven't a clue!

Gettin' ready to do some royal icing damage......

Peek-a-boo Becca......

Peek-a-boo Rochelle.......

Knock, knock....is anybody home???

The gingerbread homes ready to be roofed!!

I am also awake because I have been going over in my mind what ingredients and groceries I need to pick up tomorrow morning when I do my "final" shopping for Christmas dinner. Desserts still need to be made...pies, butter tarts, and icing the rest of the gingerbread cookies. Turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, yams, carrots and italian sausage, green bean casserole, and dinner rolls. A feast! I can't wait for the leftovers! Mmmm.....turkey sandwiches with mayonnaise and cranberry sauce! Yum!

Then, on the agenda for tomorrow is to wrap ALL of the Christmas presents. Yes, you read right.....ALL....which means that none at this moment are wrapped. Why does this happen every year? I seriously need to get organized and do the wrapping as I buy the gifts! I haven't learned from my mistakes! So, upstairs in my craft room lay all the bags, boxes, etc. of gifts waiting to be prettily adorned with red paper....bows.....gift bag beauty. I have also decided that this year NONE of the Christmas stocking items will be wrapped. This takes up so much time (precious time I might add) and they just get torn up right away anyways. That's my philosophy and I'm stickin' to it!

I hope I survive these next couple of days!

The Paint Is On

The paint is on the walls of the new room. Because we have had so much snow fall these past two weeks, the skylights will have to wait until the snow clears. The flooring will be installed after the Christmas holiday. Then, it will be time to dress the room! I see red in the forecast!

Gingerbread No No

This is what happens when you bake late at night.....when your eyes feel like sandpaper.....and your body is aching from standing up for 4 hours......this is a baking "no no" that I'm sure Martha Stewart never did....this is the result of gingerbread baking for 2 hours!

THIS IS A GINGERBREAD NO NO......

I'm sure I can find some craft to make with these!

My Christmas Home Tour

As promised....Christmas in our house.....come on in and visit awhile......grab yourself a cup of hot chocolate or a warm cup of apple cider and enjoy the tour......

We'll start off in my favorite room - the living room - where it is all decked out in Christmas red.....

The Christmas tree.....

A sweet pair of old knitted socks.....

A pair of my childhood shoes.....

A vintage Santa and his sleigh full of packages.....

A little nook.....

A view into the entryway.......

Whipped up these curtains the other night - loving the way they warm up the walls.....

The mantle where the stockings are hung waiting for Santa....

Sweet little birdies in the trees.....

Best Christmas Wishes to you!

My most treasured of all - this creche and nativity that my parents gave us on our first Christmas 21 years ago.....my dad built the creche from twigs and bark from their trees in their yard....I love it!

A coffee table candle and the tray I made.....

Don't you just love this table runner?? I got the material on ebay last year and finally made something with it - I love it in all its vintage glory!

Some vintage Christmas collections.......

The first NOEL.....

Aren't these just the sweetest little girls......

Love these pom pom Santas and the tissue paper tree.....

Candy canes anyone??

The view on top of the piano.....

In the computer room Christmas Greetings to you!

Snowman and trees to hide the fact that there is no closet door.....

Our homemade Christmas village that my daughters and I made out of cereal boxes!

The sunroom - Santas everywhere....

Next up is the dining room.....there is a place setting at the table just for you!

A simple idea to hang old glass ornaments from a chandelier......

The table centerpiece.....

A close-up view......

The buffet area.....

A close-up of the buffet.....

The baker's rack all decked out in red....

Next is the kitchen.....a window vignette....see the snowy backdrop outside......

Another window.....

Way up top.....

Part of the snowman collection.....

Candy jars for the young and young at heart.....

Little rolly polly Santas.....

Hope you enjoyed yourself!