Holiday Decrations

Tuesday was our day group Christmas party. We give each other vintage gifts. I call that the ultimate recycling! Then we have a nice lunch and take our annual pictures. 

I have always loved Nancy's living room. It feels so inviting to me. I'm crazy about those built in bookcases on either side of the fireplace. Of course pink and green are my favorite color combination (along with blue and green, pink and black, blue and black....and the list goes on and on).

 Nancy's farm house is really probably my favorite floor plan with her extra large kitchen and these extra wide halls.

 She used to put her nutcracker collection going up the stairs. This year, she had Katie, her daughter come over and arrange everything. We all agreed that we tend to put things in the same place every year. Katie changed hers up and everything looked lovely!

 I'd love to have a fireplace in my dining room. I'm not sure if it would get used much, but I certainly like to decorate mantles!

Her granddaughters did the artwork that adorns the hearth. I think they will have to come down if they light a fire!

 This terrarium is sort of hard to see. There are glittered reindeer inside.

 This is one of my favorite go to decorating ideas---glass balls in assorted jars.

This is probably my favorite thing that Katie did. It could be all the "blue." I really like using blue in holiday decorating. Nancy has a really nice collection of vintage tablecloths and linens.

 Linda came dressed as Mrs. Claus in her cute little apron. As you can tell by Nancy, people in Nashville wear flip flops year round---even if the temperature is in the 30's!

Myself and Pam. Linda and I were the only ones dressed in Christmas apparel. I figure you don't get that long to don a Christmas sweater or pins, so why not?

As much as I love my new phone and the Cloud---where when you take a picture, it automatically downloads it to your computer---I think I need to go back to my regular camera. Although the iPhone is supposed to be a great camera, that doesn't say anything for the photographer. I think half of my photos are blurry. I do like the convenience and time saving feature of not having to get out the memory card, put it in the adapter and hook it up to my computer. We'll see.

Butch has been sick with the flu this week. That's put a bit of a damper on our holiday plans. I'm glad I got my flu shot. He didn't. We'll see how well it works if I make it through Christmas. By my calculations, I should get it by mid-next week. I've been taking good care of him. I'm not usually so good with sick people---as the girls will confirm. They like to tell the story that when they stayed home sick from school, I would give them a job list. I never wanted them to think skipping school was fun!! Anyway, I figured I owed Butch. He's been so good to me when I've had my umpteen bouts sick in bed with  hives. (Which, by the way, is going great! No prednisone since April 1---and finally, hive free for the first time in 13 years since October 1. I hope I didn't jinx myself).

Today (Friday), I'm hoping to get some scrapbooking done. I have a few other things on my list: try to figure out why two strands of lights in the garland on the banister are out. This will be my first time trying to handle that. Usually I put Butch on it, but since he's sick, I figure I'll cut him a break. I need to pack up the cushions from the porch furniture, run to the bank, make the tags for my Christmas place cards, and make some party favors for Jordan's birthday party next Friday night. Plus we have happy hour at 4 p.m. Connie and I made mushroom crustads this week (recipe to come), so at least I have something good to serve. The jury's still out on whether Butch is up to going to our annual "poker" dinner tonight. I'll have to check with him when he gets up.

I took 12 pictures on 12*12*12. I'll share some of them next.

For your enjoyment...
I would totally have done this when I was younger. Now, I might break something. I can't get over how everyone around him is completely ignoring him. How could you not stop and stare? He made me happy. The only thing that would have made me happier was seeing it in person! Maybe one of these days...

Hope you all are enjoying your holidays!! Take a moment now and then to take a deep breath, stand by your tree and take a long whiff. Really, don't bother if you have a fake one!!