Have yourself a merry little Christmas

thought i'd share just a few little peeks into the corners of our home

thought I'd share some peeks at the girls trees.

they each decorate their own tree with their favorite ornaments. ~

Savannah's french themed retro tree

Caroline's ~

a little stocking that hangs on her door

Emily's fun tree

Madison Grace's tree~

a 'few' of her nutcrackers

I started collecting Dept 56 Snow Village years ago. I have some wonderful pieces but this year just decided not to pull them all out-such a project that is!

However, Madison & Emily both made little snow village creations & i love these~

Being a huge monogram lover, i was so thrilled to receive a couple of great monograms from Electra.

I found the red bucket on clearance, added my monogram , & now i have a cute Christmas card container.

Each year our family loves receiving cards, especially those with photos. This year I'm hoping to make a photo board to put by our back door where we will place all our friends photos. This will serve as a reminder for us to pray for each family.

As much as i love photo cards, one of my dearest friends made a copy of one of her oil paintings into her cards....so lovely!!

Luke 2. 8-14

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,

keeping watch over their flocks at night.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them,

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;

he is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you:

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,

praising God and saying,

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

~Wishing you a very Merry Christmas~

my vintage christmas shots

One of my most treasured photos is of my mom with Santa in 1953. I copied & printed it on canvas & added a little dusting of iridescent glitter. I love taking it out each year....so darn precious!

So do my photos that date pre-digital- camera-days need to be referred to as vintage...probably so. Please excuse the blurriness & funky color of my scanned (gasp) images of the past.

Definitely the winning Christmas shots are of Caroline loosing her mind on Santa's lap the first 2 years of her life. I especially love this one with big sisters who seem to be blissfully unaware of the screaming ( albeit matching) baby sister.

& then her repeat performance the next year. I'm pretty sure we brought him cookies that year & in hopes that he would have fond memories of little missy.

moments prior to the Santa visit...see that cute red & white checked floor!

The first time I took all 3 girls to see the Nutcracker at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Savannah had been the year before but this was the little two's first time....this was the day Madison began to dream of dancing one day on stage-priceless

See, she's recovered & now adores the jolly ole' guy!

Christmas tree farm where we chopped down our trees for a few years. Loved their wonderful sleigh & the cute red wagons.

She still misses this too stinkin' cute Grinch sweater & fab green suede boots.

How can you not love a Santa who sits on a striped settee each year, combined with the red & white checkered tiled floor.

Makes for such a great shot.

God love 'em.

my sweet emi~

Christmas Eve performance at church, with none other than the beloved red cowboy boots

...of course

Sweetheart Madison~

Caroline as an angel in preschool...

i think i might need to print this one on canvas too & add a little glitter

i especially love her little tattered wing

no one's perfect after all.

ps-a must read for the holidays

"you are my miracle"

wrapping things up~

For the first time in many years, I actually feel ahead of the ballgame~most everything on the list is checked off.

My desire is to enjoy these days leading up to Christmas.

Have my heart focused on why we celebrate & have a home that while things are bustling and busy as they should be , the atmosphere is peaceful & joyful.....hmm.....that's what i'm going for anyway!

While I can only dream of whipping up wrapped goodies as lovely as Heather...here are a few shots of some of the packages this year.

For a few years I wrapped everything in white paper & used only gold and silver large ribbon wrap-think the girls thought that was a bit of a snoozer....so a few colors made the cut--who says i can't be flexible!

I also enjoy using old photos that are glittered up as name tags.

Madison's nickname since she was a tiny 6 pound baby has always been little bird, so a few birdie touches are seen too.

I loved all the silvery gold mixed with the tiffany blue, so i added a few items to a plain green wreath...tada!

Third Day is my all time fave group ( along with James Taylor of course). They released a Christmas album , I think it was 2 years ago--it came out in October....true confessions...i started playing it then. All the talk about keeping Christ in Christmas & keeping the thanks in Thanksgiving translates into no christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving. Well, I certainly i don't want to offend anyone, but to me the entire Thanksgiving & Christmas season are as one. While I truly have so much to be thankful for, all good gifts are indeed from above. The reason I have much to be thankful for is because a tiny baby came born in a manger to give me hope, to give me peace, to give grace & eternal life. I want to celebrate his birth all year long. So yes, I start my music early--helps keep my heart wrapped around his love for each of us & the grace he gives us each day.

This year Casting Crowns released their Christmas project & of course, I started listening late october.

If you want to listen to the links, make sure you pause my playlist first.

Enjoy your week

xo