Memories of Christmas 2011

I really hope you had a great Christmas.

Ours seemed busier this year than ever before, and I found myself completely wiped out by Christmas night.  We had one stop on Christmas Eve and four stops on Christmas Day, which makes for a very weary one year old and two very tired parents. 

I secretly hoped and expected Delaney (who is 16 months old) to come running out of her bedroom Christmas morning, rip open her presents, and play right away.

Instead, we were up with her most of the night and then she woke up around 7 screaming.  She came out in the living room where we had a new princess tent set up and all of her presents.  I think she was more looking forward to breakfast, but she amused her excited parents anyway by staring at the gifts that we threw in front of her and slowly picked away at the wrapping paper.

After she opened her gifts, I went to get dressed and when I came back into the living room, she was playing with my
old cell phone and some post-it notes. 

I guess I could have saved some money.

As you can see in the picture above, my niece Harper was pretty excited about opening gifts. This was pretty much her expression all day.

(please ignore my lovely bucket of Christmas laundry)

I told Mr. H that I got him a present that would make him a better dad and make Delaney love him all the more.  I think he was slightly offended but understood better when he opened his awesome Elmo pajamas.  She can't stop giving him hugs when he is wearing these pajamas.

I hate when you forget to discuss the gift guidelines and get seriously whipped on the gift giving.

I got Mr. H Elmo pajamas for Christmas.

and he got me this... 

I guess I'll need to step it up for Valentine's Day.

     We had a great time visiting with Mr. H's brother and his family for a week.  They live in Hawaii and

we only see them about once a year.  Delaney enjoyed getting to know her cousin and they had a great time playing (and sometimes fighting) with toys.

My grandma made the girls Christmas dresses this year. 

The kids had a grab bag where they took turns picking Dollar Tree items. 

Delaney only picked suckers.

She was very sticky by the end of the day.

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Anniversary Celebration

Yesterday, Mr. H and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary! 

He surprised me with a dinner in downtown Indy and an overnight stay at the newest hotel, the JW Marriott.

Although excited, it was my first night away from Delaney since she was born, so I think I texted my parents a dozen times. 

My dad's final text said,

"Don't worry.  We've had children for 31 years now"

Okay- I get it.

and 8 years later...

Mr. H won this year for gift giving- I forgot to even get him a card.  Whoops. But I did draw him a card on Delaney's new etch and sketch.

Happy Anniversary, Mr. H !

Christmas festivities!

Life has finally settled down. We were able to get all of our Christmas orders shipped. 

Sorry to those of you who wanted to order and we had already shut down- we have all been hit with sickness this December and we needed a short break to spend some quality time doing Christmas activities with the family. 

Our shop will reopen on January 3rd!

Here is a look at the last few weeks:

1. A look at the delicious cookies I came home with after our church Christmas cookie exchange.

2. Wrap Party!  I loved this- a friend had a wrapping party and I was able to get all of my wrapping down in one night and had a great time!

3. Del taking the lights OFF of the tree.

4. Brodi having some wrapping fun.

5. The "mom's" group that I am in had a Christmas party where the kiddos exchanged gifts!

6. Decorating Christmas cookies!

7. Another look at the cookies at the Christmas cookie exchange

(okay a lot of my week involved Christmas cookies)

The Spirit of Christmas, 2011

I guess this is what happens when you hand a one-year-old 

to a complete stranger who is dressed in fur and is wearing white gloves.

After Santa left the room completely, the photographer was able to get some smiles.

Hope your trips to see Santa are as eventful as mine!  

Merry Christmas!!

The simplest Christmas Candy in the whole entire world

ShrinkyDinks and a haircut

We've pretty much been working elves around here, getting jewelry orders shipped for Christmas.  I wanted to entertain my nephew, Isaac, while we worked, so I introduced him to ShrinkyDinks.  He is 6 years old and this was his first experience with ShrinkyDinks.  He wasn't quite patient enough to watch them shrink the first time (it took about 3 minutes, which is an eternity for a 6 year old), but once he discovered what they looked like after those 3 minutes, he pulled up a stool up to the oven to watch the second batch of Pirates shrink.

 I also found something to entertain Harper- some air dry clay.  This kept her busy for at least 20 minutes and she would have played with it longer if I let her walk away from the table with it.

Unfortunately, rather than enjoying the sweetness of this picture of me and my niece, I was instead appalled at my hair. 
It has been awhile since I got a haircut.  I was "trying" to grow it out and it might have been successful if I hadn't seen this photo.  

I realized it had to go. 

So, I called a salon that takes walk-ins and walked-out with this:

It feels so much lighter and I don't look like a 27 year old who is one bad hair day away from a french braid.

My Favorite Christmas movies



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My favorite Christmas movies that I have to watch EVERY. SINGLE. DECEMBER.

• It's a Wonderful Life- my all time favorite Christmas movie.  It was on tv the other night and although I have seen it a dozen times, I cried like a BABY at the end.  Perspective is a powerful thing and when good ole' George embraces his family at the end of the movie, I can't seem to keep my eyes dry.

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• Christmas Vacation- I think everyone watches this every year.  And if you don't, you're not American. 
• The Santa Clause (the first one NOT the sequels!)
• Home Alone 1 and 2
• A Christmas Story

 

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• White Christmas- I just saw this for the first time a few years ago, and now it is on my every year list.
• Prancer- all the fluffy bangs and french braids in this movie remind me of my childhood.
• The Family Stone

Movies that aren't officially "Christmas" movies, but Christmas happens in them, so I love them, and I watch them in December:

• Holiday Inn- Love this movie more than White Christmas, and I get to hear White Christmas when I watch it.

• Sleepless in Seattle
• You've Got Mail
• While You Were Sleeping
• The Holiday- This movie makes me want to move to a small cottage. in England. in December.

• Love Actually

Do you have a favorite that is not on my list?

I know Thanksgiving was forever ago, but...

I know we're already in the Christmas spirit.  Once Black Friday passes, thoughts of turkeys are long gone, Thanksgiving is old news, we don't want to talk about it or think about it.  But, I have been busy-I mean I probably have 50 shows on my tivo that I need to catch up on- busy.

So I'm a bit behind in the blogosphere.  Everyone is posting about advent calenders, homemade ornaments, and handprint Christmas trees.  I'm posting about black friday and turkeys. 

I blog to record my memories because I have no time to scrapbook anymore, so even though it might be boring and old news, here is my Thanksgiving.

What are you sneaking Delaney?  Is it a roll, a cookie, or possibly a little cheeseball?

This turkey centerpiece makes it to every Thanksgiving.  I appreciate his faithfulness and look forward to seeing him every year.

What I love about Thanksgiving...eating and relaxing at the same time...a kid always makes homemade placemats (this year it was Isaac), and having way too many desserts.  Even though grandma promised she wouldn't make a dessert, since the granddaughters were bringing them, she still brought two pecan pies.  I knew she couldn't help herself.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving day is when we all go around and say what we are thankful for go through the Black Friday ads and plan our route.  We have about five copies of the ads and a pen and paper.  At 10 pm, I will still going through the ads and Mr. H. informed me I might have a problem.  This year was a whole new game since the stores opened at midnight.  I would much rather wake up early than stay up late, so I was not a fan.  I lasted until about 3 am and then retreated to my bed in defeat.