Where Have 2 Weeks Gone?!

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post!  I've been very busy as I'm sure you have been as well.  We've had both of our children sick at different occasions.  And shopping for last minute gifts which I promise not to do every year. 

We also had our very last church event "The Ugly Sweater Party" that I was in charge of.  My hot gravy fountain worked out great!  I regrettably did not get of photo of that but I did get lots of photos of the people who attended in my "family room"!  We set up a small stage and put some furnishings on it for families to pose for their picture.  This was VERY popular with the kids.  They had to "shooed" off frequently.

Our Christmas morning was quite nice.  This year Chuck and I held back with the presents for the kids.  In the past we've overspent and it was just too much.  I would end up taking things to a consignment sale just 2 months later.  This time we only bought what we thought they would truly love and play with for a long time.

Home Made Hostess, Gift #2

I was in need of something festive to wear to a Christmas party last week.  Gaudy and over sized accessories appeal to me a great deal so whatever it was had to go along those lines.  I was inspired by Magpie Ethel's collection of vintage Christmas corsages and decided to make one of my own.
This summer I purchased two different kinds of vintage tinsel, one gold and the other silver at yard sales for a few quarters.

I also had a bag of "Swedish molds" from an estate sale that I just had to have but didn't know what I was going to do with them.  After flattening them, I glued cut tinsel all around the edges.  Then added some vintage birds also from yard sale.

They blended together to make a wonderful accessory! 

Home Made Gift #1

I saw this idea on one of my favorite blogs, Deep Space Sparkle and knew Katherine could do it as a gift to her Nonna.  She saw Katherine's lizard this summer and wanted a painting like it.

We used a Masonite board which I will never do again.  The label said the board was primed and ready for paint.  But the paint scratched off very easily so the finished project had to be decoupaged.
I did the main drawing except for the legs.  Katherine is fond of making a tiny tiny drawing on a large piece of paper instead of using the entire surface and I just don't have the patience lately to do a lengthy art lesson. 

Look at her, she's just so proud!
Thank you Patty for another wonderful gift.

The Float, It Was Not Fun

I was in charge of our church's float in the town's Christmas parade this year.  I had no idea it was going to be a very time consuming and emotionally draining adventure.  NOTHING was easy.  I've already mentioned having to make the costumes as they had disappeared.  My friend Stephanie helped me cut out and sew.  I had forgotten a lot about reading a pattern.  My sewing machine gave me a lot of trouble then I realized it was Charlie going behind my back changing the thread tension.  Then I had a spool of bad thread that kept breaking.  It was not fun.

The stable that we use is stored behind a storage building and is in the elements year round.  This makes for a very unstable stable.  I had a lot of help with fixing that problem but it did not go as I planned.  We were at the last minute making sure it wasn't going to fall on anyone.  It was not fun.
Mom and I spent an afternoon using zip ties to add garland and greenery to the trailer but having to watch Charlie at the same time.  It was not fun.

The day of the event the sky looked very "rainy".  That was more than I could handle.  I had a melt down and later had to apologize to my parents.  Getting hysterical was kind of fun.
It did not rain and the event did end up going smoothly.  People were so nice and shouted very sweet things about how great the float looked.  And we were in the paper the next morning.  What a great ending!

Disappointing Movie

We spent last Sunday night relaxing and watching Jim Carrey in "A Christmas Carol".  I remember this movie not getting very good reviews so we didn't go to the movies to see it.  I'm so happy we didn't.  It is made by Disney and marketed to kids but it is not a kid movie.  The story went very much by the book and had some really freaky characters, like their version of the ghost of Christmas Past. 

The animation also had some surprises.  Every teenage boy in the movie was given quite a bit of acne.  This may have really been historically correct but we don't need or expect such accuracy in an animated film.  There wasn't any funny parts to lighten things up and my kids were just bored.  It was just plain weird.  I'll stick to my "A Muppets Christmas Carol" and my very favorite version of this story is George C. Scott as Scrooge.





Some Unique Gift Ideas

My husband receives the "Think Geek" catalog in the mail.  We had a good time flipping through it and laughing at their cleverness.  Last year they had the "Tauntaun" sleeping bag that I wrote about
but I especially like these 2 items this year.

I found these for the kids. 

My daughter would really LOVE this hoodie.  I might have to add some $ to her Christmas budget.

This is the Iron Man chest light.  It clips to any shirt, lights up, and makes noises!  Fun!