Christmas Decor

I love Christmas and I really enjoy my Christmas decorations. Some people have beautiful, coordinated Christmas decorations with very stylish trees, lights, and other decor. Me, on the other hand, I have a mish mash of years and years of stories in my decorations. I think that's what I love about our decorations so much: each piece tells a story or brings back a memory. Here's our stories....

This Santa on the chimney belonged to Nicky's grandfather. "Grandpa" loved Christmas and decorating for Christmas and as I hear it, he had tons of decorations that he put up for the enjoyment of him and the kids. I never met him, unfortunately, as he passed away the year Nicky graduated high school. Nicky has lots of fond memories of Grandpa and I wish I could have met him. Nicky's mom gave this to me one year and I treasure it as a family heirloom and give it a safe place of prominence so everyone can see and enjoy it. 

 This Coca-Cola Santa is one of my favorites because I love Christmas and really like old fashioned Coca-Cola stuff. I keep this little dome out all year on the entertainment center. I don't even know how many years I've had it or where I got it!

 Someone gave me this picture frame years ago and I wasn't sure what to do with it. So, I finally found an old picture of my kids and put it in the frame. Now, I put it up every year on the entertainment center, right next to Santa's elves from the "Rise of the Guardians" movie (which we all just love!).

 This snowman tower (above) was given to me by my mom a few years ago. This thing is so unstable, which is not a good thing in my house! It's been knocked over more than once and carrot noses have been glued over and over. We've completely lost poor Ashton's nose, and this is especially bad because she's the designated gluer in our house!

Before the boys were born, I bought this wooden Christmas tree at a craft show. I also bought extra hearts. The top two are Nicky's and mine and the four below are each of my kids. There are 5 remaining, one for each of my kids' spouses and the bottom center one will remain unused, to signify "Jesse," the baby we lost between Ashton and Indy. I'll have to figure out something else for the grandkids someday!!

 I've had this little mouse figurine since I was a kid. I have no idea where I got it from, but I just know I've always had it. Last week when we were visiting my inlaws, we were looking through some old photo albums, and my mother-in-law showed me a picture of mine and Nicky's first Christmas tree. So cool! But, funny enough, in the background, next to our teeny tiny tv, sat this little mouse guy. That picture was taken 27 years ago!!

 The fourth year (I think) we were married, my inlaws bought this snow globe for us. It's also a music box and plays "Silent Night" and all the kids (mine and others) just love to pick it up and shake it. This, of course, makes me a nervous wreck, because this thing weighs a ton! But, it IS pretty cool and we give it front and center space, right on the coffee table.

 These little angels have NO history with us, whatsoever. I bought them last February at a thrift store in North Carolina, while we were visiting my mom. Of course they were super cheap, but I really just thought they were cute. There's no markings on the bottom, so I have no idea how old they are.

 This reindeer was made by my aunt the first year we were married. It went through Hurricane Andrew and has some scars from it, but it's still hanging in there and still hanging on our wall at Christmas. Oh, and it was on the wall in that picture of our first Christmas tree, too!

 This was made by Ashton when she was in like first grade or so, in Sunday School. I hang it every year and really think it's special.

 We collect ornaments for our tree, too. This one is my absolute favorite. It was given to us by my Grandmother for our first Christmas. It's always placed at the top front of the tree so I can always see it.

This one was given to me by my mom in 1992. I was pregnant with my first child, Savannah, and we had just gone through Hurricane Andrew and lost our home and about 90% of our stuff. We moved in with my grandmother until we could figure out what to do. My parents were living in a trailer in their front yard, while cleaning up their house and needless to say, neither they, nor us had a tree. So, we got a tree and set it up at my grandmother's house and we all chose a few of our ornaments to put on that tree, so it was a shared Christmas tree. This little mama ornament is very special for several reasons.

 My dad died on November 14, 2002, just before Christmastime. I went to the local Hallmark store near my mom's house and found this ornament. His favorite color was blue, so I bought this one and wrote with gold pen on it, his name and life dates. It usually also gets a place of prominence.

 I made this little bell in 1979, just before Christmas. I was 11 and had just broken my arm in two places on December 15th and had a cast clear up to my bicep (which I had for NINE weeks!). I actually did this left-handed! I made it in Sunday School, where my grandmother was my teacher, and she made the flames for me. On the back, I wrote "God is Love" and "MC 79." Not sure how it's lasted this long, but it has.

 I gave this one to Nicky several years ago and we always get a good laugh from it. I always make him hang it and he always makes some snarky comment and we laugh. In case you can't read it, it says, "A hunter lives here with the trophy of his life." :-)

Levi "made" this one in his Sunday School class when he was 1 and gave it to me for Christmas. We all got a kick out of the fact that they put his picture on an angel cutout, since he was quite definitely NOT an angel! lol

 This is one of Savannah's favorite ornaments. My mom gave it to her (and a purple one to Ashton) years ago and the little blade inside twirls in the wind. Very cute.

 Ashton got this one a couple years ago from us. It plays "Under the Sea." She loves "The Little Mermaid," so this was a natural choice for her.

 The widow who lived next door to us since we moved here in 1992 gave this Lenox snowflake to us many years ago. It's especially special since she passed away last year and we all miss her.

 This one is handmade by a friend of mine in our homeschool group. Each year, our group has a mom's Christmas party and ornament exchange. I love to go to this party and a couple years ago, this was what I got. There's a red one, too and they're just adorable!

 This is one of Levi's favorite. It's his and especially appropriate since he's full of mischief himself and he loves cats.

 These are Indy's favorites. He got the M&M train in 2004, when he was two and it's always the first ornament he puts on the tree. The Mighty Hunter one he got in 2012, the year he killed his first deer, a doe, on a hunting trip in South Carolina that fall.

 Last year, Nicky got a boat (2015) and this was the ornament I gave him last year. He likes this one, and it's pretty much truth, too!

 Ashton got this faucet one this year. She works as an office manager at a plumbing company. We all thought this was funny and she loves it!

 We have a set of 4 of these Energizer bunny plastic ornaments that Nicky and I bought the year the Energizer bunny commercials came out. When was that? 1992!  We think they're funny.

 We have a few of these family-type ones with our names, mostly from my mom, and they're all different.

 And, of course, the obligatory Star Wars ornaments.  Indy's stormtrooper.....

                                                                      Levi's R2D2.

 This is one Indy made, but I'm not sure what year. He looks awfully little though, so it's probably around 2006-7.

 And, also, just a "few" of Baby's First Christmas ornaments. This is Levi with a family friend who dresses as Santa for events and has this fabulous natural beard. Levi was ok with him this year, but in the following years, most of the pictures with him have Levi crying hysterically. lol

My mom likes to give me fancy glass ones like these. They're all pretty and get nice safe places at the top of the tree!

I bought this one several years ago because I liked it, Santa visiting baby Jesus. Santa knows the real reason for the season!

We also like to buy ornaments from places we go visit on vacation. We have lots of these!

Charleston, SC 

the USS Yorktown

                                                      Tweetsie Railroad in North Carolina

                                       The Georgia State Railroad Museum in Savannah, GA

                                          Can you guess?? lol Why, Disney World, of course!!

                                                              Sanibel Island, FL

                                                      Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL

 

This seahorse is one I got at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, GA.

Stone Mountain Park, Stone Mountain, GA

I have these bows all over our tree. They used to be on my mother-in-law's tree, but she got tired of them many years ago and passed them on to me. At first, I wasn't sure I wanted them, but I put them on out of obligation. Of course, she couldn't care less if I used them or not, but I thought she would, so I put them on. Now, I really like them and they've made a home for themselves on our tree. You like the twist ties she put on them to put them on the tree?? lol They're quirky and weird, but we like them.

Now, these are just some random Christmas pictures. 

THIS is what Savannah gave Levi for his love gift! Ugh. I couldn't believe it! She says it's like 10 lbs. worth of DumDums. Like Levi needs that much candy! But, hey, that's what big sisters are for, right? Especially when they don't live with the candy-eating hyper kid. Hmmm.

 This nativity set belongs to my inlaws. They bought it the year they got married. That was 1966. This set is 50 years old. I hope they will let me have this, too, when they're ready to pass it on. Now THAT will be a family heirloom!

 And, I would be remiss if I didn't include this little annoying princess, Holly. Here she is relaxing under the tree at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Annoying, but cute. :-)

Well, that's it. Hope you've enjoyed this little tour of some of our favorite Christmas decorations. Tonight we go out to dinner to celebrate Nicky's 49th birthday. 

One more year til doomsday....just kidding. :-) Bye!

Science and Ships

A couple days ago, Levi and I did a science experiment for school, to see how atoms are dispersed in different liquids and to see different items' densities. We put oil into a glass, then added water, which went through the oil to the bottom of the glass. Then we added some maple syrup, which went through the oil and water both, straight to the bottom of the glass. It created a three-layered effect of separated liquids. It was pretty cool. After we could see that separation well, we added some items to see their density and how they would end up in this glass. First, we added a rock, which went straight to the bottom. Next we added a grape,which was denser than the water and oil, so it ended up right on top of the maple syrup, sitting in the water. The third item we added was an ice cube. The ice cube was denser than the oil, but not the water, so it ended up sitting on top of the water, in the oil. And, the last item we added was a little cork. The cork wasn't denser than anything, so it ended up sitting right on top of the oil. It was a very basic experiment, but it was fun to do and Levi was amazed by it. Science can be so much fun! Here's a picture of our finished experiment.

On that same day, I got to watch something amazing. Well, amazing to me anyway. I'm easily entertained. :-)  There's this author I read often. She's an older lady, close to my own mom's age, but I really enjoy her blog and books on homemaking and her travels. And, she does fabulous drawings and watercolor paintings. Actually, I think her artwork is half her charm. Anyway, she and her husband are taking a two-month tour all over England and Scotland and she's planning to blog about it all, which is going to be so much fun to follow, but they didn't fly over there because she doesn't like flying. They took the Queen Mary 2 and are taking a transAtlantic 8-day crossing to get there, which is really cool in itself, but the day they left, she had posted a link to the New York Harbor cam so we could watch the ship leave. So at 5pm on Thursday, while I was making dinner, I set up my tablet in the kitchen to watch her ship leave. Now, personally, I thought that was really cool, but even more cool than that, was that as the ship was beginning to pull out of the harbor, it went right past the Statue of Liberty! I got to see the Statue of Liberty in real time in New York Harbor! I was mesmerized!! (See? I told  you I'm easily entertained!) So, of course, I had to take a picture of it.

                                                             How cool is THAT?!?

Trying Delicata Squash

     Last week I got some vegetables from a veggie co-op I'm part of and one of the things I got was a delicata squash. I've gotten them before, but frankly, I usually just use them for decorations, rather than actually cook them. So this time I decided to try to cook it and see how we liked it. Of course, the first place I searched for recipes was Pinterest, my favorite go-to for new ideas. The recipe I found was pretty easy and it ended up being tasty, too. I think we still like summer squash better, but it was something different and now I know what I can do with these when I get them!

Here's what I did:

I took a raw delicata squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Winter squash is usually pretty tough to cut, but this one was not difficult at all.

 Then I scooped out the seeds and "guts" of the squash.

 After that, I cut the halfs into 1/2" - 3/4" slices.

 I forgot to take this picture, but I put the squash slices into a bowl with some olive oil, 1-2 Tbsp, I think, and some salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary and then mixed it all up to coat the squash really well.

Tip: Put the baking sheet into the oven while the oven preheats to 425 degrees. The squash will brown better on a hot pan.

I put the coated squash onto the heated pan and baked in the oven for 10 minutes, then flip them over and baked for an additional 6-8 minutes. You can add a little more salt and/or pepper when they're done for added taste, if desired.

Not only did they taste good, but they looked pretty, too!

So, if you're looking for something new to try, cook up some of these yummy winter squash to add to your veggie repertoire. Bon appetite!