Christmas Home Tour 2012

What can I say...I love Christmas.  I have since I was a little girl.  All of my kiddos love Christmas.  So, we really decorate every nook and cranny around here.  (I just didn't photograph every one :)  Here is a little peak....

Our tree.  He's a little skimpy in places but the kids really loved picking him out and cutting him down. They loved decorating it too.

I especially LOVE vintage decorations.  So, when I came across a bag of these Santa's at a garage sale over the summer, I was very excited. 

I found this Santa blow mold from the 60s over the summer as well.  He cost me $1.  Love it! 

Our mantel.  I saw the idea for the photo garland in a magazine so on a lazy Saturday this past fall I made one for myself.  I also made several of the mason jar snow globes too.  Those are a lot of fun! 

The jar in the center is full of ornaments from my childhood.  Those are treasures :)

This is another new addition this year.  I found this truck at Hobby Lobby this  past summer with the Garden clearance!!  I think I will put pumpkins in the back during the fall.  So cute. 

A little Christmas village with our ceramic light up tree.  

The Little People that my kiddos love to play with...

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas! 

Linking to:

The Nester's 2012 Christmas Tour of Homes

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses

We made our very first attempt of making "homemade" gingerbread houses tonight.  I have never baked gingerbread.  And as Sweet Brown says, "Ain't Nobody Got Time for That!" Sooo...I opted for the graham cracker version.  As I was browsing the internet for an idea, I came across a post somewhere that said you could use a creamer box for the base of the house.  I thought...what a great idea!!! I just happened to have TWO little boxes of cream in the fridge.  (I accidentally let them expire over Thanksgiving and never used them.)  So, I poured out the creamer.  Rinsed the carton.  And began the building process.  (I had already put the two Littles to bed so it was okay that I only had two.  I just wasn't sure what this process was going to be like, so I was afraid to let all 4 of them do it at once.)  So...I used a tub of frosting for the "glue".  I had also bought one of those cans of icing that I used in the crevices.  So...it went something like this:

The Players:  Candy.  More Candy. Graham Crackers. Frosting. Icing. 

I used a serrated knife and just kind've measured and cut as I went along - gluing as I went. 

This is the final product.  I put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes first - to let the
icing harden.  

While it was freezing - we enjoyed some "Grinch Punch" -
Lime Sherbet and Sprite!

I also cut a piece of cardboard to use as the base.
I used frosting to "glue" the house to the cardboard.

The creativity is flowing....

Gingerbread House #1

Gingerbread House #2

This really ended up being a very easy craft for the older kids.  They both really enjoyed it and kept talking about how much fun it was.  For us, it honestly didn't end up being any cheaper to do it this way.  Because, by the time I bought the icing, frosting, graham crackers and all the candy I spent a little bit more than I would have if I would have bought a $10 kit.  But - we had enough for my husband to make one. (He was a pro and didn't need a creamer box! :)  Plus, we had some candy left over.  AND - each kiddo had THEIR VERY OWN to decorate.  So, that was worth it to me! 

O' Tannenbaum

We recently set out on an expedition to find the perfect Christmas tree.  This year we decided to try cutting our own down rather than buying a pre-cut tree from Lowe's or Home Depot.  We all had so much fun.  They had free hot chocolate, coffee and candy canes.  There were SO MANY trees there.  It was difficult to make a decision.  Once you cut a tree down, you couldn't change your mind later!  We searched and searched and finally after about 45 minutes we found one.  Daddy cut it down and we brought it home.  We decided to wait until the next morning to decorate it (Momma was too tired from staying up all night Black Friday shopping. :) This year the kids really wanted to decorate the tree. I pretty much let them do all of the work with the ornaments.  Daddy did the lights and i put up the higher ornaments.  They had so much fun.  

"O Christmas Tree...

O Christmas Tree...

How lovely are thy branches."

Remember - only YOU can prevent forest fires!

This was just one tiny section of the tree farm...

Momma and her sweet babies!

Look!

Peek-a-Boo!

Taking the tractor back to our van

Just getting started...

They were so excited about EVERY ornament !

She would NOT take off her new coat!!

Ta Da!!  The finished product.  So pretty!!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Classical Conversations...

We went down a new path this year in our homeschooling journey....Classical Conversations!!  I want to just post a few pics this morning showing some of the things I love about it :)  (My kids are LOVING it too!! They love all of the new songs they are learning and I love how MUCH they are learning!!)

Raining Saturday Morning...

It's Raining...It's Pouring...Let's go outside and watch!!

We have been in a serious drought, ya'll!!  So, when I saw that cold front off in the distance I immediately grabbed my camera and a few of my kiddos and went out back.  I have such a sweet memory of my daddy and I up really early on a Saturday morning once.  We were out fishing and I witnessed for the first time the awesome experience of what it looks like, it feels like and smells like to see a cold front "come in".  We watched it literally come across the lake where we were fishing and bring the cool rain-crisp air with it.  The feeling of warm and humid transforming into cool and crisp with huge gusts of wind is such an awesome experience.  Anyway...I will never forget that Saturday morning and now whenever I can get outside to watch and feel a cold front come through, I do it! I was so glad that the kiddos got to experience it with me! Sho Sho even insisted on staying out and playing in the rain.  Since it has been SO LONG since we've seen any, I just had to let her.  For a few minutes, at least.  Then it was off to a warm bubbly bath.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning.  

Rush Springs Watermelon Festival - 2012

We made our annual trip to Rush Springs, Oklahoma again on Saturday.  We have been going to the Watermelon Festival for several years now. We all love the trip.  The town of Rush Springs has a large older park where it hosts the festival.  They have carnival rides, crafts booths, food booths, and lots of people have garage sales in their front yards. Oh, and there are watermelons sitting in the back of pick-up trucks on every corner!! We have become such "watermelon snobs" that we usually won't even buy a watermelon at the local grocery store anymore - because these melons are SO GOOD!  My husband used to have a job that took him through this town at least once a week so for a while we could have a Rush Springs melon anytime we wanted.  Now, we have to wait 'til the second Saturday in August.  And, btw, the cantaloupes are the BEST too.  This year we were "meany" parents and didn't let the kids ride any rides.  They cost about $3 per person for one ride and we have Frontier City passes (and they have all the same rides).  They were okay with that. They mostly just wanted to eat watermelon and play on the park anyway :)

Here are some snapshots of our fun day....

Every year we take  picture of Madeline standing next to the prize watermelon.  This one weighed 214 pounds - we've NEVER seen one that big.  They keep a record and this one beat all the others by about 100 pounds!!