NumberNineteen

Christmas 2017

Two posts in one week?  It must be Christmas vacation!  I was going to write that I wanted to share photos of our "actual" Christmas celebrations, but that isn't quite right to me...for me, Christmas is a season that is celebrated through the month.  Of course, the pinnacle is Christmas day and the days immediately beforehand, which is what I'll share here. 

Since we always go to my parent's house for Christmas, we decided to create a mini celebration at our house the night before we leave.  We have a nice dinner in the dining room,

open a few gifts and then drive around the neighborhood to look at all of the lights.

The next morning we loaded up the car and headed off to Nana and Grandpa's house.  I must take this moment to give props to Glenn and thank God for the millionth time that I married an engineer, because I don't know how he manages to fit all of the gifts, luggage, food and other whatnots that we haul to my parents into our car.

Christmas Eve was spent getting last minute groceries and poking around downtown Rehoboth.  This will sound a little nutty, but I love going to the grocery store on the afternoon of Christmas Eve.  Everyone is so excited and celebratory. You hear "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" between complete strangers.  Rehoboth is also surprisingly wonderful on Christmas Eve.  It's off-season, so it's just local families and their guests walking around. We meet a very friendly corgi named Charlie and his mom on the beach, who were also enjoying the wintery beauty of the ocean.

Back at the house, it's time for Christmas Eve dinner.

After Christmas Eve service in a beautiful church in Lewes (the candle lighting to Silent Night at the end gets me every time -- tears streaming down my face), we came back to get ready for Santa.  Cookies and milk, not forgetting to throw reindeer food (dry oatmeal mixed with red and green sugars) in the backyard.

And, then, Christmas morning!  The kids held off until 7, at which point they were about to burst with excitement. 

My mother, opening her big gift -- a promise for the family to return to Happy Valley next fall for a football game, complete with tailgating.  Her Penn State-loving heart could barely believe it!

Glenn, showing his love for his big gift -- a nail gun with compressor.  The kids decided that they needed to be involved in the love fest as well.

The rest of Christmas was mostly spent in our pjs, though we managed to clean ourselves up in time to Skype with our family in Pennsylvania. 

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Lots of family fun, snuggles and surprises.  And, BONUS -- no one was sick!  A major accomplishment in our family.  I hope that you also had a wonderful holiday and that you are taking time to enjoy the very end of the season.

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Christmastime at Our House

All December, I've had blog posts bouncing around in my mind, but they never quite made it to the actual writing stage.  I decided that I would spend my time this year living the season and telling the story later on. 

While this post may seem late to some, for me, the holiday season is Thanksgiving through New Years.  This week, in between Christmas and New Years, is a chance to enjoy Christmas without any pressure.  Everything has been done and we can snuggle in and enjoy it. 

Watch old movies, eat cookies and play with gifts.  And, record memories of this December.

The cookie baking...

Gingerbread house making (the first year that Hope decorated it all by herself)...

And hosting our annual party.

It was a wonderful month, full of good things, though there was at least one snafu, which will be known henceforth as The Great Christmas Tree Disaster of 2016.  That beautiful tree in the first picture?  It fell over while we were at work, taking down with it half of my antique ornaments (!!!).  We salvaged what we could and now I have a perfect excuse to do more ornament shopping. 

In a day or two, I'll be back to share our Christmas time spent with family.

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Christmas Around Our House

 I've had an idea in the back of my head all year as to what I wanted to our Christmas decor to look like this year -- traditional, lots of greenery & berries, my blue & white pieces mixed in and a bit of red tartan.  I'm so happy that the vision in my head materialized, just how I hoped that it would.

The living room....

The dining room (on the day of our annual Christmas party)....

 

The kitchen....

The beautiful paper snowflake was made for me by one of my sweet students.

I hope that your home is filled with Christmas cheer and that you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Preparing for Christmas

As I've grown older, I find that my favorite part of the Christmas season is the season itself, as much so, or more so, than the day itself.  I love being in my house full of sparkle and special beauty, I love the special baking and sweets, I love the pretty wrappings and the anticipation.   Getting ready truly is so much of the fun.

My glitter cottage is done and I'm in love with it.  I am inspired to make a whole village, though that will have to wait until next year.

We have been in a baking frenzy, whipping up over 800 cookies & sweets for us, our friends, family & co-workers.

I am so grateful that I decided to get teacher and co-worker gifts completed in November.  They are done and waiting to be given on the last day of school before the holiday.  For her teachers, I wrapped up Lindt Santas with a Starbucks gift card (teachers need a lot of energy ;) ).  Co-workers and hostesses will receive a bag of white chocolate pretzel bark.

Earlier today, I took clippings from the tree and bushes around our yard to fill a few small vases around the house and add greenery here and there. 

I hope that you are enjoying your holiday preparations, whatever they may be!

Our Christmas 2014

We are back in Virginia after spending Christmas with my parents, sister, brother in law & nephew in Delaware.  It passed in a blur of family, food, presents and lots and lots of love.  We arrived Tuesday and spent Wednesday browsing downtown Rehoboth for last minute inspiration.  Christmas Eve we went to an early children's service and returned home for our traditional dinner of steamed shrimp, wild rice and lots and lots of cookies.  After dinner, we exchanged just a few gifts.  Right before jammies, we went out to the backyard and spread handfuls of reindeer food (raw oatmeal mixed with red and green sugar) to ensure that Santa's helpers have strength for the night. Christmas morning came very early with two excited kids, which is part of the magic.  Here are a few snapshots of our Christmas this year.

There was lots and lots of cousin love.

Sister love too. Super blurry but I love it.

Just the right gift for the right person.

Hope opening her big gift -- a Nintendo DS. 

The MAGIC.

My Christmas House 2014

It's back!!!  My favorite time of year!  It explains my recent absence because I spend every spare moment doing nothing but Christmas, Christmas, Christmas everything.  I wrote to my friend in an email that work this month is  just the thing that is keeping me from doing Christmas things. I am now officially on Christmas vacation and can devote myself full time to the holidays.

I always think of my house at this time of year as "my Christmas house".  Little touches of Christmas are everywhere, from the front porch to the kitchen.  I turn the corner into the family room and am delighted to see the tree, all sparkling with lights. The tins are full of cookies and dishes of red and green candies are on every table. I thought that I'd share a few corners of my Christmas house and the sights that fill my day here on Christmas vacation.

This little house was given to me on my first Christmas & my parents have been keeping it for me since.  This is the first year that it is in my home.

This guy is from Cindy at Yapping Cat Studio.  I've been following her on her blog & facebook forever and when she posted this ornament, I wrote, "please, purty please, could you ship that to Virginia???".  It is even more adorable in person and the details are amazing.  I might need to ask if she would do other Santa items for me in the future.


The annual "Guests are about to arrive at our Christmas party, we'd better get a family picture quick" photo.

My Christmas house is about tradition, memories, homey-ness and the magic of Christmas.  It isn't magazine worthy but it fills our hearts with warmth all season long.

 

 

 

Christmas 2013

I'm sitting here, drinking earl grey from one of my favorite Christmas gifts, this mug:

Isn't it perfect?  To help you understand just how perfect it is, I'll tell you this -- the inside is pink!  I know!

We are still relaxing on our Christmas break, mostly reading and playing with our new toys.  Hope just came over for a cuddle.  Love having this much time with my girl.

We spent Christmas with my parents and my sister's family in Delaware at my parent's house.  The kids were so *excited*.  Magic was in the air!  By the time that they woke up on Christmas morning, they could barely be contained.  My 4 year old nephew spied his new Radio Flyer wagon & declared "This is the gift I've been looking for all day!"

Look at that!  The excitement is just about to overflow!

Now that I'm older, my favorite part is Christmas Eve.  Santa has come and the room is dark except for the Christmas lights.  The presents are piled high, full of mystery -- what could be inside?  It is just magic.  Here are the little ones, sitting by the tree, just before being nestled into their beds.

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas with your family.

Bits of Christmas

After the rush of preparations, we are finally on Christmas vacation.  Yesterday at school was spirit filled.  Lots of presents and sweets and a surprize holiday concert from the orchestra, right in front of the library.  We were in the middle of our normal routine and suddenly heard the Carol of the Bells.  It was magical.  I begged the director to do it again next year, with even more songs. 

We are all ready for Santa around here.  The cookies are baked, presents wrapped (almost) and the house decorated.  Our Christmas party was last weekend, filled with family & friends. We are going to Old Town Alexandria today for our annual browse about, picking up those fun last minute gifts that happen to catch our eye. 

Just a few bits of Christmas around our house this year....

Hope & I usually do a little holiday craft each year and this year I decided that we should try out a matchbox diarama.  Hope's wasn't done when I took this photo, so I can just show you mine.  Lots of glitter (hard to see here), teeny tiny trees, a cupcake topper and mica snow. 

The newest Santa in my collection. Love him.

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Wishlist

I have a bunch of stories and photos about little Christmas projects that I've been working on and fund details of our decorations, but I've been overwhelmed with work stuff these past 2 weeks.  Our annual Christmas party is tonight so I'm going to have more time to post next week.  In the meantime, I'm sharing my wishlist for this year -- maybe you'll find something that you need to have under your tree as well?

World Market is a treasure trove this year...I've fallen in love with this this mint green jar...in my kitchen or craft room...

I could always use another set of measuring spoons and these are some of the prettiest that I've ever seen.  How much more fun would cooking and baking be with those beauties?

And how perfect are these for me?

I'd love to make this towel into a pillow.

This cosy sweater would be so nice on cold days.

I love these earrings.  I think that they look like an old wax seal.

Finally, this book.  I have wanted this book since Susan Branch took her loyal readers on her trip to England with her through her blog last year.  It was an amazing journey and I can't wait to read all of the details, see the photos and experience Susan's art.

What are you hoping that Santa will bring you?

 

Our Christmas

We have returned from our Christmas celebration at Nana & Grandpa's.  We drove there on Sunday to join my sister, her husband & my nephew for the annual festivities. Here are a few photos of our time together...

Hope & I Christmas Eve

The kiddos at Christmas Eve dinner

Hope on Christmas morning(I had fun playing with the photo editing software)

My nephew with his new train

Grandpa, Nana & their babies.

Unfortunately, both Hope & I were sick (Hope more so than I) & she went downhill as the day went on.  We took her to the doctor today & she is on the mend, but I feel badly that she was sick on Christmas. 

I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas!