Christmas prep -part 2

the windows were sprinkled with snow flakes..... (all courtesy of Mr. Brig)....

the house showed signs of the season........

this little framed thing is something I like to make and give away to friends. super duper easy!

and the tree goes up.. finally! it only was a 3 day process.. lol

and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

only see 4 up there? don't worry, Beckham's stocking arrived 2 days in the Nick of time.

my good friend Meredith made the mom and dad ones for us as wedding presents.. and she's been adding to our collection as needed. she is super talented, and they are just adorable, unique stockings! wonder if she'll be making us anymore?? lol

but we're going to have to get a bigger mantel first! ha!

and these little guys showed up again..

Our elf friends , Frank and Charlie magically show up as to Santa's request, five days prior to Christmas Eve.. they are sent to watch over the little ones.. and make sure they're staying on the "nice" list ....

we found them amongst all my baking stuff.....

and they are known to be found hanging from chandeliers, driving around the Tonka trucks, playing candy land.. or whatever else, elves do....

they are fed crackers and water each night, and apparently that makes them come alive while we are sleeping.

we may just have to set up the camera to catch them in action next year!! LOL



We attempted another candy house... and after lots of laughs and a few tears... we finally got the walls up..

and then the roof caved in! !!!

we did manage to salvage it somewhat.. but I forgot to take a pic.. of course I'll have to before it gets tossed... b/c I have to do the annual scrap page!! lol




and we were busy filling these bags with treats for our neighbors/friends...

we were a tad busy in the kitchen this year... lol

and we are still eating our way out of all the sweets a top the counters..

Luckily , come Jan 1st, they are all hitting the trash can...

except for maybe these little guys.. this is the second year I have made these, and the kids just love them!

I always love cut outs.. and they are Andrew's favorite.. with my special butter cream icing..

these are the 'pretty' ones..

many of them are edible, but with an entire jar of sprinkles per angel (courtesy of Tatum), they are a bit much.

we also made choco pretzels, mint cookies, fudge, and of course chex mix.

um, YEAH.. I was not kidding, when I said we baked.. we baked our hineys off...

luckily after eating said baked goods, our hineys are keeping well rounded. and then some.

ha.


and these are yummy wreath cookies from my childhood. always made them with my dad.

we tried that tradition last year. it did not carry on to this year. so they are now made with mommy. lol

and more of those heaven in a ball , that I shared before.

(oops, realized that some some of you asked for the recipe, and I have forgotten to post it.)

will do that. promise.

we made our way to a tiny little town and found ourselves at a RailRoad Museum.

we looked at the trains... they had tons of antique stuff, and 4 tracks of diff kind of trains running..

and of course Thomas was there.. lol

and look who else was there?

Brigham talked his ear off,

Beckham didn't care whose lap he was sitting on.....

and Tatum? well, she wanted no part. She talked the big talk all the way there.. how she was going to see HoHo and say Merry Kismas...

we even saw some reign deer that got away off in a cornfield.. lol

we got up to the door and opened it up, and there sat her LEAST favorite person in the world.

I have never seen a little girl move so fast. She was outa there!

though, she claims to everyone, that "I wave at HoHo!"

so that is pretty much a recap up to Christmas Eve..

we're off to party ourselves silly..

so I will recap our Christmas morning NEXT year!!!

Be Safe everyone!!