Some Christmas Celebration Highlights

Our family celebrated Christmas yesterday at our home. I put together a brunch with some really great recipes that I found in my Farm Chicks cookbook. Everyone enjoyed them so you might like to check it out one day. Our youngest daughter brought along a great DVD for the children that tells the Christmas story. And of course there were gifts. But we all mostly give gifts to the children in the family. Jeff and I do get one nice gift for our daughters, usually something they need or have wanted and have been unable to get for themselves. Not much extravagances around here. My camera decided to act up of course and there were a lot of blurry pictures for some reason. I do not usually have that problem. But here is a sampling of the kids fun. I think I will have to do two posts so it does not get to long because we had eight children here with seven of them aged 4 and under. But what fun we had!









Anticipation.













Natalie, Savannah and Zaiden.






I think Ethan must be receiving a present what do you think?












My Mom in Law, Ethan, Lucas (our youngest).
















Natalie and Savannah with dolls
Aunt Samantha got at her all
night black Friday shopping at
Walmart.

































Son in law and Lucas.
















We are all praying for healing of this little guy. We just found out about three months ago that he has Neuraofibromatosis. He had a CAT scan in October and there were no tumors at that time but his parents have not been able to find a local neurologist for pediatrics yet. So we are still waiting for diagnosis on what they did find.








Lucas.











And of course Ladybug at the end of a very tiring day. I think I could have crawled in right beside her if there was any room for me!














If you noticed the little monster stuffed toy Lucas had in his lap I plan on posting about them next time along with a few other pictures. My oldest daughter always makes the children some really cute things. Thanks for stopping by. I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas week!

Vintage Christmas Monday "Five"

We had our big family Christmas gathering here yesterday and I have to leave for work shortly, so I only have a few minutes to get my vintage picture posted. I bought this Santa cake mold at an antique shop that is in a small town near by. I have not tried baking in him yet although that was what I had planed on doing when I brought it a couple of years ago. He is two pieces and I expect you bake him face down because his back side has an air hole in it. I have baked cakes similar to this when my girls were growing up but they clipped together and had a stand you sat them in to fill from the bottom. If anyone knows exactly how I would use this I would be glad for the information.






































The last couple of weeks have been busy. I expect to have some new posts this week of a grandsons birthday, a Christmas party at Meijers Gardens and our Christmas gathering. Thanks for coming by and check out the rest of the party participants at http://www.thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/
Have a great Monday!

Good morning!
It is Vintage Christmas Monday and I am just getting around to posting. I have had a very busy week and have not been able to add anything to my blog since last Monday. Here is my only vintage piece to show this week. It is my childhood stocking that I still put out each year. My girls use to tell me I needed a stocking with my name on it. I have always told them that I am always a sister and I am attached to it. My husband tells me it is getting to worn for him to fill but still manages to do it each year. Lucky me! Here is the front.






































And the back. I hung it on the tree just so I could get a couple of good pictures. I thought I would add a couple of pretty snow pictures from this past week also. This first one is of our drive. You cannot see the road from the house, actually you cannot really see the drive for the snow.



















This is a view of our front pond. When the temperature changes it seems to churn up the bottom and look a little muddy. But it still made for a pretty picture.














And the last one is a picture of the walkway back through our woods.














Go over to the party at http://thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/2009/11/vintage-christmas-monday-blog-party.html with Joan and check out all the other vintage fun!
Thanks for stopping in for a visit!

Vintage Christmas Monday

I am joining the party at Anything Goes Here hosted by Joan on Monday. I bought this silver Christmas tree at a Christmas clearance sale a few years ago. It certainly has that vintage look although it was new. I have it sitting in my craft/sewing room and initially was only going to put vintage ornaments on it. But I collect things slowly so I have had to fill in with new ornaments that have the vintage look.


















Here is a real vintage tree topper and some old ornaments that I have collected over the years.








































































































The Raggedy Andy ornament was on my mother's tree when I was a child. There was a set of six I believe but this is the only one left. They were my favorite to hang on the tree. Thanks for stopping in and don't forget to go on over to anything goes here and check out the what the rest of the party goers have to show off. Here is the link that you need to go to:
http://thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com

Holiday Cloche Party

I tried to get my jar ready for the Cloche party last night but the glitter just was not dry enough to finish up. Hubby took me out for dinner tonight and we went to pick up our oldest grandson after that so I am just now able to get my pictures downloaded and add to my post. You can see all the other beautiful Cloches at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-cloche-party.html


















I had this jar all set with the snow and the red and white tree that I have had for a couple of years and just did not know what to do with it. I had saw these little cardboard houses and churches at Michaels (they come with a string to hang them) and thought I could paint them and add to the jar. I then saw someone else, sorry I forget whose wonderful blog, had already done this and added glitter. So that is what I did. I tried to bleach the green trees but it did not work. It only lightened the color. So I added glitter to those also.














Here is a close up of the house you probably cannot see that I used a crackle medium the roof looks really neat.














I have had these birds under glass for a while so I placed them in with some Christmas decor so they would fit into the holiday theme. I usually have framed pictures sitting on top of most everything so I decorate around them. I think I still need something to pull this together just not sure what.














This is what our back woods looked like this morning. Our first real snow fall. Everyone asked me if I ordered it for my birthday. Wouldn't be wonderful if we could keep this under all our glass with all our villages.














Hope you enjoy checking out everyone else pretties and get some wonderful ideas for you Christmas decor at A Stroll Thru Life with Marty.
Thanks for stopping!

The Winner Is

I told you on my previous post that I was drawing for a gift for one of my friends on this day for a reason. That reason is because today is my birthday. So I thought I would start out my day by giving someone else a gift from me! So here it goes, to one of my friends (follower) the winner is, drum roll,







Mrs C! You have won! Hubby drew your name while I was throwing cloths on for work. Had to grab the camera. I should have wrote every bodys name out in darker ink. This was fun and I wish I could send a pair to everyone but I have not had the time this year to paint ornaments. Have to run off to work now, hoping to post some pretty pictures later today. Mrs C e-mail your address to me I will get your package ready over the weekend and hopefully send it out on Monday after work. btowsley@comcast.net.

A Little Something for One of My New Friends.

When I first entered this blogging world I won a couple of drawings. Boy was I excited! Then I started making friends and receiving such sweet comments. Boy was I really excited and it does not matter in the least that I have not won a thing since. Well it seems as though the giveaways are to celebrate something special when I sign up for them. Well most of the time they are. Here is my Little Something:
These are two of the ornaments that I painted last year for Christmas presents. I did not give all of them and most of my friends and family have a set. So on Friday morning I am going to pull a name out of the hat and gift them to one of my followers. Have to say I don't like the term follower as much as friend. But if you follow and you are interested in a chance to get this little gift just leave me a comment by 7:00 A.M. Friday morning. Hubby gets up to walk down the hall to his home office for work at 8:00 A.M. that is when the drawing will be. Have to make it a short time for you to leave your comments because I have no idea how to keep this at the top of my blog, so no new posts for me until Friday. I might get some projects finished! And Friday is a little special, I'll let you know why then.

Vintage Christmas Monday

I have joined the Vintage Christmas Monday party at "Anything Goes Here" hosted by Joan. You can join in the fun by visiting Joan's site here.
http://thepottingshed-anythinggoeshere.blogspot.com/2009/11/vintage-christmas-monday-blog-party.html
I have been unpacking boxes since Friday morning and here are a few of the vintage things I found.
A book I had as a child. And I am old enough to make it vintage.


























I got this out every year and read it to my girls when they were growing up. I continue to get it out each year for our
grandchildren.



I found both this celluloid Santa ornament and the Santa figure at antique or vintage shop. I have had them for a few years so I am not sure exactly where.

I did not find the light that fits in the back of the Santa yet and he will be sitting elsewhere when I have. He was just hanging out for his picture.












The last items I have this week are some Christmas cards. The card with
the carolers was given to me by my piano teacher sometime in the 60's and the Santa card was sent to me by an Aunt/Sunday school teacher. It is a Hallmark card and looks as though my mother poked a hole in the back and added some floss to hang it in the tree. I usually stick both of them in between tree branches.

Sunday Morning from Our Home in the Woods

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 5:1-2

Day Two Christmas Decor

I stayed home another full day. I am enjoying my home, I really am. I've carried boxes up the steps and back down again. I rearranged furniture and dusted. Should I have done that before Thanksgiving? No one noticed. And by mid afternoon I had a mess.














Here is the tree in the Great Room (that is what my husband calls it).



















I was hoping to get the walls painted in this room before the holidays but the time got away from me. It was already getting dark when I was taking pictures so I had to turn the lights on which caused quite a problem for me when I was trying to take the pictures. I took quite a few and tried quite a few different settings before I got this one. I would love to have tons more ornaments to pile on this tree, but alas I don't. I bought this tree before we moved into this house. It was close to the ceiling at our previous home, but this house has high ceilings. So Jeff built a wooden lift and put it in the bottom of this container to get us at least an extra foot of height. Pretty smart that husband of mine.














I love jingle bells. I like the look and the sound they make. Of course these don't get rang unless the grand kids are jumping a lot.



















This door hanger make a great noise when someone comes through the door. One more day off from work. I might have to brave the stores and start my Christmas shopping tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for coming by!