Christmas is so much fun!  I love the celebration of Christ's birth.  Ok so I know that this isn't really the time of year he was born, however it is when we stop and take time to celebrate it.
When my beloved and I got married we did not have a single ornament between us.  We have now been married 28 years and have enough ornaments for a number of trees.  These are among my most prized Christmas decor.      

My Gram made this set off of an original set she had gotten years before.  I never remember Gram not setting up her dwarfs/gnomes.  While the very original set has disappeared those of us that received her reproductions love them.  While the painting has nothing to do with Christmas it was a wedding gift from Gram.  She had so much talent!

This little bead tree is one I made in
1995 while in Springfield MO.

Our main tree is very victorian in decor.

This was purchased in honor of our girls
The box was acquired on a trip to VT in 2006. 

The front ornament is an egg.  Purchased in Germany
The ornament behind it was found near a geocache (which
I might add was a DNF~ did not find)

This is one of about 11 ornaments we purchased that first year.

This was hand painted by my step MIL.
She too has talent.

A blossom hand painted from Ric's pen pal.

A gift from a friend who went to visit England

 

Not sure where I got this little bird

Crystal one of my favorite things

This is the nativity I spent so much time making fun of my mom as she made.
When she finished making it it was beautiful.  She took pity on my attitude and
gave me this most beautiful nativity.  Since the wisemen didn't show up for
another 2+ years I put them AFAR.
 Thanks Mom

Another Nativity just in a German form.

One of my lanterns just festively decorated.

The buffet decorated with yet another Nativity and a few other pieces.

Our dining table with the puzzle piece quilt my cousin Nikki came up with, it is
a snow flake.  We do advent this year we did Tabitha one of 3 it is a great series.

This Nativity is made by Elim Mission in Poland.  A different
person gets a different part of the set.  So in the end each one
can support their family with the proceeds of what is purchased.

Here is my tea cup tree.  Tea cups and crystal.

Under our world tree is a little village along with our new to
us train set.

Here is our world tree.  Much of it is military.

A little church and house

Oh the plans I have for Nikki's little squirrel...---...

The tree is all decorated in little bits from S
Korea.  The big balls are from Germany.

Our little nut cracker collection started in 1981 when Ric's dad brought back
his first one.  We have collected a few over the last number of years.  

Niagara Falls

On our way to the North Country we made a stop of a few hrs at Niagara Falls.  It was beautiful to see.  Parts of the water seemed so peaceful while other parts were raging.  One can take a boat ride down pretty close to the middle of the main fall. 

Bridal Falls is absolutely spectacular and evidently many people choose to get married there.  We will have to go back because we only saw it from the US side.  I would love to see it from the Canadian side also.

 

 

See the boat it is headed into the fall

My favorite view of my favorite of Niagara Falls this is Bridal Falls

Well the Army has decided it is time AGAIN

To move.
So here we go again 7th move in 9 years.
We are so ready to not move, yet God has other plans.
We are comfortable here in the Springs.  We have a beautiful home church for the first time in 15 years.  We have great old friends local.  We have God's incredible Peak standing tall over the Springs.    We have a home that we enjoy.
So pray for us.  That we see the beauty in our new digs.  That we can see more of God's beautiful creation.  That we make new friends quickly.  That we find a chapel service to plug into.  That we get there with the least sense of crazy possible.  That the trip is uneventful and our belongings make it door to door.

Fence, Entry and cooler

We have been working hard on our house.
I have been painting the fence a few hrs at a time for about 90 days.  Ric has recently been putting hrs into it and it is finally only slats from being finished.

The Entry we finally removed the ugly storm door.  It may be replaced someday but right now seeing our pretty red door is so much better.

And finally our swam cooler has a stand that doesn't look or act like it wants to hurt someone.

Laundry Room makeover

Here is the room when we purchased the house.  Excuse the previous owners clothing. There were 3 shelves that each went partially across the back wall and none of them were at the same height.
I had been searching out Pinterest for laundry room ideas.  I found many ideas but I really enjoyed this one.  View Along the Way  of course I couldn't make it exactly like her room and I had to figure a way to make my grey washer and dryer not stick out like a sore thumb.  There was no way I was going to take up tile even though it isn't my pick of color or style.  Picking black as my color so that I could pull both the color of the tile and washer and dryer into a cohesive look.



When we first moved in Ric had completely re done the main floor guest bathroom.  When he pulled the oak cabinet we realized with very little modifications it would hold the utility sink and give it the needed stability to do it's job.  It doesn't really add much in storage but it sure is sturdier.  








Working slowly but surely I had taken out 1 shelf and been doing the stenciling.  Stenciling is painful laborious work!  I found the stencil at Hobby Lobby.  I found the red shelf at the local ReStore for $5.  Ok it had no shelves it wasn't the right color, but come on for $5 it had the potential I for which I was looking.

In comes Ric, and he removed two more shelves, hung the cupboard and then added more shelves and moldings and a clothes rod, took out the florescent lights and put in 2 LED pot lights.  I hadn't painted the ceiling yet in the picture. Before he got all the shelves up he let me finish stenciling... I thought the stenciling would NEVER end.  Then the painting of shelves and cupboard.





Here you see there is one last stencil spot to be painted under the cupboard, and I found in my fabric stash a toile that once I tea stained went well as a finishing touch for a valance.

We spent a total of about 120$ to make a laundry room (our personal entrance to our home).  The difference in having a welcoming happy laundry room is huge.  There are still some little touches to be done, but I sure am happy with the results, and really in decorating you aren't ever completely done.  

Something so silly that caused so much pain

So two weeks ago I was leaning out of my office chair to plug in the iron.  Next thing I knew I was on my back on the floor.  Seems harmless enough and yet 30 minutes later I hurt.  After 3 visits to the chiropractor, and now a visit to my PCM who gave me pain killers and muscle relaxers I still HURT.  Note: do not lean out of an office chair!