What I Have Been Up To This Past Month - Part 4

At last, my final post about what we have been up to this past month while we were all sick.

I think I might have mentioned it before, but we did not get a Christmas tree this year.  I know, I know...a complete sin, especially for Parker's first Christmas.  Seriously, we were all too sick to go get a tree.  I did not want to take Parker out in this cold.  I kept thinking "soon", but soon never came.  Luckily, Santa did not have to worry about merchandising his gifts too much since Parker won't remember it anyways.  I will be ready for next year though...I finally broke down and purchased a really nice fake tree.  I know, I know...a fake tree does not sound like me.  But seriously, who wants to go out looking for a stupid tree in this weather?  Apparently, it is sooo cold here that the tree branches are frozen while the tree is tied up.  You need to let the tree stand upright for a couple of days without the ties before you can decorate it...you need to let your tree thaw out!  What in the world!!!  I certainly never had to do THAT in Vegas.  Boy, the things I never appreciated when I lived in Sin City.
I think it is safe to say that he was pretty excited about his new sweatsuit.

Lucky boy...most of the presents were for him.  All of you were VERY generous to him.  Parker thanks you all.  It ended up taking Parker 3 whole days to open everything.

My sister, being the rocker chick that she is, got him this little drum and music set.  It is one of those toys that he loves and I don't.  Let's just say, "Where's the aspirin?"

The boys on Christmas morning.  

What I Have Been Up to This Past Month...part 3

Phillip and I waited till Christmas week before we took Parker to meet Santa for the first time. We planned on doing it sooner, avoiding the crazy crowds, but as you know, our whole house-hold was sick for most of the season. We went to the old Macy's downtown. It is one of the old-fashioned department stores that is independent of malls and shopping centers. They had the entire 8th floor devoted to the North Pole and Santa. The theme this year was the "Day in the Life of the Elf", leading us down a path from the beginning of the Elves' day all the way down to meeting the big guy in red himself. It was very well done and I can only imagine how many hours and how much planning had to go into merchandising something like that.
Parker and I sitting at the North Pole Christmas tree.

This little piggy was twirling around, helping to decorate the North Pole tree. I thought it was so cute...I have a thing for pigs...probably why I love pug dogs so much.

Santa's toy shop busy at work. Personally, I thought the elves's looked a little evil, but the kids seemed to like it.

Parker and Phillip waiting in line to meet Santa. It wasn't that bad. I think we waited for an hour or so (considering it was two days before Christmas, I thought that was pretty good). Parker loved all the lights and activity around him.

Parker took all of the commotion in stride. He handled the waiting better than Phillip.

Is this not one of the cutest pictures ever? When we were finally up to meet Santa, everyone was concerned that Parker (because he is a baby) would start crying once he met Santa. I wasn't worried. Parker does not know what the word "stranger" means (a cute thing now, but could be worrisome later). He instantly took a liking to Santa and hung out with him for a while. We had so many cute poses of him with Santa that it was very difficult to choose. I only wish that I had the good sense to plan ahead and have a Santa picture for my Christmas card (not that I was even able to get those out this year, but you know what I mean).

What I Have Been Up To This Past Month...part 1

In the middle of December, Phillip and I hosted our Annual Christmas Dinner. I can't be certain, but I think this was our 5th or 6th dinner. It has become my favorite holiday tradition. Phillip and I invite 12 or so people over for dinner. This is nice for us since we are usually by ourselves for the actual Christmas Holiday since we do not have any family nearby. It seems silly for Phillip and I to make a big holiday dinner for just the two of us. I had a lot more decorations than what I am posting, but unfortunately, I did not realize that I only took half of the pictures. I must have gotten distracted at the last minute doing some sort of hostess duty.

I love this Santa Claus picture that I got from Pottery Barn. I knew that it was big, but I did not realize that it would be quite as big as it was. I had to move my big mirror and artwork around just to find a wall he would fit on.

One of my favorite decorations was this little display I made with a Bambi cake topper and a little white tree in the apothecary jar. I love using the apothecary jars for various seasonal displays...especially little cutie "still life" displays. I had this in the entryway next to my little Christmas Cd's Phillip and I make every year. I like to give them to our guests as party favors.

The pictures of the table don't really give the table dressing justice. The colors were aqua, mint and silver...they really did sparkle nicely. I can't wait for next year...by then Phillip will have the family room completed and it will look so much more appealing.

Above is my YUMMY chocolate trifle dessert. I must say that I am quite proud of this. Not only did it look gorgeous, but it tasted delicious! I highly recommend this dessert if you want to make a big impact for a small effort. By the way, you don't need the trifle bowl. However, I think the proper bowl really does show off the dessert. I mean, just look at all of those yummy layers! I found the bowl at Crate and Barrel. It was much more difficult than I thought to find a proper trifle bowl.

I am sure you are all wondering about the pictures of my tree. Well, I am embarrassed to say that this year we did not get a tree. It was not my intention, but every time Phillip and I tried to go, either there was a snow storm going on or Parker was sick. Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve. So I did something I never thought I would do...I bought an artificial Christmas Tree at the after Christmas sales. It is a gorgeous 8 foot Noble (the only real type of Christmas tree in my opinion). The needles really feel real at first touch. Never again will I be without a Christmas tree.

Happy Holidays! I have missed you all!

Hello everyone! I have missed you all! I am so sad that I missed blogging during this whole, very important, season. After our trip to California over Thanksgiving, our whole little family caught the nastiest cold and took FOREVER to get over it. In fact, Parker and I still have a bit of a cough that haunts us. Between that and trying to schedule the holiday season, I completely lost my footing. I had so many posts and ideas I wanted to share with you all. I suppose I will save them for you all next year. At least I will have plenty of time to work on them so I won't have any excuses for not posting.

What have we been up to (besides being sick)? Phillip and I threw our annual Christmas dinner. I will share photos soon with you. It went well and I was pleased that it came out decently even though we were all sick. We also went to Phillip's holiday work party. It is nice that his boss always tries to do something special for the R&D Team. All of the other holiday activities I had planned on I had to cancel. I was so disappointed, but I was just too sick. It was a struggle to just get the gifts purchased (I still have a ton of wrapping to do). I didn't even get my Christmas Cd's in the mail this year...the first time in 6 years! For all of you that are wondering what happened to them, I apologize. I did make them, I just didn't get to mailing them out. I will have to remember to send them out with next year's Cd's.

On a positive note, I was happily surprised that I heard most of you were wondering what happened to my posts. I didn't think anyone really checked this blog much. It was also nice to hear what specifically you all missed...I got a lot of requests for Video Wednesday to come back soon. Since I missed out on a whole month's worth, I will make it up to you this next month.

I will try to do better staying in touch. In the mean time, Happy Holidays to all of you! I wish I could share a yummy hot-chocolate and the season festivities with you all! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Luv,
Brandie

Amy Butler Christmas

I discovered the coolest fabric store in town yesterday called Crafty Planet. They have the best selection of unique fabrics that I have ever seen. They carry a lot of fabrics from various indie textile designers. They also carry the most adorable selection of fabric for children - very vintage and very Tokyo Pop. I wish I would have known about this place when I was putting together Parker's bedroom. I would have spent a bundle!

I went there particularly for Amy Butler fabric. She has such amazing fabric - a great combination of traditional and modern, which is exactly the look I am working towards in our home. But I did not go there for a decorating project. I went there for a Christmas project. I bought the Mary Engelbreit Home Companion magazine the other day. Normally, this magazine hasn't been my sort of thing, but it had Amy Butler's home for Christmas on the cover. Amy decorated her house for Christmas EXACTLY the way I want to. So, of course, I had to get it. Surprisingly enough, she had some projects shown that you can download for free! I bought the fabric to make the tree forest for a table display. For this free pattern and more, check out Amy Butler.com. At the bottom left, you will find "Free Patterns". Select ME Holiday for Christmas ideas, but check out all of the free patterns. You never know what you find!

(image from Amy Butler Design.com)