All dressed up for Christmas!

Well, we certainly got ready 'early' this year to decorate. I was just in the Christmas mood to get it done! I wish I knew how to take better pictures because no matter 'how many' I take the lighting is not right. I flip on and off lights and use daylight, so the pictures of my tree don't do it justice. It really is pretty. We had to get a small tree (artificial due to my allergies to real ones) because we now have a smaller home and not a lot of room to decorate. I probably used 15% of the decorations that I have! Makes putting things away easier! :o)

I tried to get a nice close up, no luck! I bought some pretty gold balls this year that I love! I haven't used glass balls in 30 years! I've always had kids and grand kids home so this year I get to use glass balls!

This little manger Julie and I worked on. Michelle cut them out for us, I sanded mine down smooth, Julie painted the figures and I painted the manger. I love this manger and thanks to Julie for painting it for me! I painted Michelle's set after a lot of worry how it would turn out. It was fine. I had Julie's painting to copy from! Ashley made the sign for me for Christmas last year. It goes perfectly with the manger!

I bought this manger and nativity set from Fred Meyers about 25 years ago. I bought a really nice one in Hawaii that was hand painted and wonderful, but I gave it to David and Angela as they did not have one. I like both sets, but I have nostalgia from having this one that's 25 years old. After the holidays and before Christmas 2011 I'm going to touch up the manger and freshen it up!

I guess you might say 'I love poinsettias'! I have them all over! I love these picture blocks Michelle made for me last Christmas. I like to add a little color during the holidays with them. They are so easy to accent! Don't I have a gorgeous family?!!

I love these little choir boys. Neil loves trains and I found this cute snow globe last year. I love the picture frame and only use it at Christmas time.

I added two little girl angels. I have more, but two was all I needed for this.

We made these kissing reindeer in relief society about 8 years ago and I provided the pattern and this gal cut them out for everyone and I let her use my set to paint and show for a pattern to paint from. She paints really great and I was so lucky to have mine painted!

So, now I'm ready for Christmas. Shopping, wrapping, mailing, candy made, all I have to do is sit back and relax and enjoy the holiday!

Christmas cabin

My hall bathroom has a 'woodsy' look. I like to decorate this little cabin (birdhouse) for Christmas. I was looking for some tiny Christmas lights and couldn't find any. Michelle saved the day and sent me some that she had. If you look at the resin trees near the porch you'll see them on the trees. The two faux trees in the background are sprayed white. I found some tiny garland for those two trees. I found some cute gingerbread garland and restrung it. The gingerbread decorations were two inches apart which was too far apart, so I restrung them to be closer to 1 inch apart.

I took this picture with the lights on and I like the pictures with the lights off. I think it shows up better.

Spaghetti Squash - I had never heard of it!

This is a picture of a spaghetti squash. I had never heard of them before. I read about it on a friend's face book page. I was curious, looked it up, bought one, and cooked it today. YUMMY!!! :o)

I pierced holes it and put it in a shallow pan and baked it for 1 hour at 375 degrees.

I cut it lengthwise in half and scooped out the seeds. They looked a lot like pumpkin seeds.

I took the tines of a fork and shredded the squash within the shell, I added butter, salt and pepper and mixed it right in the shell. Yummy! The other half I added a four-blend cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese and mixed it right in the shell. I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and it melted the cheese. Oh yum, oh yum!



I fixed Parmesan and tomato chicken patties and green peas. You can see on the plate that the squash is from both shells, one with butter and one with cheese. My husband is a plain eater and he took one bite of the buttered one and ate it. He even took a regular size serving and ate all of it! (I wonder if that is because I had told him that if he didn't eat at least one bite he would have to cook dinner for a week! Hee! Hee!) He said that he actually did like it but wouldn't touch the cheesy one. He's not big on cheese. I will definitely fix that squash again! The texture is different and to me has a slight pumpkin taste to it. Neil said that the squash taste didn't remind him of anything.

Trick or Treat!

Friday I took Kirsten with me and we drove down to Oregon to visit Lisa's family. I wanted to see my little granddaughters dressed up for Halloween. Lisa and her friend Sally (in the picture below) planned a theme for costumes. Alice in Wonderland. Lisa and Sally 'sewed' the costumes and did a fantastic job! :o)

This is Lisa's friend Sally and her two little boys. She made the costumes, the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit. They were so cute. Before the church Trick or Trunk they met a Jordan's parents and set up a little 'tea party' atmosphere with a little table and chairs and tea set and took pictures. I hope Lisa posts soon. I didn't see the tea party set up. I met them at church. I saw some of Lisa's pictures they took and they were so cute!

The gal on the left is Lisa's friend Sally. LaRue is dressed as Alice in Wonderland and Tillie is the Queen of Hearts. She was soooo thrilled to be wearing 'lipstick'. When I met them at church Tillie ran up to me and was sooo excited, 'Grandma, I'm wearing lipstick!' She will be '4' in about two weeks.

Here is Tillie. I love her costume!

This is Adelaide with her daddy, Jordan. She was dressed as the Cheshire cat. I loved the tail! It was soft and puffy! Adelaide is 18 mos. She was so excited with all the things happening!

LaRue as Alice and she was adorable! Another view of the Cheshire cat!

Adelaide 'would NOT' look up and get her picture taken. I tried but no go!

Tillie, LaRue and Adelaide.

Lisa did such an outstanding job on those costumes! I thought the girls were so darn cute! ♥