It's Still Christmas at Our House

We'll be leaving our Christmas decorations up until at least January 6th.  We haven't had a chance to invite our parents over to see our trees, and we hope to do that next weekend.  Yesterday, we helped our son move some of his things to Greensboro, where he'll be renting a house with two of his friends.  We'll get the rest of his furniture moved later this week.

What a busy holiday we've had and not a lot of time to take pictures of the house.  I like to see how things look different from one year to the next.  We did get a few pictures of our family room.  This is how it looked on Christmas Eve with all the neatly wrapped packages (I never get mine wrapped weeks before Christmas like some folks do).  :)

♪New York♪ ♫New York♪

Hi everyone!  Did you have a good Christmas?  Ours was very nice, though somewhat hectic.  It seems like it's always harder when Thanksgiving falls so late in the calendar year.

Today, I want to finish my story about our trip to NYC in 2005.  You can read Part One Here.  In the first part of my post, I wrote that I was worried we would freeze up there, and so I kept going back to the stores and buying more cold weather clothing.  :)  Well, it was kind of funny, because the week before we were there, they had some really cold weather.  But it warmed up just before we got up there, so I think it may have been a little warmer in New York City than it was here in North Carolina.  The only day I felt really cold was the day we were at the harbor, and I guess we were getting the cold breeze off the water.

Merry Christmas 2013

I want to thank you for reading my blog this year and for commenting and letting me know you're interested.  Your interest inspires me and I thank you for your friendship.  I wish you Peace,

New York at the Christmas Season

Are you someone who likes to travel at Christmas or do you prefer the comfort of hearth and home?  Do you have to travel to see family, or do they travel to be with you?

My entire life I've always spent Christmas at home.  Since I've been married, we drive to our parents' house on Christmas Day to eat and exchange gifts, but we always return home that night.  We're very fortunate that most of our family lives nearby.

Several years ago, in 2005, we did take a trip the week before Christmas.  My husband, son, and I went to New York City with my in-laws for three days, and we had the best time.  That trip was actually our Christmas gift from my mother and father-in-law that year, and it was great!  You can read Part Two of this post Here.

A Precious Keepsake

Hi everyone!  I literally just published a post to link to Vee's Note Card Party a few minutes ago; and I hate to publish another post right away, but please bear with me.

 source

December Note Card Party

December is such a wonderful month filled with lovely images, and it's time for Vee's monthly Note Card Party.  If you'd like to participate, here's a link to Vee's blog, A Haven For Vee, and the December Note Card Party.  We're not limited to a particular theme for the party, but since this is a holiday month,  I couldn't resist doing Christmas note cards.

"Festival of Lights"

Christmas at My In-Laws' House

I promise I do realize that Christmas is not all about the decorations.  My friend Dotsie, who blogs at Podso wrote about all the symbols and traditions of Christmas much better than I could have.  To a large degree, our decorations and traditions are tied to the meaning of that first Christmas.  Most of us have secular decorations tied in with our religious decorations, but it is all about remembering the birth of the Christ child.

Today I'm sharing some of my mother-in-law's Christmas decorations from last year; she does such a pretty job every year.

A Quick Look At Our Christmas Mantel

I just finished tweaking our Christmas Mantel for this year and thought I'd show you what it looks like.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out!  This is the first time I've done a totally different mantel in more than ten years.  I love tradition, especially at Christmas, so I have a hard time changing too many things in my decorating.  However, I felt that it was time for something different where the mantel is concerned.

Christmas at Mom and Dad's House

For more decorating inspiration and eye candy, I'm sharing the rest of the pics from my parents' house last Christmas.  You can see the pictures I shared earlier Here.

A Few Words On Christmas Trees

I've recently determined that I suffer from a condition called Christmas Tree Selection Disorder (CTSD).  Have you heard of this?  No?  Well, it's basically a condition wherein you go to the Christmas tree farm with your husband and or family to pick out a tree(s) for your house.  One to fit inside your house.  Well, as we all know, in the wide-open outdoors, most of the trees look like this (minus the tree skirt)...

 source