christmas decorating and my craigslist find

So I spent the good part of my weekend in my jammies! Decorating for Christmas was my goal and I am happy to say it has been achieved! Now all I have left to do this last week that the kids are in school, is get some things wrapped and finish up my stocking shopping...yay!

I pretty much decorated the same as last year..using my favorite things, I went through my stuff last year and got rid of alot of old ornaments that we didn't use or were discolored...I would love to do a picture perfect tree, all green, gold and silver ornaments..perfectly decorated...BUT, we have children, and there is a big part of me that would be sad if all they remembered as kids was a tree that was perfect looking, with no real memories...So I hang all the ornaments, even if they have "outgrown" them, all the handmade ones..I love it!

Every year that I get our Christmas stuff I look at the stockings...and tell myself I want all the handmade ones for everyone. See i made the ones on the left, Scott, Me and Nicholas, and that was as far as I have gotten...well this is my year...I am going to search for some kits, and no they are not the printed ones, they are the counted cross stitch...they take a long time to do, that's for sure! But worth it, I look at Nicholas' and I made that when he was a baby...Now this year he graduates High School...time goes by too fast...

 One of my favorites are the original Rudolph houses, I have a lot of them, sadly some have broken parts (too many moves, lol) But I glued and repaired them the best I could...I still love them!

 Do you remember watching it as a kid? I do, and we so looked forward to it..My mom would check the TV guide and we would have to prepare to watch it...sounds funny, when you think about today, DVR and no commercials, we own all the series on DVD..it is kind of sad to me...

 This ornament I made when I was 7.

 Scott made this, I am not sure how old he was, but it is a shrinky dink....

 Scotty made this one, and I could not bare to part with it, even the broken star, and I think I have glued it's limbs on more than once...

Now to my craigslist find...When we moved to Florida I sold my formal dining and living room set. I loved my dining room, having my china out, and it meant alot to me..but we had no room for it, and our plan after all was to stay and make a go of it...well those plans obviously changed...So when it got closer to coming home I started to look on craigslist. I did not want to buy a brand new set and spend that kind of money, when we all know how little it is really used..So Scott had flown from Florida to Texas, to drive his truck back to Florida, and while he was in Texas, I found it! I am pretty sure he did not want to be bothered with going and looking at a table and hutch, but it happened to come up that morning he flew in, and he went and looked at it...it was great for us, and the price $800...for ALL of it! the hutch, table with 2 leaves and 6 chairs! Score!

I love it, it is totally me and my style! My china all fits, and I actually didn't use the leaves. Our old table had 8 chairs, and it was just too big for the room, this one is perfect..It has a few knicks and scratches, but at least I won't be mad when it gets another one!

Off to watch some football and bake some sugar cookies, first time ever attempting homemade ones, wish me luck!