around the house for Christmas...

I hope that you all had a beautiful Christmas,

ours was very special, filled with lots of family time,

laughter, love, good food, games,

mixed with

the flu.

not once,

but three different times and not just for one person in the family,

but many of us in varying degrees of flu fun, during the time when

we would have been preparing for the big day.

I thought I was on the verge of being ready early when I went

clipping greens around town with my friend Julie.

We now have a tradition started where we play what I like to refer to as

"City Workers"

and go around to abandoned buildings and clip greens from bushes and trees.

We are also not above doing a little curb clean-up and taking 

branches from the side of the road that have been thrown out by our

very generous citizens!

I got enough for all of the urns,

and little spots around the yard.

So the porches were decorated and I thought,

surely the inside will be a cinch...

did I mention

the flu?

three times?

I know that I have said how much I love all of the inspiration on Pinterest,

and the chalkboard creativity is no exception.

I love me some chalkboards!

A good friend of mine, Val, gave me this super heavy duty sandwich board

because she knew that I would find something to do with it.

I painted it with chalkboard paint and used it for the last of the shows that we did.

When I was putzing on the porches I made it up for the

side porch...

and then the rain came, and washed the message away.

lather, rinse, repeat.

It hasn't been put back outside though...

did I mention 

the flu?

three times?

Not just one of us,

but multiple people, even those that showed up from out of state 

to play with us over the holidays got 

the flu.

I did get one box upstairs days before, and that was our beloved

Nativity given to us by my parents years ago.

See the new insert in our mantle?  I had a brainstorm one day

and took it from the small mantle that is up in our bedroom, as it 

really never got used up there and brought it down for the dining room,

I love it here!

this was our advent calender last year, stapled to the chalkboard.

This year I wrapped it around a burlap bulletin board and used the chalkboard

for another Pinterest inspired message...

gotta love Pinterest!

The one bottle brush tree that I saved for us, it 

hangs on the bathroom door.

Hannah painted this St. Nick years ago,

(maybe 4?)

I love it, she did such a great job!

 It also decorates another bathroom door.

Smallest bathroom ever with 3 doorways!

On to the kitchen...

I took the same St. Nick class as Hannah and did this one,

it is on the industrial shelving in the kitchen.

The column and bird cage are sitting on the barn door counter 

and the star got a bit of a make over with the beautiful 

round picture placed in the center.

I have kept this mercury glass bird on the shelf of my work room

for a few years now, knowing that it would be used for 

something special,

it loves its new home!

I think that she is exquisite and will be gracing my kitchen long

past Christmas!

The most loved decoration is of course the people I love...

Dad giving Max a chess lesson...

and then later taking on one of his much earlier students.

The game has been out and played by different opponents everyday now.

p.s. same day, different flannel!  My man loves this ratty old shirt!

We waited for Danielle to get home to cut down a tree, so that her and her boyfriend, Justin,

could get it with us, but then they got sick too so just a couple of days before

Christmas Duane and a couple of the kids went alone to pick out a

tree that was already cut. We almost never do that but you learn to roll with the punches.

I think they did a wonderful job, finding just the right tree for the space!

The tree never got past the lights part of decorating, but we all decided that 

we were okay with that!  I was on the couch not feeling very well at all, 

and said that I could direct them to the boxes down in the basement, but

the simplicity of the lights won hands down.

At first I thought, REALLY?  but when I thought long and hard on it,

(for about 5 seconds)

I completely agreed...

simple is good.

We did make sure to have special messages on every chalkboard,

and I am so glad that we did!

I mean how can you take a good duck face, new hat and jammie picture

without a beautiful backdrop?

:)

So there you have it,

our Christmas was almost comical at a certain level

and compared to Christmas Vacation. 

I told my friends that if a backwards cousin driving

an RV pulls into my driveway, and a squirrel jumps out of our enormous tree,

  I would start looking for the hidden cameras!

Never happened,

as it turns out,

having the flu so much was all we needed to learn to roll with the punches.

I will end this with how it began...

we had a magical Christmas filled with lots of  family time,

laughter, love, good food, games 

and most of all the knowledge that we are

blessed beyond belief.

I wish the same for you.

love,

Theresa 

xoxoxooxoxoxo

last one,

I think we started a new tradition around here too.

No more fancy stockings for us,

we are going to be using the real deal from now on!

yup, you guessed it we didn't go searching for the stockings either.