Just like the fall parade, it has become a family tradition to attend our small town's Christmas parade and welcome Santa to his little house on the square. It's just a good, old fashioned community get-together. There's even free hot chocolate which was nice to warm the toes. It turned out to be a little chilly but that made it feel more authentic I guess.

Belen wasn't there this year because of basketball commitments so we missed her being with us. The other kids enjoyed seeing all of the lights, their friends and some new additions to the parade.

Candy was tossed from the floats which the kids really liked. People also worked the crowd handing out candy so no one was missed. Blair held up her "Darrenkamp's" bag, our favorite locally owned grocery store, to Mr. Darrenkamp when he walked by us. When he saw her, he exclaimed that she gets extra treats because she was carrying the right bag. That made for a happy 5 year old! It made for a happy me too when I needed a midnight snack and ate some pretzels.
Rounding out the parade of course was the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus in a horse drawn sleigh.
(Unfortunately the video I shot of that wasn't downloading properly but here are a few pics.)

I hope you get to enjoy Christmas and holiday parades wherever you are!

All bundled.

Passing by

Reese and Charley and the Darrenkamp's truck.

My friend Ryan, aka Buddy the Elf.
I would've never recognized him until he said my name.
Good thing I had the camera ready

He was on "Deal or No Deal" once by the way, but didn't dress as an elf then.
School bus representing.
The End.

Another installment of garage thrifting

Or should I say storage unit thrifting?
It's a long story but we have a storage unit full of personal belongings and antiques of my mom's and maybe some overflow of ours...

A few weekend's ago we moved those items into a smaller unit. It was an all day event. I did bring back a few bins of things that I wanted to go through a little more closely. And I wanted to bring out my Christmas china that we enjoy using the day after Thanksgiving and all the way to New Year's day.
It's something that my kids look forward to, believe it or not. Funny what traditions that the kids will enjoy and remember.

So, here are a few items that I thrifted out of my garage.

One of my parent's wedding presents 51 years ago.

Perfect as holiday red.

I remember my mom gave me these 5 stockings that she made even before I got married and had 5 kids. I guess it was serendipitous.

The vintage french pots and carrier. A woman that we met who traveled to Paris on shopping trips hand carried this back from one of her travels about 10 years ago. At the time I thought it was expensive but after seeing them now reproduced in magazines and costing more than I paid, I realize it was a bargain.

The pots I bought separately from a lady in Maine. She bought an old house and barn and found a bunch of french pots stored away in there.
The only thing I found in my house were old paint cans they didn't feel like disposing of before moving...

Paperwhites are going in to each pot.

And this I did get from the 2nd hand furniture place. My husband is wonderfully patient with me on the furniture buying. Mainly I buy props for photos. Our garage looks like a prop house. But these are for me and I bought 2 of them for $6.50 each. The fabric will be recovered but I am still contemplating to paint or not. My first thought was a new color but the more I look at them, I feel their natural state is best - minus the fabric. Any thoughts?

Have a great weekend!

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linking to Coastal Charm

Tag, you're it - an easy craft project

I love paper. I love paper products. I don't know why but I do. I especially love Christmas and all of the tags and wrap that you can buy. I really get into wrapping a gift with all of the bells and whistles of embellishments. I usually buy tags when they are just too cute too pass up but most other times, we like to make our own. They are quick, easy and personalized.

I use them year after year and add a few new ones as well. These are just a few that I have but others include a wire tag which spells out "Noel," vintage millinery flowers, twigs that are spelled out to say "winter," little match boxes and snowmen made out of felt. They were just not as easy to scan as these.

So if you're in need of a little creative activity, break out the glue, scissors, paper, glitter, twigs, flowers, felt, copies of old photos, small toy parts, mini match boxes, dominoes or whatever you have in that junk drawer and let the kids go to town.

Metallics and glitter add bling.

Using copies of old photographs is a great way to personalize. Using the recipient's photo is a gift within a gift or a great way to remember someone else. It's one of my favorite tags to make. I also like it when the photo corresponds to the season.
My dad is the little guy.

You can make tags more masculine by using traditional colors.

Vintage postcards are always in my supply closet. Here I used small, silk holly leaves to add dimension to the existing leaves. I also use vintage cards for my holiday cards.

After cutting paper to fit an existing tag, print a saying on vellum paper, layer on top, glue it all together and finish with a ribbon. Super easy. Have fun!

I still do, do you??

"Hold on, I gotta get a picture of this"

is a familiar phrase that the kids hear me say.
When I asked Blair to get ready for the day, she raced to her room and came out donning this outfit. I can always count on her to dress to the nines. I called her look "Office Manager Chic."

Trae, on the other hand, was jumping on my bed with a diaper on his head. It's not uncommon for him to try to take off his pants when he goes outside. I asked if he was going to wear that when we go to the store and he said, "No mommy, I wear pants. Pants manger sheet." (Pants Manager chic)

So now he is the Pants Manager, thank goodness.

Our neighbors will be so happy that his streaking season is over.

The Thanksgiving recap

I'm working on the house this weekend in preparation to bring out all of the Christmas decorations. It's my all-time favorite decorating holiday. But first, a little picture recap of Thanksgiving with friends whose tablesetting ideas I am going to steal borrow next year!

The fruity turkey.

It was fun to pluck away all of his "feathers" made of

grapes, strawberries, and cheese and olive shish kabobs.

His face was made out of a pear and his body was a pineapple. If you look closely at the last picture, you will see he was picked clean.

Reese had to check his new e-mail account and play a couple of games. He is still bummed that mine is the only message he has received.

The turkey place card was the cutest thing ever. It's made of oreos, a mini Reese's for the body, a whopper for the head and candy corn for feathers and the beak. I think it was all held together with frosting. Trae couldn't wait to eat his so that's the first thing he had.

Each place setting had a different list of Thanksgiving jokes and trivia.

Alan, the host, reprised his role as Master carver. He did a good job with his knife skills.

Amber, the hostess, worked hard on the dinner and was responsible for making those cute edible accessories and so many of the delicious pies.

It was a great way to spend the holiday. It's always fun to gather around friends who make you feel more like family.

Bring on the bird

After a few errands today, we will begin preparing mashed potatoes to feed a bunch for tomorrow's big feast. The kids and I will start peeling away later in the day so I'll have a head start in the morning.

We love Thanksgiving around here. It's my kids' favorite holiday.

Right after we married, we moved far, far away from our family. Jon's parents moved to Texas later on so we lived in the same state for about a year before we moved again. Since then all of our holidays were spent with just our little family. Occasionally we headed out West or down South for Thanksgiving festivities. Although I missed big family gatherings, I have enjoyed beginning new traditions with our kids and being able to spend the holiday with friends. Especially friends who will let me go into a Turkey coma on their couch and then go back for seconds and thirds.

Ahhh, the holidays.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for: (in no particular order)

Family

Friends

Job

Church

Wood stove

Memories

That I found my favorite hair brush

Nice storage unit manager

Happy convenience store clerk

Flexible working hours

That the 2nd auto repair quote was less than half of the first quote

And you.

What are you thankful for?

The jig is up

As I was walking up the stairs to the living room I heard a little voice say "NUH-SING!"

("Nothing" in Trae-speak)

I thought that was funny because I hadn't asked what was happening nor did I see anything yet. I walked around the corner with my curiosity at its peak and found Trae standing there smiling, holding out an unopened package of super glue for me. I told him thank you and he, being happy with himself, said "You're welcome MOM!" yelling the last word as he went hopping down the hall.

Interesting that even at 2 years-old they know when the jig is up, isn't it?