Card Holder

I've had a few ppl. ask how I made my Christmas card holder this year. It's easy as pie. If you remember the one I made for Emory here you can tell that the branches are different & would prob. be easier to hang the cards on. In all honesty there is no one way to do it and it's hard to mess up.

Step 1-find you base.

I decided to go with a red pot I found on sale at Lowe's. I'm sure you could do a tall vase similar to the one below or something totally different. It's up to you!

Step 2-gather the goods & assemble.

I used the foam florists use on fake flowers to hold my sticks. I would guess dirt or rocks would do the same thing. I bought my sticks at Hobby Lobby only because both times I've made this it was raining outside and last minute Marie didn't have time for the sticks to dry. I bought two cans of flat spray paint b/c I'm not precise or patient so I use more than necessary, but one should do the trick.

Step 3- Glam it up!

If you use a pot, think about what you want to cover the top with--you could use pine cones, jingle bells, Christmas ornaments..anything really! I went with tissue paper because I didn't want to buy anything else. I decided to use yarn I had around the house and tie them to the tree that way. Hooks, clips, ribbon etc. would work too. I added ornaments last minute and tied a ribbon at the bottom, but honestly the possibilities are endless & that is what makes it unique to you, which is FUN!

Merry Merry Merry Christmas!

I'll try to make this as quick as possible, but we covered a lot in a little amount of time!

Thursday: these people joined the already house full to set up camp for the remainder of the week.



and we realized Janet would be doing a lot of this throughout the weekend... ;)


John and I prepared a Italian feast thanks to recipes from my Rochester cookbook & Cameron's chicken Parmesan. Nothin' like Italian for Christmas eve right?


Friday: Christmas morning came & brought lots of gifts, fun & laughter
One of my favorite gifts I got...handmade house shoes made by Dott Turner

and one of my favorite gifts to give was new hunting boots to John...

Christmas dinner was set up in the living room & we had all the traditional fixins with deep fried turkey & oven roasted ham

Saturday:

Julia enjoyed coloring with some of her new Christmas gifts...

the boys put up a fence in the backyard...

We had visitors & Raleigh met her new boyfriend Denali...

the kids came & we watched them open their gifts...

(special shout out to Katie for making this Christmas extra special for Brooke!)

the kids enjoyed the Jacuzzi tub...

Caleb finally got his Christmas wish...until he fell asleep anyway

Sunday:

Everything came and went so fast. The Turner crew packed up and headed out and my parents stayed another night so we could use my dad's truck in the morning and return the rented auger for the fence. We enjoyed a quiet dinner at Big River in Chatty so (quoted by JDT) "someone can pour my cup, fix my dinner & clean up the mess!"

Thanks everyone for my Christmas cards...the tree is filling up fast! I love it! It's a great reminder of how blessed we are with wonderful friends and family. We really are blessed by the relationships we surround ourselves with & I'm deeply thankful for each and every one of them. Merry Christmas to all of you that make my life a little brighter by being in it...

Hello Christmas

Does the Christmas tree still count if it goes up Christmas eve? I can't believe we were one of those people this year...running around town trying to find a place that sells Christmas trees the week of Christmas. I wanted to wear a sign that said "we just moved in this week ok!"

What's the point of putting up decorations the week of Christmas you ask....well...I'm not really sure, but we did it anyway. You may come to my house in Feb. and our Christmas decorations will still be up b/c I want to take time to enjoy the fruits of my labor....

I'm happy to report that most boxes are unpacked and put away...you won't find any in the house.... but don't open the garage!!

I promise I didn't pose her here. She was watching John get in his car to leave for work. The garland and tree has lights around it. Really pretty at night!

I made this to display our Christmas cards. Super easy!

entry way...watch out for the mistletoe ;)

Nativity that has been displayed since my first Christmas

not sure about this little getup I put together, but it's staying for Christmas 09

John keeps making fun of our TV in this big hole, but he's holding his own. :) Don't mind the fireplace that doesn't work and logs aren't even put together.

Last night was the night we worked away at the final touches on the house. Here is what we were all doing...

John was putting together his train set for around the tree. This is the first year we've hosted Christmas so his mom brought it up for us to assemble. He's had it since he was a kid.

mom was wrapping gifts

after the train he was putting together gifts for his cousins

Jax was sawing logs. We normally don't let him up here, but there wasn't much room for him anywhere else since we had everything spread out everywhere!

Raleigh was busy working on a bone

Matt & dad were busy assembling...

this!

Here is the story behind our Christmas tree. John and I bought one for the front porch for $10 since it was so close to Christmas. We couldn't find one for in the house anywhere since the only ones left were HUGE or TINY. After some hunting we found a tent near Hamilton place selling them. We got it. That poor tree has been made fun of since the day we bought it. My dad thought it was ridiculously small & Matt kept calling it"a plant." Before I knew it my dad was in his truck on the way to Ooltewah Nursery to find a tree suitable for his standards! :) I didn't complain too much since it was only $20, but now we have THREE live trees. seriously?

the tree we bought AKA "Jr."

dad's "big poppa" tree

never tell my dad a tree is "too big" to fit...the engineer will come out in him like you've never seen and he will make it work.

Now it's time for the rest of the family to get here and for us to all relax & enjoy the crazy unpacking process. MERRY CHRISTMAS!