Thursday, December 27, 2007

It Was A Holly Jolly Christmas!

Christmas day was a magical experience at our house this year. Not only was this our first Christmas in our newly built house, but my family all came to our place to help break it in! We had such a great time! Our family goes all out at Christmas, which makes it really fun. My Aunt Cathy made the "wedding punch" she served at our wedding almost seven years ago, and that almost made me cry. David's opening prayer was so warm and sentimental and reminded us of what Christmas is all about- Jesus Christ and His birth! I love my fam'!

My dad and I. I can admit it- I am a complete daddy's girl!



My mom and dad.



David and I



Our tree on Christmas day. Every year, we say we aren't going to buy a lot of gifts, but this year, we failed miserably! : ) It is just too much fun!



My mom and I- she is almost 50! Doesn't she look good?? : )



Rachel, my cousin works at the mall at the Cookie Factory. She made a cookie cake for all of us! It was beyond huge! It turned out so cute, Rach! : )





My dad and David cooking together. David made the turkey and mashed potatoes and let me sleep in until 10:00 a.m. Christmas day. He is the best!



Rachel is ready to eat!







My mom and cousin, Rachel. We are all a bunch of blondes! : )



David and my Aunt Cathy- she loves the cook!



Mom and Cathy- sisters.



Rachel and I


My granny, me, Aunt Cathy, and Aunt Heather




Rachel and my girl, Bichon!



Our deck was a favorite place to hang out. My aunt and uncle, Cathy and Tim, and my dad and I.



One Christmas tradition we have is the lighting of candles. Every year, we play a song that talks about remembering the ones who are gone. We light candles in their memory. It is always a really quiet time to reflect on loved ones who have passed away. We take turns and say out loud the person's name and something we love and miss about them. We have a lot of traditions, and this is one of my favorite!





I made Rachel a friendship frame.



My Aunt Cathy and her family took towels and made robes! They had them monogrammed! Sooo cute! I plan on taking mine to our cabin in Colorado this Spring break. They are very plush and warm.



Mom and I modeling our robes.



Me opening a gift from David. I am shocked at what I see!!



Beverly Hills 90210 the Third Season! Ahhhh!!!!



Cathy opening her "B" I made for her.



David played Santa and loved it. He made everyone open their gifts one at a time so we could all watch. I have a small family, and he has a big family. This is one major difference during the holidays. It is nice having the contrast.



I made custom frames for all the gals- here, Heather models hers!



My granny collects shoes. Her guest bath is done in hott pink and black with touches of lime. She has a lot of cute shoe stuff in there. Here, she opens a cute shoe picture holder.




David giving me a really pretty blue and brown body form for our master bedroom. I have been eyeing it at Lowes for weeks now.



Mom monogrammed kitchen towels for everyone. I love the red "M".



Mom and dad gave us, as a couple, a gift card to Lowes. We are thinking of getting a glass front door, or a few area rugs. We are not sure yet.



I bought David a chess set. He LOVES chess, but I am no good! I really want to learn, so we can add that to our list of hobbies. I found this set at the mall and it says the name of the piece and shows arrows, so that you can know which way it moves. We played last night and it was great.



My mom got my dad Battleship. The boys pose with their new games. Boys and their toys.. sheesh... : )



Rachel got David some cologne from Abercrombie. He loves Fierce.





David does so good with gifts! He is much more creative than I am with his gift giving. He went to the Pink Papaya, a day spa, and got me some really nice Aveda hairspray that he knows I would never buy for myself.



I painted several ornaments and gave them to family members. Here Rachel models her "Tilly" ornament.



My mom bought dad a new drill.



David and I bought Rachel a Visa gift card. She is getting harder and harder to buy for, so this is a great gift for her.



My mom with the frame I made for her.



My parents bought Bichon a new dress!! It adorable with a capital "A"!! I love animal print.



Granny with her frame.



I got David and my dad track pants. David loves lounge pants for the house.



David and I bought my mom a new red ski coat. She looks so cute in it!!



My parents bought David some Houndstooth shirts. David can't resist that Houndstooth cart! He is sucked in like a magnet!





Cathy found a cute red toile hatbox for my guest bathroom.



My mom stocked my craft room with bags of ribbon.



spools of ribbon....



a sewing kit and cloth diapers to make cute burp rags...



and a new craft book for ideas.



David and I missed out on my dad's family's Christmas because it was the same night as David's family. W hated missing a Christmas, but we were just so overbooked. We received several great gifts from that side of the family. One was some new Clinique face wash. I LOVE Clinique!



David, Rachel, and I



Our family outside for a family pic. The sun was bright!!



My little family- David, Bichon, and I. I am so happy being the "three" of us. I am blessed with a great life.



My parents with David, Bichon, and I. I love my family. They are a blessing.



I hope you and yours had a Holly Jolly Christmas this year! We love you all!

28 comments:

  1. Your mom does look great for her age!! A stunningly wonderful husband, a completely perfect child, and great love for Jesus keeps Karen looking so fresh and young.

    Comments on presents:
    Sincerely* There is nothing better than spools of colorful ribbon. Really. I loved ALL seven spools my best friend found for me.

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  2. I had so much fun spending the night with you and David Christmas night. I love you so much. Christmas was really special. Did you love my cookie? I was so cute, I thought. Your house looked awesome! Too bad you didn't get any pictures of all the food. We had so much good food, hu? I'm glad we are only children because it makes our family so close and small and fun. Yeah!! I love you big sis!!

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  3. Yes, your mom does look great for almost 50!

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  4. It posted that before I was finished. It looks like you guys had a great Christmas! Sherri Harrison asked me if Rachel works at the cookie place in the mall--she thought she saw her but wasn't sure. You girls are so cute! :)

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  5. Looks like a fun and very Merry Christmas! How exciting to spend it in your new home- Lots of great memories to be made =)

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  6. I feel like part of your family after looking through all the pictures! You are so blessed. I love all the traditions you have AND that you hand made so many of your gifts! I want to try that for next year.

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  7. Your mom does look sooo young! I loved all of your gifts!! Seriously, there's not one I wouldn't have liked for myself! What a great family you have!

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  8. It looks like your christmas was wonderful. My hubby is the same way with the Houndstooth cart. I think this is the first year in several that I didn't get a houndstooth shirt from him.
    I love the chess set! What store did you get it from? My hubby and kids all play but I don't know how and they haven't been too successful in teaching me. Maybe that would help!
    I hope this coming year is a great one for you and your family!

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  9. Beautiful!!! And I always think of loved ones that have passed and feel teary that they are gone..so what a neat way to really remeber that!! I usally do it in silent & by myself!! Very heartfelt!!

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  10. So much to comment on:
    1. You look so cute!
    2. I love Bichon's dress. Sometimes I wish Dawson was a girl so I could get him all the cute girly frilly things including these CUTE pink and brown bowls they have at Wal-Mart.
    3. I got a towel wrap like that too - only mine is razorbacks. ha!
    4. You made a bunch of cute gifts (of course!) and you got a lot of neat stuff!
    5. 90210 - need I say more? So jealous! Have fun with Kelly, Donna, Brenda, Dylan, David, and Brandon. I don't think Valerie makes it by the 3rd season?

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  11. P.S. So glad to see your dad got a Black & Decker product - thanks to your mom for keeping us in business! ha!

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  12. What a fun Christmas!
    Your mom looks great!! Such wonderful skin!
    I love that your granny's bathroom is done in black and hot pink with lime. That is too cute! I want to see pictures!

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  13. It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas! We did too. I haven't really had time to actually post anything. I thought I had a few minutes, but now I'm needing to hurry again.
    Jeff will be having surgery again on saturday, but he really is blessed. He could have lost a portion of his hand. Thank God he didn't. Thank you for asking.

    Your mom does look really good. I hope I age as well as my mom has. She's over 50 and has a better body than I do. (of course she works out all the time too...I haven't figured out how to work that into my schedule yet)

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  14. That was such a great day! I loved having Christmas at your house. The memories made there will last a life time. I love you.

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  15. Thanks for sharing! Sounds like you had lotsa fun hosting at your house! I love those bags of ribbon. I get them at Hobby Lobby all of the time. They save us LOTS of money on our orders. You get a whole bag for $2 and the pieces of ribbons are 2-3 yards long. Just enough to make a hair bow holder!! There are like 20 different strands!! Love them! If you find a good way to store them...please share. For now, I have them stuffed into a box and every time I take off the lid it all pops out :o) So fun!! Wishing you a Happy New Year!

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  16. Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas! I'm so glad. Your mom is so sweet to stock your craft room up with lots of goodies and to give you a nice gift card to Lowes. Perfect for a new home owner. I'm so glad you got some wonderful things.

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  17. Spending Christmas in a new house is so exciting! It looks like you all had a blast!

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  18. Thanks for stopping by my blog. It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas and your house looks beautiful. You are also very creative. I love the gifts you made. Have a great day.
    Blessings,
    Linda

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  19. Looks like you guys had a great Christmas! It has always been a big day for my family too!

    And your mom looks so young! Do you two ever get confused to be sisters?

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  20. Jessica, I have spent a good portion of three days reading your blog. I love all the pictures and craft projects you post. I really enjoyed visiting.

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  21. Thanks! Those are my twin nieces Madison & Macy.

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  22. Your frames are so cute! I am going to try that! I also love the dining room! Glad you had a Merry Christmas1

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  23. Amanda Springston-KimesDecember 29, 2007 at 7:32 AM

    It looks like you all had a fabulous time. That is what Christmas is all about. Our Christmas was nice, poor Matt was sick with a stomach bug the whole way through and his birthday is the day before Christmas so it was a double bummer for him.
    Your precious puppy looked like she enjoyed the festivities as well. We now have a Yellow Labrador puppy named Rusty, we can't keep out of the pond that is right next to our house. He is soooo adorable, even Matt snuggles on him...after he gets a good bath. He is under a year and already weighs in at 56 pounds. Goodness.
    I hope you New Year is blessed and you all have a safe time. Cheers.

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  24. What a great Christmas! You're family is so cute! and so "crafty"!! I am absolutely in love with the frame you made for your cousin. So cute!

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  25. Looks like a wonderful Christmas! You have such a cute family! Happy New Year.

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  26. Jessica, I'm so happy you had such a family oriented Christmas. The tradition of lighting the candles for those who have passed on is just the nicest thing to do. What a lovely thing to pass down from generation to generation. Your whole family is just special as you are! Happy New Year to you and your sweet family and may God bless you all!

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  27. i love all of the pics! what a great Christmas!

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  28. You're family looks so fun. I am so impressed with your gifts. I love that you handmake most of them.VEry personal. When you say you make the fames, do you construct them or paint them or both? I also love the B&W pics inside the frames. Did you take those? Love your creativeness!

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