These Are A Few of My Favorite (Christmas) Things

I have been meaning to share a little bit of our Christmas here with you. This Christmas is very special, because it is our first with Wook! I love watching his little eyes light up every time we plug in the tree. DH and I chat about keeping our minds on the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I am so thankful that God sent his only son that day, to live on this earth, live a perfect life, and then die for us, so that we may be forgiven for our sins and one day spend eternity with Him. Having a son of my own has really laid on my heart what a HUGE gift that truly is. Huge does not even begin to describe it. I love spending time with family this time of year, even with the chaos and traveling from here to there. My favorite place to be this time of year is here at home. Here are a few of my favorite Christmas "things".


This is the Nativity scene my Granny gave us our first Christmas married. I think it is absolutely beautiful in its simplicity. (Please excuse the baby lotion bottle.)


Our tree ("hidden" in the dining room this year for the Wookie's safety sake)


Of course our tree would not be complete without it paying homage to DH's alma mater Georgia Tech!

My parents passed this ornament on to me when I moved out on my own. It is one that we had on our tree for as long as I can remember.


A new one this year!



This is one of the ornaments DH's lovely Grandmother paints each year and shares with friends and family.

What cat lover doesn't love an adorable kitty ornament! (not cat lover as in "crazy old lady with 81 cats and 13 litter boxes")


And what Christmas would be complete without "A Christmas Story" wrapping paper. DH and I found it last year at Wally-World and being our hoarding selves, we bought enough rolls for this year too!

Here is my favorite "Snowbabies" piece. I have collected them since I was a little girl. DH gave me this one last Christmas!


I love rustic looking snowmen or uh families!


My yummy Santa tart warmer.

And last but certainly not least...........

Reindeer Bax! And we didn't even have to bribe him with treats to get him to do this.

Grocery List

So Heather over at "Want What You Have" seems to love lists as much as I do. I write lists for everything! But I have never thought about looking at other peoples lists? Something new to try!

She asked that just for fun we post our grocery lists. Well I spent 3 hours in Wally-World yesterday for our once-a-month shop-a-thon. You don't want to spend the time looking at that list!!!!! So I guess I can post my Target list for today.

DH birthday DVD
funky tags for presents (I'm making the grocery bag pom-poms this year!) I'll link it up.
Nascar item for cousin
diapers
baby food
method dish soap
method all purpose cleaner
Rainforest Cruise and Crawl toy for Wook's "Santa"
chocolate candy for my Granddaddy's Annual Candy Goodie Bag (enough to last him until Valentine's Day)

If there are any strange errors in this, please excuse, Wook has learned how to bang the keys on the laptop. Yikes!

Easy Peppermint Bark

One year DH and I sampled a yummy peppermint bark at an extremely overpriced store, one that you love to look around in but can't afford to buy anything, Silliams and Wonoma. (The names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. We loved it and realized how easy it would be to recreate. Seriously, it SIMPLE, and it relieves stress (see below).





You will need:
1 pack of almond bark
1 pack of peppermint candy canes (12)
a cookie sheet
a butter knife
a mallet or hammer

First make your DH unwrap all the candy canes because this gets annoying. If you have a small but not too small child, make (ask) them to do it.
Melt your almond bark in the microwave (do not overcook) at 30 second increments.
Beat the daylights out of or crush to smithereens the candy canes in a freezer bag (this is the stress relieving part).
Add the crushed peppermint to the melted almond bark and stir.
Pour onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Place in the freezer/refrigerator until hard.
Use the knife and mallet to crack the bark into unique pieces, as small as you want. Place on a tray and enjoy!

My husbands has the guys at work request this every year at his Christmas Goodie Day. I'm kinda stuck making it every year now! But who cares when its this easy. I also have this in my Goodie Baskets for friends and family. There will be a post on those coming soon!

Menu Plan Monday

OrgJunkie has inspired me to start posting my Menu each week. I usually do it for the month with a few changes here and there but why not post it each week? Maybe I'll even get caught up and get the recipes on here?!

Monday: Family Holiday Leftovers (Ham, Turkey, Squash Casserole, Dressing, Green Beans)
Tuesday: Slowcooker BBQ Chicken, Corn Cobblets, Broccoli
Wednesday: Hamburger Helper, Sweet Peas
Thursday: DH Work Christmas Party!
Friday: Chicken-n-Dumplings, Green Beans
Saturday: Leftover Buffet
Sunday: Shepherd's Pie (ground beef, mashed potatoes, corn, onion, peas)

My First Blog Award

Here is my very first blog award given to me by momstheword!
She gave these away to some new bloggers! Thanks for making me feel so special in this big blogger-ific world.

Couch Potato

So I have shared my love/hate relationship with our current couch and love seat.
These were perfect for us almost 4 years ago when we got married and bought our first home. Sadly, however, I have grown to despise them. The pattern reminds me of something you would see in the sitting area of a retirement home, and we have flipped all the cushions due to tears and rips from it being so loved on by us, the wook, and the cats.
They were great while they lasted but they gotta go! We are paying someone to take them off our hands, I mean selling them cheap.

We started looking for a new-to us set on CraigsList and agreed to a budget of under $500. We wanted something in really good shape that we would not have to turn around a replace in a year or two.

We checked out a sectional on Monday and DH left work early to meet me. He was in love when he saw that the love seat was actually 2 recliners. The two of us stepped outside in the freezing cold with the Wook to talk about who would play good cop/bad cop. What a steal $500 for a microfiber sectional in almost mint condition (so we thought). Apparently I had looked at one or ten too many postings and gotten the price confused. We returned inside with DH prepared to make a deal and take those recliners home, when the woman reminded us that she was asking $800. I waited for DH's voice to crack and look at me like I had lost it. He calmly informed the seller that we would have to return home and measure the living room again to ensure that the sectional fit in our small living space. What tact and quick on his feet-ness! Not me! She could probably see me flipping through ALL the postings I had been researching in my brain. I am sure I let out an unusual groan or moan. Well we left empty handed with nothing for DH to prop his tired working feet on.

Tuesday we headed out again to look at another set. I fell in love with them! They were very close to what I pictured myself lounging on, sipping coffee in the mornings, blogging my heart out! I am pretty sure I asked the owner what she was asking at least four times, just to ensure there was not repeat of Monday. DH could see how much I loved them, and they were $175 less than our budgeted max. We talked it out on the way home and decided that they were a great deal especially if we could get anything for our old ones. I was also impressed that the owner also had two cats who had not used the couches as scratching posts. Yippee Skippee.... Here are our new couches (well new to us) that we got for a great deal on CraigsList. And the owner even delivered them for us this evening! I think they make our living space much warm and inviting.
The pictures do not even begin to do them justice!!


Our cats were even excited! (The Siamese one did not croak from her overwhelmed joy for something new to scratch upon, she is just playing possum.)