It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

All the Christmas decorations are up and I am loving it. I love laying on the couch with the Christmas tree next to me all lit up. Jaime and I buy an ornament in every city we visit. It is fun to look at all the ornaments we have collected over the years. I forget all the places we have been. Thank goodness I have the ornaments to remind me.

These are just a few of my favorite ornaments.

I love this little frog we got from Puerto Rico. We went to San Juan for our 5th wedding anniversary. Jaime had work in the Dominican Republic so I tagged along. I stayed in Puerto Rico while Jaime went to the Dominican for a day to work. It was a fun trip.

Guess where this one is from? We went to New York with my family for Christmas 3 years ago. None of us had ever been and it was so much fun. The Statue of Liberty was not so much fun. The line was 2 hours long and the security was worse than the airport.

I love this ornament. This is my first Christmas ornament. It says "Baby's First Christmas 1980" on one side and the other side has my birth weight and length. My birth weight and length are in stickers. I am sure they have something really fancy these days, but in 1980 you bought the ornament and personalized it with number stickers.

This is the St. Louis arch. We went to St. Louis for the 4th of July in 2008. The St. Louis arch was great on the outside, but crowded on the inside. I don't think I have ever been more claustrophobic in my life. We were in there about 2 minutes and I was done.

The Liberty Bell from Philadelphia. The best part is it is a working bell. Mily had a great time ringing the bell before putting it on the tree. I was a little worried about the crack and the ringing of the bell, but all is well with the bell.

Our cute ornament from Seattle with Santa climbing the Space Needle.

I think this turtle is super cute. It came from Washington D.C. We were visiting the Capital and this cute thing was for sale at the gift shop. I had to have it. The ornament next to it is from our trip to the Bahamas.

This is the other ornament we got from the Bahamas. It is clear and has sand in it with sea shells and a bucket. It is really cute, but if it ever breaks while on the tree I will be pissed. I do not like sand at all and the thought of sand all over my tile floor makes me cringe.

This crazy fish came from an ornament exchange. At first I thought it was ugly, but each year it grows on me.

This is the White House in case you can't read it. We got it on our second trip to D.C.

This little bell is so special. My great-grandmother on my dad's side made it. I love it and think of her every time I look at it.

This is another special one. Grandma and Aunt Anita made it for me. They always did ceramics when I was growing up. I love this ornament!

You can't really tell, but on top of this slug-bug is a Canadian flag. One day during our Seattle trip we went to Canada. I think the car is so cute.

You shouldn't be surprised that I have several Tech ornaments. I have no idea where I got the first one, but I love it because it is plain and simple. The second one I won at a raffle. It has the Masked Rider on the other side and says Texas Tech.

This is probably my favorite ornament. Jesus is the Reason for the Season!!! I always hang this ornament right next to the couch. It is my daily reminder why we celebrate Christmas.

I only have one new Christmas decoration this year. I did such a good job of not going over board. I am very proud of myself.

The first Christmas Jaime and I were married I bought a wreath for our front door from

Wal-Mart. It was a tiny little thing and not very pretty, but it worked. Over the past 8 years I had never found anything I liked better. I take that back, I found plenty, but I wasn't paying what they were asking.

I found a wreath I liked at Hobby Lobby back in September. It was originally $100, but half off. I took it! I was in love with it till I found another one at a Christmas store. It looked a lot like mine, but had tons of ribbon hanging down, but it was $300. That is CRAZY to me. I decided I would spruce mine up. This is how it came out. I love it and it was nowhere close to $300

The Christmas tree turned out great again this year. Our next door neighbor Mily came over to help with the tree. Her and Jaime did a great job, while I layed on the couch. Mily was in charge of the bottom of the tree and Jaime was in charge of the top. They are a great team.

Hot and Cold

Yesterday we had some issues with the electricity. Something happened and the entire neighborhood lost electricity yesterday morning for about 2 hours. No big deal to me, I slept through it. I decided there was no reason to get up because the T.V. and the internet wouldn't work. Jaime was worried about me being home with no electricity when he left for work. It was 28 degrees here yesterday morning and he was concerned I would get cold with no heater. I was concerned because the ceiling fan in the bedroom was off. I was toasty and asked that he open a window. He declined.

There were about 10 trucks in the neighborhood working on the problem all day. There were wires and piping everywhere. About 5:30 last night we got word that we would be losing power again for about an hour.

My great friend Jacqui was sweet enough to bring us dinner yesterday. Dinner is kind of hard around here these days. By 6pm I am done and Jaime has been really busy with work stuff and hasn't had time to cook. It is also hard for him to cook dinner when there is nothing in the refrigerator. Jacqui made chicken enchiladas and beans and mashed potatoes.

I was not very happy with the whole power thing. I had just put Jacqui's dinner in the oven and needed 30 minutes for it to be ready. The power ended up not going off for another 20 minutes. We ended up eating semi-warm chicken enchiladas by candlelight. The beans and mashed potatoes were still cold. Our dinner was delicious, but I have no idea what it looked like because I couldn't see a thing. I am pretty sure that is the first time we have ever had a candlelight dinner. Thanks Jacqui for driving all the way out here and bringing us the best dinner we have had in awhile. I need that recipe for sure!

I never realized how dark it is with NO LIGHTS AT ALL. People, it is dark in case you were wondering. Lara next door saved us. It started getting a little cold in here and was super dark. Lara had some extra wood for us. Jaime started us a fire and the electricity was back on with in 30 minutes.

I forgot how nice a fire in the fireplace can be. It was nice to have all the Christmas lights on and a fire going. I could have handled the air conditioning being on as well. It was a little toasty with the fire, but Jaime told me I couldn't turn the air conditioner on. Poor thing has been walking around the house with a jacket on for the past week. He is freezing and I am sweating.

Celeste

Celeste is one of my really good friends from Corpus. Six years ago I went to get a manicure and walked away with great nails and an even better friend. Celeste still does my nails and toes when we make it to Corpus. She gives the best manicure and pedicure if you are ever in Corpus Christi and need one.

Celeste came to visit me over the weekend. She came here on Sunday and got to hung out. I love catching up with her. She also gave me a manicure which I was really in need of. Monday we spent the day taking some pictures of Celeste for her husband. She is so beautiful that my job was a breeze. It didn't take many shots to get a good picture.

Thanks Celeste for coming to see me. I had a great time hanging out as always and my nails still look great!

Great Friends And Even Better Pictures

While we were in Lubbock for Thanksgiving Jaime, Doneece and I had our pictures made. My photography friend, Amanda, was nice enough to take our pictures. She is a great photographer and I love her stuff. She was also great about fitting us in. We missed our original appointment because of the whole rash thing. She fit us in later in the week. So glad it worked out because I love the pictures.

Check them out on Amanda's Blog.

Devin, Mady and Mily

Last weekend I meet up with Lara and her family to take pictures for their Christmas card. That family always entertains me. There is never a dull moment with these kids.

Devin, Mady and Mily were great! They make my job super easy. These are pictures that didn't make the Christmas card.

Cutest Ever!

This picture took a lot of work. Ann and I started planning Christmas pictures back in October. One weekend in October while we were in Lubbock Ann, Jaime and I took the kids for pictures at the church. It was a total mess. Caroline and John could have cared less about pictures. Ann, Jaime and I tried and tried with not much success. We were out there for about an hour and I got two decent shots.

The two pictures were cute, but not great. I decided to reshoot the pictures over Thanksgiving. That was before I got sick. Doneece helped me make it work. She got us all to the park and all I had to do was take the pictures. This shoot was a lot shorter and I wasn't convinced I got anything good when we were leaving the park.

I ended up getting some super cute pictures. Ann's Christmas card turned out really good. This picture didn't make the card, but I love it. I love the way John and Caroline look at each other. They are so sweet and you can really tell how much they love each other. This is them natural, no posing. Like I could ever get those two to pose.

Seeing Red

Things have been red around here for sure. I have been dying to change our bedding back to my all time favorite red bedspread. I decided it was time given everything that has been going on. Might as well match the bedroom, in fact I now blend in.

So what do you think? Do you like the blue or red better?