Holiday Fun!

This is what we did the day after Christmas. It was a post-Christmas stress relieving get-together and it turned out to be a lot of fun!

Christmas Day Games

Christmas Eve with Nanna and PaPa

Here are a few pics from Christmas Eve.

Credits: Color Me Christmas Kit and Holiday Sparkle Kit II by Bon Scrapatit Designs

And then there were more...

Well, my nutcracker collection grew a bit more this year. I actually got 2 as gifts - one from a coworker - Andy - who heard that I collect them. The other was from my friend and neighbor Grace (who is also a fellow nutcracker collector) - it is an extremely cool one - it is a nutcracker who is building nutcrackers!
I was really good and didn't buy any before Christmas - but the day after - when they were on clearance - how could I resist? I bought a set of 2 small ones and a big one.
Here are pictures of the new additions:
These are the smaller ones - the one on the left was from Andy at work, the one in the middle from my neighbor Grace, and the two musicians on the right were a set from Target.
More detail on the nutcracker builder nutcracker!
All of the new additions together.

Our Christmas Card

Here is our Christmas card for 2007. We were very lucky that it snowed in November because that is when I took the snow picture !

Credits: Wonderland Kit by Atomic Cupcake; Snowflakes by Angie Svoboda; Frame by Jessica Sprague

Old Christmas Pix

My Aunt Paula emailed me these old pictures of my cousin Jennifer, me and my brother Jeffrey. I don't think I have ever even seen them. I couldn't resist doing a page with them and here it is:

Credits: Vintage Christmas Papers and Frames by Digitreats; Star element by Raspberry Road Designs; Tag by Priscilla Rocha

Nutcracker Collection

I think I am obsessive-compulsive when it comes to collecting things. I am trying to overcome it, but it sure is hard! Here is my collection of nutcrackers. I must say that I have not bought any this year (and that was very hard to do!) I also have a Santa collection, a reindeer collection, a rocking horse collection, a nativity collection, an Angel collection (quite by accident). I think that is it as far as Christmas Decorations go. Anyway, here are my nutcrackers. When I started putting them on this shelf, I didn't realize the entire thing would be totally filled! I think next year I will have to display them on a larger shelf!

The Amazing Christmas Light Show

This evening, we drove all the way across town just to see an amazing Christmas Lights display. It is at a private home, but boy is it awesome. They have the lights synchronized to music by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. There is such a large crowd that the police are there to direct traffic and help people walk across the street to their cars. They have scheduled times for the shows only on Friday, Saturday and Sundays because it is just in a regular neighborhood and I'm sure the neighbors probably get tired of people standing in their driveways and yards, and the sound system is very good (and loud) so they probably even get tired of the music. Here are a few pics I took there - with the exception of one that was taken by Jenna. Oh - And Santa Claus was there too! Joel and Josh didn't go this time because Joel was at a friend's house and Josh was babysitting, so that's why they are not in the pictures.

We went with some of our neighbors and afterwards we all went to eat at BJ's Brewhouse - delicous!!


The lights are pretty awesome even without the music.

Here are the kids - Daniel, Matt, and Jenna.

Here's Jenna with Santa Clause.

Here are Matt and Daniel (our neighbors) with Santa Clause.

Jenna took this picture of the 'adults'. Didn't she do a good job ?

Christmas Lights are Up!

Well, Lee and I spent all day getting our Christmas lights up on the house. I can't believe how much work it was. We have a 2-story house and it is pretty frightening getting near the edge, so last year we did not put any lights on the top of the house at all. Last weekend, Lee actually got about 3/4 of them up and then just could not bring himself to go up any more to do the rest. So today he took down what he had already put up.
Lee actually fell off of our old house many years ago. The air conditioner (we have swamp coolers) had leaked water out onto the roof so he went up to check on it, not knowing that it had frozen on the roof. He took one step on the ice and down he went. He fell on his right side, immediately flopped onto his stomach and reached for a hold on the roof but all there was was more ice!! So he flipped over on his back and sat straight up, rocketing for the side yelling "oh no oh no oh no". Thankfully, for some reason, we had parked our '67 mustang on that side of the house, and he landed on the hood - with shock absorbers no less! And he was not even hurt.
Oh well, here are some pictures of our lights last year - have not had a chance to take any yet this year.

Me Ma's Christmas Angel

As you can see from the layout below, my grandmother (Me Ma) gave us this Angel several years ago. but the neatest thing was the tag she attached to the box. I kept it in the box for years, but actually thought I had lost it a few years ago. It reappeared again in the large plastic container I keep the Angel box in and I was absolutely thrilled. I'm not sure of the exact year we got this Angel, but I know it had to be at least 1988 (the year Jeremy was born) and I would imagine it was before 1991 (when she got sick). Sadly, she passed away in 1993 - but we still have her Angel!!

Design Credits:Papers from Tis The Season Collection by Retrodiva; Overlay by Lindsay Jane Designs; Journaling Tag from MerrySeason Kit by S&C Designs creations; Ribbon from Joyeaux Noel Kit by Mana Scrap Passion; Background and Holly from Merry & Holly Kit by Lena Gulbrandsen