Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas 1984

26 years later this song still makes me cry.

Stop and Smell the Christmas Tree

 This will be our 18th Christmas together and we've collected ornaments from all over the world.

We got this Santa in a helicopter in Germany...back when Steve was flying helicopters.

A woman on the Cape paints these oyster shells. My Father in law gave us this one years ago when we were living in Amherst NH. It is an exact replica of our home there. That's me pushing Will in the sled..Steve with the tree and Stephen and Hannah playing in the snow...years before Griffy. You can see a picture of our house here .

The homemade ones are the best aren't they? Hannah was amazed at how small her hand was.

Griffin just loves the tree. He is amazed by the lights and is always walking up to it and smelling it. I'm trying to stop and enjoy these little moments and not get all caught up in the craziness.

Sandwich and Matthew Mead

This past weekend Hannah let me drag  her down to the Cape to this quaint little store..The Spotted Cod. It's in Sandwich..the town I grew up in. Matthew Mead was there for the day promoting his Holiday magazine. It was such a pleasure to meet him as I'm a big fan. I bought his Entertaining Simple book and love it. 

The store was lovely also..very beachy as you'd expect on the Cape.

If you're ever on Cape Cod...visit Sandwich. It's the oldest town on the Cape and has beautiful beaches. It has a charming village with great litte shops too.

This is where Steve and I spent our wedding night...almost 17 years ago. I'm thinking of trying to steal away for a night on our anniversary in a week...anyone want to babysit?

Christmas Card 2010 and A Few Years Past

I was in such a rush this year to take the picture, order the card and get them out that I guess I didn't look at last years...

Kinda similar don't you think? Oh well. It's done.

2008

2007- Guess who won the World Series?

2006

 2005 -Remember I said I liked leopard? Rememer I gave the dog away? I'm still paying for that one.

2004- this is as far back as I can go. We've moved too many times and I'm not very organized with my photos.

Things That Make Me Happy

Christmas books all over the house

And Christmas magazines...I keep them all.

Do you have Bananagrams? I keep them on our kitchen table and while we eat or the kids are waiting for dinner they make up a Christmas word. Things like "Merry Butt-head" aren't allowed.

Can't forget the pantry!

Drumroll please..."I give you our family Christmas tree" Steve thinks he's Clark Griswold..do you watch Christmas Vacation?  We do every year..along with Elf and Polar Express and Little Women...(the one with Susan Sarandon)...Have you seen The Family Stone? It was on tv the other night and I of course bawled my head off. What else is new. But, when Sarah Jessica Parker gave everyone a framed picture of the mom pregnant I just lost it. What a great gift idea for everyone in your family don't you think?

Really Full Weekending

dad

pizza

laundry

cleaning

shopping

the cape

nutcracker

white lights

chinese food

christmas tree

matthew mead

birthday parties

more decorating

paper snowflakes

toy story 3 (I cry)

budapest, romania

candy cane cupcakes

homemade marshmallows

500 days of summer (I cry)

Do You Ever..

Tie a ribbon around your lampshade?

Or your kids teddy bears? Doesn't he look handsome? And if you haven't noticed, I have a thing for leopard.

We have a collection of decoys that my father in law has gifted us with over the years. They don't get left out either.

My kids would probably go to school with a ribbon wrapped around them if they let me.