Christmas Delights

I love decorating for Christmas. Above you see the decorations that are above our entertainment center. Below are close-ups of these decorations. As you can see we collect cookie jars - which are mostly snowmen, but we love all kinds.

If you look at the above pictures you will see the hand-painted nativity scene made in a ceramic class by my mom and aunt. I still remember them working on these over 25 years ago. Behind the nativity scene you can see the Santa Basset and the Target dog, along with some angel ornaments that my mom made.

These cross stitches were made by my mom. They were designed by Mirabella and titled 'Giggles in the Snow'. There is a ton of bead work on these cross stitches, but it doesn't show in the picture.

This is a cross stitch I started last year called "The Twelve Days of Christmas'. If you look closely, you can see some beads in the pear tree. My plan was to stitch one of the twelve days each year. . .yes, that will take 12 years to complete, but I'm up for the challenge. :)

Next we go to our tree that has many of my favorite ornaments.

These are 2 of my favorite basset ornaments. I especially love the one on the right because it has the names of my 3 bassets. :)

These are 2 ornaments I cross stitched for my mom - they were designed by Debbie Mumm. I think they turned out really well. :)

These are 3 ornaments my mom cross stitched. She does good work.

And lastly I wanted to round out my favorites with these ornaments. The top 2 were hand-painted by my mom back in the '80s and have beautified our tree ever since. The Alice in Wonderland ornament is from the Disney set I got when I went to The Mall of America in Minneapolis. The bear ornament is another one stitched by my mom. :)

I hope you have enjoyed these Christmas goodies that I enjoy during this time of year. Merry Christmas.

Favorite Christmas Movies

'Tis the season for all my holiday movie favorites. My favorites are:

• A Christmas Story (my all-time favorite)
• Christmas with the Kranks
• Elf
• The Santa Clause trilogy
• Mickey's Christmas Carol
• It's a Wonderful Life
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Home Alone 1 & 2
• Scrooged
• Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009 version)
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
• Santa Clause is Coming to Town
• Eloise at Christmastime

There are others that I enjoy, but these are ones that I make sure to watch every year. I love the music, the stories, and the memories they bring back of previous holidays. What are some of your favorites?

Baby Card

         I created this card for a friend of mine that just had a baby on November 30th. I got this idea from Sarah at 'Live, Love, and Scrap!' and modified it. The teddy bear and bottle are removable, and I love the charm ducky! :) Below are some cards that I made this past summer.

         This first card is one I created for my grandma. I painted the dragonfly with Twinkling H2O Watercolor paints. The second is one I made for a friend that ran the Missoula marathon.

        I created the first 'Congratulations' card for my cousin's wedding, and the second 'Congrats' card was created for my cousin who graduated from high school. Unfortunately I don't have as much time to make cards as I would like. But I enjoy it when I get the chance. Thanks for looking! :)

Christmas Cherished Teddies 2011

Above are 3 sets of my Cherished Teddies, which I just adore. The sets are (from top to bottom):  Nutcracker plus some other seasonal goodies, Nativity Scene, and Christmas Carol. 

This is our village set, complete with U of M Nutcrackers, a Cherished Teddies Christmas train and other winter themed Cherished Teddies. Above the village are the cross stitches called 'Giggles in the Snow'. These were completed by my mom, and they have intricate bead work, which unfortunately doesn't show up on the picture. They are beautiful. Thanks for looking.

I'm One Lucky Auntie

It amazes me with how fast time goes by. I was lucky enough to be there when my first nephew, Blaine, was born - 15 years ago. A year and a half later, my second nephew Bryce, was born. So blessed am I to have two such wonderful people in my life; this is something I am thankful for every day.

And the winner is. . .

The raspberry trifle won for Thanksgiving. For some odd reason it didn't look like the pictures from Taste of Home. Hmmm. . .I wonder why that is. :) Anyhow, it was a huge success and tasted so good. It wasn't too raspberry tasting, and I enhanced the recipe. Instead of just using regular raspberry preserves, I mixed the preserves with whip cream and powdered sugar. It was delicious and everyone wanted more - the poundcake certainly made it even more tasty. For Christmas I'm thinking of trying the browing/peanut butter cup trifle, but it's going to be tough to top the raspberry trifle. I'll keep you posted. :)

Let the Countdown Begin

Busy day today. Ran errands, took Molly in for a follow-up appointment (which went very well), saw my Grandma, aunt and uncle, did laundy, and some baking. :) I made sourdough bread from scratch, and poundcake for tomorrow's trifle. The poundcake turned out very well, but the bread was sweeter than what I was expecting. I followed the bread recipe exactly, so if I make it again I'll have to make some adjustments so it's not so sweet - or perhaps I'll try making french bread. Tomorrow the real fun begins - cooking, eating, and spending quality time with the fam. :)