Peace On Earth

Just can't get enough of this great Christmas music!

Merry Christmas!

I hope EVERYONE had a blessed and special Christmas. I was fortunate to spend my Christmas with most of my family. I hope you were with those you love too.


Just a look at a few more unusual tree displays before the day is over courtesy of msn.com...

in Italy, has approximately 500 lights connected by 40,000 feet of wire

a neon display at a hotel in Tokyo

Venice's Murano Island has the world's largest glass Christmas tree

Our Christmas Porch

Hope you enjoy the pics of our Christmas porch!

welcome sign at entry of porch

front porch from a distance

front porch again, closer view

(used a different flash, one of my favorite pics)

side view of porch

A Baby Changes Everything

Listen and enjoy by Faith Hill. This will be a new favorite Christmas song for the season. Simply beautiful...

Christmas TV

Have I mentioned my addiction to Christmas shows? Oh my gosh! I'm currently hooked on Nickelodeon, which has Nick at Nite. Nick at Nite is showing all Christmas shows in the evenings. These Christmas shows consist of various sitcoms. I've been staying up watching Home Improvement, George Lopez, Family Matters and The Fresh Prince just to name a few. I love Christmas episodes of almost any show.

I'm in Christmas sitcom heaven!

Another Christmas Tradition

I can't believe I forgot to mention our annual Ladies Brunch at my Aunt Betsy's house! R mentioned it on her blog and I realized I should do the same.

I love getting together to see all the favorite women in my life. I have the best aunts and family in the world! Of course, I'm not biased. :o) I absolutely love being with my Aunts Betsy, Guero and Helen. I am so blessed to have such God loving, faithful and wise women in my life. These lovely ladies are my mom's sisters and are a hoot when they get together. The mix is even better when my sister and mom are around. Then we have even more fun when you throw in my cousins and my nephew's wife, R, and their beautiful little babies!

The company was great and so was the food. Unfortunately, my sis was sick and didn't make it. We missed you, Yoli!!!! Hope you're feeling better.

I think next year I will invite my mom and sis-in-law to join us in this festive ritual. Don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner?!

Christmas Traditions

Christmas traditions are so important. It's something we do every year as kids then carry over to adulthood and share with our own children. One of the traditions I carried over to my family is Christmas breakfast with my parents. From as far back as I can remember, we have always had BIG Christmas breakfasts. We wait for all the family members to arrive then chow down on some good home cooking - mom/grandma/great-grandma style. My folks have three generations of children that look forward to this sweet time that seems to go by faster with each passing year.

The three of us grown kids all have two kids of our own. Three of the six grand kids now have kids of their own. So, Christmas breakfast seems to get a little later as time goes on because everyone has to open presents with their individual families before trekking over to my folks house. It's okay though, we've all been there, done that, and it's worth the wait to see everyone.

Our other Christmas day tradition is having lunch with my husband's family. We have hopped over to his grandparents' house for as long as we've been together and I've always enjoyed visiting his uncles, grandparents and cousins that we usually don't see except for Christmas and sometimes Thanksgiving.

This year, we're hosting Christmas with my hubby's sweet family at our house. That's a very scary thought. If you knew my cooking and cleaning skills, you would understand - haha! His mom and grandmother's cooking are sooooo good and it's a little intimidating, especially when I'm still learning to cook after 21 years of marriage!!! It's okay though, I have faith, it will be just fine.

Our last, but not least, tradition is one I created when our first son was born. Every Christmas Eve we have a birthday cake and on it says "Happy Birthday Jesus." I usually place a small porcelain manger scene on top, light some birthday candles then we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I did this so our kids would always remember the REAL reason for Christmas. Sure, the decorations and Christmas music and presents are fun and festive, but the true reason is the birth of Jesus. I want them to always connect with that and re-connect as adults.

I hope you and yours have some fun family traditions of old and new. :o)

Our Christmas Decor

Our fireplace

Here's a few pics of our indoor Christmas decor. We have a very simple, scaled down Christmas tree this year. I decided not to put any ornaments on it because I have soooooo many and it is such a chore. Instead, I opted for a smaller tree than last year's, LOTS of lights and a beautiful gold and poinsettia ribbon wrapped around the tree. I think it looks pretty good!

Our Christmas tree

No one likes to decorate except for me, so that means I have to put up and take down all by my lonesome! Christmas is my favorite time of year so I do it. I will try and post some pics of our porch tomorrow.

(By the way, these pics were taken with my cell phone - not too bad, huh?)