Surf's Up...

I know what you're thinking...Surf's Up? Bear with me...it's part of my Christmas decorating tip. But first, this post is not going to be a belated Thanksgiving post, where I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving since I missed doing that. Nor will it be a post that tells you that our Thanksgiving ended up a bit of a bust, with one daughter at her grandparents (that was the good part) and the other sick as a dog. (Who wants to hear that? Besides, it would sound like I am making excuses...again...for neglecting my blog and yours too.) Anyway, my husband still went and served at the hospital while I stayed home with Jordan and made homemade chicken noodle soup and pumpkin milkshakes while watching Christmas movies on the couch. But at least she had this big guy to curl up with on her lap...




yes, a 65 lb lap dog! Okay, does he look like a teddy bear or what?:-)


Anyway, here is my Christmas tip of the day. If you don't have room for a tree or maybe you just aren't up to it this year, throw lights and a few decorations on something else. Jordie usually has a full size white tree in her room but this year she is a bit more crowded, thanks to her ginormous new beanbag chair. Hmmm...what to do... We decided that her surfboard would look amazing with lights and it is awesome!!!!!


Surf's up! She decorated it with tiny ball ornaments, snowflakes and pink pipe cleaner candy canes. Pretty cute, huh? So if you are out of room...or out of ideas...light up something unexpected!



I'm outta here but hopefully I will make it back before another week rolls by:-)
XOXOXO
Suzanne

Back to Blogland...

Happy Monday...I'm back to my little home on the internet. Amazingly, I managed to pick up about 30 followers in the few weeks I was gone. How does this happen? I don't know but I'm happy it does:-)

Yes, I took a little break. I can choose between writing about my life/family and the Holidays or I can live it. Unlike many of you gifted people out there, I'm not capable of doing both.

The bad news...I had my annual Holiday meltdown. The good news...it's over early and I'm good to go:-) About 2 weeks ago I called my mom and started bawling on the phone about how I feel I let everyone down... Blah, blah, blah. (Martha, this is because of you and my quest for the perfect Holiday:-) I've let go of a few things since then. Since my girls were little, I've always had to have the perfect Christmas card. I know photo cards have been around forever but I think I was one of the first that I know of to go with a "theme" picture for our cards, such as angels, mermaids... maybe I'll do a post about it and show a few. I can't show you the one of them when they were 7 and 5, lounging around the pool in old-fashioned bathing suits with flowered bathing caps on like some vintage bathing beauty, because that was the one card they refused to be a part of...and I never let them forget it! hahaha...

Anyway, this year the cards are ready to go out with a short, sweet note and a simple, fun photo. And it's killing me... lol

Okay, well, this is Thanksgiving week. Hope you're all enjoying this special time of year. Me...I'm not a big Thanksgiving person. In the old days when cousins aunts and Uncles crammed around a long table at my Grandma's...that was Thanksgiving. These days just aren't quite the same. Don't get me wrong, we are very thankful. But we are more than ready to move on to Christmas.
Sorry...one of those people:-) To top it off, I don't like turkey.

(You're safe from me, Mr. Turkey!)
But I do love mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Carbs anyone??? Geez...good thing I am serving dinner at the hospital with my husband instead of eating it! My girls are spending Thanksgiving with their grandparents so I will have my first Holiday with an empty nest...seems kind of strange but they'll have fun.

What else, what else... Well, we are in full Nutcracker mode around here. This is the Flower Fairy or Dew Drop, which is Taylor's main role. And she wears pink:-)



Rehearsals, rehearsals and more rehearsals...long ones...but it's looking good, so it's worth it. And we are making lots of these little cuties...




I know I write about a pink Christmas but the only rooms I can pull that off this year are Taylor's room and maybe the guest room. The great room is mainly a white Christmas with touches of red. Because I am worried about my curious BIG puppy, our tree has only those family ornaments that are not breakable as well as a lot of other sturdy ones, just in case I come home to find the tree toppled over. We glittered some starfish and white poinsettias and it looks so pretty.



One of my favorite decorations was the simplest. I had all of these colored glass ornaments and a huge glass cylinder I picked up for $7 at a yard sale this year so I dumped them in and voila...instant decoration!




I also love, love, love feather trees and here is one by the front door...




Just look at these shells...I'm not sure you can see but they're all glittery. Thanks to Tales from an OC Cottage for the idea!



Guess that's enough rambling for today. I'll leave you with a thought for the Holidays...
"Remember, the more expensive and big the gift, the more kids will enjoy playing with the box it came in more than anything".

Have a great day!
Au revoir,
Suzanne

My Hula-Girl and Football Player

They're growing up but I still got one more year of costumes out of them. Taylor had dance so her costume had to be "ballet-friendly". Meet the Hawaiian ballerina...






Jordie dressed like her favorite football player from her favorite team...




I would have so dressed like this when I was her age, too:-)

That's it for today...short and sweet!