Christmas at our House

In my spirit of "forcing festive", I thought I would add a few pictures of what our home looked like for Christmas this year (except that I can't get the silly pictures to post at this time ;). I love my decorations, all of them, but every time I get them out, I get a little melancholy. So, this year, I recruited a helper-bee to wave the Christmas wand. She did a marvelous job and I have actually enjoyed seeing all of the Christmas glitz around the house. We actually have five trees up -- three are very small -- one is a Whitney tree in our bedroom, one is just a pretty little tree with some of the kids things on it, and one is a travel tree (ornaments we have collected from travels thru the years) in the office. There are two trees, a five footer and a six footer, both lime green with lime green lights. I think of them as happy trees :)

I am seriously going to try to incorporate my Dept 56 Snow Village back into my decorating next year. It has been years since I have had it out. I know that Deacon will love it and hopefully, Christmas in Arkansas might work into their plans next year. It would be perfect to have two Stinson baby boys at Nana and Pa's house once again -- how they would enjoy having Deacon and Baby Liam (due in Feb., 2009) with us on Christmas Eve.

Our Christmas plans include lots of WORK -- Jim refers to this season as his Harvest! I have also been pitching in over there, and I have made some lovely gift baskets -- some special order and some just to sell in the store -- last minute items -- not a large variety of gifts in Clarendon. Bah, humbug there! we will go to Nana and Pa's for Christmas Eve with Larry, Lee Ann and Steve -- Frank is in Iraq this year-- Sharon and Matthew are staying in Louisiana with her mom-- Chris and Lynne cannot travel due to Liam's upcoming birthday-- and Patrick, Amy, and Deacon are battling the cold in Ohio. We know that Whitney has the best spot of all and we feel his presence every day, but especially on days when we are gathering with our loving family.

Then, I think we are going to go to Brinkley to have lunch with the Stinson family. Just a short visit as we will have been with them on Cmas Eve, THEN we are driving to Little Rock to go see Marley and Me. It just looks so cute -- we'll get back to you on that later.

The day after Christmas, Lee Ann and I are driving to Fayetteville to see the NWA gang. She is dying to spend time with Chris and Lynne, and so am I. And, Christmas wouldn't be the same without the Fink kiddos -- will definitely be spending some time there. AND, I have to see all of my Lee/Landers "families". Mary Margaret is home from Louisville, and Rhonda has been up there since December 12, so I have really been missing her. I sure hope she decides to come home soon...Jim will be hunting right after Christmas and will hardly miss me -- except that he has to keep his eye on Sophie -- a job in itself!

Busy...busy...busy...gotta stay busy...this is how we deal with the holidays "after Whitney". It may not be the best way, but it is OUR way...