January Update

Christmas went smoothly this year. I was done weeks early and it was nice to just kick back and relax. I bought 2 Christmas gifts at after Christmas sales this year. I have a backlog of a few things for Hubby for the year. I have begun organizing and cleaning for Spring already.

I bought this basket to corral the Wii items and the DVD items "now playing" in the DVD changer.



I just got this cute Winter picture. It's in the hallway for the rest of the Winter. It's the perfect size, doesn't take up much room, but adds a little Winter charm.



Yesterday, I cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and polished them. I gathered a few items that I will freecycle at some point. It's wonderful having all the cabinets organized and clean. I finally cleaned out and organized the Lazy Daisy cabinet and I stored a couple of my canisters from the counter top in there. Now there's extra room on the counter top.

Kickers and Puzzles

We went to see the Rockettes yesterday and it was a fun time. It was a very Christmasy show.

I finished making my puzzle the other day too. It was a pretty challenging one to do, especially the snowflake cookies.

New Picture

I got a new picture for over the couch in the living room for the Winter. It's nice and simple.

Bring on Christmas!

I am completely done getting ready for Christmas and it feels great! Hubby and I are even going to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular as part of my Christmas gifts. I think I will wrap one more small thing for Hubby to get on the big day, but everything else is wrapped, cards are mailed and I'm just working on my Christmas puzzle (you can see it on the table in the previous picture). We watched Christmas Vacation this past weekend. Next on the movie tradition is Rudolph. Still have a few movies left so we better pick up the pace.

Rearranging

The other day I had a dream about rearranging the dining room so when I woke up, I did it. I removed a small 3 tier corner shelf that was here and I moved the small hutch there. Then I moved the microwave to the wall where the hutch was. There's so much more room in there now. I love it!

Updates

I just finished wrapping all the stuff I have. I remembered that I have an order at my parents' house though. I'll deal with that soon and then I'm completely done. We started watching our large collection of Christmas movies last weekend. So far we've seen "It's a wonderful life", "Family Man" and "The Grinch" movie. This weekend we'll see "Christmas Vacation" and maybe one more depending on time. I will be freecycling the little bit of Christmas decorations I decided I could part with this year and I'll also be freecycling my Mom and Aunt's cast aways too. Even a pre-lit tree! We played A Charlie Brown christmas game last night and we started to put together my Christmas cookie puzzle. I'll share those pictures when it's finished.

Turkey and Reindeer

Thanksgiving was nice. The turkey soup is excellent this year. So much flavor. It really is the best part of Thanksgiving. As far as Rudolph day, I am doing awesome this year. Hubby is picking up the last 2 things we need to finish both of our parents' presents tonight. I will be officially done buying gifts, he's a totally different story, but that's him. After this post I am going to finish wrapping everything I have so that will be finished today too. I spent 2 and a half days decorating for Christmas, starting Thanksgiving night with the tree, per tradition.

The lattice gate you see around the tree is the only way we have found to keep certain cats from eating the tree like it's some fish feast. It's a little warped this year, I will have to find a better way to store it next year, but it still works.



Notice the cross stitch I finally finished hanging proudly above the fireplace.

Here is part of the village since I can't get the whole thing in one picture. I bought a new table this year to put it on that has an extra foot of space. That and my Aunt giving me extra walls, allowed a much bigger park area than before.