merry christmas!

So thankful for what we celebrate today! That years ago, God set his "Great Rescue Plan" into motion! (As the Jesus Storybook Bible puts it). True love really was born in a stable.

"Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'" - Luke 2:10-11

surprise.

Yesterday Worker Man called and told me to stop by his parent's house before heading to The Taj to work.  He said FMIL had a surprise for me.

So I get there and walk up to our bedroom and I see this sitting in the floor.

Apparently I was so excited I was....shaking??  How did I not notice the picture was this blurry?

There was a note attached that said this:

"May HIS humble beginnings always remind you:  It's not the HOME...it's the lives lived IN the home that makes a difference".

Seriously, is that not amazing?

And so true. 

Our humble Taj will produce so many amazing memories and I can't wait!

It's the stable for my Willow Tree set that FMIL started for me last year:

This is the full set that I'm working towards!  I already have Mary [and Jesus], Joeseph, the shephard, the donkey and the lamb.

I am so blessed.

awesomeness.

Do y'all keep a wishlist?

I do.  Of totally random things.  For example, the other day FMIL asked me what was on my wishlist.  I told her that it was ridiculously long.  Filled with random items.  So she asked me to read it to her.  We were on our way to Charlotte and had plenty of time.  One of my wishlist items is an Exacto knife.  So I read it and she busted out laughing.  She said, seriously??  Like a $3 knife thingy from Walmart?

Yes.  I keep a list of even the smallest things. It's weird, I know.

In fact, I've hinted to Worker Man multiple times that the wishlist is in the "Notes" App on my iPhone.  Just in case he is wanting to pick me up a little treat and needs a good idea.  He hasn't caught on to the hints yet. 

But anyway, I recently came across two items that had to be added to my wishlist.  How cool are these?!?


1.  The Canon Lens Mug

2.  A Lens Cuff Bracelet [made from a recycled lens!]

wfmw - blog book.

for christmas, worker man and i gave his mom a book of her blog.  a {blook}.

once i... [i mean we] came up with this idea i began researching the best way to design the book and the best place to order it.  it was actually a lot more difficult to find information than i expected it to be.



i did remember coming across this post that was very helpful in getting a start.  i also e-mailed jmom, the author of lots of scotts, with questions.  she was extremely helpful.

because i had such a hard time, i figured it would be helpful to see a step by step on how to create your very own blook!  so, i'm going to give you a quick rundown on the way that worked best for me.


1.  i used blog2print to put the information in a book format.  

this part was very easy.  all you need to do is type in your website and it automatically puts your blog into a book.  then, there are some things you can do to personalize it.  for example, you can choose to include the comments from each post, whether to include the pictures, how the posts are laid out, etc.  

then, after you make these decisions, you order the pdf.  it was $7.95 plus tax.  the reason i ordered the pdf was that all the covers were ugly so i wanted to change the cover and order the actual book through a different company.

[blurb.com is another website that is similar.  but you download their program booksmart and you can arrange each page individually.  it seemed a lot more labor-intensive so i went with blog2print.]

the pdf is e-mailed almost immediately. 


2.  after i received the pdf, i edited the file in adobe.  i removed the cover page that i had to select in blog2print.  you will also want to remove the back page.  i didn't remove the back page for my mother-in-law's book so it printed as an extra page in the back of the book.  whoops!

front cover.

back cover.

3.  after resaving your pdf, you will need to upload it to a site that can print it.  i used lulu and was very pleased with the results.  i was able to select a plain black cover and add a picture and title for the front and a picture for the back.  the order was $65.93 for 181 pages.

i was very pleased with the results and i know my mother-in-law was as well.

she was also super excited that i asked her to come over at 7 am this morning so i could take a picture of her with her blook :)

i plan to also make one of these books each year to keep a record of my blog.  it is a great way of "scrapbooking" each year :)  well, maybe it's not a scrapbook....but it will work for me :)

 hopefully this post will help you with making your "blook".


if you have questions, i'll be glad to help.  feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail.  also, if you have made a blook and have any helpful tips that i didn't mention - or a different site that you think is great, leave it in the comments!

check out kristen's blog, we are THAT family, for more works for me wednesday tips.

christmas 2009.

okay, so i've totally been mia.  hopefully i will get my act together soon and have something to write about.

i'm hoping to close out 2009 over the next few days.

yes, i know it's january 4th.

i'm a little late on the closing out.

first of all i just have to point out, is this not the most amazing place to grow up?

seriously, gorgeous.

not only is the landscape beautiful...so are the people.  i pulled in a driveway and got out of my car and walked over into the field to take this picture.  when i came back into the drive the man that lived there had come out to check on me to see if everything was okay.  we had a nice little conversation before i left.


okay, now on to the christmas pictures. 


i have to tell you, i am terrible about taking pictures at family functions.  i get so frustrated that the lighting is bad and that i have to turn the flash on my camera that i normally just give up after a few minutes.  and apparently that was the case for christmas.  when i downloaded my pictures, i realized that i only recorded like 2.5 christmas events out of the 7 different things we did.  


so, i'm just gonna put up what i got.






every year we do christmas with my godparents/aunt and uncle, another aunt, and my grandma.  we do a nice christmas supper and then open gifts.  we always have a blast.  
for real.

bon bon and sid.

bon bon opening a gift. 

by the way, look at her cute outfit.  seriously, adorable.  her flannel shirt and red scarf.  too cute.  funny story - she wore her crocks to our house because she had gone out and went back home before coming to my parents and she lost her ballet flats when she went home.  so she just wore her crocks instead.  seriously, soooo bon bon.  love her!

mom and sid's bf, casey. 

this is after he opened his new, engraved bible.

mom deemed it "present of the year".

don don and sid.

love my mom's choice of wrapping paper.  well, i might have just helped her pick it out :)

seriously, hobby lobby is the best place to go.  such a good deal for a ton of paper that is super cute.

court, my brother's gf.

showing off her gift from my grandma.

sid is excited. 

i think mom missed the memo.

my daddy.

seriously, i haven't seen him smile this big for a camera since he showed off his prize.

colby got a new driver from don don and bon bon.

he was so excited.  we all went out to watch him hit a few balls...in the snow.

now, here's the part where there should be pictures of our christmas with worker man's immediate family, then pictures from worker man and i celebrating our own christmas, and christmas at worker man's grandparent's house.  but i obviously dropped the ball.  because i have none, zip, nada.  i'm lame, i know.  i'm just going to blame it on the fact that i'm a baby hog and there are a lot of babies in worker man's family.

not that that is an excuse for not taking pictures of me and worker man opening presents - guess i was just more excited about opening our new computer :)

so now, that we've determined that i'm totally slack in the photography of holiday family events --- let's move on to christmas morning.

bedheads.

every year my mom buys my brother a nutcracker.  she started this when he was young and now gets him one every christmas.  so this was the first gift that was opened.

well, this was the first christmas gift.  my mom's birthday is on christmas day so we always make her open her birthday presents first.

sidney lee, super excited about her pez.

don't tell mom...but worker man found it in the trash the next morning.  i think she'd be fine without the dispenser if she could just get multiple refill packs.

admiring the boots that her favorite sister bought her.

worker man getting another dave ramsey book.

he was stoked!

okay, so after christmas morning with my family at 6 am.  we head over to my papa's house to celebrate christmas with my dad's family.

every year we get a picture made with all the cousins. 

here's the 2009 picture.

we also have a lot of gag gifts that are passed around.  for years, one of my grandpa's drivers license from years ago was passed around.  it was like a mug shot and it was always so funny.  everyone dreaded getting it because they would have to keep them all year to pass them on to the next person.  we have also passed around these awful candle holders that look like roosters.  they are seriously, the ugliest home decor i've seen.  and we've also done a donkey hat in the past. 

well, this year when worker man and i came across this, we knew that we had to get it for a gag gift.  

it plays a song and the lights start flashing and the whole top half flaps back and forth.  it's hilarious.  i immediately knew that we should choose my uncle stanley to give it to.  he's hilarious.  if i can find it and get my act together on this here blog, i'll upload a nice little dancing video from last christmas.  

he was such a good sport and everyone loved it.

the entire family.

and of course, between every decent picture, there are about twelve pictures like the one above.

now here's the next part where i should have pictures of christmas with my mom's family.  but, i'm sure you're not surprised by now to find out that i forgot to get out my camera there too!

but i'll end on a good note :)

sidney lee and i with the birthday girl.

it really was a wonderful christmas.  it flew by waaay too fast but it was fabulous.  

o christmas tree.

a couple weekends ago ken, barbie, worker man and i went to get our christmas trees.

we spent the night at my parent's house on friday night and then went to hillsville, va to get our tree.  it snowed all day saturday.  seriously, it was wonderful.

as soon as we got there, barbie discovered that her boots might not work so well in the snow.

and i discovered that dandruff is not my look...

neither is opening my mouth that wide.

the guys felt like it was necessary to mark their territory.
i know, that's gross....but i had to document it.

look how gorgeous!

here's worker man with what we thought was going to be our tree.

no, he was not a cheerleader - although he's got great form with his 'hands on hips' pose.

here are the guys with our tree. 

it was freezing.  thus, the reason they look frozen in that position.

and oh the joy of a porta potty.

as you can tell, barbie was so excited she could hardly stand it.

we had such a good time.


i'm thinking this might just become a tradition!

three generations.

two of my favorite women [mom and grandma] came to spend the night with us this past weekend.  we had a lazy saturday morning drinking coffee and just hanging out and then we went christmas shopping.

we had such a wonderful time.

seriously, i could not ask for a more wonderful family.

tour of homes.

so, in typical fashion, i'm late to the nester's christmas tour of homes.

but better late than never, right?

here are the pictures of our house:

our mantle.

check out my post about the wreath i made.

this is sitting on the coffee table.

hopefully later this week i'll be fixin' this up a little.

i'll show you how if when i do it.

here are the blocks i [with my daddy and worker man's help] made above the kitchen sink.

i love these little snowmen.   i got them last year like 90% off!

[please ignore the ginger ale can]

i made this nutcracker last year and still love it.            this poinsettia is on my kitchen table.

i put this little tree in the bathroom.  i put battery operated lights on it and i love it.  by far one of my favorite new things this year.  i just used left over fabric from my cinnamon honey butter to make a tree skirt.

our christmas tree.

we went to pick out our tree at a tree farm this year and of course we had a griswold moment.

when we got it home, worker man cut the strings off and all he could say was:

"little full, llllotttt a sap"

at least we didn't bust out any windows.

we also haven't killed the cat or caught uncle lewis' toupee on fire.

well, we don't have a cat or an uncle lewis.

thank goodness.

and of course, the best for last.  the whole reason for all of this.

the nativity scene from peru. 

i bought these for my mom and a couple other people when i was living in peru and didn't buy myself one.  i wasn't thinking i'd have a house to decorate for a long time. 

didn't know it would be quiiiteee so soon :)

but, mom is sweet enough to let me borrow hers.

especially since she has the willow tree nativity scene that i'm super jealous of!

hope you enjoyed the tour!