Sunday, December 30, 2012

Christmas 2012 ~ Part Two

I'm backing up a bit.  Here are some more pictures from Christmas Eve.

Those of you who follow me on Facebook have already seen these pictures, but I keep a diary of events on our blog too. 

This is my Dad who just moved from Florida.  This is the first Christmas (or Holiday) we have spent with him in over 18 years.  Hard to believe huh?!  It was nice to have him with us.  I think he enjoyed himself too. 



Mason is one lucky fella.  He is loving his new work bench from Grammy and Paw Paw.  He said these are his tools and we can't use them. HA!
 

He had so much fun unwrapping his gifts.  He was so excited every time!




Can you believe this is my baby brother?  Yep.  There is 6 years between us.  I love taking pictures next to him because it makes me look smaller. HA!  This is a good one of us. I may have to frame this one. 
 

My step dad gives me a keepsake ornament every year for Christmas.  They are always marked with the year.  This one is the 2012 Hallmark Recordable ornament.   I love all of them!  I think I have them back to 1996 or 97.  I really need to get them out again to see. 
 





Out of all the gifts we gave this year, this was my all time favorite.  This is a shadow cabinet (opens in the front).  The military memorabilia inside is from my Grandpa Dominey, my brother's namesake.  I felt it was only appropriate for him to have these keepsakes.  I have had the items since 1996, but they have been in our family for over 60 years. I know my brother will proudly display this in his home.  




Paw Paw.  He looks so much like his brother, Rick in this picture.
 


 Kevin has a star on his head.  



 We celebrated Christmas day at Aunt Amy's house.  Mason had to sit on Papa's lap to open all of his presents. 


 


 We sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus.  Normally we have one cake and we have to light the candles 5 times for each one of the kids to have a turn to blow out the candles.  Not this year.  We had 5 cupcakes.  
 

 Another one of the Kranz traditions.  The kids line up and Papa squirts "whippy dip" (whipped cream) in their mouth.  This was Mason's first time with whippy dip.  I think he liked it!



Friday, December 28, 2012

Christmas 2012 ~ Part One

Hey y'all!  How was your Christmas?  Ours was great!  My favorite part was watching and listening to Mason.  He was super excited about every single gift he opened and very thankful. Another favorite was the gift I gave to my brother. I'll talk about that in another post.

We are very blessed to have our parents and family to spend the Holidays with and we are very thankful for spending time with them.  

We usually spend Christmas Eve at Grammy and PawPaw's, so I do all of my cooking and baking the day before.  I was so busy this year!  I can't complain because I love to bake for the Holidays.

I didn't get a picture of everything, but I made a pumpkin pie, pecan pie, crock pot chocolate candy, white chocolate party mix, 2 cranberry salads, and cookies for Santa.




This is the crock pot chocolate candy.  So good and so easy. Here is the recipe.  This is a great recipe for a large crowd or to give as gifts.  I used the mini muffin cupcake liners and the recipe made over 100 pieces of candy! 
 

Mason and I made Santa's cookies together.  He was so excited.  He loves helping in the kitchen. 


He wanted to tasted the cookie dough so bad, but I told him no, so he licked his fingers instead!  HA!


Mason said Santa wanted chocolate milk.
 


Coming around the corner Christmas morning (after we woke him up at 7:30). 

"Mommy, Daddy!!!  Santa came"  And then he said, No.  Papa brought me lots of gifts.  GEEZ!  This boy loves his Papa!






Wow! Mason must have been a good boy!  Santa left him lots of nice gifts.  Even a HP Touchpad.  COOL! We are going to have so much fun with everything!



Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk too!  Wow!  He left me a letter!





We opened our stockings and looked at our gifts, ate a little breakfast, and headed to Nina and Papa's house!

To be continued.... 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Show Us Your Christmas Cards


Hey y'all! I'm linking up with Kelly again today to share our Christmas cards.  I thought it would be fun to show the past four years.  I love looking back to see how much we've changed.  Well, to see how much Mason has changed.  I just look older!  HA!

I never realized this until now, but apparently I like red and green.  I see a pattern in all of our cards.  I have a few places that I generally order from.  My first choice is Tiny Prints, second choice is Shutterfly and third is Snapfish.  It is really based on price and which one is the cutest!  Honestly, I try to spend no more than $40 on the cards and then you have to buy the postage.  That may not be a lot, but I think it's plenty to get a cute card.  

I really do love Christmas cards.  Giving and receiving, but I can definitely see a change in the number folks who send them out anymore.  Maybe due to the economy or maybe the season just gets so busy.  Either way, I hope to continue our tradition.  To me it's a part of the Christmas spirit.





 






From our family to yours ~ 

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Forever Treasures

It wasn't so long ago, well, maybe a few years, HA! that I made little treasures and brought them home to my family.  My mom still has them all and puts them out at Christmas time.  Although I don't remember, I'm sure I was so excited to bring them home.

Mason has brought home all types of fun treasures during this month.  

Here's my little angel.




 His fingerprint reindeer.  Kinda looks like a turtle to me.



 Snowman clothes pin.  Look closely and you can see his smiling face!


Fingerprint Rudolph. Such a cute poem!


 Mason printed his own trees and snow on this wooden plaque.  


 The legend of the Candy Cane.  Mason said it's for baby Jesus.  So precious!



I'm sure you have forever treasures too.  I hope your little one has brought them home to you and that you will put them out each year and remember those special times!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Day of Silence



"Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc. is a licensed, non-profit, mental health clinic and youth services bureau dedicated to helping children and families achieve their highest potential. NYFS provides programs, services, activities, counseling, support groups and education throughout the Greater Newtown area.

ANY DONATIONS MADE TO NEWTOWN YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES WILL BE DONATED DIRECTLY TO THOSE EFFECTED BY THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING."

 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Show Us Your Life ~ 2012 Christmas Tour of Homes

Hey y'all! Come on in!  I'm joining Kelly today in the Christmas tour of homes.

I'm taking you in the back door first.  I have a wreath coming in from the garage.




The outside of our home is pretty simple.  A natural arrangement on top of our milk jug, garland on the porch, and wreaths with red bows on the windows.



We also hung large ornaments from the front porch.  You can only see one in this picture, but we have 5 all together.  


Coming in the front door, in the foyer are just a few things.



Mason has his own tree too! Just a little fiber optic tree from Target.  He loves it! In the past two years, I have put his tree in his room, but not now.  He is into everything.  I'm afraid he would hurt himself with the hooks and probably destroy the tree. 







We usually alternate colors every year.  Sometimes red and gold, sometimes just all traditional ornaments (ones we have collected through the years) and this year, lime green and red.  I love it!  Call me old school or traditional (or maybe just plain simple), but to me Christmas isn't the same without red.  I guess we just like red.



I really wanted lime green mesh, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  I guess everyone else wanted some too!  So, I ended up with this ribbon instead.  I like it too, but the mesh is a lot thicker and puffy, so it helps fill in the gaps.  I got this ribbon from Michael's. 

We mixed in some of our traditional ornaments too.  Mason's hand print and picture from last year, along with a few others.  I'm loving the green sequin ornaments.  Those are from Big Lots. 



I only put hurricanes and each end of the mantle with our stockings in between.  We have our TV in the middle, so there is not a ton of room to play with.  


A few things on my new shelves.


I decided to decorate the top of the kitchen cabinets this year.  I only decorated one side.  The main reason is because everything is out of Mason's reach!  HA!  The two Santa's were made by Kevin's Grandmother and the other things are glass.  



I thought this sign was cute.  From Dollar Tree...  $1.00.  I bought two of them and put one outside.
 

Nativity scene... Way up high!  Out of the reach of little hands. 



That's about it!  Thanks so much for visiting.  See you soon!