this and that...and then some

I've been neglecting my blog lately, and not by choice. Since December 2nd someone in this household has had some kind of sickness. The entire month has been spent at doctor appointments and in doors. I feel utterly cooped up and I am. The month of December didn't start off well and its only prolonged what has been needing to get done...Christmas shopping and decorative transformation. Only in the last few days have I felt "Christmasy" and that's treading lightly around that word. I'm still getting Christmas decorations in order and the place is a mess. Anyway, onto bigger and brighter things...

First, I finished the first book of the Twilight saga, Twilight. Can I say "O-M-G!!" This book was truly fascinating. I took it everywhere ~ I even read it at traffic lights. Any chance I got, I read it. All I can say is that I would love to be bitten by Edward Cullen! Ugh!!! I just finished this book Friday and already picked up the second book New Moon. Can't say too much about it yet...just started it the other night.

I finally finished a cross stitch piece. I started this the week of Thanksgiving but since I got sick I lost focus and put it down. I'm embarrassed to admit that it is rather small and it should have been done sooner. However, I did finish stitching it a week ago and finally got around to putting the finishing touches on it late last night. It's a Heart In Hand design called Pine Tree. I stitched it on 32 ct Lambswool and the instruction was to chose any pine green and I choose DMC 520. I hand sewed a piece of deep red fabric on the back and attached jute cording so I could hang it on my tree. I lightly stuffed it with fiber-fill. It's a cute little thing. I'm just happy I have another handmade ornament on my tree. :o)

Here is a sneak peek on my progress of The Sampler Girl's design Be Still and Know That I Am God freebie that Tanya was gracious enough to dream up. I can't wait to finish this and I have a couple of finishing ideas in the works. I really want this one to be special because it comes from a very special heart.

I have some really cool and exciting news!! Well, for me anyway. LOL I won a Blog Giveaway from Suzann!!! I am so excited about winning as I've never won anything before besides a gold fish in the 5th grade. I would like to add though that my gold fish, Bubba, lived for 5 years so he was a wonderful prize after all. Of course, I have no idea what I've won from Suzann. According to her blog it is a box full of goodies! I cannot wait to receive it! Thanks Suzann and Merry Christmas to YOU!!!

As of Friday, Jose is off school and doesn't return until January 7th. Can you believe that? That's a looong time to be out of school for winter break. I remember we returned the day after New Year and it felt all too short a break. Jose complained because he didn't think the break was long enough. Ha-ah! I am somewhat relieved though. DH gets to have at least 2 weeks of sleeping in time bc normally he takes Jose to school. And I get a much needed break from picking up Jose after school. It'll be nice to not have to be somewhere everyday. During Jose's break he will get to spend a couple nights at his Nana and Papa's which he's looking forward to. He loves spending time with them and I'm so blessed that he does. They are fantastic grandparents! Cameron still hasn't had his chance to spend the night yet and that'll be interesting when it occurs. :o) Remember the movie 'Indian in the Cupboard?' Here's my version of 'Cameron in the Cupboard'...well niche really! He fits so perfectly in this little hide-out.

We are ALL finally getting over the crud. DH and I are still coughing, but we're much improved. However, I've been sick the longest and DH is recovering rather quickly compared to myself. I just know I'll be sick for Christmas ~ been sick since December 4th. Jose still has a runny, stuffy nose, and Cameron still has a very teeny-tiny cough that causes some gagging, but we haven't had vomit in days so this is looking good!

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! I met up with Mom today to do some last minute shopping. Oh who am I kidding??? I just went Christmas shopping for the first time yesterday. I am beating myself up over this. I do have a couple excuses though. For one, we've all been rather sick and this has delayed my wanting to go out into the world and shop. Being sick really can get depressing. I've been slowly getting Christmas decorations out and I'm not proud of myself with that either. It bothers me to no end that it is 4 days until Christmas and I'm still not done decorating the house. Not for me, but for my kids' sake, I should have had this done weeks ago. I feel like a terrible mother. BUT for the last couple days I've been trying to pull myself together and get to decorating. Here are photos of our decorations. Next year will be better, I just know it...I feel it!

These are Santa pants that my late MIL gave to us as a gift. The best part about this gift were the delicious jams and jellys she made that were tucked inside the legs. They fit perfectly and stood erect all on its own. It was such a cute gift! Unfortunately, my home doesn't come with a fireplace. If it did, I would hang Santa's pants off the mantle.

The picture on the far left is one of me, Jose and DH long before we were ever married. We were so cute the three of us! This is one of my favorite photos of us three together.

My garland of angels.

My Mom bought this angel for me a few years back. It's one of my favorite Christmas decorations. The angel needs a companion though. :o(

I'm sure most of you can guess where I bought my star and "hope" signage. :o)

Grandma's handmade poinsettia.

Santa holding two prim hearts. I love that old pillowcase fabric!

My little helpers. Aren't they cute?

My MIL gifted each of us an ornament several years ago. It really is cute! It's handmade but I'm not sure she made it...might have though. She was really creative.

I once was a figure skater so having an ice skate is essential to my tree. This is the more modern skate.

These are more rustic ice skates made from wood. I recently saw these at Kohl's and had to get them.

Jose made this ornament out of red pipe cleaner and a few plastic beads when he was in Kindergarten. I've held onto it ever since. Jose coiled it so it wraps around the tree branch just the way it should.

I love pigs! My cousin, Kari, gave this pig to me as a present a few years back. I have another pig on the tree, but this one is my favorite. It's very special to me.

This one is silly actually. My Mom stitched this. It is supposed to be a scissor fob. She gave it to me a really long time ago since I didn't have a fob and I decided to use it as an ornament. It's fitting, don't you think? LOL

Glad Tidings...simply put!

Ah...NOEL! This ornament used to belong to my Mom and naturally she gifted it to me. It's been on our tree forever. I remember it as a child ~ it's probably older than me! I love how the light shines through...like stained glass.

See the faded construction paper garland? Well, that was my little creation when I was teeny-tiny. My Mom usually puts this on her tree, but as of last year it re-belongs to me.

My newest ornament this year is the acorn and I stitched the star piece two years ago. It technically doesn't "belong" on the tree, but I wanted it there this year.

Jesus does save...and by the looks of it, he saves the purple Mickey Mouse head ornament too. Since my Dad works for Disney it's only appropriate to have Mickey on the tree. In fact, there are 12 of these bad-boys!

No tree is complete without Santa. He adorns the top near the angel, but she hasn't made it there yet. I'll post her portrait at a later time.

That's it for now. I know...overkill right?!?! Hey, it's Christmastime ~ tis the season to be sharing! I meant to post this Saturday night, but Cameron had another episode of vomiting, even after I said we hadn't had one of those in days, he goes and decides to have a Linda Blair moment so I had to tend to that and help put him back to sleep. He was rather upset. I was pooped and fell asleep with him. And now it's Sunday, we finished our breakfast of scrambled eggs and blueberry muffins and lunch is now upon us - a late lunch really. Now off to finish laundry, clean up, finish putting away decoration boxes, and get to some much needed stitching! It relaxes me so.