Christmas Tree in Den

This is our Christmas Tree in the den. It's the one that has the more random assortment of ornaments. It's a 9.5' live tree and I put about 2000 lights on it. You can also see our stockings hung on the banister. Though many of the ornaments on this tree are random, I am somewhat trying to go with a whimsical theme and color scheme of certain shades of red & green.

Gold Reindeer

When we went to the mountains for Thanksgiving weekend, we did some shopping in downtown Black Mountain. I found these glittery gold reindeer - at a bargain, no less - and I just love them!

Christmas Layouts (photos from cards)

I had promised myself that I would have my Christmas album caught up through last year as of Thanksgiving so it could be put on display for the holiday season. Well, needless to say, I broke my promise. Last night I did manage to whip out these not-so-great pages. Both are featuring photos sent with or as Christmas cards. The first 2-page layout is from 2004 (the last page that needed to be done for that year). The 2nd page with the pocket is from 2005. I have two more 2-page layouts from last Christmas and the album will be done. Just in time to worry about 2006!

I always scrap the photos I'm sent. I may not keep every Christmas Card I receive, but if you take the time to take a photo, have it printed and send it to me - rest assured you will be immortalized in my scrapbooks LOL!

Christmas in the Guest Room

Our guest bedroom has become "Christmas Central", as it is where I've kept all the decorations and Christmas projects that are in progress. It was a disaster for quite a while but I'm making progress getting it cleaned up. Luckily for us, the only guest staying with us this holiday season isn't until the weekend after Christmas.

But I digress... these are the couple of decorations that I put up in this room. I saw the tacky pink tree at Michael's and fell in love with it. I purchased mini ornaments and garland from Pier 1 to fit my color scheme. The blue vase was already in the room so I just switched out the flowers for a white poinsettia.

The bedcovers in this room are a teal blue (similar to the vase color) so these decorations actually kind of work in there (though I know that most people probably think that's the tackiest tree ever!)

A few more...

Sunday was my nephew Teddy's 10th birthday. So, while we were at dinner Saturday night (at Carraba's), we had a mini celebration.















This is Spencer with his cousin/my niece Maggie - they are about 6 months apart in age.



















This is me and my two sisters - aren't we precious? That's me in the middle.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving weekend, my family went to the Black Mountain area to visit my grandmother, cousin and her family. Here are some of the many family snapshots we took while there.

We actually stayed at Montreat - and this is the entrance. I just thought it was really pretty.














This is my grandmother with most of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

















This is my grandmother, my mom, me and my two sisters (I'm the one on the back row, far left)

Our Gold Tree

This is our gold Christmas tree - our "pretty" tree. It's in the upstairs hallway. You see it as soon as you walk in the front door and it also shows from the road through an arch window. I really love it.

Cowboy Tree

This is the mini Cowboy tree in my scrapbooking room. I love it, except it's too small. I see awesome decorations everywhere that I'd love to buy, but as you can see - the poor little tree is already loaded down.

Amazing shot

Don't you just love this shot of Spencer decorating one of our Christmas trees. The "glow" is 100% from the tree lights. I did absolutely no editing to this picture. I love it.

cool picture

This is a shop in downtown Black Mountain - just thought it was a cool shot. I increased the color saturation and got a picture that I think is kind of "Elsie-ish" :)