How Do People Do It?

I mean...how do people work and get things done at home?  Either I run out of time or steam - sometimes both!  The good news is that school will be out this Friday and I will be off until January 9 (yep...four entire weeks!).  Hopefully after Friday, I will be able to finish decorating then begin working on Christmas gifts for my family.


This year, we decided to go with a "Mickey/Red and White" theme for the tree since we now live in Mickey Town.  We've collected Disney ornaments for several years so it seemed appropriate.  Our stuffed Christmas Mickey has a seat of honor as the tree topper.  The fresh baby's breath will eventually make it on to the tree, but we'll have to wait until the weekend to add that element.

Here are a few photos of our special ornaments.

Our First Christmas Together - 1979.  This is my most treasured ornament of all!

Simba had to get in on the photo action.  He actually thinks that the tree skirt is for his pleasure only!

Perpetual Tree Decorating...

Sunday morning, the Sabbath, and day of refreshing and rest -but today is an exception. Not only do I have an enormous amount of decorating to finish, I also have to lesson plan for the last week of school before our Christmas break begins.  Excited that we will be out of school for four weeks makes it tremendously difficult to focus on this last week!  I admit, I am torn between the world of "must do" and "wanting to do."  And here I sit, writing on my blog instead of studying - oops, did I just tell on myself??


Rennie worked so diligently yesterday on the Christmas tree.  After all the fluffing and fixing each branch, he begin to circle the tree with the multiple strands of white lights.  One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, and so on until he got to strand seven.  He picked up the brand new box and quickly discovered that this box was indeed white lights, but with white wiring - WHAT??? That means he will need to go return to Target and exchange them!  Reality set in and he quickly said, "I'm done for tonight!"  I didn't blame him for one moment.


Today, after several more hours, a return to Target to exchange lights and purchase more, Rennie has finally finished his role as the "light-putter-upper."  Now the ornament placement has been handed to me. (More about that in another post)

It may not look like much yet but I am extremely proud of Rennie for not tossing the tree into the front yard after all his troubles.  Final count:  950 white lights and 300 red lights

In the meantime, I have decorated the top of the wine cabinet with a few of my kitchen themed snowmen.

Our sweet kitty cat, Simba, has found a cushy spot atop a pile of tissue paper - he worked very hard helping today!

Now the only thing that lacks about the tree are the finishing touches - placing the tree skirt around the bottom and adding fresh baby's breath (something I began doing many, many years ago).  I love the way the little puffs of white add a snowy effect.  More photos to come later...

Our Journey to a Cottage Life

It's been almost a year since our move to Orlando.  Times really does fly by!  Our precious moments here has not gone without challenges, however, we do LOVE living here.  Our home is nestled in a quaint community with its eclectic houses, shopping areas, and plenty of parks and lakes.  I can say we have adjusted quite well.


My mind is swirling with ideas today.  Rennie and I ventured out last night in search for a new Christmas tree because our previous tree was way too tall for our cozier home now.  You would think that finding an artificial tree would be so simple, however, we went to several stores, hemming and hawing over what we thought would look best for the space we have.  Here it is the first week of December and most of the artificial trees are quite picked over already.  At first we wanted a pre-lit tree but our final decision was on a much "fluffier"one that was not pre-lit.  With a candy cane theme in mind, we chose white lights with a few strands of red as accents. We think it will work!

Our new tree - the first "fluffy and non-pre-lit" tree in  a long, long, time!

A few of the new accessories for this year.

After bringing in the new stuff, it was time to drag out the old stuff...and stuff we had!  Not only were there numerous bins on the back porch, but more in the backyard storage house.  What we thought would only take a few hours, took multiple hours.  Oh My Goodness...after emptying just a few bins, it looked as though Christmas had thrown up on my dinning room table!  So much to choose from and decide what I use, what I pack back up, or give away.

This is just from two bins! Snowmen, Gingerbread Men, and Santa's Oh My!

Needless to say, that more time was spent deciding what to use than actual decorating.  Poor Rennie didn't begin to work on the tree until later in the day and did not make much progress.  Of course, there is always another day! More next time...