St. Nicholas Tea Party

Today was the big day for the tea party. These are the cute invitations that I handed out at the party because I was so slow in ordering them. Note to self - plan ahead next year!This is the gumdrop tree that I made to be the centerpiece. I ended up doing the same centerpiece that they used at our church for the end of our women's bible study, so this sat on the island and tempted my grandsons. They ate a lot of gumdrops!
This is Elizabeth's place setting. She gets the teapot near her and she loves to pour for everyone. They were so much better about the sugar this year, I think only 1 lump per cup. Last year I think Elizabeth had about 8 in her cup. When she was done with her "tea" {Snowman Punch} there was 1/2 inch of sugar in the bottom of her cup:-)

The little Santa holds a Santa necklace that each girl received.
Yummy cookies that I would like to take credit for, but they were left over at church and so I brought them home for the kids.
I never got a picture of the food, but I stacked it in the cake plates in the middle. The top was very festive fruit {lots of Christmas food picks} 2nd level was celery with cream cheese and craisins and the bottom was pb and j sandwiches cut into stars and trees. The little heart plate held cheese and crackers - the cheese was cut in holiday shapes, and the dome held mini cupcakes - just in case they didn't have enough sugar.

The grands ready for action.
Elizabeth and sweet Jackson.
This is cute little Berkley with her Santa necklace on. Berkley loved to play with the mini tea set under the living room tree. I see a lot of tea parties in your future Chrissy!
Cooper showing you his wind up Santa.
The party girl and her necklace.
Finally got a shot of Ben looking at the camera.
This is Elizabeth's friend Elliott, big sister of Berkley. She is also modeling her necklace. Aren't their dresses so cute?
E and E
The party guests minus Jackson. We also missed Elizabeth and Ben's cousin Josh who was home sick. We hope you are better soon Josh and sorry you had to miss the fun.
Grandma and the grands {sounds like a weird rock group}
Such fun - and I know it was so special to Elizabeth. We do like our tea parties and I'm sure this will be an annual event. {this was our 2nd year}

We have Elizabeth and Ben over night tonight and the play on Sunday and then next week is Peppermint Day!! I think I have to go and take a nap.

Christmas Open House - Part III

How many days do you think I can drag out my Christmas decorations? It does take me a long time- but hopefully with all of these pictures it'll be a breeze next year. {yeah, right - I'm just super slow}

Took a snap of the house at night. I didn't know if it would turn out, but it's not bad. I am going to take a few more when it warms up a bit.
This is the only clean part of the family room. I have a new wreath and one new Santa. I am sadly lacking in shelves in this house, so I decided to put the Santas on the mantel this year.
A tiny corner of the kitchen. Again, the only clean spot!
This is the guest bath - not too exciting, but I couldn't figure out how to delete this shot. There aren't even any Christmas decorations.
More guest bath.
This is a shot of a small portion of my soap collection. My family makes fun of me because I do have a little thing for soap. If I knew how to make a mosaic I would take picture of my whole collection!! Luckily I don't have a clue on mosaics.
This is our guest room. Last year I left the gold icicles off the tree, and this year the beads are gone. I wonder if next year the ornaments will still be here? It seems like a waste, as we don't have any guests to enjoy it, but the bay window it sits in faces the street and the tree looks pretty from the street. As it is a prelit tree and now has very few decorations, it is really very easy to put up.
Above the guest bed is a lovely piece my aunt stitched. I have always loved it. The Christmas tree pillow on the bed was part of a felt tree skirt my grandpa made a long time ago! My mother cut the skirt up and made a pillow for me and one for each of my daughters. It is one of my favorite things.

{click on the picture to enlarge} {note to self for new year - learn how to make the pictures bigger! I know there are lots of directions on different blogs:-)}
Tomorrow is the St. Nicholas Tea Party and Elizabeth and Benjamin are spending the night. Once I recover I will post some pictures of all of the fun. And it will be so much fun!

Seeing the Christmas sights

WARNING: Lots of pictures in this post!

Click on the picture to enlarge any of them.

Welcome to a Texas Christmas. I guess this is the jolly Santa that visits those of us in the Lone Star State. We visited a local hotel today to see their Christmas decorations. They have just a few - and we plopped my cute grandchildren down in front of all of them!
My favorite people.
Isn't she the sweetest girl?!
Joined by 2 pretty sweet little boys. I just love how they hug each other. I wish I had gotten a picture of them walking around the hotel, often hand in hand.
One of the pretty trees.
Elizabeth and Benjamin.
Ben, Cooper, Elizabeth, and Jackson.
Jackson had had enough!
What is in here?
Nothing---lots of false fronts -that are good for climbing and posing for pictures.
This gingerbread house is something. I should have taken a picture of the list of ingredients. I think I remember that they used 500 pounds of flour! Those are blue m & m's and real candy on the whole house. The kids wanted to pick it off and eat it.
These are some Texas sized cookies!
Elizabeth snapped this cute picture of Jackson.
This is a picture of the side of the gingerbread house - all m & m's.
The boys loved these reindeer. And loved to hug them - they were prickly!

Waiting for Laura to pick us up.
We had a great time and then headed to my house for lunch. Fun day. Come back Friday to see pictures of our St. Nicholas Tea Party.

Christmas Open House - Part II

Here we go - more pictures. I think only my daughters and sister read this blog and it's a good thing, because there are going to be a lot of pictures this December. I decided to get all of my decorations down this year, as I haven't done that since we moved here 2 years ago. We've been married 32 years and I have gotten rid of a lot - but much remains. If I can't find a home for it this year it's off to charity with the remainder. {hopefully} These pictures will help me next year to put things up quickly.

This is a sampler I stitched many years ago in my cross stitch phase. {my eyes were younger then} I still love it and am glad it found a home in the hall leading to the guest room.

{click to enlarge any photo}
This is our library - not a lot going on in here.

My nutcracker carolers found a home on the mantel though - we are going to start the tradition of the Nutracker Ballet next year {Elizabeth will be in kindergarten} for all of the women in our family. The children do have stockings, they are hanging in the family room.

Now we are back in the living room. No rhyme or reason to the order of these pictures ...
...because here is a picture of the windows in the hall to the guest room. This is actually right outside the library and as I sit at my desk this is my view.
Back to the living room.

Window sill in living room.
Tiny hall leading from the living room to the family room.



One more shot of our lovely snow - I thought it was so pretty on my patio arrangement.
This is the side door - a little bit of snowmen.
Next up will be the guest room and bath, and the kitchen. We have a busy day shopping tomorrow, but hope to post by Monday.

We went to the company Christmas party on Thursday night. Sure wish I'd had my camera. We ate dinner on the field of C*wboy stadium, right under the giant TV screen. It was pretty nice! I am sure it will be the only time I get to the stadium so it was a great way to see it.