Welcome...come on in!

Many of you know that I was participating in a DIY Challenge to make as many Christmas gifts as possible under $50, which I'll share the final projects next week. While working on those, we had some home projects going on at the same time.

I'm very excited to tell you that our home projects have been completed (but I still have several sewing projects to finish up) and that we have Christmas tree standing in our family room. Also, I'm happy to tell you I found my Christmas spirit!! My kids were a huge part of how I found it. Decorating the tree with them last night helped me to rediscover that joy. I wasn't sure if Colin was at a good age or not, but we started out talking about their own ornaments they get at Christmas and I showed them how to carefully open, unpack and take care of their ornaments. Mine have lasted a long time and I hope theirs do too. Colin jumped right in to helping and it was such a joy to decorate with them!

So, with no further ado, come on inside, warm up from the cold, and let me show you around. Included in this tour will be some before photos as well, so you don't have to try to remember what my house look liked! ;-)

Please, come in! It's cold outside and the rain...yuck!

Here's some cocoa to warm you up!

And a cookie! (Ok, so they aren't fresh baked out of my oven, and I found this picture on my computer taken in July of '07 - but hey, that's the beauty of a virtual tour!)

You may remember I lost something in here?

Yes, it was my Christmas spirit.

We're still working at getting the room straightened up. But it is much better. In this room, we have Quintin's nativity he crafted in co-op last year, on display. Just look - don't touch - he's pretty particular about his handiwork. And what artist, isn't?

The photo below, was taken a few weeks ago. This is how our playroom looked. We needed to move EVERYTHING out of it which is why the living room looked ridiculously a little bit cluttered.

Let me take you into our playroom. We are still working on organizing what will work best for homeschooling. I almost feel a little overwhelmed with the space - but give me time!!

Aaaaahhhh - storage!! Let's zoom in on those top shelves, shall we?

Can you spot Charlie? Our elf from the North Pole!?!?

Just a few Christmas decorations to make the playroom more festive! After taking the above pictures, the kids and I decided to add their nativity to the shelves in the playroom. This advent nativity is a highlight for the kids! This year, instead of hiding Baby Jesus for the children to find Christmas morning, I'm going to wrap him up and give it to them to open after we sing Happy Birthday Jesus. Because I want them to know that He is the best present we all receive this Christmas!

And, let's leave the playroom and head into the family room. I LOVE these two rooms being side-by-side and just a few short steps from the kitchen. The playroom, family room and kitchen are along the entire back of our house! I LOVE it! Kudos to whoever thunk that up...HA! (Hey, after 2 weeks of chaos I deserve a little pat on the back, right?)

Sorry to throw this picture at you. I couldn't find my before pictures of my family room. This is the only picture I could find, but, if you look past the bunny and over the soldier's shoulder, you'll see vinyl flooring along the wall and a black cabinet. We treated that area of our family room as a hallway. The room was smaller and had brown carpet as seen in yesterday's post. (I'll spare you having to scroll down)

While the "grands" were here for Elle's birthday, we suckered them into moving our furniture - no cake unless you agree to help work! HA!

Ok, sorry for all the history there on our room. I tend to babble, just stop me if it gets to be too much. Don't worry about being nice, I can take it. My husband has hung up on me because I .... oh, goodness, excuse me, there I go again.

Remember the hallway with the vinyl? We removed the vinyl and re-carpeted the entire room after our cabinets were installed.

From the left, the two santa stockings were made by T's mom. I made the third one for T about 10 years ago. I started working on an angel stocking for myself at the same time...and well, yeah, it's one of the many UFOs in my house (un-finished objects). T's mom made the angel stocking for Elle. She liked my idea so much. She's made them for all the grandchildren in the family. Have I mentioned there are 17 grandchildren? Before making them for my children, she asked if I would prefer to make them...um, let's see. I made one in 10 years and you've made 14 in a matter of a few months...yeah, why don't you go ahead and make some for my kids! LOL!!! They are beautiful, and one day, there will be another angel alongside Elle's.

This is our first artificial tree. It's 9 feet tall. It only can fit in this room - hence the reason I had to wait so long to put it up. I did purchase it at 50% off after Christmas last year! And I think it is the most beautiful tree ever...and that isn't just because I didn't have to string it with lights!

Please step a little closer so you can see all the things on my shelves. Just be careful, the paint was touched-up yesterday.

My favorite piece to put out this year is this:

T bought the basic nativity part of it for me for Christmas last year. To my surprise, one of the stores in our quaint little town had the rest of the pieces at 50% off the day after Christmas! Score!! I love it!!

Here, you may leave through the kitchen door. Next time you stop by, please use this door instead of the formal front door. I know, you didn't know, but now you do! You are a friend, and like the sign at my mother in law's says, "Backdoor friends are best!"

Thanks for stopping by. I'm going to grab a pepsi and crash on the couch with the kids now! :-)

Praising God this Christmas for all that He has done and for sending us the greatest Gift,

His one and only Son!