Deck the Halls

And now we come to Christmas and all the decorating.  Last year, after Christmas I went to Home Depot and all of their Christmas decor was extremely reduced.  I was able to pick several new decorations at 75% off that I would normally never spend full price for.  Every year after Christmas, Beau and I try to buy a little something new for the next year and after nearly 17 years of marriage, we have acquired many neat things.  But last year after Christmas was by far the most we had ever purchased at one time for the next year.  I was literally giddy.  This meant that decorating for Christmas 2014 would be so much fun.  We have two fireplaces in this house so I get to make two mantles pretty.  I have a beautiful stairway so decorating the banister was fun.

I skipped putting out my villages this year....they are so time consuming.  But I spent several years collecting them because I would buy 2 or 3 each Christmas.  My collection isn't anything spectacular compared to the elderly couple in Florida that lived in our neighborhood.  Each year, he would fill his entire garage with his village and open it up for the public to see.  It was amazing to see and one would have to appreciate all the work that must have gone into that display.  

This year we got to spend an evening celebrating Christmas with our church growth group.  Between playing a scavenger hunt with Christmas tree ornaments and playing pictionary with Christmas songs, and watching the kids play contently with one another, it was a great evening of fellowship.  

Also this year, we went to the neighborhood Christmas party.  She had some piece of Christmas in every corner of the house.  It was straight out of a Martha Stewart magazine.  Every room had a different theme and it was tastefully done.  They have this party every year so she must have it down to a science.  And the food.  Oh my.  The food.  I have never seen so much food and she prepared everything herself.  There was something there for every person's taste.  As I was complimenting the hostess on her party, she told me she started decorating in July.  I am not sure if she was serious or not, but I could believe it.  

Christmas Eve day, we made cookies and decorated them.  They were too ugly to take pictures.  I still have not become a baker worthy of pictures, but maybe one day.  That evening, we attended our church candlelight service.  This is always a beautiful event and wonderful time to worship our Savior.  Two of the four boys did fall asleep, but in all fairness, the lights were turned down low and the music was calming.  Oliver and Carter had no choice.  

When we got home, the boys put on their new Christmas jammies and hopped into bed.  I did not manage to get a picture this year but Carter was batman, Oliver was a minion, and William was a ninja turtle.  They were all a little restless, but it didn't take them long to fall asleep with thoughts of Santa and presents.  

Santa pile

Santa pile

Add caption

Zander got lots of bedroom decor to go in his new room

I got the perfume and fuzzy socks that I wanted this year, a casserole style crock pot, scrapbooking items, and to my surprise, a box of screws along with 3 auto cad designs for layout plans for new shelving in the basement from which I could choose.  I loved them all, but I am most excited about the shelves.  Beau totally knows my love language-labor.  Pictures will be posted later.  

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our friends and family.  

Thanksgiving 2014

Our 2014 simply flew this year.  As the saying goes, the days were long but the year was quick.  This year saw many new changes, tough decisions, learning opportunities, and plenty of God moments. Spring and Summer are a blur, but things finally felt more normal once Fall arrived.  Our lives began to slow down just a bit.  Yes, we were still busy with soccer, cub scouts, school, homework, but we were back to a schedule.  As I have mentioned previously, Fall is my favorite time of the year.

William and his poppy

This year, my parents decided to visit us for a week during Thanksgiving.  We were looking forward to their visit, especially the boys.  I had the privilege to spend time with my parents by myself in Florida in July and again in August, but the boys hadn't seen them since April.   Once November showed up on the calender, they literally counted down the days until Nana and Poppy's arrival.  As much as I was happy they were here, they simply never felt comfortable this time.  The weather was cold and we had an unusual snow the day before Thanksgiving.  Although it was probably the prettiest snow I had seen since I had moved to NH, my parents did not appreciate it's beauty.  Even with the heat on, the electric space heater at their feet, and blankets available, my parents never warmed up.  In fact, my mom couldn't wait to return to her comfortable Florida weather.  On top of everything else, their hotel lost power so they ended up staying with us during their week here.  We luckily now have an extra room that makes for a great spare bedroom.  Thankfully the boys were on their best behavior the whole time my parents visited.  I was so grateful for that.

Front Porch

The boys had a blast playing in the snow, even Ollie.  They are finally completely independent now putting on all their snow gear.  They even know to use the bathroom prior to putting on everything without any reminders.  Carter keeps outgrowing his brothers so this year the largest snow pants had to go to him and his old ones went to Oliver.  Carter has always weighed more than his brothers, but he is currently the tallest one too.  It is impossible to keep up with clothing him.  The four boys spent hours in the yard playing in the snow on the first day.  But when that day was over, Oliver declared that he was done with the snow for the entire season and that I could pack his stuff away until next Winter.  He's my kid with lots of sensory issues and getting him into snow gear is nearly impossible.  The fact that he wore his snow clothes for an entire day was quite impressive.  That's my Ollie! While the kids played outside all day, I made all my casseroles for Thanksgiving.  I have made enough Thanksgiving dinners to learn what works best for me.  I make everything the day before so that on Thanksgiving all I have to do is make the turkey and warm up all the food from the previous day.

We decided this year that we would move around the furniture in our living room to accommodate our Christmas Tree.  We have this huge entertainment center that we love, but it takes up so much room in our awkward living room. You see, our living room does not have a single wall without windows, fireplace, or glass doors. Therefore, we are quite limited with our furniture layout.  So, we broke down the entertainment center putting the two end pieces together in the corner and leaving only the tv console in the front of the room, now making the room appear much larger.    My parents supervised, while secretly enjoying the fact that it was us and not them making this move.

The sun rising lit up the sky.  Just beautiful.

Oliver dislikes having his picture taken almost as much as he dislikes wearing snow gear.  Ha!

Snow Bunny #1

Snow Bunny #2

This creek is behind our house.  Love the Autumn leaves with the snow

Snowman family

As always, we enjoyed my parents visit.  However, they were happy to return home to the sunshine that Florida is famous for.  As my mom left, she vowed to never visit New Hampshire again past September.  LOL.  Probably a good chance they will never decide to live in New England near their daughter!!!