Home for the Holidays

Moving in and of itself is a lot of work.  Moving the week before Christmas while you have bronchitis, well, that's just plain nuts!  Being sick the 2 weeks prior to the move led to us not being as prepared as we would have liked to have been, and the illness lingering on after the move has led to us not being as settled as I thought we would be by now, but hey, that's life, right?  And I must say, even though we're still somewhat in a state of chaos around here (surrounded by boxes, wondering where the heck we packed x, y, and z), we feel very much at home.  And it was so great to be here in our new home for Christmas!

One of the first things we unpacked was, of course, our Christmas tree and ornaments (I mean, we do have priorities...who cares about finding your pajamas or a hairbrush when you've got a Christmas tree to put up?!?).  Little G was so excited to put the tree up.  I had actually hoped to put up more Christmas decorations, but it just wasn't happening, so the tree was it for us this year. Oh, and stockings, of course!  I was excited to finally have a good place to hang the stockings.  No fireplace here, so no mantle, but there's a perfect little ledge by the columns between the living room and dining room.  So I picked up a couple of stocking hooks, which just happened to fit perfectly in the space.

I was also very excited to receive two new ornaments this year.  When I was little, every year, my grandmother would make ornaments for my sister and I and attach them to our packages.  Over the years most of them have migrated to me, so probably 90% of our ornaments are these handmade ones, my favorites being the ones made from felt. Well, this year, my mother-in-law made these two beautiful handmade felt matryoshka ornaments.  I was so delighted to receive them, and they look fantastic with all of the other handmade ornaments on our tree. 

Soon we will start packing up all the Christmas stuff, and start focusing on more pressing issues, like where to put our plates that are too big to fit in our shallow kitchen cabinets, and getting proper lamps for the rooms that have no light fixtures.  Now the fun begins!

A Little Touch of Christmas Decor

Moving in mid December is definitely a challenge for someone who loves to decorate for Christmas.  I wasn't about to drag out all my Christmas decorations with our move quickly approaching, but I couldn't stand to have nothing up.  Fortunately, as I was packing last week, I came across this little vintage Christmas tea towel.

This is one of my favorite Christmas decorations and has been in my family for many years.  It was embroidered by my grandmother, and I remember my parents putting it out every year when I was a child.  I've always loved the quiet little scene so intricately depicted on it.  I have been intending to frame it for quite some time now, so that I could more easily display it on my wall at Christmas time.  Last year  I left it out after Christmas, thinking that at some point during the year, I would get it done for this Christmas.  Then in typical me fashion, I got busy, set it aside, and forgot about it.  But when I uncovered it last week, I decided it was time to take a break from the packing, and get right to it!

I hadn't given a whole lot of thought to how I would frame it, but I've seen some things like this framed right in embroidery hoops and thought that might be a good option, especially since there were several stains on the non-embroidered parts.  And it just so happened that I had an embroidery hoop not yet packed up that was the right size.  Perfect!  I liked the contrast of the red edge of the towel, so I decided to paint the hoop red to keep the same look.  So here is our one and only Christmas decoration we have put up:

I think it came out quite nice!  It may not be much as far as decorating is concerned, but it is definitely special to me, and it's just enough of a touch of Christmas to tide me over until we move later this week.  Then we can get many more decorations out!

Boxes, Boxes, Everywhere!

Now that it is December, I can officially say that we are moving this month.  In just 2 weeks, as a matter of fact.  (Yippee!!)  So, we've been packing, and packing, and packing.  Packing seemed so much easier last time we did it, but 7+ years and 2 kids later, we have accumulated quite a lot!  Nearly every room in our house already has a stack of boxes that have been packed, sealed, and labeled, yet there is still lots more packing to do.

Aside from all the packing, things are moving along with the purchase of the house.  We had our appraisal this week, which went very well.  As I had mentioned before, there were a few things we thought might need to be fixed prior to closing for our FHA loan, however, the only thing our appraiser required that we do was remove a section of the deck that had no railings.  Pretty easy!  Well, I guess I should say easy for me, since it was hubby and our realtor who did all the work (thanks, guys!!).

So now we're just tying up loose ends, and continuing to prepare for the move.   And as we do, even though we're not moving to a deee-luxe apartment in the sky, I can't help but have the theme from The Jefferson's in my head.  When I searched for it on you tube, I found this video of two guys dancing along to it.  They look like they're having so much fun...makes me smile!  Hope it makes you smile too!  :)