The Christmas List (Completed Items)

Well, we made a sizable dent in our Christmas List this year, even if we totally forgot to leave cookies out for Santa and the Reindeer.

1. Visit Santa
2. Ride the Pink Pig
3. Watch “Elf”
4. Bake sugar cookies
5. Bake and decorate Gingerbread boys and girls
6. Find a Christmas Tree
7. Decorate Christmas Tree
8. Sip hot apple cider
9. Listen to Christmas Carols (Sing at the tops of our lungs)
10. Make Christmas Ornaments
11. Watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”
12. Watch “A Christmas Story”
13. Drive around looking at Christmas lights
14. Visit a live Nativity Scene
15. Deliver holiday cookies to a neighbor
16. Put up the Christmas decorations in the house
17. Magical Nights of Lights at Lake Lanier
18. See the Nutcracker performed by The Atlanta Ballet at the Fox Theater
19. Eat hot Krispy Kreme donuts and drink peppermint hot chocolate in our jammies.
20. Make and send Christmas cards to our dear friends, The Petersons, who just moved to Birmingham.
21. Paint a holiday scene in watercolor
22. Watch “The Polar Express”
23. Leave cookies and milk for Santa and treats for the Reindeer
24. Make “Gingerbread Pancakes”
25. Make paper snowflakes
26. Watch “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
27. Watch “Frosty the Snowman”
28. Make teachers’ gifts
29. Decorate a Gingerbread House
30. Awaken “Soucie” our Elf on the Shelf from his long nap
31. Celebrate Jesus’ birthday
32. Eat Clementines
33. Watch “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
34. Read “The Christmas Story”
35. Make “Double Chocolate Peppermint Pancakes”

Happy New Year! We hope you have a blessed and wonderful 2011!

Christmas 2010 (Part 1)

Each year, the girls get to open one present on Christmas Eve, it is always a new pair of pajamas or a new nightgown.

 

They were so excited!!! Gymboree makes an awesome fleece nightgown that is super cute and cozy!

Posing by the tree in their new nighties!

Poor Ferg… he so desperately wanted to open a present on Christmas Eve too… he actually stole his stocking stuffer out of the grocery bag earlier in the day and I found him in the dining room with it. I took it away, much to his dismay to surprise him again with it the next day.

Whew! Presents all wrapped and ready for the big day!

Lovely lights…

Racing down the stairs on Christmas morning, notice our elf, Soucie, sitting on the steps.

Both girls were delighted with their stockings!

Surprise! Fergus LOVED his new toy and biscuits. It is so cute to watch him open his own stocking.

Helping Daddy open his presents.

Yummy snacks! I love Mike N’ Ikes and Cadbury chocolate.

These nuts are ridiculously good. You know how you have to dig through the mixed nuts to find the good ones? Not with these, every bite is delicious. Almonds, Cashews, Macadamia Nuts and Pecans covered in Sea Salt. Oh my word… salty, heavenly goodness in a can!

Oh Lauren… such a sweet and silly girl!

Getting ready to open my new camera. Yes, that’s right folks, there’s new member in the Hamilton household and she’s a Canon Rebel T1i. I literally squealed with delight when I opened it.

We had a lot of fun opening our family’s gifts at our house before packing up the brunch to take down to my in-laws’ so the fun could begin all over again.

Blessed

Christmas is such a magical time of year, especially when you have little ones at home. The excitement leading up to the big day was intense, the girls could hardly contain themselves and their enthusiasm was contagious!

I was battling a massive head cold that had settled into my sinuses and left me feeling stuffed up, achy, tired, cranky and miserable. Not a good combination when you are trying to finish up last minute details and menu plan for a huge family brunch on the big day. We had originally planned to go to the family service at our church earlier in the day, but it didn’t happen, so we joined the family at my in-laws church for an early evening service instead. Church on Christmas Eve is especially difficult for me as this is the time when I miss my family back home in Nova Scotia the most. I usually cry through the whole service and think about what they are doing and how much I am missing them. It happens every year. I thought it would get easier as the years passed, but it only gets harder. I have been living down south for 10 years now.

So, there I was, feeling sad, homesick and sick and was totally wrapped up in myself during the first part of the service. I am not proud as I know this is not what Christmas is about. It wasn’t until I found myself standing arm in arm with my beautiful mother-in-law, tears streaming down both of our faces that it finally clicked. Both of us excused ourselves and went to the bathroom where we both burst out laughing because of the tears. I asked her if she was missing her parents as both have passed away in recent years. She replied yes, but that was not why she was crying. You see, her tears were tears of happiness because she was surrounded by her entire family and her heart was swelling with pride and joy.

In that moment, my sour attitude melted away, it was just what I needed to hear and I felt so proud and honored to be part of such a wonderful family. Even though I missed my family back home terribly, I am so richly blessed to be part of two such amazing families, both near and far.

I love and miss you Mom and Dad, Roberta, JL, Rick, Drea and Ronan! Maybe we’ll get home for Christmas sometime soon to celebrate with you again. Until then, please know how much I am loving you and missing you from afar.  xoxoxoxoxo

“I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now “ – Mercy Me

Merry Christmas!

Merry merry

Here are a few more touches of Christmas throughout the house…

We made a glittery paper chain and snowflake for the stairs. We picked out some cute and colorful stockings from Target. (I thought about putting giant lollipops in the stockings but was afraid the girls and Fergus would make short work of them…)

Check out our new snowman, isn’t he adorable?

Jingle bells on the chandelier…

More fun Christmas books…

 

I think it might be time to start putting the gifts under the tree…

“Ruff” Life

Whew! This Christmas Season can really wear a dog out!

Going…

Going …

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Christmas Present Canvas: A Tutorial

I had an empty space on the wall going up the stairs that was in need of a wreath or some other type of fun Christmas decor. I wasn’t able to find anything I liked (for the price I was willing to pay) and didn’t have time to make a wreath, (hopefully, next year) so I made up cute and crafty idea to fill the space. I went to JoAnn’s and picked up a double pack of 16x20 canvases. They are 40% off all the time so it was a very good deal. I chose some darling fabric to stretch over the canvas, Alexander Henry’s “Merry Main Street”. (It was also on sale!) This fabric is adorable and has a fun vintage feel to it. I picked out two coordinating colors of Ric Rac to compliment the fabric, one thick and one thin.

Materials Needed:

• Canvases (I used 16x20)
• Material large enough to cover the canvas (It will actually cover two of them)
• Ric Rac or pompom trim or whatever decorative accent you think would look fun (my Ric Rac measured 9 ft and was enough for both canvases)
• Fabric Scissors
• Small staple gun

Directions:

• Cut your fabric along the crease to reveal two equally sized pieces, one for each canvas
• Iron your fabric to get rid of any wrinkles
• Stretch the fabric over the canvas and staple to the back like you are wrapping a present
• Stretch the Ric Rac across the front in a decorative pattern and staple to the back
• Staple a small strip of Ric Rac to the top of the back of the canvas for hanging.
• Hang and admire your finished product

Fold the corners as you would if you were wrapping a gift, pull until snug and staple.

Cut a small, double strip of Ric Rac and staple it twice on each end to make a hanger.

Voila! The finished products. You can keep keep one for yourself and give one away, or keep them both, or give them both away! They are super cute and easy to make!

 

Here are some close-up shots of the different Ric Rac patterns.

I thought the horizontal Ric Rac stripes would work well with the repeating pattern of the fabric. I love how it turned out.

Or, you could use the Ric Rac to wrap it like a gift. Either way, both finished products are super cute!