I'm to my usual puttering

This is one of the lovely mirrors I had asked and hoped for that my kind husband purchased for me, I asked for one but got two , which was so nice, because the second went into Sophie's room over her dresser, they were a little worse for wear as in the store they had been bashed around with obviously some black frames and were very badly marked, but I fear not, a few q-tips and acetone free nail polish remover later and a gentle hand and all the marks were gone.
I love them so thick and bold with all the nail heads.
Were splurged on this big screen tv , not my first choice of size , but I gave in here, easily after all the price dropping going on, we removed one shelf and a doored cupboard from this hutch and the tele fit perfectly. I have some repair work to do , but this makes the best tv console .
Sophie's chandelier has been crying out for some love, o I found these cheap yet shapely shades and glues on some super soft chenille velvet Ric rack and ribbon as well as these three beaded flowers that I have had for years.
I love them , aren't they so sweet.

Christmas Morning

Now that's a lot of Webkinz, now what to name them all.
She is quite pleased.

My wish came true , I got the coveted Kitchen Aid mixer , I love it , that will help me so much each week to make the nut free treats for the school.
Oh they are so cute when they cuddle in their new matching sweaters.

Opa's chair

This is the chair I often sat on when visiting my Oma and Opa, throughout my childhood, it has obviously seen better days. Some time ago my Mom dropped it off to me to have me work on it, I haven't found that time, as I have been doing constant home improvements over this past year . Until tonight ,, after I brought it up last night during our party , and I was inspired.
So I will show you its sad state, I have made great headway on it tonight, as it is a tradition on Christmas Eve to do some random unplanned project , last year it was painting stripes on my bedroom wall.

That is deteriorated electrical tape, some parts still had some stickiness.

I will keep you updated when the time is right , Mom no previews for you.

I little Christmas decor added to the boudoir...I fell in love with these paper crafts , and bring them out each year at Christmas time to add some festivity to the bedrooms, Sophie had kitties, as well as Mason has kitties.
Here is the bedroom Christmas tree, full of presents, no not matching my color scheme , I have to be practical and use the paper we have, I would love to see a sea of white and silver gifts , oh that would be perfect.
We had my family for dinner and time together last night , we had a very nice time , Mom and Lawrence made Martini's using Oprah's pomegranate recipe , so good. Janice gave me a lovely hostess gift I went gaga over this canape cutter tin , so me , I love it , thought you all would love it too. http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/food/recipes/food_20051123_drink.jhtml

Christmas Arrive's

As you might tell we are not having a white Christmas after all, it is well above zero about 8c (46 f) which is just fine by me, I am not a fan of snow on any given day , I hate to be cold. Christmas is Christmas no matter the weather . There is snow on the ground but it is quickly melting I see green grass.

Not so traditional menu, goulash , mac and cheese,stuffing, rolls,chocolate pudding for the kiddies, key lime pie, always Krispy Kreme's (once a year) , and thanks to mom pomegranate martini's , and egg nog , oh yes egg nog of course. As well as a little play by Mason and Sophie,I hope stage fright doesn't set in.
I tend not to follow tradition when entertaining my family for Christmas, we all have Turkey dinner to enjoy over the holidays, I figure why do that twice.

Those candies are so shiny they are cherry creme.

I found this bowl at Winners a couple of days ago , it was $5.00 I later went home a realized it was the perfect vessel for my shell collection. Lucky me when I went back it was still there. Pleased!

Re-arranging for company

Ready for a frosty wintery party tomorrow night with family.

I am not ready to let people eat while sitting on my new linen bench , perhaps after i scotch guard it but for now , doesn't it fit perfectly here.

What have I been up to

It occurred to me that the Epi pen that my little one wears to school during recess could reach very low temperatures damaging the very precious life saving drug , we hope she will not need, and is too expensive to unnecessarily replace before the expiry.
So I searched out some Thinsulate, at my local fabric store, and Sophie picked out this soft polar fleece and I whipped up a little muff for her Epi Belt in time for tomorrow's recesses.

I have been baking my famous sugar cookies, I made these type cookies for my wedding favour over 10 years ago , the recipe is tried and true, a Martha Stewart classic, with royal icing. http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=7ee2640093b0f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default
this is the recipe I use but mine is double , that will make 26 orso of medium sized cookies. These are part if the teacher's gifts , I will put them in Chinese take away boxes from Michael's , I love those. I just need to watch my husband doesn't sneak any while the icing dries for 12 hours, he is weak around these cookies.
I realize my dog looks certifiable , I suppose he wasn't thrilled with his Christmas outfit, but I love it , he has such a shrunken head and the hoodie fit so well, he keeps losing his air , all over , he has bald spots on his head and his tummy is pretty hairless, he hates our Canadian winters.
I have a large on order for his younger yet much bigger brother, Boston Terrier sweat hoodies, Oh so cute.
I sure hope it passes the Sophie test.

Another Lovely Christmas Concert

Mason was dressed very festively in her red and sparkly shirt, she is growing up so quicklyI clearly need a new camera for distance, as mine can't handle it very well.
It was a very civilized night, lots of singing and instumentals , lovely.

Christmas Concert

good friends

I always love a good concert ...
pj's were the perfect attire...
Merry Christmas everyone.

The children's trees.

The tree

The two aqua blue ornaments were my Oma's , very vintage, glass , hand painted and glittered well the large one , the small ones look like mercury glass, they are beautiful. Sophie was a great help placing many of the unbreakable ornamets for me, her idea was to clump her things together , hmm that's different.

Here is my tree , it is as white as the snow, I have always wanted a white tree, last year I found this one for a song, much to my husbands dismay, a white tree?? He can not tell me its not beautiful nothing showcases special items like a background of white. For all of you purists I can not nor have we ever had a "real" tree it would surely kill my poor husband due to his allergies Christmas is busy enough don't you think?
I am simple when decorating the tree, no garlands , not too much fuss, lots and lots of ornaments that mean so much to me. This is a little dress I made it even has a hanger, that from my crafty days.
This is a gorgeous ornament that was actually my first grown up one, given to me by my Mother,notice the shells.
I love glass ornaments, there is a whole set of these candies in tins.
My little snowmen couple.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas