Signs From Above

This tree is a Maple tree, it is in front of our kitchen window. All my bird feeders are there, so when I am doing dishes it is incredibly cool to watch. Matt's mom sent us this 'summer home' birdhouse for Xmas. I asked Matt to put it in front of the window so I could see it. It is really a cute little bird house. The birdhouse even has a 'birdhouse'...I thought it, then I saw it, must be another Sign From Above...Atleast I like to think so!

Matt hung it on Tuesday...today I was doing dishes wondering how a bird could fit in that hole? I looked a little closer and out of the window on the birdhouse I could see a bird's beek. Yes really...I couldn't believe it, it kept flying in and out of the house, building a nest with sticks and moss.

Well I guess now it is a home...It will be coool to see baby birdies in there in the Spring.

Happy New Years !!

To all our Friends and Family:

Matt and I hope you have a very Happy and Safe New Years tonight!!  Tomorrow starts a new year, yeah...A Toast

            TO A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO COME, AND LOTS MORE WORK!(please)

Love to you all

Another Year Almost Gone

It is amazing how fast time is zooming by. My gosh Connor is almost three, Grady is almost four months already, time flies so fast. It is always at the end of the year when I look back at all that happened in the previous months. Wow this last year was a real struggle, for everyone! Hopefully the year to come will bring much more happiness than sadness...

Matt is cutting firewood today. I think he is going to go fishing tomorrow during the day, as his fishing license expires tomorrow. I am going to just hang out and watch some tube.

Tomorrow night, we are just going to stay home, just the two of us. We have been invited to so many things, but we have already been warned that the CHP will have zero tolerance tomorrow....so we decided we would be better off at home... this year!

Hope everyone is planning a safe New Year's celebration this year. I believe Crystal and James will be home with their boys, Heather decided not to go to Reno, yeah! So all of us will be close to home.

Angel's Watching Over Us

When we took the tree down, we thought everything was normal...until we got down to the bottom where the villages were! It had actually tried to start on fire, at some point! OMG, then we looked under the villages and what to our wondering eyes did appear?

A burn mark on the carpet too! WOW! Both Matt and I just stared at the floor and at the sheet that almost caught on fire. We saw atleast three xmas tree fires on TV this year that people died in!?

Thank God our Angels were watching over us throughout this Holiday, thanks Cin! Needless to say we are counting our blessings, and believe that we were the lucky ones. And we are never going to light up the villages again.

SCARY, RIGHT?

Again, thanks to all the Angels and Saints that watch over us...We might not be here if not for them!

The House After Christmas

This is left side of the living room, done!

And, this is the right side of the same room, Undone!

Great, right, I need boxes.....

Cold Weather

It has been cold and super dry for the last month, really unusual for this time of year...the Crescent Moon was up last night...

The clouds made for a beautiful sky last night.

My Nativity

I finally figured out my centerpiece too, I used my Crystal stemware and it turned out beautiful, with the advent wreath in the middle.

And my Nativity turned out fantastic in Grama and Grampas Hutch.

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas, what a nightmare...I am so over looking at all the decorations, but have no boxes right now to put them away in. So I am piling everything in one corner of the living room, in hopes that someone else will do it. Yeah, right?! It is me, and only me who will get it done.

One week before the start of the new year! Hopefully this will be a more profitable year as far as work goes...Hope everyone is having as much fun as I am, putting decorations away until next year.

Merry Christmas To All

I am so glad it is Christmas Day, Heather has gone home, Crystal and all her boys are having Christmas at her house with James family. I do not know about anyone else, but  I am over Christmas. Can't wait to take it all down, and find some kind of normal. At least for a while.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. God Bless!

Centerpieces?!

This was my first go at the centerpiece, I wanted a Candle centerpiece. I have tons of candles since we brought all of our things home.

I tried it out, it looked pretty good, smelled cool...it was all a glow! Then I got to thinking, it might be pretty hot with it all a glow. There are about 13 candles in this display...Back to the drawing board, pretty but not practical.

Matsu's Santa's Village

It is amazing how much time it takes to make the Christmas Village just right. Any sudden Avalanche from the Ornaments throws the village into a tizzy...snow gets on the track, and the Train derails. 

Engineer Matthew gets a little crazy some nights and wants to see just how fast the new LIONEL can really go...Quite fast!

Doing this gives us such enjoyment, we listen to Christmas music on the TV, and genuinely feel like children, this time of the year!

Touring The Christmas Village and Train

We added some finishing touches to our Christmas Train...presents to the empty car...we run it every night to make sure all is well. I  wanted to show Connor, because he won' see it again this year. When they came over a couple weeks ago, we could not get the presents to stay on. I taped them and Santa onto the car...Duh. This video gives a great picture of our tree at night too, something we both stare at for a solid month, then down, down it comes, Monday....I think we have as much or more fun than the kids do!

Christmas helps make us even more kids at heart!

Winter Soltice

I saw on the news this morning that the Mayan's started their 2012 Winter Solstice Countdown. That is comforting, right? Matt and I have been watching so many programs as to what will happen on the date. If you take it all to heart, it is more than just frightening. I mean, even the Scholars, and Nasa, and other big names say that all of the different peoples that have predicted the end of the world on that date, is more than overwhelming. I guess we will just have to Take One Day At a Time for the next year to see what will really happen. In the meantime, lets try to:

Happy Winter

Santa's Village is in Grass Valley

I am not sure if you will be able to read this article or not, you might have to zoom...This little Santa's Village is at the Amaral's. This is where Matt puts all the Christmas lights up during the holidays. He has done this for over 20 years.

About 2 years ago they updated the Elf House and turned it into a Disneyland like miniature Dwarf's house. The entire place is lit to the hilt. So worth seeing, Eddie the Elf is inside and talks with the kids and adults, as they sip wine, and carol.

It reminds me of Santa's Village atmosphere when I was a kid. I think that was up around Big Bear. The kids that visit this place feel the same way I am sure!

The Holiday "Ham"

On Sunday I went over to Crystal's, along with Heather and we power baked for 24 hours. Along with baking, we also enjoyed our "holiday ham Connor"!

He had this adorable shirt on and took my hat and scarf, and looked like a character right of  Dickens 'A Christmas Carol'!

Christmas Color

It was hard to believe this Sunset! In December it was absolutely gorgeous! If not for the 45 degrees outside, you would have thought it was July.

Christmas Cookie Day

Mimi looks exhausted here, she is...I feel like I have been going going and going for weeks now. Also I have some kind of head cold thing, which is obvious from the looks of my face in this picture. But I always love being with my little Angels...

Heather and Connor Playing!

Heather and Connor scheming?

Connor and Daddy cooking...

Decks Are Decorated Too!

This is the Lower Deck

Upper Deck

The Rest of the Upper Deck

Wreath

I made my own Wreath this year. I had all of these flowers that I have not seen in years. I think it came out pretty good.

More Merry Merry

It seems wierd that there are only two stockings hung by the chimney...But now that I think about it, this is our First Christmas alone. Before mom and dad's, it was 2004 when Heather was still at home...Wow how time flies. That is why it is so important to live each and every day as it is the only one you have...be happy today, for some reason!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Everywhere you go...Well our decorating is going pretty well, besides the occasional vacuum, or blanket on the couch...

Getting Ready For The Party

The snowmen are ready, the tree is ready, are we? I am not sure yet, I will let you know later today...

We are expecting our first guests around 2:00 today, we have a few people spending the night tonight, many tomorrow...hopefully they bring lots of blankets, their cars will be cold...

Santa Pictures of years ago...

Heather and Crystal were laughing the other day on Facebook, how I used to dress them in Red and get their pictures taken with Santa.

This year above, we were in Graeagle and there was no Santa, they were 2 and 7... so Dorothy and Irv gave me this gift certificate to go to the Mercantile in Blairsden and have these taken. So it wasn't a real Santa, it served as their picture that year.

Boy, would they be embarrassed if I posted this on Facebook....haha

Hope you all get a great laugh too!

The Christmas Train

This year we managed to get a new Train for the Christmas Tree. From the first Christmas Matt and I were together, we have had a Train under the Tree. This one is a Lionel, you run it with a lever, it lights up, blows it's horn, and blows smoke.

More Nostalgia

Heather was graduating 8th grade here, I am pretty sure she was 13, so that would make Crystal 18, wow!

Jimmy Dee and Gary

Deanna and Gary had not talked for years before this day. Jimmy and Dee came to help Gary and I help Jason move.

As you can see, Jason was not very happy.

And he was even less happy when Dee and Gary made Amber and Jason make up...Looks like he made up, yeah right?!

Days Ago

Heather...Always So Happy?!

Crystal...First Xmas Show

Christmas Past

WOW RIGHT?!

A Blast From The Past

I ran across these pictures while moving all our stuff...happier and better days...I know you cannot go back, but how I wish I could, those days were the happiest of my life. When your kids are young, you are too!

Christmas is Coming

We have our Annual Christmas Party this Saturday, I am thinking if everyone comes, it will be BIG! No, I am not ready in the least little bit.

It is hard for me to get into the Spirit this Year...The bitterness and hate that is in my siblings is horrible. We tried to get together this year, for mom and dad. But to no avail, it just got ugly and then uglier! I am so disappointed in the way they treat each other and mom and dad, I have nothing else to say about them, other than HOW SAD THEY ARE! Life is too short for this kind of garbage! Someday they are going to wake up and realize, WOW IT IS TOO LATE!

Mom and Dad's Angel

In this video, Angel isn't as crazy as he usually is, but he is a cutey...he will definately keep mom and dad busy, everyday.